Nature Changed Fast in my Absence

Whew--my computer broke down and so I had to stop posting for 10 days--just when Nature is really changing fast.


As I write this I can hear spring peepers through my open windows.   I recently heard a great horned owl calling from a white pine tree in our yard, and an answering call from a distance.  I had read that if you see red-tailed hawks in an area, there are probably also great horned owls.  They share the same habitat needs and great horned owls can kick red-tailed hawks out of a nest and take over.


I also read that great horned owls are the only predators that eat skunks.  I don't remember if the horned owl landed in the tree when there was a road-kill skunk nearby.  If so, it might have attracted the owl, but maybe the owls prefer killing things themselves.  But then if it smelled the dead skunk, how could it eat it?  I think I read they can't smell and that's why they can eat it.


Now I think vultures must have to smell since their prey never move.  But two vultures came in real low and close to examine the skunk.  But they left it alone as did the owl.  But why would the vultures be attracted to a smell even they can't stand?


And what or who took the skunk eventually?  I think it was a helpful neighbor.  The poor skunk got hit trying to cross over to eat at my bird feeders.


I'm also hearing more birds singing.


And there are more colors--green lawns and other vegetation and.white and yellow daffodils. 


I also saw my first butterfly today, one with blue wings called "summer azure".  Also, a spider recently set up shop on my rear porch light and survived a light 2-day snowfall.

Salamander Search Yields Only Calls from Great Horned Owl and Sheriff's Office

Northern dusky salamander found under shale rock in shale seepage area near Little Jelloway Creek, near Apple Valley, on August 1, 2013.  (Photo by Don Comis)

April is here, the buds are turning green on my neighbor's shrub, the daytime temperatures are pretty warm--but still it feels like March going out like a lion.  As the winds picked up and the temperatures fell around 6 tonight, it felt really cold.


This gives me an excuse to skip a night search for the salamander migration tonight.


I spent about two and a half hours last night listening for woodcocks the first half hour and then sitting on a bench by the Kokosing River looking for migrating salamanders for an hour.  Nothing, but I did get to hear a call I think came from a Great Horned owl.


My other surprise was getting a call from the sheriff's office after a deputy saw my car late at night in an isolated parking lot.  He used my license plate to call my wife and check to see I was ok.  She gave him my cell phone number and I returned his call and explained what I was doing, or tried to.  My wife and I both thanked the sheriff's office for checking on me.


It's another example of what can happen to zealous naturalists.  I have an even better story about that I'll tell someday!


That call and the dense fog on the way home late last night also makes me glad that conditions don't seem right for salamanders tonight.