White-eyed Vireo

White-eyed Vireo -- © Dave Spier

The White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus) has been expanding its range northward, possibly due to global warming. This one was photographed in the spring at Camp Allegany in Allegany State Park during the Allegany Nature Pilgrimage.

For more information, photos and sounds, visit the All About Birds website. An interactive range map (zoomable to your location) can be found in eBird's Explore Data section.

Corrections, comments and questions are always welcome at ebirder_14432@yahoo.com or connect through my Facebook page and photo page. There's also a community-type page for The Northeast Naturalist. Other nature and geology topics can be found on the parallel blogs Adirondack Naturalist, Heading Out, and a Naturalist's Viewpoint.

Story in the Snow

[scanned Kodachrome II slide]

A Story in the Snow

© Dave Spier

Birder's journal March 21, 1971: I was following the redtail along the ridge, not so much to get a photo of it as we were both heading in roughly the same direction. I was a minute or two behind the hawk when I exited the woods and entered a partly-scrubby opening on the north end of the drumlin. More by luck than anything else, I came upon the story written as clearly as if words had been used. The mouse tracks ended in a depression, surrounded by the hawk's wing and tail feathers imprinted on the surface as it lifted into the air, prey in tow, while a drop of blood on the snow was all that remained of the hapless creature.

This could have been written a week ago; we've had no shortage of snow and cold weather this winter. There is a timeless element to many of nature's stories. It's likely a story that has been written over and over again across the intervening years.

immature Red-tailed Hawk (note barred tail)

 

For more information on Red-tailed Hawks, photos and sounds, visit the All About Birds website. An interactive range map (zoomable to your location) can be found in the eBird Explore Data section.

Corrections, comments and questions are always welcome at ebirder_14432@yahoo.com or connect through my Facebook page and photo page. There's also a community-type page for The Northeast Naturalist. Other nature and geology topics can be found on the parallel blogs Adirondack Naturalist, Heading Out, and a Naturalist's Viewpoint. 

The annual Allegany Nature Pilgrimage

One of my favorite spring wildflowers, the Pink Lady's-slipper, makes an appearance during the annual Allegany Nature Pilgrimage. Its a beautiful orchid.

It's always a good time to think ahead to spring. Please consider joining us for the next annual Allegany Nature Pilgrimage, the first weekend after Memorial Day, in Allegany State Park, New York. It seems like 48 hours of nearly-nonstop field trips and programs, but they're spread over three days with breaks to eat and sleep. There are early-morning bird walks and bird-banding demonstrations, mid-morning walks and trips, afternoon walks, (or a choice of two all-day trips on Saturday if you prefer), evening walks (beaver and salamanders in the past), evening tent programs with a speaker on Friday and Saturday, followed by after-program frogs, insects and owling. Friday has afternoon and evening walks and events, while Sunday has the morning portion. If I'm not making much sense, just check out their schedule. The new Program Descriptions list was just finalized, and there's a nature walk for every taste, from birds to geology, wildflowers to trees, fields to forests, insects to herps, a bog slog and even specialized programs on photography, dragonflies, bats and beavers. For die-hard birders, there are birding trips from early morning to late into the night plus live birds-of-prey.

Allegany State Park is between Jamestown and Olean in southwestern New York State, next to the Pennsylvania border.

For more on the Pink Lady's-slipper, see my Adirondack blog post. Corrections, questions and suggestions are always welcome at northeastnaturalist@yahoo.com or connect through my Facebook page and photo page. There is a separate community-type page for The Northeast Naturalist.

Pileated Woodpecker

The Pileated Woodpecker -- © Dave Spier

It’s our largest woodpecker and almost as long as a crow. A white patch on top of each black wing and white underwing linings make it a flashy flier. The body and tail are also black. If you can see the red crest, you know it’s a Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus, which translates to "crested tree-cleaver"). Closer inspection of this shy species, usually requiring binoculars, will reveal a white stripe extending from the top beak almost to the back of the head and then down the neck to the shoulder. The throat is white and there is a small white line over the eye. Adult males have a red forehead and red streak between the cheek and throat. On females the red is confined to the main part of the crest at the back of the crown.

Pileateds, nicknamed "log-cocks" and "cocks-of-the-woods," live mainly in mature forests, but are sometimes seen in suburbs, parks and even villages. They are year-round residents but may shift territory depending on food supplies. Their preferred diet is carpenter ants and the birds will excavate long, rectangular holes to extract them from trees. Pileated Woodpeckers locate their prey by listening for the insect’s chewing sounds. The woodpeckers also eat other insects, larvae, berries, and nuts in the wild. I’ve seen photos of these birds at suet feeders, but my feeders are too close to the house and almost never attract a wary pileatus. Other local woodpeckers (Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied, sapsucker and flicker) are regulars to semi-regulars.

Besides eating wood-damaging insects, pileateds contribute to their woodland ecosystem by chiseling a new nest cavity every spring. The previous year’s nest then becomes available for other residents such as flying squirrels and screech owls.

The range of the Pileated covers the eastern half of the United States, portions of the Pacific Northwest and most of southern Canada. By density, though, it is most numerous in the old conifer and deciduous forests of the southern states.

The population of Pileated Woodpeckers declined sharply in the 1800’s as forests were converted to farmland and the remaining birds were shot for target practice. Conservation laws and the reversion of fields to second-growth woodlots has allowed the number of woodpeckers to rebound, but it is not what anyone would consider numerous.

For more information, photos and sounds, visit the All About Birds website. An interactive range map (zoomable to your location) can be found in the eBird Explore Data section.

Corrections, comments and questions are always welcome at northeastnaturalist@yahoo.com or connect through my Facebook page and photo page. There's also a community-type page for The Northeast Naturalist. Other nature and geology topics can be found on the parallel blogs Adirondack Naturalist and Heading Out.

"Old Man's Beard"

Canon XTi with EF 100mm macro lens + macro-twin-flash;
exp. 1/125 sec., f/16, at ISO 100

Virgin's Bower

© Dave Spier

In the world of plants, there's a vine commonly known as "Old Man's Beard." (Well, that would apply to me, too, but I'm otherwise not green.) It's also called Virgin's Bower and botanists know it as Clematis virginiana, a member of the Anemoneae tribe in the Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceae). The descriptive name refers to the fruit clusters that have seeds ending in long filaments. Other folk names include Devil's Darning Needles and Devil's Hair. The genus name, Clematis, is Ancient Greek for "climbing plant."

The vine is somewhat herbaceous (at least in the north), meaning it dies back to the ground in late fall. It's opposite leaves have three leaflets reminiscent of Poison Ivy, but that is a woody vine. In the spring, Virgin's Bower has to start from scratch. In summer it puts out numerous clusters of small, fragrant flowers, each with four white "petals" (actually sepals). Compared to their colorful and showy garden relatives, they're more inconspicuous.

Virgin's Bower is native to eastern North America. Ours grow in a young woods that's mostly shaded. There they blend in with the other plants. Perhaps in full sun, the vines and flowers would be more noticeable. The vine is capable of climbing trees to a height of 20 feet, but ours just sprawl in a tangled mess across the top of the ground cover and low shrubs. Clematis virginiana tolerates Black Walnuts, which produce chemicals that interfere with some plant's growth. That's a good thing because the squirrels are advancing the walnut forest in that direction.

Corrections, comments and questions are always welcome at northeastnaturalist@yahoo.com or connect through my Facebook page and photo page. There's also a community-type page for The Northeast Naturalist. Other nature and geology topics can be found on the parallel blogs Adirondack Naturalist and Heading Out.

Giant Swallowtail

© Dave Spier

With a wingspan of roughly five inches (give or take an inch), the Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes, syn. Heraclides cresphontes) is one of the largest butterflies in eastern and southern North America. Females are larger than males.

This butterfly species ranges from Arizona to the East Coast and from southeastern Canada to Texas and Florida with a population extension into California. In the south the caterpillars are sometimes considered pests in citrus orchards. In the north the larvae eat Prickly-ash (a shrub unrelated to ash trees, although the compound leaves have a similar appearance). Common or Northern Prickly-ash (Zanthoxylum americanum) is in the citrus family (Rutaceae) and sometimes called "toothache tree" because the bark was chewed to relieve tooth-ache. Although I've found prickly-ash locally, its core range is the upper Mid-west.

Giant Swallowtails are dark brown to black with rows of pale yellow spots near the outer edges of all the wings and another row straight across the fore wings. The rear wing "tails" have yellow centers. Small orange and blue spots on the inner wing edges flank the abdomen tip.

Look for these butterflies in open areas and scattered woodlands, a perfect description of our yard where the butterflies check our garden flowers for nectar. The photo, however, was taken beside the Manchester Gateway Trail along Canandaigua Outlet Creek in the Village of Manchester, NY. It was visiting flowers in the open area under the high-voltage power lines. The rest of the trail is mostly wooded floodplain with deciduous trees.

There are several broods per year in the north, but the timing is variable from May to August or September.

Corrections, comments and questions are always welcome at northeastnaturalist@yahoo.com or connect through my Facebook page and photo page. There's also a community-type page for The Northeast Naturalist. Other nature and geology topics can be found on the parallel blogs Adirondack Naturalist and Heading Out.

European Frogbit

Frogbit

© Dave Spier

Among its many incursions into southeastern Wayne County, New York, European Frogbit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae) can be found edging Black Creek as it leaves the Montezuma Marshes west of Savannah, just before passing under Route 31 and flowing on its way to Crusoe Creek. This Eurasian species was introduced into Ottawa, Canada in the 1930's and has since spread around the lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway watersheds. Its spread northeastward has been limited only by water salinity. There is no limit to the south and west, so it has reached Vermont, New York and Michigan. Frogbit can form dense colonies on the surface and threatens biodiversity by crowding out native species and shading underwater plant growth needed by fish. Its rapid growth also can clog waterways and hinder recreational activities such as boating, canoeing and fishing.

 

Frogbit resembles a miniature waterlily, but its small, pistilate (female) flowers have only 3 petals around a yellow center, unlike the showy native waterlilies with their numerous petals in concentric rows. The frogbit flower resembles those of arrowhead plants, which is not too surprising because both are monocots in the Order Alismatales (although they are in different families). The plant could survive very well without flowers, because its seeds contribute very little to its spread. Instead, the plant can hitch-hike on boats, while its winter buds (called turions) sink to the bottom and lie dormant until spring, when they rise and travel with water currents. The buds grow into complete plants which then enlarge by sending out runners (called stolons) which sprout additional plants in an expanding network that can interlock with adjacent colonies.
 

Frogbit's round, floating leaves (generally two inches or less in diameter), are often notched like water-lilies and grow in rosettes (i.e., radiating from a center point). Dangling roots (to 12 inches long) seldom anchor in the bottom mud, allowing mobility on surface currents, even blowing upstream.

European Frogbit can be distinguished from its native counterpart (Limnobium spongia) by checking the leaf stems. American Frogbit has a midline groove.

Corrections, comments and questions are always welcome at northeastnaturalist@yahoo.com or connect through my Facebook page and photo page. There's also a community-type page for The Northeast Naturalist. Other nature and geology topics can be found on the parallel blogs Adirondack Naturalist and Heading Out.