Naturally Curious Hiatus
Naturally Curious will be on hiatus for the next month or so due to a move I am making across the state of Vermont to the town of Shelburne. I will sorely miss the hills, fields, streams and woods of the Upper Valley, but look forward to making new discoveries in the Champlain Valley. (I’m hoping readers who live near my new abode will be as helpful in letting me know about local flora and fauna as those in the Upper Valley have been over the past 17 years!)
The Naturally Curious blog will resume as soon as I have settled and have a working computer. The timing of this move isn’t ideal, as there is so much happening this time of year that I would love to be out photographing and sharing with readers, but I look forward to being able to do that again in the very near future, hopefully in July. Thank you so much for your patience and support. Stay naturally curious and may the next month be filled with exciting discoveries! And please stay healthy. (Photo: Showy Lady’s Slipper,Cypripedium reginae)
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Common Loons Incubating Eggs
Common Loons prefer nesting on islands (versus the mainland) and typically their nest is adjacent to water that is deep enough for an underwater approach. Males usually choose the nest site, and return to it year after year if they have reproductive success there. Both male and female loons construct the nest, using vegetation growing adjacent to or on the bottom of the pond near the nest site. It takes them about a week to build their nest and they add continuously to it throughout incubation.
Usually two eggs are laid, occasionally one, and both parents incubate the eggs. Incubation lasts 26 – 29 days. Just prior to hatching you can hear the chicks peeping inside the egg before they cut through the membrane and outer shell with their “egg tooth,” extract themselves from the egg, dry their down and enter the water. They are born knowing how to swim.
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Velvet-covered Antlers Growing
Male White-tailed Deer grow a new pair of antlers every year starting when they are one year old. The size of the antlers depends on the age of the deer, genetics, and diet. Before antlers actually appear, structures called pedicles that connect the antlers to the skull develop. Growth of the actual antlers begins in March or April and as more nutritious food becomes more available during May and June antlers grow more rapidly.
Antlers are one of the fastest growing bones that exist; growth is regulated by hormones which are controlled by the photoperiod, or length of day . Yearling antlers can grow about 1/8-inch a day during the summer, and adults as much as 1/4th of an inch. While they are growing, antlers are covered with a layer of tissue called “velvet” which is dense with blood vessels that carry nutrients to the antlers. In August the supply of blood to the velvet diminishes and the antlers begin to harden. By September the velvet has dried and is falling off. Antlers are used as weapons during rut, or the mating season, after which they fall to the ground, providing a valuable source of calcium and phosphorus for rodents. (Photo by Erin Donahue)
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Painted Turtles Laying Eggs
Painted Turtles have been engaging in intricate, underwater courtship (consisting of mutual stroking) and mating since March or April. Females can store sperm for several months, enabling them to delay egg-laying, as well as to lay several clutches of eggs. Nesting activity peaks in June and early July, when females leave their ponds to dig holes in sandy soil and gravel (lower left photo) in which they deposit 3 – 15 oval, white eggs. Note in the lower right photo, taken after the turtle had departed, that the turtle buries her eggs and tamps down the earth so effectively it’s hard to detect that the ground has been disturbed.
In August or September Painted Turtle eggs hatch and most of the young turtles head to nearby ponds. Occasionally, in northern New England, the young overwinter in the nest and emerge the following spring. (Photos by Jody Crosby)
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Eastern Chipmunks Nesting
Eastern Chipmunks breed twice a year, typically in March/April and in June/July. After mating, the female chipmunk outfits a central nesting chamber deep within the ground with leaves. She will give birth to four to six young in about a month. When born the young are about the size of a jelly bean, toothless and furless with closed eyes and ears. The mother raises her young by herself and by the time they are a month old, they begin to emerge from their burrow. At this point they are about two-thirds the size of an adult chipmunk. (Photo: female Eastern Chipmunk collecting leaves for her underground nest)
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Canadian Tiger Swallowtails Puddling
In April, during mud season, living on a dirt road can be a curse. But in May and June, when swallowtails emerge, it can be a blessing as you often witness a phenomenon called “puddling.” This phenomenon consists of clusters of butterflies (predominantly males) gathering to obtain salts and minerals that have leached from the soil into standing puddles and moist dirt.
Because butterflies do not have chewing mouthparts they must drink their meals. While nectar is their main source of nutrition, males often supplement their diet with minerals. The sodium uptake aids in reproductive success, with precious nutrients often transferred from the male to the female during mating. This extra nutrition helps ensure that the eggs survive.
Pictured are Canadian Tiger Swallowtails puddling. They are easily mistaken for Eastern Tiger Swallowtails as they look very much alike and their ranges overlap. To determine which you have seen, look at the underside of the butterfly’s forewing and see if the yellow band along the margin is solid and continuous (Canadian Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio canadensis), or if it is broken up into spots (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio glaucus).
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Purple Martins Nesting
In April, North America’s largest swallow, the Purple Martin, returns to New England to breed. Nesting is now underway, and here in the East takes place almost exclusively in man-made colonial nest boxes. Prior to 1900, woodpecker holes in snags were the preferred nesting sites, but now only Purple Martins in the West tend to seek them out (unlike Purple Martins in the East, they often are solitary nesters). Even though humans have provided housing which has increased their population, there is still considerable competition from European Starlings and House Sparrows.
When they are not raising a ruckus at their nests, the iridescent dark blue-purple male and duller female Purple Martins can be seen swooping and gliding in the air as they hunt their insect prey. If there is a cold, rainy spell in the spring or early summer it can reduce their insect food supply and they can suffer great losses.
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