Butternut “Monkey” Leaf Scars

Butternut (Juglans cinerea), also known as White Walnut,  is a species of walnut native to New England. Butternut has several distinctive characteristics, one of the most memorable being the pattern on the scars that are left when a leaf falls off.  The vessels that transport food from the leaves to the roots and water from the roots to the leaves, phloem and xylem, respectively, are called vascular bundles.  They are darker than the rest of the scar, and are arranged in such a way on Butternut twigs that the leaf scar resembles nothing more than the face of a monkey! A fuzzy “brow” completes the likeness. (Black Walnut (Juglans nigra), a close relative, has leaf scars that also look like monkey faces, but they lack the furrowed brows.)

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Web Cam & Denning Black Bears

Someone has set up a web cam in Pennsylvania under a house where a black bear and at least one cub are denning.  Lots of sleeping, but at least one intermittently active cub whose antics you might enjoy!

https://hdontap.com/index.php/video/stream/pennsylvania-bear-den-live-cam?fbclid=IwAR3G2bVqpLpeuPLJcOKvkX7BetxSCLjAve8m7yhEtRKju1utomRTEN9yUm0

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Beavers Posting Their Land

It’s not as neat nor as tall a mound as it typically is, but the vegetation you see on the bank of this pond is a beaver’s way of posting its territory.  In two to three months, around the time that beavers give birth, the two-year-old beavers inhabiting a lodge typically leave to seek greener pastures in the form of unclaimed ponds or to form their own pond.  No-one is quite sure whether parents encourage this departure, or whether the young beavers take it upon themselves to leave, but especially when the food supply is limited, the two-year-olds disperse.

Older, established beavers, having experienced this exodus themselves when they were young, are well aware that two-year-olds will be scouting for a new spot to set up residence in the spring.  In order to discourage any potential intruders, beavers build one or more “scent mounds” on the shore of their pond or stream that consist of mud and vegetation they’ve gathered from the bottom of the pond or stream.  They then walk over these mounds and excrete liquid castoreum from castor glands (located near their anal glands) onto it.  The scent of castoreum is very distinctive and conveys information to beavers passing by that tells them that this location has been claimed and to move on. (If you come upon a scent mound, I encourage you to smell it – castoreum has, to some people, a very pleasing scent.)

Interestingly, castoreum contains salicylic acid, which is the active ingredient in aspirin. Salicylic acid is found in willows (which beavers eat), and native Americans used willow bark to treat headaches.

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Striped Skunks On The Prowl

Striped Skunks avoid the colder spells of winter by slowing down their metabolism and entering into a state of torpor inside dens they dig themselves or in abandoned dens (often those of foxes).  Females often gather together during this time, while males tend to be more solitary.  Both have been found cohabiting with opossums and raccoons during the colder months. 

In the Northeast, peak breeding season for Striped Skunks is in March and this is when you are most likely to see skunk trails in the snow as they wander in search of a mate.  Skunks travel as much as two-and-a-half miles a night, with males entering the den of a female in estrus and mating with her.  While females only mate with one male, males attempt to mate with every female on their territory. (Photo: Striped Skunk tracks)

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An Amazing Read

Occasionally I come across a book that I would love the whole world to know about, and The Immense World by Ed Yong is one of them. How different animals sense the world has always been of interest to me, and I thought I had a fairly broad understanding of this subject until I opened this book.

Yong explores how different animals experience the world through their varying perceptions of smells, tastes, light, color, pain, heat, vibrations, sounds, and electric and magnetic fields. Each page contains information that will have you looking at our fellow inhabitants with a sense of wonder and awe. As Jeff Vandermeer (author of Authority) wrote: “A powerful and immersive deep dive into the perceptual lives of other organisms – and a persuasive case for more empathy and understanding of the complexity, sophistication, and sheer riotous joy of the nonhuman world – it’s an instant classic.”

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Snow Fleas Are Peppering The Snow

Duringwarming temperatures at this time of year the snow can be covered with tiny black specks (1 – 2 mm long), resembling pepper sprinkled on the snow.  If you watch them for a period of time, you’ll see that these specks move — leap, in fact — a distance often several times their body length.  These moving specks are called snow fleas, a species of springtail, not a type of flea. For that matter, they are not insects, but close relatives to arthropods, specifically crustaceans. During most of the year snow fleas live in the soil and leaf litter, consuming fungi, algae and decaying organic matter. On warm winter days they appear on the surface of the snow, often at the base of trees or in track indentations. 

Their acrobatic prowess is achieved not with wings, which they lack, but with two tail-like spring projections, or furcula, which are held like a spring against the bottom of their abdomen by a kind of latch. When the snow flea wants to move, the latch is released and the furcula springs downward, catapulting the snowflea as far as 100 times its body length.

Snowfleas in the genus Hypogastrura possess three pinkish anal sacs which are usually located inside the snowflea, hidden from view. Just before jumping the snowflea everts these sacs from its anus. Their function has not been confirmed, but many biologists believe they serve as a sticky safety bag which prevents the snowflea from bouncing around when it lands.

The anti-freeze protein that allows snow fleas to be active at colder temperatures than insects is being studied in the hopes that they can be used to better store transplant organs.

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Red Foxes Bed In The Open Most Nights

While dens are used for raising young, on all but the most frigid nights Red Foxes will curl up on an elevated surface such as a hummock, rock or stump in an open habitat where they can survey their surroundings, tuck their noses under their tails and bed down for the night.  Their circular bed is roughly a foot in diameter.  When they rest during the day they are much more likely to seek cover in wooded areas.

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Bobcat Breeding Season

The peak of the Bobcat breeding season is in February and March.  During this time, males breed with as many females as possible.  Females actively announce their availability through cheek and body rubbing, as well as marking their territory with urine. Their loud and frequent vocalizations can also be heard.  Courtship includes the male and female Bobcat chasing and leaping on each other, which is followed by mating (up to 16 times daily for several days).

(Photo: This Bobcat was seen approaching the residence of two domesticated cats. While standing on its hind feet, it scratched the glass door repeatedly.  Possibly its vomeronasal organ, located at the roof of its mouth, allowed it to detect the indoor cats’ pheromones.) Thanks to Lucy Keefe who kindly alerted me as to the Bobcat’s presence.

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Harbingers Of Spring Return

Red-winged Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds and Common Grackles, all harbingers of spring, have started to return to Vermont over the past week or two.  In southern and western United States Red-wings are thought to be nonmigratory, but individuals breeding in the Northeast on average migrate roughly 500 miles or more south in the fall.  When spring comes, males migrate first and arrive back in the Northeast several weeks before females. 

When they do arrive back, Red-winged Blackbirds often encounter several snow storms while on their breeding grounds.  This is when life can become challenging for these voracious seed-eaters.  They have a couple of months before nesting begins, during which time they are establishing territories and attracting a mate, both of which demand good nutrition. Corn and weed seeds make up a majority of their food during this time; insects are their mainstay during the breeding season.

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A New Children’s Book by Mary Holland

Arbordale Press has just released my 14th children’s book, Animal Myths.  Close-up photographs and simple text reveal the misconceptions some animal myths convey.  Does a porcupine actually throw its quills?  Are bats blind?  Do toads give you warts?  These and 10 other animal myths are examined within the pages of this book.  The last two pages provide mix-and-match activities for 4-9 year-old readers.  Available online or independent bookstores.  (You may have to request that your bookstore order you a copy if they don’t already carry it!)