Afternoon Delight

We have quite a few wild raspberry (Black Raspberry, if we identified it right) bushes on Prospect Hill, and we reap the rewards as often as we can. In an earlier post I gave my rudimentary lesson about botany, and these plants expand on that.

Black raspberries growing wild in our yard,
and a chance to use the "supermacro" camera setting.

As the above photo shows, some of the berries are dark, plump, and inviting, while the others are red, scrawny, and not very appetizing. Still other berries in the same cluster are past ripe, starting to rot on the vine. Obviously, not all of the berries are ready for eating at the same time, which is odd, since the flowers emerged all at the same time.

Turns out, this is a very clever strategy the plant uses to keep seed dispersers coming back and collecting more seed to disperse. It attracts pollinators (butterflies, bees) all at once by flashing out all of the flowers at once: it's best to get a lot of pollinators mingling all at once so there is a lot of mixing of genetic material.

A spider sets up to trap any unsuspecting, but adequately sized, pollinators
visiting the raspberry flowers. And another chance to use "supermacro."

But the fruits develop at different rates, providing a resource for frugivores (fruit eaters) for a longer period of time. This gives a wide variety of animals time to come and gorge, then disperse the seeds in new places at different times. Chances are, some of those seeds will find a suitable place to grow next season. Brilliant!

Of course, while all of that intricacy isn't lost on us, we still like the simpler things in life: even a partially-filled bowl goes a long way when topping ice cream, stirred into yogurt, or eaten right off the vine.

Falling Apart, Coming Together

A story in this morning's local newspaper caught my eye. Although it was about birds, what grabbed me wasn't so much the headline,

Ducklings orphaned; public's help sought

© Ray Finger / Star-Gazette
This brood of duckling hides Monday in the manmade
pond behind the carousel at Eldridge Park.

What really caught my attention was the subtitle, which explained how the ducklings were orphaned.

Mother duck was killed by boys at Eldridge Park.

The article, which you can find here, reads:

Dr. Bob Lyon, an Elmira dentist and founder of the Eldridge Park Carousel Preservation Society, said an eyewitness saw several teenage boys throwing rocks at the mother duck. After learning about the incident Saturday, he went to check it out, he said.

"Sure enough, it was obviously blunt-force trauma from stones that killed this mother," he said. "It wasn't an animal attack, so all the pieces fit together."

The person who witnessed the incident does not know who the boys are, Lyon said. The witness saw the stones being thrown and the flapping of the duck's wings. When the witness got closer, the duck took her last breath and died, he said.

I'm not naive, I know kids do pretty heinous things. In fact, when I was in elementary school I watched a friend shoot his BB gun at the birds visiting a neighbor's feeder. That day he only took one shot. After I asked what the f*ck he was doing he started laughing and started shooting at me. We didn't hang out much after that.

What I've never understood is why. What satisfaction can be gained by stoning a domesticated animal in an urban park? It's clearly not the same as legitimate hunting. Although I don't partake in it, I do understand why people hunt. I have great respect for the hunters I know, they are among the best stewards of the environment I've witnessed, they are much more in touch with the web of life that surrounds us than most anyone else. They are humane and respectful.

But when it comes to this type of senseless slaughter, I really hope they are able to track down the culprits and that they are penalized appropriately. I don't have much faith that will happen, given the way society at large doesn't seem to put much value on things that have intrinsic, non-monetary value. At this point, says the article, the police aren't involved at all.

The coming together of community members to try and care for the ducklings, however, brings hope:

Some concerned carousel patrons gave money to the person running the Merry-Go-Eatery to buy buns to feed to the baby ducks, she said. Later, she and her daughter bought some cracked corn and mixed it with dog kibble that softened in the water for them to eat, she said.

"They liked the cracked corn a lot," Amy Uy said. "At least that's a little more substantial than bread."

People who heard through the grapevine about what had happened have been going over to throw cereal and other food items at the ducklings trying to get them to eat, Amy Uy said.

"So far, they're doing pretty good, but we were just worried, as other people are, that whoever did this would come back and hurt the babies," she said. "They're so adorable, and there's nothing there to protect them."

I find hope in that there are a good number of people wanting to help, and that number is greater than those who would fatally attack a domesticated animal. I hope the boys brag about it within earshot of someone who cares enough to turn them in. And I hope these self-appointed caretakers of the ducklings provide a more substantial feed than bread.

I really hope to have some positive updates on this story as it continues.

Update:

According to an Elmira Police Department press release, the animal control division of the department is beginning a full investigation into the matter.

Full article on the Star-Gazette web site.

A Quick Lesson in Botany

Plants have a wonderful, predictable progression each spring and summer, and we love watching them cycle through their growing season. When you get down to the nitty gritty, it's all biology, which obviously appeals to me, as a biologist. Unfortunately, I'm not the botanist in the family, so you're stuck with my rudimentary understanding of the plant world.

New growth on the Arrowwood viburnum.

Early in the season, we see lots of new vegetative growth in our garden. Leaves emerge and stems elongate as the plants turn simple, abundant resources (sun and water) into energy.

The flower of the Arrowwood viburnum.

Soon we see flower buds and ultimately, flowers. Lots of flowers. With the flowers we see lots of insects, those that pollinate these plants. Lots of butterflies, bees, and wasps., and other unidentified critters. Also, if you look close at the above flower photo, you'll notice the leaves don't look so hot. Caterpillars and other larvae eat the leaves (in this case, it's a beetle that relies solely on viburnum: the Viburnum Leaf Beetle).

Flowers, of course, are for more than our enjoyment to observe, both by visual beauty and scent. The pollinators are attracted to do a job: transfer pollen to other members of the species to produce fruits. And, ultimately, the plants do produce fruit.

A surprise: we didn't really expect to get any fruits on our Lowbush Blueberry this year!
Because it's a new to our garden we figured it would take a year for the plant to settle in.

Of course, fruits are more than something tasty to snack on. The fruits are high in lipids (fats), which provide energy to any organism that eats them. We keep this in mind, but mostly we just enjoy the taste of freshly picked blueberries.

The fruits of Serviceberry, or Shadblow (so named because the flowers emerge when
the shad are running). These fruits are among the most sought after berries for birds.

Birds and mammals in particular benefit from these offerings. Birds, for example, need these high-energy foods to gear up for a long migration to their wintering grounds in the southern U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean, or Central and South America.

And herein lies the beauty, the interconnectedness, the spiritualness. The seeds, contained within the fruits, are indigestible, so the animals that ate the fruit essentially plant new seeds when they pass through their digestive system. New plants emerge next year, producing new leaves and stems, and the cycle continues.

The cycle is complete, and upon completion, complete beauty.

Camping Trip - Stony Brook State Park

This weekend was Donna's birthday, and she let it be known months ago she wanted a weekend camping out. Since it was Reina's first camping trip we decided on an easy one: car camping at a nearby state park where we could bring more "stuff" than we usually would and we could bail if we absolutely had to. Thankfully, Reina loved every minute of it, and we had a great weekend at Stony Brook State Park near Dansville, NY.

The Gorge Trail allows plenty of opportunities to wade in the shallow creek.

True to its name, the park surrounds a stony brook, one that has been carving out its path for millenia. The resulting gorge is narrow, shaded and cool with step sides, and very tranquil. The campground is at the south end of the park, at the north end you find a "recreation area" with lots of picnic tables, a swimming hole, tennis courts, a small store with knick-knacks and ice cream, and the granddaddy of all playgrounds. The south and north ends are connected by two trails, either along the gorge, or an upland trail above the gorge.

Turkey Vultures soared high above the gorge, quickly appearing and disappearing
from the small window of sky we could see from the bottom of the gorge.

Breeding birds, with the obvious exception of the vultures, were fairly vocal. A Louisiana Waterthrush patrolled the creek below our campsite, his slurred whistled serenaded us from sun-up to sun-down. We also watched a Belted Kingfisher fish from time to time while listening to Eastern Wood-peewees, Black-throated Green Warblers, and American Robins. Along the trail to the playground we found an Eastern Phoebe hunting above the creek.

One of several stunning waterfalls with a very swimmable pool below.
There seemed to be a new one around every bend in the trail.

Although the campground was packed, we thankfully had the trail mostly to ourselves. A gorge is a narrow place, and even a couple other families or hikers would have made it seem crowded. We took our time on our walk, taking in the sounds of the brook as it continued to cut its way through the gorge.

Although the ambiance at brook-level was peaceful and picturesque,
the tall, layered walls of the gorge continually drew your eyes upward.

We didn't find many signs of animal life on the walk, though we weren't really looking. We simply enjoyed being able to explore the various features of the gorge through the eyes of a three-year old, who mostly liked splashing in the water. Admittedly, that is a lot of fun.

A Red Admiral poses on a flower-free stretch of the rocky path. There
must have been something attractive (minerals?), as it stayed put for several minutes.

Of the few animals we did see, we noticed a theme of black/white/orange coloration.

Not a typical spot to find a Blackburnian Warbler in the breeding season. Usually they're
high in the tops of evergreen trees, not bouncing along the rocks on a roadside ditch.

We will certainly be returning to Stony Brook for future trips, but we'll also be checking out new places nearby. Stay tuned for updates of our travels, whether camping or otherwise.

Pleased to Meet You, HopeYou Guess My Name

One of the first things I did when I returned from my whirlwind trip to Arkansas was take a stroll around the yard to see what had changed. The very first thing, after a few minutes of reassuring the cats that I was home and I'd never leave them again (until next time), was to open up all the windows to get some fresh air blowing in the house. Then I headed to the yard.

Most everything looked just like we'd left it but more lush and green, lots of new growth. Except the Arrowwoods. In fact, the two Viburnum dentatum we planted last year looked horrible: nearly every leaf had been skeletonized, with only the leaf veins still intact. And the culprit was obvious, there were little caterpillar-looking things all over them. What in the world were these things? Nothing like I'd seen before. To the Internet!

New "growth" on the Viburnum wasn't looking too well. There is a caterpillar of
some sort stretching down from the webby-looking leaf on the left, but the more
numerous bodies were those of the fleshy thing on the leaf at the bottom-left.

A quick search on "viburnum" and "pest" brought up a Cornell University Department of Horticulture web site that introduced me to Pyrrhalta vibruni, aka the "Viburnum Leaf Beetle." Or, now that we're familiar, VLBs.

A second-instar larvae of the Viburnum Leaf Beetle. Based on most
of the other leaves on the plant, this one is just getting started.

These little buggers are non-native and invasive, typically killing a plant in just two seasons. I learned that they go for a two-pronged attack: first the larvae devastate the plant, in our area usually between late-April and mid-June. Then, after pupating the soil just below the plant, the adults emerge to continue devouring the plant during late June - October (or whenever a killing frost kicks in).

I spent three hours picking off every last one I could find and feeding them all to the catfish in our pond (don't know if they ate them, but they were interested). Since we are adamantly against spraying insecticides, or -cides of any sort, and other devices like traps are indiscriminate in what they kill, I'm hoping to take care of them biologically. Ladybird beetles and soldier beetles, apparently, prey on the larvae and adults, respectively, so I'm hoping they take advantage as they can. Because ideal pupation conditions are not too dry and not too wet I plan on drenching the soil below the plants as often as I can, hopefully making conditions less favorable for survival of the pupae. With luck, we won't see as many adults around as we might have.

A terrible photo, but you can see the larvae as they do their
damage on the emerging flower buds as well as on the leaf.

Of course, all I'm probably doing is selecting for the larvae that hide the best and the pupae that are the most hydro tolerant. Sigh. More updates as the summer progresses.

Post title credit: Sympathy for the Devil (1968), The Rolling Stones

What is your Power Bird?

I found a brief quiz on the web that tells you your "Power Bird" (via CyberThrush at Ivory-bills LiVE!!). Answer a few not-so-simple questions and they present your Power Bird. My result:

Your Power Bird is a Cardinal

You believe that each day is precious, and you spend your times as best as you can. You see the wonder in small things, and you are often content with what you have. You live an interesting, colorful life - and you bring color to those around you. Confident and expressive, you believe you know how to live a good life. You're living it!

What's Your Power Bird?

The funny thing, as in "strange," not "ha, ha," is that my daughter (who is three) pegged this months ago. During the Project FeederWatch season she would sit next to me with her binoculars around her neck, a notepad in one hand and pencil in the other, and watch with me. Every time a cardinal flew in she'd jump up, drop everything in her hands, and yell, "Daddy! It's your favorite!"

I have never considered cardinals my "favorite," but I'd humor her, "Yeah! Cardinal at the feeder! Whoo-hoo!" My excitement was genuine, but purposely misplaced: I was excited she could identify a cardinal (she already knows her common feeder birds, now we're gearing up to work on those "confusing fall warblers").

Two things to mention: I don't really have a favorite bird. With a gun to my head I could probably pick one, but there are just too many interesting things about each species it's impossible to select one over the others. Also, the summary of my Power Bird seems pretty accurate, at least I like to think. I'm just glad an external source, outside of my own head, recognizes it!

Bald Knob NWR, Arkansas

This morning started with somewhat of a surprise. There were no set-in-stone plans, so with that unexpected freedom Ted offered to take me to a National Wildlife Refuge I never knew existed. Up the road a bit is the town of Bald Knob, home to the 14,800 acre Bald Knob NWR.

Entering Bald Knob National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1993.

Ted, who grew up in Bald Knob, explained the area used to be all bottomland forest along the Little Red River. It was cleared acre by acre for farmland, primarily rice and soy bean, and at some 20,000 acres in its heyday, it became the largest farm in Arkansas (possibly the midwest, and who knows, possibly the U.S.). But at one point, and under some circumstance, the family lost the farm when the insurance company foreclosed on it. The government eventually purchased it to establish a refuge, predominantly for migratory waterfowl.

A male Scissor-tailed Flycatcher greeted us near the entrance.

It is an amazing refuge with a variety of habitats, which translates into very interesting wildlife watching, especially birding. In our 3 hours on the refuge we saw about 50 species of birds. I bet we would easily have seen more if we got there earlier and spent more time hiking around, but since this was an exploratory trip we mostly cruised along with a couple key stops in different habitat types.

Former rice field growing into shrubby "old field." Look close and you'll see a
Dickcissel perched on a bare stem, near the center of the picture.

One of the first things you notice is how flat the area is, and how the former farmlands are transitioning to shrubby areas. In addition to Killdeer and Mourning Doves we found lots of Dickcissels.

Dickcissel launches off of a young oak tree. The refuge managers are reforesting
4,000 acres of the refuge and there are hundreds of small trees already planted.

Dickcissels are among my favorite birds, probably because we don't regularly see them in the east. Unfortunately, I didn't have a scope so I didn't get any close-up shots of any birds.

A slough populated with cypress trees. Looks a bit like the
Cache River,which isn't too far (as the Ivory-bill flies).

We came to a small slough which looks suspiciously like Ivory-billed Woodpecker habitat. Although connected through various corridors to the White River NWR, this habitat is pretty small and remote. We did see and hear various forest birds (Eastern Wood-pewee, Pileated Woodpecker) along with species that like shrubs (more Dickcissels, Yellow-breasted Chat, Common Yellowthroat).

The Little Red runs on the other side of the levee on the left,

a field of replanted trees on the right.

The road eventually follows the Little Red River for a bit, so we had a riparian forest following the river on one side and flat, shrubby, ex-farmland on the other. That makes for an interesting mix of species: Prothonotary Warblers and Acadian Flycatchers on one side, Indigo Buntings and Field Sparrows on the other.

Black Rat Snake crossing to the other side (I have no answer to "why did he cross?").

He just froze when I got out to photograph him, rather than immediately disappear.

And in the middle? We watched a Black Rat Snake crossing the road. When I got out to take a picture, he just froze and didn't move. As we drove around him he finally disappeared into the grass. This was not our only Black Rat Snake encounter for the day, but the other one is for another post - stay tuned for that one!

The male Ruby-throated Hummingbird was foraging a bit,

then perched, and eventually toppled over backwards.

One of the most interesting parts of the morning was watching a Ruby-throated Hummingbird foraging on a Raspberry bramble. But something was not quite right with him, at one point we thought he was resting, but he just leaned back and kept going - until he fell over backwards. He was still holding on, so he didn't drop, but he was hanging upside down. We thought he had died right in front of our eyes.


I walked in and took him out of the bush, he was still alive but looked pretty out of it - mellow, somewhat drunk. Maybe he'd been feeding on some fermented nectar? Maybe he was actually sick? He sat in Ted's hands for a few moments while I took some pictures, then he lifted off and headed back into the Raspberry bush. We didn't see where he landed, but his flight seemed steady and directed, although we didn't see where he ended up. He plowed right through the bush and disappeared from our view. Hope he is OK!

So, from me, a big thank you to Ted! It was a great morning to be outdoors, especially in such a wonderful area. I can't wait to go back, maybe when all the wintering ducks and Bald Eagles are back. And next time I'll bring a scope so I can digiscope some birds. The full trip list will be posted shortly.