I love to walk through woods and meadows in winter to spot unusual features of plants that I missed when I was distracted by flowers and leaves. So many subtle treasures exist when you look carefully.

For many trees, it is easier to identify them when they have leaves or fruits, but there are a few that have such unusual bark, all you need is a quick glance to identify them.

Often found growing along stream banks, the mottled bark of the American sycamore Platinus occidentalis, is easily spotted through a forest of trees or from a distance.

I have always used loose bark as a clue to disease, but the bark of the sycamore peels all year, revealing the brown, tan and green new bark underneath. In mid summer, the bark falls off in large pieces, larger enough to write on. I wonder if native people used this bark as a form of paper.

Though it goes by many names, the American hornbeam Carpinus caroliniana has distinctly sinuous bark which may explain why is it sometimes called muscle wood.

Hornbeam is a very dense wood, probably the densest in the mid-Atlantic forest and it is extremely hard. I once bent a pair of loppers on a limb. When I returned them to the store, the sales person asked me if I was cutting a steel cable with it. No, just ironwood.

Clues of herbaceous plants gone dormant can also be seen around the woods. There are a few species of woodland ferns that are evergreen, but my winter interest has also been to find the remains of the fertile fronds from ostrich and sensitive ferns.

The feathery plumes of ostrich ferns are a rich chocolate brown against newly fallen snow. And the tiny dark beads on the sensitive fern frond remind me of grape clusters.

Fruits as well as seed pods provide winter interest as well as important food sources for resident birds and mammals. The berries on red chokecherry Prunus virginiana burn bright against a blue sky signaling their ripeness to hungry birds.

The American hazelnut, a rare treat to find because of they are a favorite of several mammals including fox, squirrel and raccoon as well as many larger birds like turkey and blue jays, are exquisite in their clam shell shaped sheath.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The monarch butterfly is probably one of the most recognizable insects, but many people are unaware of a mysterious life they lead at the end of the summer.
For its size, no other insect, bird or mammal migrates like this butterfly. A North American monarch can travel up to 80 miles a day, totaling nearly 3000 miles over the course of 2 months.
Monarchs caterpillars hatch from an egg laid on their host plant, milkweed and proceed to eat the leaves, absorbing the toxins within the plant. These toxins persist in the caterpillar’s body and are transferred to the adult butterfly. Depending on where the caterpillar is from, there may be as many as 3 broods or generations in a season.

After going through a series of molts, the caterpillar sheds its skin for the last time into a chrysalis.
The butterflies that emerge in the fall are biologically and behaviorally different from those that emerged earlier in the season. They are called the Methuselah generation and live 7-8 months instead of the normal 4-5 weeks. In human terms, that is equivalent to having your children live to be 525 years old!

The Methuselah generation don’t mate right away, but begin their trek south to the mountains of central Mexico, feeding on nectar plants along the way. Arriving between mid October and early November, these monarchs will hibernate en masse until mid February.
As temperatures rise and humidity falls, they wake, mate and begin to travel north again laying eggs on milkweed along the way.
Those that return to Mexico the following year will be the great, great, great grandchildren of those that left the previous year.

I heard this song the other day that made me smile. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Oooo, That Smell”. I never understood the meaning of that song, but it must have been written in summer.

I was walking my son home from school a few weeks ago and as we passed a neighbor’s house, he said, “Mom, what’s that smell?” We looked up to find we were standing under a black locust tree in full flower. The white hanging flowers present a strong sweet smell for anyone inclined to notice. It got me thinking. Summer really smells! Most good, a few not so good, but there are some very distinct smells you only encounter in the summer.

For me, newly mowed grass, low tide at the beach, the first rain on hot pavement, and ripe, warm strawberries are all nostalgic smells of summer. Sweet smelling Japanese honeysuckle conjures up images of my childhood, where my friends and I would pluck the flowers, pinch the back, draw out the filament and lick the tiny droplet of nectar. Fun and yummy. Not all the smells are as sweet as that though.

The flowers of the Chinese Chestnut are a real nose wrinkler. The long white blooms release a pungent semen-like smell. And Boxwood shrubs often are described as smelling like cat urine.
The reason for scent in flowers is obvious. Flowers release a smell to attract an insect, which in turn pollinates the flower, so it can make seeds. Without pollination, most plants would be unable to reproduce. Bees and moths are attracted to sweet smelling flowers while flies and beetles are often attracted to foul, putrid smells.

Next time you’re out, stop and smell the roses or honeysuckle, or even the Chinese Chestnut. Hmm, maybe not the chestnut.

Enjoy all of nature’s gifts.

Love is definitely in the air. Has been for some time, but in the last few days, I’m noticing a lot of telltale signs that animals are seeking animals. It started a few weeks ago with the woodfrogs mentioned in the previous post. Now, other frogs and some birds are catching the love bug.

On a recent frog slog with a friend (yes, that is what I do on Friday nights, don’t laugh), we were searching for an elusive, unconfirmed endangered species in Lower Makefield Township called the Northern Leopard Frog. They often share habitat with other amphibians such as bullfrogs, green frogs, pickerel frogs and spring peepers. Slogging through the water and mud in hip waders on a warm spring evening, the peeper singing was so loud, it literally hurt my ears. These little frogs are only the size of a man’s thumb nail, but their calls can be heard about a mile away. You’d think since they are so loud, they’d be easy to find. Not so. They are extremely hard to spot and they are often not at the water’s edge where you’d expect, but in the shrubs.
The males call a high pitched whistle to advertise they are a SPM (Single Peeper Male) ISO SPF. If another SPM comes calling, they add a trill to their whistle and a territory dispute ensues. The more dominant male wins the spot and can wait for a female to come by.

If a male and female do “hook up” she deposits eggs and he fertilizes them as they are extruded. The tiny eggs are laid singly and are about as big as of the head of a pin.

Some animals have already done their hooking up and are done for a while. My friends’ neighbor just brought me a baby turtle to be identified. Her son had found it walking around their back yard. Since I’m doing a turtle program in a few weeks, he was kind enough to let me hold on to it until then. This baby painted turtle is no larger than a quarter and hatched from an egg laid on land.

Other animals looking for love are birds. I’ve been hearing woodpeckers drum against trees for several weeks now. This is the time of year I get calls from friends about dumb woodpeckers pecking on aluminum siding or against the gutters. These amorous males aren’t looking for insects in your gutters. They peck against these things because they make a good noise. Mostly though, I’ve been hearing their drumming against hollow trees. The sound resonates and not only advertises a good territory to ward off competing males, but the girls like it too.

Over the next several weeks, you’ll notice lots of birds singing. Male birds sing to advertise themselves to the females and posture to other males. Get out with your kids and count how many different bird sounds you can hear. Once you get better at identifying a particular song, see if you can hear a competing male a few yards away. You’ll notice they actually “talk” to each other. You may begin to determine how far apart each territory is for each bird. Enjoy nature.

It may not feel much like spring, and the calendar may say it is still a 5 days away, but spring has definitely sprung around here. Spring can be very subtle, and you need to be cued into the clues, but, if you look and listen carefully, you will soon discover that the seasons have changed.

On a recent trip to the bank, I noticed the branches of the silver maple lining the road had a distinct fuzzy appearance. I pulled over and discovered they were in fact blooming. Many people don’t realize trees bloom unless they are obvious like dogwoods, but maple trees are in full bloom now.

Another tip that spring is here has actually finished already. Just 5 days ago, the wood frogs were calling in the vernal pools of Five Mile Woods. With the first spring rain, the males make their way to these temporary pools and start calling. The females follow shortly after. You may have mistaken their calls for quacking ducks, but they are small woodland frogs that wake, call, mate, lay eggs and leave all within a two week period.

Thousands of jelly-like eggs are laid by the females while the male clasps her from behind and fertilizes the eggs as they come out. Also calling, and they will continue to do so for several weeks, are the spring peepers. These tiny tree frogs are no larger than a man’s thumb nail, but their loud whistling peep can be heard up to a mile away.

The last amphibian to wake from spring is a silent one. Along with the woodfrogs, the spotted salamander remains underground most of the winter. With the first “warm” spring rains, they migrate, sometimes in mass, to vernal pools. Males congregate first, followed by the females. Their courtship, though brief is very interesting, but hasn’t happened yet, so I’ll save it for another post.

Get outside and discover spring before it is too late.