Weather
It’s been mild, it has rained a total of 7.2 inches since January first
and there are early signs of spring everywhere. In the garden the camellias
have been beautiful and all the azaleas are in full bloom, the Yellow Jasmine
is flowering, the Purple Iris, Narcissus, Tea Olive and Orange Grape also.
Wildflowers, too, are showing early: quaker ladies, purple and white violets,
and Carolina Jessamine, Trillium has sprouted up beautifully by the house
and the Kalanchoe sometimes called “mother of thousands” has five
stalks with multiple red bell-like blooms. We have even seen Cloudless Sulphur,
Sleepy Orange, Gulf Fritillary and Buckeye butterflies. A Spring Azure and
a Zebra Swallowtail made an early appearance in the second week of February.
Gin
House Field
Thanks to the rains and our December burn the Gin House is full of rich green
germinating clover and is a popular place for deer and turkeys that love to
eat the new clover sprouts. The meadowlarks are still with us, as are flocks
of palm warblers, chipping sparrows, and other sparrows, northern flickers,
phoebes, and lots and lots of bluebirds. The bluebird boxes show evidence
of being used as roosting sites-on these extremely cold nights, bluebirds
will gather together in a box and keep each other warm. This is a good time
of year to see the interesting system of terraces in the Gin House. These
beautiful curving berms were constructed in the 1840's to help prevent erosion.
We call them our antique terraces.
Beavers
As soon as it began raining over a month ago, the Farm Pond beavers began
piling mud and branches and lily roots over the siphon leading into the pond.
Now with every light rain they plug up the Upper Pond pipe and Farm Pond spillway,
which means frequent checking. Peter Wright and Bill Parrish are vigilant
in clearing out their 2-foot deep piles of mud so the water pressure won’t
get so high that it might break the dams.
Bluebirds
The bluebird box monitoring season will begin on Wednesday March 22nd and
Saturday March 25th. Alice Honea, team leader, could really use your help.
Please see description on page two. The Bluebirds are in brilliant blue courtship
attire and singing beautifully right here in the Pecan Grove – we can
hear them from the office area. We look forward to another wonderful nesting
season and thank all our friends who have adopted boxes on the Bluebird’s
behalf.
Land Management
Since the last newsletter, we burned the Gin House Field and things went so
smoothly that we were able to burn the Lewis Field all in one day. It was
a very well conducted burn and a great team effort. We are so fortunate to
have such great staff and volunteers. Peter Wright and Bill Parrish have been
busy doing a huge amount of advance preparation for future burns. They have
raked around trees that might burn at the base, cleared snags, cleaned the
fire lanes, and took care of areas of pine straw and other flammable spots
along the roads we use for fire lanes. This preparation will help tremendously
since we’re beginning our winter burning within the next couple of weeks,
starting with the House Pasture, a broomsedge field behind the Barn. When
things dry out a little more we’ll burn the Big Bay Field as hot as possible
in our ongoing effort to control shortleaf pine encroachment.
Purple Martins
A male and female purple martin were first recorded on January 31st and appear
to be claiming and roosting in one of the center gourds on the nesting pole.
The gourds were prepared and the pole was set up by our bluebird team leaders,
Larry Herring and Alice Honea, and volunteers, Bob Bearss and Don Hill, on
January 14th in anticipation of the martin arrival. Their return is always
a source of delight, so therefore late January early February is always a
time for celebration at Birdsong. It is wonderful to see them again, especially
since we know they are traveling hundreds of miles back and forth to Brazil,
just so they can feed on the dragonflies here at Birdsong. Their presence,
along with that of other migrants, really puts us in touch with how everything
in nature is connected and how our actions relating to the environment have
far-reaching effects.
~BE & CB
Bird Observations
The Bird Window has been very active this winter. We still have visits from
our common residents including Cardinals; Tufted Titmice; Carolina Chickadees;
Carolina Wrens; Red-bellied and Pileated Woodpeckers; Eastern Towhee; White-breasted
Nuthatch; Blue Jay; Mockingbird; Brown Thrasher; White-eyed Vireo; Yellow-rumped
Warblers; Catbirds; House Finch and Bobwhite Quail. Other visitors included:
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker; Downy Woodpecker; Brown-headed Nuthatch; White-throated
Sparrows; Chipping Sparrows; Hermit Thrush; Eastern Phoebe; Blue-Headed Vireo;
Dark-eyed Junco; Orange-crowned Warbler; American Goldfinch; Ruby-crowned
Kinglet; Robins; Cedar Waxwings; Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackle.
Early in January we spotted a Brown Thrasher with an incredibly long bill!
On other areas of the property sightings have included Kingfishers, Blue Herons,
Wood Ducks and numerous mixed flocks of small birds including Bluebirds, sparrows,
warblers, and vireos. During our January Wood Duck Watch at the Listening
Place we observed and heard well over 100 wood ducks! They were extremely
vocal and we often heard loud splashes when they landed nearby. On the way
back to the barn we heard a nearby Common Nighthawk and a very distant Great
Horned Owl. Many raptors have been sighted soaring over the house, the Bay
Swamp and Gin House field. These include Cooper's Hawk; Sharp-shinned Hawk;
Osprey; Bald Eagle; Red-shouldered Hawk; Red-tailed Hawks and the ever present
Black and Turkey Vultures.
At the end of January Bill Parrish reported Blue Herons on their
nests in Big Bay Swamp. We also had hundreds of Robins and Cedar Waxwings-eating
berries from the cherry laurel, privet and mistletoe-direct evidence of the
feasting was observed on the Naturalist's car. There has been a cacophony
of Red-winged Blackbirds in trees along with the musical songs of the Robins
and the soft chirps of the Cedar Waxwings. Warm weather triggered the birds
to sing and despite many cold mornings they are still singing! Lots of Bluebirds
can be seen around Gin House Field and sometime in trees around the house.
The Winter Bird Walk participants saw over 35 species of birds and during
this walk we spotted the first flock of Eastern Meadowlarks seen this year.
This group also had a brief glimpse of the Farm Pond Beaver swimming rapidly
across the pond. Members of the Georgia Ornithological Society braved a cold
rain on January twenty-nine for a Bird Walk. They saw about 25 species of
birds and were lucky enough to hear both Barred and Great Horned Owls. The
Apalachee Audubon group visited on February fourth and they were able to see
25 to 30 bird species.
Other animals share Birdsong with us and on the trails we often
see scat and tracks left by deer, coyotes, raccoon, opossum , armadillo and
fox. Another woodrat attempted to build a nest in the relative warmth of the
Birdseed cabinet on the back porch of the house. This rat even decorated with
lots of Pittosporum sprigs and a few artifacts from the porch. We suspect
after we chased it out of the house it may have
decided to take the purple ribbon with its attached kitchen key to it's new
nest. After each heavy rain Spring Peepers and other frogs can be heard around
the Swamp and in the Ponds. The cold weather this week has dampened their
enthusiasm, Hopefully their anticipated spring will return soon and they can
return to setting up territories and attracting mates.
-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 -- May 13, 2005