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!)
Ermine Captures Eastern Cottontail
Ermine, or Short-tailed Weasels, are active year round and their metabolism demands a great deal of sustenance (30% of their body weight per day) in order for them to stay alive. In winter, most of their hunting takes place in the subnivean layer under the snow, where voles and mice (50-80% of their diet) reside.
An Eastern Cottontail is about as big a prey as an Ermine will tackle. Weighing as little as a tenth as much as a rabbit an Ermine has its work cut out for it when capturing and killing one. The Ermine’s strategy is to repeatedly attack the rabbit, biting it over and over to wear it down. (Elbroch and Rinehart, Behavior of North American Mammals). (Photo of Ermine with Eastern Cottontail prey taken in Essex Junction, VT by Will Callahan, submitted by Peter Collier)
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Elimination, Deduction and Perseverance Help You Read a Track Story in the Snow
My hope is that I can share my natural discoveries with my readers in such a way that they can feel they are experiencing them along with me. One photograph often doesn’t do the experience justice, especially when it involves the unveiling of a track story. The following photographs illustrate a recent discovery of tracks in the woods, and what they revealed.
Although the snow conditions didn’t lend themselves to showing the details of these tracks, I knew they weren’t tracks that one commonly comes upon. Bobcat, fox, fisher, otter, coyote, porcupine, deer – the likely suspects were quickly ruled out due to size and track pattern. After following the tracks for a while, a line running down the middle of the tracks appeared. This quickly narrowed down the field of likely suspects: what animal that is active in winter has a tail that would drag? A bit more sleuthing revealed the well-worn paths this animal had created to and from its den, along with some clear individual tracks. Due to the opposable thumb on the hind feet, Virginia Opossum tracks are very distinctive and opossum tails often leave drag marks in the snow. Following the trails from the den confirmed the identity of the track maker, as unfortunately one trail led to the body of the opossum.
These tracks were fresh – and the discovery of them took place just a day or two after our recent temperature plunge. Although (the formerly strictly southern) opossums have extended their range into northern New England and southern Canada, they still are very susceptible to the cold, suffering frostbite on their ears and tails regularly. My guess is that our only marsupial couldn’t withstand the recent cold temperatures and succumbed to them. Already, its body was feeding other more cold-hardy forest dwellers.
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Sea Smoke
The recent severe dip in air temperature created the perfect conditions for “sea smoke” to form – a phenomenon that occurs over water, and which commonly takes place in the Arctic and Antarctic but less so in New England.
When a light wind of very cold air sweeps in and mixes with a layer of saturated warm air immediately over warmer water, the layer of warm air is cooled below the dew point. This layer of cooled air can no longer hold as much moisture and the excess is condensed into fog, or sea smoke. This can and does occur over oceans, lakes (common in the Great Lakes) and rivers. (Photo: sea smoke over Lake Champlain, VT)
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Snow Buntings: Winter Visitors From The Far North
This Snow Bunting, feeding on farm silage in the Champlain Valley, migrated from the high Arctic to spend several winter months in Vermont where temperatures are comparatively warm and food is more available. In about two months he and other males will return to the arctic to nest in temperatures as cold as -22°F., where most of the seeds that they feed on are still covered with snow. Females will migrate back to their breeding grounds four to six weeks later.
Why do male Snow Buntings depart from warmer winter climes to begin their breeding season in such a hostile environment? They do so because competition for their rock crevice nest sites is so severe. Typically arctic songbirds nest in the open, but the eggs and young of crevice-nesting Snow Buntings experience far less predation than those of other birds. Even though their nests are lined with fur and feathers, these cracks and crevices can be quite cold and detrimental to developing eggs, so the male buntings feed their mates during incubation so that the incubating females can remain on the nest for long periods, keeping their eggs warm.
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