Raccoons Stirring Too

Last night, I saw a raccoon searching for bird seed on my front deck.  The night before it was a possum.  As far as I remember, those were my first sightings of each this winter.  I remember seeing them a lot last year, but can't remember if that was in the winter too.  Back then, I saw a whole family of raccoons and a couple of skunks.

I'm wondering if the winter was so cold that these animals went into a deeper hibernation or whether I just haven't been looking out the front doors enough until I got inspired by seeing that possum?

I know that many animals come in and out of hibernation.  I'll have to check the hibernation schedules of these animals, as well as groundhogs.

When I finally got outside today, I went out looking for tracks, especially the tracks of the possum I had seen at 1 a.m.   I got an unexpected treat when I saw big paw tracks spread out single file all the way to Apple Valley Drive. The creature had come down my driveway, which I had shoveled the night before, and then crossed over to nearby woods.




I finally remembered to include a ruler in the photos of tracks and I found these were 3 inches long, enough to put them in the running with foxes and coyotes, both of which my portable tracking guide says have tracks about 2 inches long.  I'm pretty sure I can rule out the possum, although it was the only animal I know for sure was out there overnight.  My portable guide only says possum prints are about 2 inches wide and doesn't mention length.  I'll have to get a more comprehensive tracking guidebook!

Peeking out the window at 1 a.m. to check on tonight's storm--gusty winds, sleet, and snow--I saw a layer of ice-crusted snow on the front deck.  And on it, I saw a fairly small opossum searching for food from my feeders.


I guess he came out of hibernation temporarily for a snack and maybe he's been doing that awhile, but I haven't seen him or the usual raccoons and skunks I saw last winter.  Maybe this winter is so cold it's limiting their forays?  But then what is this guy doing out in this weather--unless he's getting impatient for spring?

Photo by Debbie Hurlbert, taken in Wayne County.

The Sunday Columbus Dispatch (February 16, Insight Section, Science, pages E-4 and E-5) has a nice article on snowy owls with great photos.  Even better photos are on its website at:  http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/science/2014/02/16/snowy-invasion.html.  The online versions of newspaper articles are usually held only 30 days.



Jim McCormac also has a link on his blog (http://www.jimmcCormac.blogspot.com).   Jim is the unofficial keeper of snowy owl data in Ohio--besides being all all-round biologist and avian expert for Ohio's DNR and a great photographer and author.  He gives constant updates on snowy owl sightings on his blog.  His latest tally:  159 owls in 54 counties.



I've read that as the weather warms up, there will be even greater chances for sightings--for one thing, the owls will have to migrate back to Quebec, if I remember correctly, and that means all those owls farther south will come through places like Ohio.



The experts know there are far more than 159 snowy owls in Ohio.  Just as an example, I've heard of a reliable sighting on Route 308 near New Gambier Road that most likely was not reported to Jim.

Great Backyard Bird Count Feb. 14-17, 2014

The latest report from the Great Backyard Bird Count, shows that 37 species were recorded for Knox County by 9 participants, including yours truly.  My feeders at Apple Valley had 17 species, including the first sighting during the count of a white-crowned sparrow.  My species count got a little boost when the Cooper's hawk appeared and got chased away by at least one American crow.

I've reported 56 species to "e-bird" since 2008 when I started counting birds while visiting my mother-in-law.  All but two I saw in Apple Valley--the other two were in Gambier and Mount Vernon.  This year I've reported 23 species, 20 of them in the first 17 days of February.

Building Birdhouses--Deadline Mid-March

Pileated Woodpecker (Photo by Debbie Hurlbert)

Red-headed woodpecker (Photo by Don Comis)

I spent the evening working on a pileated woodpecker birdhouse with my neighbor's son, Steven.  The pileated woodpecker box is his and next we'll work on a red-headed woodpecker box for my yard.  I read on the DNR website that mid-March is about the deadline for getting the birdhouses out there.  It's better to get them in the previous fall at least, to get them weathered so birds get used to them.

 I'll spend my next two mornings looking at birds for the continuing Feederwatch count, which involves two days of watching each week

Feed Crows!

When crows chased a Cooper's hawk today from a perch aimed at my feeder birds, I realized the corn and peanuts I was feeding them in a minor feeder in my backyard had payoffs in my main feeding area in my front yard.


I wasn't surprised the crows chase hawks.  When I took a brief Birds of Prey course, I learned that one good way to spot a hawk (or owl) is to look up when you hear crows call.  If you see the crows flying, look to see if one of the birds looks different than the crows--that bird will also be harassed, even pecked by the crows in flight and that's your hawk or owl.

Don's Photo Gallery, Website Table of Contents

Two House Sparrow couples wait for their turn at the feeders.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Website Table of Contents

Also see my  website where you can see a quick guide I created to identify 12 birds you're most likely to see at your feeders in winter, in the Midwest or East, central Ohio for sure (Five birds on my website accessible by clicking on "overview" at the bottom of the "Birds" page and seven birds on the "Birds Photo Gallery' page). 


My latest addition (on February 6, 2014) is the "Wildlife Photos" where I have an album of a recently photographed snowy owl and recent photographs of mute swans at Apple Valley Lake in Howard, Ohio.  Thanks to the choreography of the swans and the simplesite program, you can view the album full size as a slide show where the swan photos blend into each other and seem to show the graceful swimming of  members of a 13-strong flock that hung around for a while, until the lake froze over completely.


Here's a list of other pages on the website:

My Front Page: News flash on rare snow "snow roller" phenomenon in Apple Valley, Mount Vernon, and other parts of central Ohio; reprint of magazine article I wrote about wildlife at the USDA research center where I worked; snowy owl sightings; meeting announcements; local bird sighting alerts; photos, including Debbie Hurlbert's snowy owl photo and a photo of a lovely pine cone feeder made at the Apple Valley Garden Club's "Christmas is for the BIRDS!!!" workshop.

Local Events:  Shows schedule of events at the Brown Family Environmental Center at Kenyon College.


Insects:  Has popular newspaper columns written by a U.S. Department of Agriculture entomologist in Brookings, South Dakota, a former colleague.


Ohio History:  Information on Native Americans in Knox County.


Archaeological Finds:  Photos of monthly "field finds" award winners at the Kokosing Chapter of the Archaeological Society of Ohio meetings in Mt. Vernon.  Also article on presentation by author and editor Bob Converse and other articles, including date of next local meeting.

Birds:  Reprint of Mansfield News Journal article telling the role of Debbie Hurlbert and Jon Minard in helping to count 27 bald eagles for the Mohican Christmas Bird Count.  Also list of my 12 most common feeder birds this winter.  Also click on "Overview" at bottom of page to see ID tips and photos of the "bottom 5" in the list of my common feeder birds.

Winter Tracks:  Includes material from Aldo Leopold's "Sand County Almanac".


ASO:  Information on the Archaeological Society of Ohio.


Birdscaping:  Article on how landscaping (habitat) is more important than bird feeders, related to the book "Birdscaping in the Midwest:  A Guide to Gardening with Native Plants to Attract Birds."



Suet Recipes: Includes Debbie Hurlbert's handout for the Apple Valley Garden Club's "Christmas is for the BIRDS!!!" workshop in December--and a recipe and tips from Audrey Spearman.

Photo Gallery:  A sampling of slides of  Native American artifacts presented by Bob Converse at the January meeting of the local ASO chapter.

Native Americans in Howard, Ohio, and Vicinity

Chief Tom Jelloway

In reading some Knox County history books, I learned that Jelloway Creek and Little Jelloway Creek—which runs through the Apple Valley Lake—were named after Native American Chief Tom Jelloway because his tribe liked to camp on its banks.  The town of Jelloway, originally called Brownsville, was named after Jelloway Creek.  But at first it was called The Way of the Jello and then renamed Jelloway in the 1830s. 

I'll be adding to this topic over the next several days on both this blog and on my website..

As promised, here's more:

Tom Jelloway sounds like a real character.  He claimed to be a bird charmer and once called in hundreds of birds to prove it to a white settler.  He lived in Butler Township.

He also spent a lot of time in the Howard area.  He liked the whites so much that he dressed like them and refused to leave when the Native Americans were ousted to western reservations.  He often visited the homes of the pioneer settlers, like the Welkers and the Critchfields to sell brooches and other trinkets. 

He even has a hosta  variety named for him.

The Moundbuilders 

Today's Columbus Dispatch (Insight, Sunday, December 22, 2013, E5) has an excellent article on the Newark (Ohio) Earthworks.  

It's very timely for me since I went to my very first meeting of the Archaeological Society of Knox County in November and heard Bill Pickard of the Ohio Historical Society speak about the mounds and other earthworks.   

Pickard's theme was the survival and destruction of the structures.  Many have been lost to development.   

After the talk, I went to the website of the Mount Vernon's Moundview Cemetery and confirmed that the mound in the cemetery is indeed one of these mounds, built by prehistoric Native Americans.

And later, on a car hunt for two snowy owls reported in Ashland County, Jon Minard showed me a long burial mound preserved on a farm and visible from the road.

And on my most recent bird seed buying trip to Forster Seeds I learned about two more mounds, one near the store on Route 13, and one near Haysville.

N.N. Hill’s “History of Knox County:  Its Past and Present” says that there was one mound in Howard, "in the southern part of the township, situation on the farm of Worthington Shipley."

Indian Fields

I've learned  that there are at least three Indian Fields in Knox County--one in Howard, one in Mt. Vernon, and one near Fredericktown. 

Indian Fields are areas cleared by Native Americans to grow corn and other crops, trade, hunt, and have pow wows and other ceremonies and meetings.  They result in open prairies.

The early white settlers took advantage of these clearings for ready-made cornfields.  Abraham Welker, probably the first white settler in Howard, was one of those, farming on the Indian Field that is now the site of Indianfield Bluffs County Park. 

The Howard Indian Field was at least 480 acres in size, because that's the size mentioned in a history book regarding another Howard settler, Amon M. Shipley, who moved to Howard Township in 1852 and began a farm on those acres.  The Native Americans grew large amounts of corn and vegetables on this land.

The Indian Field in Mt. Vernon is near the intersection of Lower Gambier Road and Mount Vernon Avenue, near the end of the current Kokosing Gap Trail.  It is called the Little Indian Fields, which I thought was ironic because one history book referred to it as the largest in the area.  But on re-reading the history books I own I found that it was 40 acres in size, so next to Howard's 480 acres, the Little name may be justified. 

I also found that Native Americans would set up hunting camps near salt licks, natural areas that ooze salt.  One of those is not far from Little Indian Fields, somewhere near where South Main Street crosses the Kokosing.  There was no bridge in those days, so Mount Vernon began or ended there.  In fact at that time, the early 1800s, Mount Vernon didn't reach as far as the Little Indian Fields.

They camped near salt licks because animals congregate there to consume minerals.  This practice goes back to prehistoric times.  Some modern day hunters still use this technique, locating themselves on a bluff above a salt lick.  I'm going to try to see if the salt lick exists today.  But it may now be under the Kokosing River.

More Fields?

There are hints in the two history books I'm reading about more Indian Fields in Knox County, although it's possible the references are duplicating the ones I've already listed.  Here are the possible other fields I've read about:

Upper Prairie Indian Fields, Union Township near Owl Creek (Kokosing River).  Charles Critchfield and his father lived on these fields as well as on Indian Fields in Howard Township, probably the Indianfield Bluffs site.   Charles lived in the Howard-Union Township area beginning in 1806, except for the period 1846-1878 when he lived in Coshocton.  His father lived on Indian fields in Howard from 1809 to 1865.  If those fields are the Indianfield Bluffs, then farmers must have shared these fields and Amon Shipley would have been a neighbor of Charles' father on these fields.

Indian fields south of Mount Vernon.

Little prairie 5 miles above Mount Vernon, Armstrong section.

Hill's history says that many of the Indian Fields in the county were in the area of Howard Township because the Native Americans favored Owl Creek (Kokosing River), Jelloway Creek, and Little Jelloway Creek for hunting.   In fact, Hill says that at the time of settlement, Howard Township had the best hunting in the state.  While the Indianfields Bluff was a permanent camp, many of the others were temporary camps.

Mystery Wells 
In mentioning the salt lick camp, Henry Howe, in his "Historical Collections of Ohio" 
 (page 273), says that it was near two wells of unknown origin, found by the settlers.  He describes them as "built of neatly hammered stone, laid in regular masonry, and had the appearance of being overgrown with moss."  Almost immediately after settlement, the two wells were destroyed, presumably by the Native Americans.  He also says that later another similar was found a mile and a half away.  Philip Cosner found it when he was plowing a newly cleared section of forest land.  The well was covered with poles and earth, and was about 30 feet deep. 


Tribes Divy Up Ohio's Watersheds

My reading shows me that the various tribes in Ohio each claimed a watershed for their territory, so far I have these:

Owl Creek (Kokosing River):  Delaware territory.
Sandusky River:  Wyandot territory.
Scioto River: Shawnee territory until they moved to Miami River watershed.

For more general history, go to my Knox History page.

For Snowy Owl Alerts, go to my Local Events page.

For more information on local and natural history, see my "DIY Nature Science" website.

Useful Links:

Ancestral Knowledge Workshops:  I've taken two of these workshops in Maryland, one on fire-making by friction and one on edible plants.