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Wildlife Management Notes

Wildlife Management Notes and Observations
August 11, 2000

Woodland pond at Birdsong.

Weather It continues to be a very hot dry summer, but the drought cycle has finally broken and we’ve experienced some wonderful if infrequent downpours. We still need a lot more rain to restore soil moisture, and to recover from the still- substantial deficit. Water levels in our ponds and swamps are at an all-time low - not only are the banks exposed, but so are the actual pond bottoms. You could walk across Big Bay Swamp if you wanted to.

There are some benefits, of course. With the water not flowing through the Farm Pond all beaver activity has ceased. We’ve seen no evidence of them for months now. Also, the reduced water levels in Big Bay Swamp and the Farm Pond have concentrated the fish thus attracting wood storks - they’ve been seen feeding along the edges and gliding overhead frequently lately.

Burning If we get the right conditions there are a number of places we would like to burn to continue providing a patchwork of different wildlife habitats in different growth stages. Summer burning can provide good hardwood brush control under the right circumstances, but it’s not much fun for the burn crew. Even with the recent rains we’ll still need to be extremely cautious if we decide to burn.

Mowing Our bahia grass trails and lots and lawns respond immediately to even a very light rain, so with this growth the trails need mowing again. The terraces in the Gin House are beautiful right now - Blair alternates mowing a strip along each side every three weeks or so, which results in graceful curves as well as three different heights of grasses and therefore different sizes of grasshoppers - great food for bluebirds and many others.

The Gin House Field is lush and fragrant with passionvine right now and gulf fritillaries abound. Bluebirds enjoyed an outstanding year in spite of the drought (see page 4) and blue grosbeaks and orchard orioles nested here. Kingbirds and cattle egrets are abundant now, feeding on all the insects. The winged sumac is blooming profusely and loaded with bees and wasps of all kinds. Dragonflies are everywhere. The Gin House is a very rich place!

Exotics We continue to work away at controlling exotic or invasive plants. Blair mows any patches of Crotolaria while they are in bloom, before seeding, and mows patches of kudzu to keep them contained. (We also burn these hot each year.) As Betty always says, there are two sides to any problem, and she doesn’t mind some kudzu, as long as it is contained, because the deer just love it and it is a soil enriching legume. It also has the most delightfully-scented flowers. Blair, and Peter are together working to control tripsicum - the huge grass believed to be a forerunner of our cultivated corn. We’re experimenting this year with harrowing and hand removal of these spreading plants. Volunteer Bob Daniels is working on removing Japanese climbing fern and bamboo encroaching onto a fire lane near the Holly Woods. Our ongoing burning helps keep invasives in check but needs these supplementary efforts to really be effective. If you want to take your frustrations out, come uproot some exotics!

Wildflowers The drought has had its effect on wildflowers also. Right now we are seeing mostly a white eupatorium, with a few asters, a fair amount of Rhexia, some bluehearts, and very nice patches of butterfly pea, covered with wasps and bees, and skippers; and of course passionvine and sumac. We also have some lovely Sabatia in Linton’s Corner.

The Butterfly Garden The garden has experienced some stress also and there was a very slow start to the butterfly season this year, but recently we’ve seen tremendous numbers and varieties of butterflies. The garden has been its usual excellent hands-on teaching tool, with caterpillars and adults available right before our visitors’ eyes. The renovated watering system has really helped - we can spot water with the hose and resuscitate thirsty plants without attracting a convention of armadillos, as can happen if using a broadcast sprinkling system. About three weeks ago the lantana in Betty’s garden south of the house along the fence row attracted an outstanding collection of butterflies - Matt counted 70 to 80 individuals, their numbers peaking as the sun and heat rose. It was spectacular - all our gorgeous mid-summer species were represented: giant, black, pipevine, spicebush and zebra swallowtails; gulf fritillaries; buckeyes; hoary-edged, long-tailed, dusk and other skippers; even a few cloudless sulphurs and a zebra longwing.

The Bird Window The Bird Window has been very busy with babies this summer. Cardinals, blue jays, woodpeckers, towhees, titmice, chickadees, and wrens bring their young in to feed throughout the day. Woodpeckers and jays in particular have made great use of the suet cake, feeding themselves and then loading up their bills and flying off to the nest. Red-headed woodpeckers have been carting suet away, and four immature young were spotted roaming in the pecan grove nearby. Hummingbirds, male and female, have been feeding at the Window feeder and on clarodendron and buddleia. A female was spotted in the Butterfly Garden arbor flying into the deep tubular trumpet vine flowers, when she would stop flying and feed, with only her tail and tips of her wings visible!

Quail parents have been bringing their broods of offspring in to the Bird Window, where they all climb into the harrow disc to eat corn together, or gather around the cypress knee gleaning suet crumbs. Often a male will bring in a brood of mixed ages, some tiny, some large, apparently the result of adoption. Other Bird Window sightings include a yellow-throated warbler, pine warbler, and hooded warbler. Unfortunately we’ve seen hardly any parula warblers this summer. Normally they are very abundant.

All the birds appreciate the mister and bath. Bluebirds, tanagers, vireos, and buntings, although not using the feed, will come in to drink and bathe. Bathing jays have a way of making that pool look so inviting!

Big Bay Swamp A visit to the Listening Place can be a very refreshing experience. One is surrounded by the sounds of summer; cicadas, bullfrogs, gallinules, great blue herons, little green herons, an occasional woodduck, bobwhite, bluebirds, and anhingas. We have thoroughly enjoyed the recent gift of a wonderful spotting scope and are following the development of a family of anhingas. Their nest was directly in front of and easily seen from the Listening Place. We’ve been observing from three to five young originally being fed in the nest, to now being fed as they experiment with climbing and some rudimentary flapping through the water tupelo. Their plumage has changed from all over light pink/beige fuzz and dark markings around the eye, to a more adult light beige head, neck and breast, with black and copper wings and tail. We encourage you to visit the Listening Place soon - they are moving farther and farther away from the nest site and eventually will get the flying bit right. They’ve been delightful!

Other Sightings There have been many turkey sightings - mothers with broods of 9 to 16 young ones...lots of turkey feathers dropped in the middle of the trails and yesterday a group of 16 near-adults browsing in the Live Oak Hammock. Lady bugs are on dog fennel - with the entire life cycle represented (see Matt Morris’s article on page 9). Quite a few white oak snakes have been spotted and are usually pointed out to us by scolding blue jays. The Hickory Horned Devil caterpillar reported on last time pupated in a special container prepared for it and emerged as a gorgeous maroon colored Pine Devil Moth. Grace continues to raise all kinds of caterpillars in the cages on the back porch - stop by for a close up view of all stages of a butterfly’s life.

It has been a very abundant summer, very hot, but full of activity and life. We invite you to come out and enjoy the beginning of the change of seasons with us at Birdsong.

    From Betty
    My love to everyone
    Praise and thanks!
    Blessed be.
        -KDB

"Wildlife Management Notes" appears regularly in our bi-monthly Newsletter. Below is an index of links to previous wildlife management articles:

• June 2000
• April 2000
• December 1999
• October 1999
• April 1999
• February 1999
• December 1998

Copyright © 1999, Birdsong Nature Center
Revised -- August 25, 2000