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The first year, two English sparrows took up residence in the small boxes. Not okay with me. English sparrows are not native birds and are extremely aggressive. They have been known to build their nest on top of baby bluebirds.

As soon as I noticed the male sparrows checking out the boxes, I opened the side door to discourage them. Later that season, I closed them when I saw a chickadee checking out one of the holes in one of the boxes. Then my summer schedule hit and I got busy. I lost track and before I knew it, the sparrows were back and sitting on eggs. Bummer.

The second year, I kept the side door open. I’d rather no one use the box than provide nesting sites for the sparrows. In the big box though, a Gray Squirrel raised a litter. Not my intention, but okay.

Last year, no one used the boxes for some reason. I thought it was strange since in my area, suitable holes for cavity nesters are in short supply, but nature does strange things.

Two weeks ago, I was in the yard picking up my 20 millionth sweetgum ball. I noticed debris stuffed in the large box. I didn’t have my glasses on, so I assumed it was leaves and a gray squirrel had once again found the box as was raising another litter. I won’t lie I was a little disappointed. My neighbor told me she had a screech owl in her yard nesting for years. She had no idea what an amazing thing it is. What an honor in my mind. She was so off handed, I really wanted to scream at her.

Anyway, back to the over zealous squirrel with the leaves in the box. I thought I saw the leaves move, but since I didn’t have my glasses, I attributed the illusion to just that, my eyes playing tricks. But I went in to get my glasses just in case. I’m such the optimist, so you can imagine my surprise when this is what I saw.

This is an Eastern Screech Owl, cinnamon phase. Screech owls come in two phases, gray and cinnamon. I am so excited about my owl. I’ve become somewhat obsessive. I check to make sure s/he is still there and when I don’t see it, I become melancholy. I haven’t seen my owl in a few days, but the other birds seem especially tense and chatty around the box, so I’m hoping it is a female sitting on a nest and is just hunkered down.

From what I’ve been able to determine, the male and female share the cavity and at night, he hunts and feeds her while she sits. I have only seen one owl, but I’m holding out hope.

Stay tuned for more owl progress. Same owl time, same owl channel.

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.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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 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.

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.