Young Hardwood Leaves
Have you ever noticed that the color of many of the tender, young leaves on shrubs and trees that are emerging at this time of year have a reddish tint? The red color of many spring leaves is due to the same pigments responsible for the brilliant reds of autumn, the anthocyanins. This spring coloration is temporary; eventually, as they produce the green pigment chlorophyll necessary for photosynthesis, the leaves turn green. There has to be a reason for this phenomenon, and several theories have been proposed.
Researchers have found that young oak leaves (which can be quite red-see photo) are attacked less by insects than young green leaves. The red coloration of young leaves contains high concentrations of tannins and anthocyanins which together may act as a defense against herbivorous insects. It has also been suggested that the anthocyanins may help the leaves withstand cold and screen them from damaging ultraviolet rays as well as air pollution.
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Zombie Moths
There is a group of fungi in the genus Cordyceps that are capable of manipulating the behavior of insects that they invade. There are well over 100 known related species (Ophiocordyceps spp.) that infect a wide variety of insects, including butterflies, moths and beetles, and at least 35 that perform “mind control” on their hosts. Fortunately, humans appear to be immune from these fungi.
One Cordyceps fungus replaces a moth’s tissues (see photo) and controls the moth’s end-of-life movements in an attempt to increase the likelihood that its spores are dispersed to new hosts. The spikes you see on the pictured moth are a result of the fungus’s invasion of the moth. (Photo by Janni Jacobs; discovery of this Zombie Moth in Vermont by Jake Jacobs)
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Hepatica Leaves
Round-lobed (Hepatica americana) and Sharp-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba) are two of our earliest plants to flower, blossoming in early to mid-April, before tree leaves have unfurled, allowing the sun’s rays to reach the forest floor.
The leaves of these plants are evergreen; new ones are produced in May. They remain on the plant for a full year, through the next spring’s flowering period. (Many spring wildflowers, or ephemerals, produce leaves, flowers and fruits in a short amount of time and then disappear.) Not only do hepatica leaves photosynthesize on warm winter days (if snow hasn’t buried them), but even worn and tattered they go into high gear in the spring, photosynthesizing before the leaves of other plants have even appeared. Thus, hepatica is able to produce its flowers earlier than most other spring wildflowers. (Photo: Round-lobed Hepatica, Hepatica americana)
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Common Hazel Flowering
Early in the spring, before its leaf buds begin to open in late April, Common Hazel flowers are displayed. Both male and female flowers can be found on the same shrub. The male catkins dangle in the breeze, shedding their pollen (there are about 240 male flowers in each catkin), while the minute (1/16”-1/8”) maroon female flowers spread their star-like styles open in order to catch the wind-dispersed pollen.
Pollen from the male flowers can pollinate and fertilize the female flowers on the same plant, although male flowers often mature before female flowers. Interestingly, the pollen germinates as soon as it reaches a receptive flower but the fertilization process does not take place for several months. If successfully pollinated and fertilized the female flower will develop into one to four nuts.
If you look closely at the photo inset, you can see the tiny light-colored specks of pollen that have landed on the sticky styles.
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Red Fox Kits Leading Worry-free Life
Red fox kits are roughly a month to two months old now. In another month or two they will be weaned and on solid food that they will have to learn how to capture, but for now their parents are caring for all their needs, serving as a milk bar, groomer and protector. Days are spent near the den, tumbling and mock fighting with their siblings, chewing on practically anything from sticks to feathers (and each other), and napping in the sun while they wait for parental food delivery. Life will never be this carefree again!
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Black-capped Chickadees Nest-building
Spring is here and nest building has begun for many of our cavity nesters. Protected from the wind and low temperatures that can occur this time of year, birds that nest in cavities get a jump start on starting a family. Black-capped Chickadees typically seek out trees with punky wood that is soft enough for their small beaks to excavate. Birch, aspen and sugar maple are chosen with regularity.
While the nest site is often chosen by the female, both male and female chickadees participate in the excavation of the cavity. They take turns disappearing inside the hole (that they have created or one that a previous nesting woodpecker made or a natural cavity) and chipping away at its interior and then exit with a beak full of wood chips. Unlike many cavity nesters that just drop the chips to the ground from the hole, chickadees usually fly a short distance away before dropping them.
The female alone builds the nest inside the cavity. She usually uses coarse material such as moss for the foundation, and lines the nest with finer material such as rabbit fur and deer hair. Within one to two days of finishing the nest, she lays anywhere from one to thirteen eggs.
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Bald-faced Hornet Queens Soon To Emerge From Hibernation
Bald-faced Hornets (Dolichovespula maculata) are a species of wasp, named for the white (“bald”) markings on their heads. Known for their large, hanging paper nests, most of these insects have a relatively short life – no longer than the span of a summer. Four to seven hundred hornets, mostly female workers in addition to one queen, occupy the nest all summer.
Come late summer/early fall the sole egg-laying queen begins to lay eggs that become drones (males) and new queens. When mature, these fertile males and queens fly off to mate. The drones and the female workers in the nest then die; the old queen, if not killed by workers, dies with them around mid-autumn. The fertilized young queens hibernate over winter in rotting logs, under bark and in crevices, and start new colonies in the spring of the following year. A recent exploration of a rotting log revealed that bald-faced hornet queens are not active yet, but soon will be. (Photo: Bald-faced Hornet queen)
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Gray Squirrels’ Diet Changing
When you think of a Gray Squirrel’s diet, you think of nuts – acorns, walnuts, hickory nuts, etc., and for half of the year, these nutritious sources of food do serve as their main diet. Fall is spent burying individual nuts which will serve as their winter food supply. By spring, however, the fall stores of nuts and seeds are depleted, and it is one of the toughest times of year for these rodents. Tree buds, flowers, and the softer bark of some trees are their primary source of food. While abundant, buds and flowers are notably poor in calories and costly to digest. Finding and consuming food can occupy most of a Gray Squirrel’s day at this time of year. (Photo: Gray Squirrel eating Sugar Maple buds, spotted by sharp-eyed Lily Piper Brown)
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The Beneficiaries Of Your Generosity
Five years ago Naturally Curious readers responded to the loss of my son-in-law with a tremendous outpouring of generosity to my daughter Sadie and her two children, now aged 5 (Lily Piper) and almost 8 (Otis) . I wanted to share a recent photograph of them and again thank everyone who was so kind, thoughtful and generous. They are doing well and are the joy of my life. They are so grateful for all you did for them.
A Nod To Journaling
Every year we have the opportunity to witness and compare the timing of the annual spring appearance of plant and animal species where we live. Keeping a journal and noting over a period of years when Silver Maples flower, Killdeer reappear, Spotted Salamanders emerge above ground, etc. can provide valuable phenological information. It can also be a wonderful guide to when you should keep your eyes open and what you should keep them open for.
As a rule, Ospreys return and engage in copulation during the first week of April in the Champlain Valley of Vermont. I know this only because I’ve jotted down my observations in a journal I’ve kept over the past 50 years. Each spring I religiously review past years’ journal entries for where I am currently living. This year’s review made me aware that chances were as good as they get for witnessing raptor courtship this week. A trip to a local Osprey nest confirmed that they had indeed returned. Two hours of waiting was rewarded with the accompanying photograph. (They do copulate an average of 160 times per clutch, so luck was in my favor!) If you’re fortunate enough to live in the same area for a lengthy period of time, journaling can be an invaluable tool for the naturally curious.
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Grubs: Raccoon Delicacies
Besides moles and voles, which leave obvious pathways and mounds on the ground, skunks and raccoons are the biggest culprits when it comes to wreaking havoc on lawns. Both are primarily interested in finding grubs (immature insects, or larvae, primarily of beetles) to eat. Because they go about locating their prey differently, it’s fairly easy to tell which one has come calling.
Skunks typically root around with their noses in the soil and then dig individual little funnel-shaped holes in the ground. Raccoons tend to use their paws like hands, digging, lifting and tearing off chunks of sod and flipping them over to inspect for grubs.
After hatching, many insect larvae feed on the grass roots near the surface of a lawn during the summer, move deeper in the soil during the winter, and then move back up as the soil warms in the spring before pupating and emerging as adult beetles. Raccoons have learned that this is the time of year when grubs are their biggest and juiciest, and easiest to excavate.
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North American River Otters Mating and Giving Birth
North American River Otters are induced ovulators – copulation releases the female’s egg from the ovary. Once the egg is released and fertilized, however, there is a nine to eleven month delay before the embryo begins actively developing (delayed implantation). Actual gestation takes about two months. Thus, otters sometimes give birth up to a year after mating, just before their next breeding cycle. April and May are busy months for this semiaquatic mammal.
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Great Blue Heron Ingenuity
I had to laugh this morning about what I witnessed just after posting about male Great Blue Herons collecting and delivering sticks for their nest. It occurred to me that I have seen hundreds of sticks being brought to nests, but I have never actually seen a heron in the act of collecting a stick. Lo and behold, today was my lucky day. At least one heron came up with an extremely efficient and energy-saving strategy for accomplishing this task.
Being largely fish eaters, herons typically raise their young in wetlands where food is plentiful. Many of these wetlands are created by beavers, who set up housekeeping there as well. Herons owe not only their habitat to beavers, but also, in this case, their nesting material. A veritable goldmine of sticks is right underneath the heron nests, free for the taking right in the middle of the heron rookery in the form of a beaver lodge. Fortunately for the beavers, there is a limit to the size of the stick a heron can carry.
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Spring Beauty Rust
Spring Beauty is one of the early woodland ephemerals that greet us before tree buds have opened and released the leaves that will soon shade the forest floor. With April showers plentiful the ground is often damp, encouraging the growth of Spring Beauty Rust (Puccinia mariae-wilsoniae), a species of rust fungus that grows on both species of Spring Beauty (Claytonia caroliniana and C. virginica) that we have in the Northeast. There are approximately 7,000 species of rust fungi, all of which are parasites of plants from which they obtain nutrients and on which they reproduce and complete their life cycles.
Spring Beauty Rust can be recognized by the scattered clusters of reddish-brown sori (clusters of sporangia, structures producing and containing spores) that cover the surface of Spring Beauty’s leaves, stems and the sepals on the outside of flower buds.
If you survey a patch of Spring Beauty you will see that some are quite white while others have deep pink nectar guides and pollen. As a rule, Spring Beauty Rust infects plants with pinker flowers.
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Male Red-bellied Woodpeckers Calling & Tapping To Attract Mate
One of the best ways to determine if Red-bellied Woodpeckers have chosen to nest nearby is the presence of their persistent and distinctive “kwirr” call. It is given most often now, during the breeding season, when males try to attract a mate to their roost cavity or a partially completed excavation by calling to them. Drumming and soft taps are also performed by males as part of the courtship ritual.
When attracted, the female flies to the male and indicates her acceptance of his cavity by perching beside him while they both engage in tapping behavior. If the cavity is partially completed, the mutual tapping behavior also appears to stimulate the female to help the male finish excavating the cavity. (Photo: male Red-bellied Woodpecker at nest hole; inset: male (left) and female (right) tapping at nest hole.)
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Northern Leopard Frogs Emerging From Hibernation And Males Are Starting To “Snore”
Spring Peepers, Wood Frogs and a variety of salamanders steal the early bird show when it comes to amphibians, but now other species are beginning to appear, including Northern Leopard Frogs which are emerging from the mud at the bottom of the ponds, marshes and streams where they spent the winter. These frogs migrate to their breeding grounds soon after becoming active and before long the males’ sonorous courtship calls will be heard.
During the breeding season males advertise on land and in the water for females with a hoarse snore-like croak followed by two or more clucks. A chorus of them can be fairly deafening. Both males and females also give aggressive calls, males when grasped by another male and females when grasped by a male after they have finished laying their eggs.
To hear a male Northern Leopard Frog’s mating call, go to https://musicofnature.com/calls-of-frogs-and-toads-of-the-northeast/ and scroll down. It’s as distinctive as the Spring Peeper’s “peep” or the Wood Frog’s “quack.”
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Red Maples Flowering
Red Maples (Acer rubrum) are celebrated in the fall for their vibrant foliage, but they produce equally vibrant reds and yellows in early spring when they are flowering. Most Red Maples have dense clusters of either male flowers or female flowers (dioecious). Under certain conditions, a Red Maple tree can sometimes switch from male to female, male to both male and female (hermaphroditic), and hermaphroditic to female.
The showier male, or staminate, flowers contain between four and twelve stamens, with long, slender filaments and red (young) or yellow (mature) anthers at their tips. Both red sepals and petals can be seen at the base of the stamens. A staminate Red Maple in full bloom is a blaze of gold and red. (Photo: mature staminate Red Maple flowers)
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Killdeer Returning To Breeding Grounds
Killdeer are among the first migratory birds to return in the spring. Finding food this time of year can be challenging for this member of the Plover family, especially with the temperature fluctuations we’ve been having, so the Killdeer’s broad diet of invertebrates (grasshoppers, earthworms, beetles and snails, among others) serves it well. When foraging, a Killdeer will often pat the ground or mud in shallow water with one quivering foot in hopes of scaring up a meal.
Active both day and night, you can often hear their “kill-deer” call overhead at night, especially in early spring and in late summer. If you live in or near a town, you may well observe them foraging at night over parking lots and lighted ball fields.
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Large-flowered Bellwort Flowering
Large-flowered Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora), a member of the lily family, strikes one as a rather modest plant, hiding its six-parted flowers by hanging them face down towards the ground. This arrangement influenced Linnaeus when he was assigning this plant the generic name Uvularia, as he felt the pendant blossoms resembled a uvula, that lobe that hangs from the upper palate at the back of our throats!
Many insects are attracted to this plant’s pollen and nectar, particularly bumble bees and other types of bees. Ants distribute Large-flowered Bellwort seeds, attracted by the fatty elaiosomes attached to the them. And White-tailed Deer graze so heavily on this plant that you won’t find it in woods that are overpopulated with deer.
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A Busy First Month
We are seeing Red Fox kits above ground as they emerge from their den for the first time since birth, but much has transpired since they were born a month or so ago. Like other canids, including coyotes and wolves, their natal coat of fur was charcoal brown. A new, second, coat of sandy-colored hair (that matches the sandy soil of the den site) has grown in, to be replaced again within the next two months by a brilliant red coat. The weaning process, which won’t be completed for some time, has begun by the time the kits venture above ground. Their eyes have opened (at 10-12 days), their first set of teeth has come in and they have established hierarchy among themselves. Down in the den during the past month vicious fighting has taken place among the kits in order to determine which kit was “top dog,” or the alpha (usually the largest kit) and gets the lion’s share of the food delivered by the parents.
By the time we see Red Fox kits, much has happened in their young lives. They’ve gained sight, a new coat, a set of teeth, the introduction of solid food, and most importantly, hierarchy has been established. Peace now reigns and we get to enjoy the kits’ playful antics as they are introduced to the world above ground.
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Mourning Dove Nesting Idiosyncracies
Nest-building and chick-feeding are a bit unusual for Mourning Doves. As to nest construction, the female remains at the nest site while the male dove collects the nesting material (twigs, grasses, pine needles, etc.). He returns to the nest and proceeds to stand on his mate’s back while presenting the material to her and she weaves it into the nest.
The hatchlings, or squabs, are fed by regurgitation. For the first four or five days, the squabs insert their bills in each side of either parent’s mouth and drink what is referred to as crop milk, a secretion from the lining of the crops of the parents. All pigeons and doves produce crop milk for their young. Seeds are regurgitated in increasing amounts and by the time the squabs fledge, they are essentially seed eaters like their parents. (Note: With a little effort, scruffy feathers of squabs can be seen beneath the breast of this nesting Mourning Dove.)
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Sedges Flowering
Often it’s the spring ephemerals – Trout Lily, Red Trillium, Dutchman’s Breeches – that catch our eye as we walk through the woods this time of year. But there are other, more modest flowering plants which shouldn’t be overlooked.
Sedges, often found growing near wetlands but also in woods, are one of these inconspicuous plants. Related to grasses and rushes, they are wind-pollinated, and have no need for large, showy petals in order to attract insects. As a result, it’s fairly easy to miss their flowers, some of which are in full bloom right now.
Male and female sedge flowers are typically found on the same plant. The arrangement of the flowers, or inflorescence, usually consists of a cluster of male flowers on the end of a spike (see photo) with female flowers located on separate spikes. A dissecting scope is necessary in order to identify most species of sedges, but an easy way to know it’s a sedge is to feel the shape of the plant’s stem – sedge stems are three-sided — triangular in cross-section (unlike rushes which are round, and grass stems which are hollow). Hence, the saying “Sedges have edges, rushes are round.”
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Wood Ducks Returning To Northern New England
A welcome sign of spring in northern New England is the return of the Wood Duck to wooded swamps and wetlands. There are seven species of North American ducks that regularly nest in cavities and the Wood Duck is uniquely adapted for doing so. Its slim body allows it to use Pileated Woodpecker cavities for nesting and the acuity of its large eyes allows it to avoid branches while flying through wooded areas. Even so, it still tends to make one look twice to see ducks perched up in a tree!
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Whirligig Beetles Active
Congratulations to Stein Feick, the first person to correctly identify the Mystery Photo as a Whirligig Beetle! You usually see this aquatic beetle swimming around and around in circles on the surface of a pond searching for prey. A unique feature of most beetles in this genus is their divided eyes. Each eye is completely separated into two portions (see photo). One portion (dorsal) is above the water line and the other (ventral) is beneath the water on each side of their head, allowing them to see both in the air/on the surface of the water as well as under the water. The dorsal eyes have a limited field of view, so these beetles rest one of their antennae on the surface of the water to help them detect any motion caused by prey.
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Naturally Curious with Mary Holland 
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