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.

Why Did The Newt Cross the Road?

I learned how to photograph frogs on August 29, 2012, the day I took this picture of a green frog at Bennett Pond in Apple Valley.  By spotting him first from afar and sneaking up on him, I was able to have him pose from 5 feet away.  (Photo by Don Comis)

In two nights, April 2 in Logan County and April 3 in Crawford County, Jim McCormac watched and photographed the following amphibians cross forest floor or paved roads to get to vernal pools to breed:  spotted salamander, smallmouth salamander, red eft larval stage of a red-spotted newt, green frog, northern leopard frog, western chorus frog, and spring peepers.

I went to "my" vernal pool at the Brown Family Environmental Center at Kenyon College tonight, April 7, 2014, and on April 3, and encountered no sign of amphibians.  Except for the frog I heard call near me tonight.

Of the amphibians he photographed, I have only seen--and photographed--the green frog and the northern leopard frog.  But I did that in daytime, late in the summer, post-breeding.  Of course I've heard many spring peepers, including tonight, but none around the vernal pool I've been stalking.

I wasn't going to the vernal pool tonight until I read Jim's April 6 report on his blog.

The bottomline for me is:  Do amphibians still use the vernal pool at the Brown Center?  Last year, I was sure I saw eggs there.  So, I'll keep coming back whenever the ground is wet from rain.

Brown Thrasher's Arrival Means Spring is Getting Even Closer

O

n April 5, the brown thrasher became my latest summer migrant bird returning, another signal spring just got a little closer.

One of the ways I spotted him near my feeders was the way he threw leaves around searching under them for grubs and other bugs and worms.  The only surprise I got was how he sometimes was pounding something with his beak, with all the force of a woodpecker on a tree.  I couldn't see what he was trying to get with that beak action.

But other times he seemed to be eating spilled seed from the feeders.  He's the second bird that surprised me by eating at feeders--an early arriving robin was the other bird I never expected to see eat bird seed.

The thrasher is supposed to be shy but we seem to have a pair every summer hanging around if not living in our yard, often in low shrubbery or under our back deck.

When I checked a field guide, I was surprised to learn that the brown thrasher, not the mockingbird,  knows more songs than any other bird in North America,  over 1,100 song types!

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. 

Stalking the Woodcock's Nightly Performance

Reading a paperback edition of "A Sand County Almanac" around 1969 instilled a desire in me to see the woodcock's "sky dance" described in the book, which a nice sketch or two of  a woodcock, along with other black-and-white sketches. 

I did my second night Nature walk last night, this one at Honey Run Highlands Park, near Millwood, Ohio, a very short drive from Apple Valley in Howard, Ohio.


I went in search of the woodcock dance, having read an e-mail about a sighting at this park on March 31.  Like other sightings I've read, this dance has been occurring between 8 and 8:30 p.m.


So, I got to the park around 6:30 p.m. and walked until I found a great spot, on a hilltop with a 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside, in a prairie area, with a bench!  I had lunch and waited until 8:30, but no woodcock, or even his "peenting" call.




It's possible I might have heard the peenting and mistook it for a frog call.   I heard plenty of spring peepers at the park, plus a  barred owl call, and some frightened calls from deer and unseen wildlife I scared.


Just before I got to the park, I saw two turkey vultures eating road kill, and more vultures flying around the park.


I heard plenty of bird calls, until late in the evening.


I sent an e-mail the birdwatcher who saw the woodcock dance, asking about where they were in the park when they saw the display.

Morels Fever

I recently bought this DVD for $7 from Eric Taylor, pictured at right next to his brother Keith, morels in all four hands and a bin overflowing with morels.  (Front cover photo by Jim Brewer)

Back cover of DVD showing Eric in 1978, at age 9, next to his "Grandpa and Teacher", the late Lincoln Miller, both holding morels.  (Back cover photo by Jim Brewer)

Last night I joined a morels forum and posted some questions, with more to come, to help me start my first morel mushroom hunt.


Everyone has morel fever in this area so I've caught it.  I bought a DVD on morel hunting from a local mushroom hunter I met at our local archaeological club meeting in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. 


Morels usually come out in early April in Ohio but may be a bit delayed by the cold winter, which, on the other hand, is said to promise a better than usual morel season.


The site has a video on morel hunting and links to sites where you can learn the soil moisture and soil temperature in your area to time your morel searches.  Morels like a soil temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit.


From the forum I learned of another soil moisture and temperature forecast site.

Bees, Spring Peepers, Woodcocks and Salamanders All Have Spring Fever

This July 6, 2013 photo, taken at the wildlife garden at the Brown Family Environmental Center, shows what we have to look forward to.  (Photo by Don Comis)

I had more first signs of spring, firsts for me anyway, on this wonderful spring-like day today.  My Nature day began this afternoon seeing not only purple crocuses in bloom in my neighbor's garden, but also two bees buzzing them and nearby yellow flowers that have bloomed for weeks now.

That made me decide that my next trip should be to the wildlife garden at the Brown Family Environmental Center. Of course, there were no flowers blooming there to attract bees, butterflies and moths.  I had jumped the gun!

But then, amidst the numerous chirps of birds, a loud chorus broke through and I finally realized these were not birds but frogs, likely spring peepers.

I'm also hearing of sightings of woodcocks doing their peenting call and mating dances, the closest one being at Honey Run Falls park.  All the reports in Ohio place the dance as between 8 and 8:30 p.m.  So I plan to visit that park and the Brown Center's north and south sides by 8 p.m. soon.

And if it's raining when I'm at the Brown Center, I may just head to the vernal pool there--conditions seem right for the mass salamander migration each evening from tonight through Friday, with Thursday seeming best.

The harsh winter here has delayed  both the woodcocks and the salamanders, giving me a chance not to miss either for the first time in my life!