WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT NOTES
October 20, 2005
Weather
The signs of fall are everywhere! There are incredibly colorful
wildflowers, grasses, berries, and nuts; fall migrant birds; and as expected,
an October drought. We’ve had only .49 inches since October 1st, and
a total of only 1.0 inches in September. It really shows in our vegetation;
a lot of trees and shrubs are stressed and losing their leaves early, and
garden plants “have their tongues hanging out” as Betty used to
say. We’ve had to water the Butterfly Garden several times. Last week,
with humidities of less than 30%, it felt like living out west—hot but
not oppressive.
Wildflowers
The wildflowers, in spite of the drought, are in
their exuberant, chaotic autumn glory. The theme is purple and gold, in great
variety and abundance. If you walk around the property you may find yourself
in one colorful garden after another: here, yards and yards of fragrant goldenrod;
there swaths of Liatris and Ageratum, and a whole field of pink Agalinis.
Bands of narrow-leaved sunflowers and other deep-gold asters nod at the sun.
This year there are multiple patches of tall white flowering boneset, multi-colored
varieties of morning glories climbing over shrubs, delicate frost asters,
pink Rhexia, and in the Bog Garden road, tiny golden sundews flowering on
threadlike stems. It’s lively, beautiful, uplifting! Come see it!
Nuts and Berries
This time of year lets us know how beneficial a spring
we had for our vegetation. It must have been a wonderful spring because we
are observing an excellent nut fall: pecans, hickories, buckeyes, water oaks,
black walnuts and Chinese chestnuts are falling in abundance and being happily
eaten or carried away by crows, Bluejays, gray squirrels, fox squirrels and
deer. Deer and Wood Ducks are also fond of the water oak acorns that fall
on Big Bay Dam.
Trees and other plants that provide fruit this time
of year include wild persimmon, winged sumac, cherry laurel, dogwood, wax
myrtle, sparkleberry, American beauty berry and the old pear tree near the
barn. Deer just love this old tree and have nibbled all the fruit and leaves
off the lower branches.
The Listening Place
The trees in Big Bay Swamp are losing their leaves,
making it easier to see through the swamp. Our greatest treat of late has
been to see one to five roosting Wood Storks in the trees, several preferring
former Great Blue Heron nests as platforms to stand on. A large flock of over
twenty storks was observed just last week - circling on the thermals not far
from Big Bay Swamp. It is our profound hope to do some management projects
in Big Bay to attract these endangered birds to Birdsong. We hope to improve
habitat, not just for roosting and feeding, but for nesting. More on this
later.
We also look forward to the annual arrival of flocks
of Wood Ducks to the swamp. Please join us for our January Wood Duck Watch
- see the next newsletter for more information.
Insects
It has been a very good summer for insects and spiders
of all kinds. We’ve seen far more banana spiders, hanging upside down
in golden webs, than in years past. There have been a few Argiope (Charlotte)
spiders - their numbers have been down substantially in the last five or more
years - perhaps due to serious wasp predation. I broke open a mud dauber nest
and counted seventeen young Argiopes in one compartment. The wasp captures
and paralyzes the spider and encloses it along with its eggs in a mud compartment.
When the larva hatches it has fresh, living spiders to eat so it can grow
to maturity. I miss Charlottes and their Z-shaped writing in the middle of
their web.
We’ve had caterpillars galore! Chris has been
busy rearing monarchs, black swallowtails, giant swallowtails and pipevine
caterpillars through to adulthood. It’s been great fun.
There has also been a marvelous array of colorful
dragonflies all over the property. Bluebird Trail monitor, Alice Honea has
taken some amazing photographs of them on her travels around Birdsong. Some
of them are larger than our hummingbirds.
-KDB
BIRD OBSERVATIONS
September and October have been moderately
active at the Bird Window. Most frequently seen are Cardinals, Tufted
Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, Red-winged Blackbirds, Carolina Wrens, House
Finches, Blue Jays, Mourning Doves and Ground Doves. The suet ball has
attracted several woodpeckers and nuthatches including Red-bellied Woodpecker,
Red-headed Woodpecker, a Common Flicker, White-breasted Nuthatch and Brown-headed
Nuthatch. Two Pileated Woodpeckers were spotted working on one of the trees
behind the suet stump. Periodically Northern Bobwhite sneak in and devour
the cracked corn, but more often we only hear them. Most of the visiting birds
were spotted either bathing in the pool or taking a shower in the mister.
Those visitors included Hermit, Wood, and Swainsons Thrush; Veery; Brown Thrasher;
Eastern Towhee;
Yellow-billed Cuckoo; Mockingbird; a family of three Northern Catbirds; Yellow-throated,
White-eyed and Red-eyed Vireos; Summer and Scarlet Tanagers and a female Indigo
Bunting. Other migrants included Northern Parula, Blue-winged, Prairie,
Hooded, Chestnut-sided, Black-and-white, Magnolia, Yellow-rumped, Yellow-throated,
Tennessee and Worm-eating Warblers. A few birds briefly flew past the window
and those were: Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, House Wren and a
Cooper’s Hawk! Some special visitors included a Yellow-breasted Chat
and both male and female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.
Birds are not the only visitors to the Bird Window.
Daily a cotton rat nibbles on the cracked corn and one or more squirrels come
by for a drink at the mister and to grab a few seeds. In October a raccoon
family, a young mother and three babies, were spotted late one afternoon and
a blue striped garter snake was seen bathing in the pool!
Out on the property Wood Storks were spotted roosting
and feeding in Big Bay swamp and twenty or more were observed circling and
drifting southwest. Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks have been seen and
heard as have numerous Fish Crows and American Crows, calling and clucking
and gathering pecans. Small mixed flocks of vireos and warblers can
be seen foraging in various trees and bushes and several Downy and Red-bellied
Woodpeckers were seen in the Squirrel Woods. Early in October a few Wood Ducks
were spotted and three Belted Kingfishers were chattering and chasing each
other over the Farm Pond. Numerous sparrows have been spotted in the grassy
fields and many Eastern Bluebirds can be seen foraging in the woods and fields.
Also spotted were two large rattlesnakes, another family of raccoons, and
one opossum. One damp rainy overcast day a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers were
creating a racket - it seems a Peregrine Falcon had decided to stop and rest
in the snag where they were foraging! At least two fox squirrels have
been sighted; one is seen often near Roy’s Cabin and one ran up the entrance
road in front of the Naturalist’s car!
During September our resident Ruby-throated Hummingbirds
were busy utilizing the abundant native wildflowers and the hummingbird feeder
at the Bird Window. These tiny birds turn all that sugar into fat which they
utilize in their long fall migration South. By October no hummingbirds were
sighted at the Bird Window but since then at least one has been seen in the
Butterfly Garden, one by the flowers at the office window, and early in the
morning on October twenty-second one stopped by to check out the red shirt
worn by Bill Parrish while he was filling birdfeeders! According to the Georgia
Department of Natural Resources, over nine species of hummingbirds have been
seen over-wintering in Georgia. Maybe one will grace Birdsong by over-wintering
here this year.
-Chris Bittle
Naturalist
| Birdsong Home | Hours ~ Location & Map | Calendar of Events | Current Newsletter |
| Mission and History | Wildlife Management Notes | Membership Form | Birdsong Pictures |
Birdsong Nature Center
Copyright © 2002, Birdsong Nature Center
Revised -- February 23,2006