WILDLIFE
MANAGEMENT NOTES
April 18, 2006
Weather
Still no rain. There have been lots of predictions, and we’ve had our
hopes up numerous times, but only .34 inches have been recorded in March,
.15 in April, and it shows. There have been temperatures in the high eighties
just this week, lots of bright sunshine, and those heavy clouds that look
so promising and then disappear. By mid-day the Clerodendrum and other garden
plants “have their tongues hanging out”, as Betty used to say. Thank
goodness for some recent high humidities at night. This weather, unnaturally
dry for this time of year, affects all of nature and is very hard on the farmers
of our area, who are losing their early planted crops to this drought.
Land Management
With our excellent crew we burned intensively in February and March and completed
everything we wanted to do before it got impossibly dry and the Forestry Commission
had to stop granting burn permits. One area, the Letz Mill triangle, did not
get burned, but it won’t be a big problem to let it go this year and
burn it first next season. Extremely low humidities provided a great challenge
on more than one occasion, so we had to remain extra vigilant. It’s certainly
not easy work. Gratifying, sometimes fun, but not easy. We have a great team:
Blair Johnson, Marian Jarnigan, Bernice Elkins, Bill Parrish, Bob Bearss,
Chris Bittle, and Peter Wright have been our core group this year on almost
every burn. Volunteers Debo Powell, Jody Walthall and two Native Nurseries
staff also helped.
The property is greening up rapidly in the past few weeks in spite of the
lack of moisture. One of our most enjoyable spring surprises this year is
the enormous presences of wild white indigo (Baptisia alba). It is everywhere!
The ideal combination of variables happened in the right way at the right
time for this particular wildflower species to explode. It is well worth a
long walk at Birdsong to see it—it might not occur again in this abundance
for years. In one small area near the Frog Pond Bernice counted over one hundred
plants. Come see for yourself!
Gin
House Field
The crimson clover is trying it’s best to make a showing—all it
needs is one good soaking rain and the field will be crimson. We missed our
usual clouds of mixed toadflax and sorrel, the purple and peach spring raiment
of oldfields. There is very little of it this year. Daisy fleabane is emerging—early.
Our usual sequential waves of distinct colors in the Gin House are merged
together this spring. Quite different.
The birds don’t mind! Bluebirds are courting, nesting and already feeding
young, as as are Brown-headed Nuthatches and Carolina Chickadees. The Eastern
Meadowlarks have recently left, as have many of the Chipping Sparrows, but
Palm Warblers are still here and newcomers include Orchard Orioles, Blue Grosbeaks,
and Indigo Buntings.
The Northwest Side
The Farm Pond and Upper Pond are filled with Brasenia, Cabomba, and spadderdock,
with Virginia willow on the dams attracting lots of bees and wasps. Purple
Martins can be seen bathing and drinking in the open water of the Farm Pond:
dropping from a height and splashing in for a bath, flying in low and skimming
the surface for a drink. Three Little Blue Herons have been enjoying the Upper
Pond, and two different-sized gators have been seen on the dam and in the
water. Atamasco lilies (or “naked ladies”, locally) are emerging
near Eddie’s Cabin. We got a great burn in on this side of the property
and all our work planting longleaf years ago is paying off. After all the
burning, scorched pine needles are falling and the forest floor is a beautiful
patchwork of bright green grass and copper on black.
The Bog Garden
The Bog Garden was burned at exactly the right time and our pitcher plants
are now budding out profusely, soon to bloom. Even the tiny red sundews are
sending up their thread-like stems and soon we’ll see their little yellow
flowers. Right after the burn we did an inspection tour of the area and found
one clump of toothache grass we didn’t know was there. We plan to develop
this bog into a true garden in years to come, full of acid-loving plants of
all kinds.
The Listening Place and Big Bay Swamp
Four Great Blue Heron couples nested again this year in front of the Listening
Place and have been providing great entertainment for visitors these last
few months. The parents are now feeding young—an amazing feat to witness—a
parent arrives to an exuberant greeting from its chicks, the parent on the
nest takes off as the feeding parent lands, and there is a chaos of long grey
legs, necks, beaks, and begging that takes many minutes to sort out and settle
down. These events occur all day long and can still be seen from the Listening
Place even though several nests are obscured by the green leaves budding out
on the water tupelo across the entire swamp.
Along Big Bay Dam a Red-shouldered Hawk nest can just barely be seen, often we scare up pairs of Wood Ducks, Blue Grey Gnatcatchers are nesting nearby, and frogs sing and call unseen. In the water, fragrant water lilies are blooming, as is Utricularia. We now have two kinds—one with a tiny purple/pink bloom, and a large one with floats in a spoke-like arrangement that support a big yellow flower on a tall stem. A very large sleek cottonmouth was relaxing in the spillway a few days ago, did not appreciate having its privacy invaded and moved off into the woods. It is so rare to see a snake out on the property.
The East Side
The Spring Pond had lots of water in it, until just recently, and is attracting
Little Blue Herons, a Belted Kingfisher, and Great Crested Flycatchers and
Eastern Wood Pewees have moved in nearby.
The longleaf pine on the east side burned beautifully—we cooled the burn
down on them by splitting up and walking out separately into each patch of
young longleaf and setting multiple spot fires in each patch. That way any
head fire did not have enough fuel around each tree or enough power/heat at
it’s crown to kill it. Right now they are sending up fat white candles,
new growing tips, that bode well for another season of healthy growth. Some
day these trees, head-height now, will become homes for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers.
We love this idea, so we pamper our young trees, even though we won’t
be here to see it.
Although the most delightful thing to see right now on the east side is the
amazing crop of wild white indigo, equally interesting is the current ground
cover. It is virtually all young bronze Smilax, only six inches tall. It’s
everywhere. The Summer Tanagers are chipping like crazy in the woods, and
Towhees are in full courtship regalia and perching and singing lustily.
This side of Birdsong is attractive to Fox Squirrels—many have been seen
over the past two months, several around Bill and Cindy Parrish’s house;
some are completely black, some are partly silver, some all silver with a
black nose and ears. They are usually extremely secretive, but apparently
with courtship on their minds, they care less about human presence.
Wildflowers
It was a great late winter—early spring for violets and rock roses. Right
now other yellow flowers such as evening primrose, rabbit bells, yellow star
grass, and hop clover are making a showing. Tread-softly, a nettle, is everywhere
with its beautiful white flowers. Goat’s rue and twinflower are getting
ready; all we need is one good soaking rain and Birdsong will be transformed
overnight into a garden of green, lush vegetation. We have our fingers crossed.
Purple Martins
Our martins had us a little concerned for a while. Pairs just drifted in,
only a few at a time this year, when normally we’d have a full noisy
house of twenty birds within just a few weeks. As of now the colony is going
about the serious business of nesting, with females collecting mud (from their
conveniently placed mud hole that Bill waters every morning, designed by Betty
years ago. We know they use it from observing them and from seeing their tell-tale
beak prints) and both males and females bringing in leaves, pine needles,
and grasses. Two days ago a two-foot long grass stem got placed, stolen and
placed in a different gourd three times. The martins really are endearing
to watch, but they are working very hard at this process of reproduction,
no matter what it looks like to us.
Bird Window
The Bird Window has been very busy. While many birds are coming in for seed
the main attractions are the suet, and the mist and pool. We have had small
flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, Brown-headed Cowbirds, American
Robins and Cedar Waxwings. Some of our many recent spring visitors included
Northern Parula, Palm, Yellow-rumped and Black-and-white Warblers; Common
Yellowthroat; White-eyed, Red-eyed and Blue-headed Vireos; Chipping, House
and White-throated Sparrows; Goldfinch; Ground Dove; Summer Tanager; Northern
Bobwhite Quail and all our year-round residents. A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird
was seen on march tenth, a little earlier than in the past. It’s a lively
place!
We hope you have some time for yourself and your family sometime soon to come
out and enjoy this beautiful place. Those of us who work and volunteer here
and work hard to take care of it really want to share it with you. Betty used
to say “Birdsong is here for all of us, and it offers us something new
to learn everyday.” Please join us!
-KDB
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Revised -- May 1,2006