Moose Mastication
Moose are ruminants and as such have stomachs which are highly specialized for the microbial fermentation of food that they eat. Without this adaptation, they could not digest their high fiber diet. Mastication of their food, however, is their primary method for the physical breakdown of plant material. By breaking down food into smaller pieces, the surface area increases for microbial digestion.
Moose chew their food twice and the rate at which they chew it varies. Their spring and summer diet which consists of leaves of deciduous browse, aquatic plants, etc. is more digestible than the woody browse they eat during winter due to the relatively small amount of lignin (used in the formation of cell walls) it contains. The more lignin, the more intensely the cud/bolus (food previously eaten) is chewed. The amount of chewing a regurgitated bolus receives can vary from 24 to 107 chews per minute. In the spring, when food is succulent, one study showed that moose chewed food at about 62 chews per bolus, compared with a high of 133 in winter.
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Maidenhair Spleenwort
If you are hiking along damp, shady and mossy cliffs and boulders that aren’t buried under snow yet, keep an eye out for rosettes formed by the fronds of Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes), one of several evergreen ferns. It was felt that the linear, spleen-shaped sori (clusters of spore cases) on the backs of the fertile fronds indicated that the plant could be used to treat ailments of the spleen, thus leading to its common name.
In the summer, the fertile fronds (those bearing spores) are upright while the smaller sterile fronds spread horizontally. The shiny purple-brown stem, or stipe, and the tiny oval leaflets (pinnae) that are opposite one another are key identification characteristics.
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Common Loons Lingering
Most Common Loons that breed in the Northeast spend the winter off the New England coast. The adults migrate independent of their chicks and of each other. Adults depart first, usually starting to leave in October. As mentioned, pairs leave separately, one before the other (in one study, 62% of the time the female departed first). Most juveniles remain on natal or adjacent lakes after adults have departed, often until near freeze-up, when they migrate by themselves with no direction from parents. (Their migration can take up to two months, whereas adults manage it in one or two days.)
It should be noted that not all Common Loons leave the Northeast in the winter. Loons of all ages, but primarily juveniles, are present year-round as far north as Vermont, if weather permits and open water can be found. With climate change, it may become more common to see loons on open inland lakes in the Northeast in winter. (Photo: Juvenile Common Loon photographed this week on Lake Champlain as it caught and consumed a Yellow Perch)
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Beaver Winter Food Supply
During warmer months, a Beaver’s herbivorous diet consists of aquatic plants, herbaceous flowering plants, ferns, and mushrooms as well a some woody plants . However, most of these are not available or accessible once ice has formed. Even if they were, they would not store well over the winter, under water, which is the only accessible location for Beavers in northern climates.
For their winter food supply, Beavers cut branches in the fall, drag them into the water and anchor them in the mud near their lodge, where often the top of the pile is visible above the water/ice (see photo). Until thick ice forms, Beavers continue to go ashore for food, but once they are locked under the ice, the Beavers feed from this underwater cache.
This pile is what sustains Beavers throughout the winter. The size of the cache increases as you go north. A northern cache may contain a ton or more of wood. Beavers in more moderate climates, where ice does not form, do not store food.
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Common Winterberry
Many species of Holly can be found in eastern North America – some are evergreen, some deciduous, some with red fruits, some with black fruits, some are shrubs and some are trees. There are only three native Holly shrubs in the Northeast: Common Winterberry (deciduous, red berries), Mountain Holly (deciduous, red berries, short spurs on branches) and Inkberry (evergreen, black berries).
Common Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) goes by several common names including Winter Holly, Winterberry, Black Alder, Northern Holly and Swamp Holly. Look for it in wet soil near swamps, ponds or wet woods. Its bright scarlet berries (botanically speaking, drupes) persist into winter, adding bursts of color to the relatively drab landscape. While we enjoy looking at the berries, many birds that remain here during the colder months eat them, including crows, mockingbirds, robins and waxwings.
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Woodchuck Incisors
Woodchucks are rodents and as such possess four incisors, two at the front of both their upper and lower mandibles. What makes a Woodchuck atypical is the color of these four teeth. Unlike most rodents they lack a layer of orange enamel on the outer surface of their incisors, and therefore these teeth are white.
Rodents depend on their incisors for their very existence and keeping them in good shape is imperative. Incisors continuously grow for the life of the rodent unless they are somehow injured badly enough to prevent further growth. If this happens, the incisor opposite the injured tooth, in the opposing mandible, has nothing to pair itself against, and will continue growing in a circle until it either causes the animal to starve to death due to its inability to eat, or it grows in a circular fashion through the roof of its mouth and ultimately pierces the brain of the animal (see inset).
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Muskrat Lodges
Muskrats remain active throughout the year, often seeking shelter in the winter in bank burrows, if steep banks and slow-moving water are available. If they aren’t, lodges are built, typically in the early fall, though they can be constructed at any time of year. Often a family builds several lodges within their home range.
A muskrat lodge resembles a beaver lodge, only smaller and constructed out of mud and cattails, reeds and phragmites instead of logs and sticks. It houses a pair of muskrats and often several litters. A main chamber is hollowed out, and often there are several additional rooms created for litters. Muskrats enter and exit the water through one or more plunge holes inside the lodge.
According to Mark Elbroch, naturalist extraordinaire, you can tell if a muskrat lodge is active in the winter by looking for long lines of bubbles that collect under the ice as the muskrats travel to and from their lodge. These bubbles of air are sometimes scavenged by the muskrats to extend the time they can remain under water.
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Mystery Photo
What might have caused the snow to turn red? This question has many possible answers, one of which will be revealed on 1/2/23.
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Species Specific Nests
Snow falling on abandoned bird nests forms distinctive white caps that are easy to detect. Because the builders of these nurseries are long gone, most with no intention of re-using their nest, we are afforded a unique opportunity to get a bird’s eye view of them.
There are many clues that help to identify the builder of a nest — habitat, size, and material used being the most obvious. A given species of bird builds a nest that greatly resembles the nest of every other member of that species, and builds it in a similar habitat. Thus, every American Goldfinch nest bears a strong resemblance to every other American Goldfinch nest, every Gray Catbird nest looks like every other Gray Catbird nest, etc. The two American Goldfinch nests pictured were both located in overgrown fields, they are both roughly three inches wide and a little over that in depth, and both are made of fine fibers and lined with thistle and cattail down.
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The Origin Of Christmas Tree Candles And Lights
Unlike the cones of most conifers, those of Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) don’t hang down but grow upright. After their first year, the cones mature, seeds ripen and both the seeds and scales of the cones drop to the ground, leaving woody spikes standing at attention. It’s considered likely that these spikes, when snow-covered, inspired Germans to decorate their Christmas trees with candles and lights.
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Great Blue Heron Tracks In Snow
The number of Great Blue Heron sightings in northern New England starts to diminish in the fall and by late December most of these birds have departed for the coast or more southerly locations where open water is more of a sure thing. Some do linger, however, even through the winter, if they can find open water.
While it’s not unusual to find Great Blue Heron tracks in the mud along the shores of ponds and lakes in warmer weather, it’s a bit more unusual (and unexpected) to come across their tracks in the snow. Unfortunately, the maker of the pictured tracks found ice had formed between it and its potential meal.
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Cedar Waxwings: Voracious Fruit Lovers
Cedar Waxwings are among the most frugivorous (fruit-eating) birds in North America. During the winter their diet is almost completely fruit. Historically cedar berries (hence their name) were the fruit of choice, and still is where cedars are plentiful, but ornamental fruit trees such as Mountain Ash, crabapples, and hawthorns as well as alien honeysuckles have become a major source of food for Cedar Waxwings in recent years in the Northeast.
Research shows that in May an abrupt change in waxwing diet composition occurs, with fruit dropping to about 15% of their diet, while flowers comprise 44%. In June, frugivory spikes back up to about 65% as current-season fruits ripen, and fruit use progressively rises for the remainder of the summer until it nears 100% for several winter months. (Photo: Cedar Waxwing eating Common Winterberry fruit)
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Winter Bogs: A Profusion of Reds
Typically the low-growing vegetation found in northern bogs would be hidden under a blanket of snow at this time of year, but thanks in part to climate change we can still admire the fall crimson-, scarlet- and claret-colored plants of these acidic wetlands well into winter. Pitcher plants, cranberry and sphagnum moss create a mosaic of textures and colors seemingly designed for the coming holidays.
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Signs of Gray Squirrel Nest-Building
Gray Squirrels use cavity and leaf nests throughout the year. Both types of nests are retreats used as shelter from the elements and protection from predators, as well as rodent-rearing homes. Signs of nest-building are plentiful at this time of year, when cold weather is around the corner. Evidence of this activity is present in the form of leafy ball nests (dreys) in trees as well as bare branches discarded on the ground that have had their bark stripped off and shredded. Squirrels line their nests with dried grasses, lichen and the soft fibers they remove from branches.
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Raccoons Still Active
Due to the warm fall and early winter we’ve had this year, raccoons are still out and very active. They spent the fall building up an extra layer of fat – about one third of their total weight. This layer provides insulation and sustenance when the weather gets seriously cold and they seek dens (hollow trees, underground burrows, etc.) in which to sleep away the harshest winter days.
Although they do not hibernate, raccoons can sleep for up to a month at a time and escape the inhospitable conditions of winter in the Northeast. When the weather eases up, they become active again and their tracks are evident in the snow. Although solitary most of the time, raccoons have been known to participate in group denning during the most bitter cold spells.
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Red-tailed Hawk Winter Population in New England
Red-tailed Hawks are “partial migrants” – some are migratory and some are not. Most Red-tails living and breeding in the northern portion of the species’ range (southern Canada and northern United States) migrate to more southerly locations for the winter and are absent for three to five months. However, some are year-round residents, remaining near their breeding territories even in severe winters with extensive snow cover. In northern New England the Red-tailed Hawk winter population consists of breeding birds that don’t migrate as well as Canadian birds that migrate south for the winter months. (Photo: juvenile Red-tailed Hawk)
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Beavers & Pounding Headaches
Beavers will do their very best to secure fresh cambium as long as they have access to land. Even when thin ice starts to form, they are undeterred. You can hear them as they use the top of their heads to bump up against the ice in order to break through and create a pathway to shore. Thanks to Kay Shumway, a beloved friend, I had ten good years of observing this behavior every late fall/early winter. Eventually the thickness of the ice confined the beavers to their lodge and the surrounding water beneath the ice, but until that happened you could count on seeing the sun glinting off the ice shards that inevitably ended up on top of the beavers’ heads.
Acorns A Wildlife Magnet
Acorns are loaded with fats and carbohydrates, making them a perfect way for wildlife to put on pounds that will carry them over the winter. They are also easy to open and to digest, making them significant food items for more than 96 species of birds and mammals. Among the highest consumers are White-tailed Deer (acorns are 50% or more of fall and winter diet), Wild Turkeys (up to 38% of diet in winter and spring) and Black Bears.
The impact these nuts have on the species that depend on them as a significant portion of their diet is great: Squirrels, mice and jays store them in the fall and this supply is critical to their winter survival. The geographic distribution of many animals coincides with or depends on the range of oaks, and biologists have linked acorn crop failures to poor Black Bear reproduction and meager antler growth on White-tail bucks.
(Photo – Signs of two acorn hunters. Prior to hibernation, a Black Bear (tracks down center of image) has been looking for leftover acorns in a patch of forest floor that has been scratched up by White-tailed Deer feeding on acorns.)
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Paper Birch Seeds Dispersing
Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera), also called White Birch, produces separate male and female flowers on the same tree, both in the form of catkins (cylindrical clusters of flowers). The catkins form in the fall and overwinter in a dormant state. In the spring they mature as the leaves develop, becoming pendulous. Male catkins are 2-4 inches long, whereas female catkins are usually 1–2 inches long. Both male and female flowers lack petals, enhancing wind pollination. After fertilization occurs, the male catkins wither away, while the female catkins droop downward and become cone-like.
The mature female catkins consist of tiny winged nutlets that are located behind three-lobed, hardened, modified leaves called bracts. Both winged seeds and bracts are usually dispersed by the wind during the fall and early winter. Birch bracts are species-specific — different species of birch have different-shaped bracts, allowing one to identify the species of birch that a bract comes from. Those of Paper Birch (pictured) look somewhat like soaring birds.
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The Feathered Legs & Feet of Snowy Owls
Snowy Owls, inhabitants of the Arctic, are not only well camouflaged but well insulated with their feathers. Their exceptional density make Snowy Owls North America’s heaviest owl. Weighing in at about four and a half pounds, they are about a pound heavier than Great Horned Owls and almost twice the weight of Great Gray Owls (North America’s tallest owl).
Most species of owls have densely-feathered legs (exceptions being owls living in southern regions such as Barn Owls, Burrowing Owls, and some tropical species). Snowy Owls have exceptionally thick feathering on their legs and feet. The toe feathers of a Snowy Owl are the longest known of any owl, averaging 1.3 inches – in comparison, the Great Horned Owl’s (which has the second longest toe feathers) are a mere .5 inch. In addition to their insulative quality, the feet and leg feathers may also serve to sense contact with prey and to protect against prey that might bite when seized.
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