Watch and Listen to Six-week-old Black Bear Cubs
I can’t let another minute pass without bringing a website to my readers’ attention, as activity has really picked up recently. The live-cam installed inside a bear den in Ely, Minnesota at the North American Bear Center captures the sounds and movements of a mother bear and her two six-week old cubs 24 hours a day. Everything from the mother’s birth to the fall and rescue of a cub has been recorded. Enjoy part of your snowy (or not) Sunday by taking a look at this ursine family. You may have to have considerable patience before seeing a cub, but it will be worth it, and you’ll hear them night and day! It will be obvious to you that female black bears with newborn cubs do not have the luxury to go into as deep a hibernation as their mates, who are blissfully asleep in their own den. Go to http://www.bear.org/website/live-cameras/live-cameras/lilys-den-cam.html and click on “live stream” in the upper right hand corner of the picture of the bear to view live coverage. You can also see tapes of past activity, both here and on “Lily the Black Bear’s” Facebook page.
Downy Woodpeckers Drumming
Non-vocal communication between birds of the same species has become apparent in the last week or so — downy woodpeckers have started to hammer out bursts of steady staccato drum beats on nearby trees. Both male and female woodpeckers drum year round, but they do so most intensively from January to May, especially during the courtship and early nesting season which begin in March. Woodpeckers drum for a variety of reasons: defending territory, attracting a mate, maintaining contact with a mate, signaling readiness for copulation and summoning a mate from a distance. Woodpecker pairs do engage in duet drumming , which is thought to play a role in nest site selection and in promoting and maintaining the bond between mates.
Coyote Sign: “ottering” in snow
Has your dog ever flopped down into the snow, rolled over and wiggled its body back and forth, appearing to rub its back? This behavior is exhibited by other members of the dog family, including coyotes. With a little imagination you can see the coyote’s head print at the left side of this impression, and its hind feet on the right, both made while it was “ottering” in the snow. If anyone can shed light on why canids engage in this winter time activity, it would be much appreciated!
Bruce Spanworm Moths Flying
If you’ve walked in New England woods recently, chances are great that you’ve noticed light tan moths with a one-inch wing span flitting about — an odd sight for this late in the year. These are male Bruce Spanworm Moths (Operophtera bruceata), also called Winter Moths, as the adults are active from October to December. They belong to the Geometer family of moths, the second largest family of moths in North America, which includes many agricultural and forest pests. The males are seeking wingless, and therefore flightless, females to mate with. Eggs are laid in the fall, hatch in the spring, the larvae pupate in the summer, and emerge as adult moths in the fall. Bruce Spanworm larvae periodically defoliate hardwood trees, preferring the buds and leaves of sugar maple, American beech and trembling aspen trees.
American Lady & Common Milkweed Pollinia
If you look really, really closely you may be able to see Common Milkweed pollinia on the American Lady’s feet.
Live Camera on Loon Nest!
One chick has hatched, one egg remains. Incredible footage! Had to share with all of you. http://www.mnbound.com/live-loon-cam/
Parasitic Flies
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There is a family of flies, Tachinidae, which consists of different species of parasitic flies, one of which is Epalpus signifier. If you look at enough dandelions this time of year, you are likely to spot one — their white rump is a distinctive identifying feature. This fly is technically a parasitoid, and as such, spends most of its life attached to or within a host organism (Noctuid moth caterpillar) , getting nourishment from it. Unlike a parasite, it eventually kills or consumes its host
A Naturally Curious Interview
Those of you who may be curious about my outdoor experiences, and the stories behind some of my photographs are in luck. Chris Mazzarella, a skilled nature photographer, has started a blog called “Forest Forward,” where he posts his own photographs plus interviews with noteworthy photographers, environmentalists, and others passionate about wildlife/nature/conservation. His quest is to build a larger community of like-minded individuals with the common goal of wildlife conservation. Chris was naturally curious about me, and if you so choose, you can read my responses to his questions and see more of my photographs at http://forestforward.com/2012/05/04/an-interview-with-mary-holland-part-one/ . Later this weekend he will post Part 2 of the interview.
Staghorn Sumac Seed Heads and Their Inhabitants
If you pull apart a red, fuzzy seed head of Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) this time of year, you will find, in addition to a multitude of seeds, a profusion of scat in the shape of miniscule round, grey balls. If you’re lucky, you’ll find the larval insect that produced this scat. Chances are, according to Charley Eisman, author of Tracks and Sign of Insects, that many of the resident insects are in the Gelechioidea family of moths. The larvae of these moths are consumers of Staghorn Sumac seeds, and judging from the amount of scat usually present, they spend a considerable amount of time inhabiting the seed heads. It’s likely that Black-capped Chickadees and other birds you see gleaning sumac fruit are actually there for the larvae as much as the seeds.
Naturally Curious Review in Boston Globe
If you have access to the Sunday, December 4th Boston Globe, look for a review of Naturally Curious (loon and fox photos accompany it)! You can find it at:http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2011/12/04/remembering-nobel-laureate-tomas-transtromer-time-provincetown/UHOY3Ykbc1hzf7YyYktPDK/story.html
Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk
Imagine my surprise when a juvenile red-tailed hawk standing in a nearby field allowed me to approach ever so slowly within inches of it. Tracks in the snow told the story of its diving from the sky and successfully killing and eating a resident vole. For unknown reasons, it remained near the kill site for at least an hour, offering me an unusual photographic opportunity. Its wings and legs were functioning just fine as it walked and hopped/rowed with its wings occasionally in six inches of snow, so it did not appear injured in any way. Having watched red-tails raising two young this summer only a couple of miles away, I wondered if this juvenile was one of those fluffy, white nestlings that successfully fledged.
Mystery Photo
Can you identify this object? All guesses welcome. Big hint: it's found in vernal pools this time of year. Answer will be posted tomorrow.
Sumac Galls – Welcome to a photographic journey through the woods, fields and marshes of New England
Find more of my photographs and information similar to that which I post in this blog in my book Naturally Curious, which is being published this fall.
RED POUCH STAGHORN SUMAC GALLS
The colorful red pouch galls found on staghorn sumac are aptly named for the pink blush on their exterior. They can be anywhere from marble- to ping pong ball-size, and usually become obvious in late summer. Inside the thin walls of this gall is one big hollow cavity, teeming with tiny orange aphids (Melaphis rhois).
Hackberry Galls – Welcome to a photographic journey through the woods, fields and marshes of New England
Find more of my photographs and information similar to that which I post in this blog in my book Naturally Curious, which is being published this fall.
HACKBERRY GALLS
There are many species of hackberry trees, and they have many different galls — abnormal plant growths caused primarily by aphids, flies, wasps, mites and fungi. Eggs are laid on leaves, twigs and buds, and the larvae bore into the plant, which reacts by forming a shelter which also serves as a food supply for the developing larva living within it. Most of the galls found on hackberry are produced by midge flies and occur on leaves. Depending on the species of midge (each species produces a different-shaped gall) they can resemble buttons, witches’ hats, or pin cushions. Inside each of the galls pictured on this hackberry leaf is a psyllid louse larva which will eventually pupate and emerge as a winged adult.
One-flowered Pyrola – Welcome to a photographic journey through the fields, woods and marshes of New England
It’s not big. It’s not flashy. It’s quite easy to overlook, actually, but if you see a little white flower nodding towards the forest floor from a height of about 4”, stop and inspect it. This usually involves getting down on your belly in order to peer up at the underside of the flower, but it is worth doing! The intricacy of one-flowered pyrola’s (Moneses uniflora) stamens and pistil is not to be missed. There are several species of pyrola in the Northeast, but only one with a single blossom.
Many of the images and much of the information in this blog can be found in my book, Naturally Curious, which is being published this fall.
ONE-FLOWERED PYROLA
Welcome to a photographic journey through the fields, woods, and marshes of New England
Here I’ll be sharing some photographs I’ve recently taken as well as some of my favorites from my forthcoming book Naturally Curious. I’ll be updating my blog periodically with new images, new stories, and more glimpses of New England in all seasons.
PILEATED WOODPECKER SCAT
Where you find oblong pileated woodpecker feeding holes in a tree, you usually also find carpenter ants inhabiting the tree. The inner wood, where the carpenter ants reside, provides structural, not nutrient, support to the tree. (Therefore, it’s possible for a living tree survive and be completely hollow.) If you find a tree where a pileated woodpecker has been working for quite some time, and there is a considerable pile of chips at its base, you can almost always find pileated scat – which usually consists of carpenter ant carcasses, and the occasional seed or two. If your curiosity is such that you enjoy discovering what an animal has eaten by examining its scat, these pileated piles of wood chips can be a goldmine.
Welcome to a photographic journey through the fields, woods, and marshes of New England
Here I’ll be sharing some of my favorite photographs from my forthcoming book Naturally Curious. I’ll be updating my blog periodically with new images, new stories, and more glimpses of New England in all seasons.
MOURNING DOVES SINGING
My favorite time of year is fast approaching…when every day is practically guaranteed to bring you a new sign of spring. Today I awoke to the mournful cooing of the mourning dove, a sound I haven’t heard in at least six months and which gives this bird its common name. Its song is an indication that courtship has begun. To me, one of the more interesting facts about this species is that, along with pigeons, their close relatives, both parents care for their young, and do so in a unique way. They feed their young a substance called “crop milk, ” which is secreted from the cells at the top of their crop (storage pouch off esophagus) wall.
What Other Naturally Curious People Are Saying