The Early Bird Catches the Worm
This early bird has arrived in Southwest Virginia and searching your fields and lawns for worms.
A sure sign that the winter will come to an end and spring will begin; the American robin (Turdus migratorius). It is one of the first birds we see return from their wintering spots. Although not all robins leave for the winter, we don’t see them as often as they roost in trees rather than hop around in your yard. Once they arrive, you are likely to see them in large numbers running around your yard in search of earthworms.
American robin (Turdus migratorius)
Most everyone knows the robin, a truly cosmopolitan bird. They are found in just about every habitat and are so common that it is used as a size reference to other species. Robin red-breast is a term I heard growing up. A fitting name as the bird boasts a russet, red-orange breast. The head is dark with a distinguishing white eye-ring and its back is a varying gray-brown depending on age and sex. It is a rather large, plump songbird and the largest member of the thrush family. The robin's rich song is among the earliest heard at dawn in spring and summer, often beginning just before first light. Its song is often described as cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up. Hear it here.
As most also know, they dine on earthworms. But, they eat a wide variety of other invertebrates and fruit. Sixty percent of their diet is fruit and berries with earthworms and invertebrates at 40%. Generally, once spring arrives, they spend mornings searching the ground for earthworms and transition during the heat of the day to fruits and other insects.
Searching for worms while on the lookout for predators.
Robins can produce up to three broods a season. They have a relatively high mortality rate and the entire population turns over about every 6 years. However, some robins have been known to live up to 14 years. (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/overview).
This early bird has arrived in Southwest Virginia and searching your fields and lawns for worms. Soon, if not already, they will be waking you with their cheery pre-dawn song. Spring is just around the corner!
Remote Rally Update!
The Mt Rogers Naturalist Rally: Backyard Edition is off to a fantastic start! It is delightful to have so many participants in our iNaturalist project. We love seeing you getting outside to Explore, Discover, and Share with us.
The Mt Rogers Naturalist Rally: Backyard Edition is off to a fantastic start! It is delightful to have so many participants in our iNaturalist project. We love seeing you getting outside to Explore, Discover, and Share with us.
If you didn’t know, we are giving away a BRDC Species T-shirt each day to a lucky observer. So far the winners are Carolyn Unger, Nicole and Natalie Freeman, and John Unger. Congratulations! We also have great raffle prizes and drawings daily. If you haven’t gotten your rally/raffle tickets yet, there is still time to win some big ticket items. Check them out on our website.
As we mentioned before, the Backyard Edition iNaturalist project is booming with observations. Less than half way through the project, we have an impressive leader board with over 2,300 observations and 700+ species. The greatest collection is in plants, then insects, birds, and fungi, respectively. Kudos to Theresa Burriss and several others very close to her number of 169 observations! We are loving seeing all these wonderful organisms and some really great photos to go with them. One special species photo we’d like to share is Jenny Brown’s trout lily. Thank you, Jenny!
Trout lily by Jenny Brown
As part of the Rally, BRDC staff and a few socially distanced volunteers assisted with our NABA Spring Butterfly Count. This was our first spring count and we had a gorgeous day for it. The Mt Rogers High Country Butterfly Count is a 15-mile diameter circle centered around the BRDC campus. Each individual observer was delegated an area to count throughout the day. The species and total number were low but that is to be expected in the spring. We were still able to count and capture a few photos of some great butterflies. One in particular was an early hairstreak found and photographed by Bruce Grimes.
Early hairstreak by Bruce Grimes
This is a great find as the species is vulnerable throughout the US and imperiled in Virginia. Imperiled means this species is rare and local over a broad range, and highly threatened by the loss of its foodplant to disease. The North Carolina Natural Heritage Program ranks this species as significantly rare. Please enjoy some of the butterfly species photographed this weekend! Thank you, Bruce, Allen, Matt, and Cade for helping us count our precious flying beauties. Stay tuned for our summer and fall butterfly counts and how you can participate.
Thanks to Dennis Ross for his iNaturalist journal contributions thus far. A truly talented and genuine naturalist, Dennis inspires us all to get out and observe our surroundings, take notes, and sketch or paint what we see. Here’s what he says: “I have been using iNaturalist for years, since it was started in California by Scott Loarie as part of his PhD work at Stanford and UC Berkeley. Scott is the son of a close friend from Medical School. I mostly post just for myself, to keep tabs on what I see. I keep a timeline of when flowers bloom, birds appear, and total species in my immediate area (about 700). I also enjoy seeing what everyone else posts and learn much from that. I have made many friends through iNaturalist, some virtual and others I have met. The Mt Rogers Naturalist Rally is off to a great start with so many observations. I am in awe of you all.” DENNIS ROSS
Enjoy this “remote” Rally week. Visit our website, iNaturalist, Facebook, and Instagram for a glimpse of the week through snapshots, observations, blogs, and live webinars. Join us everywhere and don’t miss a thing! See you outside! #MRNR, #BackyardEdition.
The Blue Ridge Turning Green
The predominant color of middle May in the Blue Ridge mountains of SW VA is green.
Painted Trillium
The predominant color of middle May in the Blue Ridge mountains of SW VA is green.
There is an explosion in growth of plant life so an overall view of our farm shows a verdant landscape. Of course the re-awakening of the ecosystem after a winter's slumber first requires that plants provide the base of the food pyramid. In the fields this is predominantly grass, but in the woods spring wildflowers such as painted trillium are in bloom and trees are leafing out.
Herbivores take advantage of the new growth by breeding as these cecropia moths are doing. This largest of the North American moths is a generalist herbivore. Note that the antennae of the male and female are different- the male has larger ones to detect the pheromones released by the female, making it possible for him to locate her from miles away. The life cycle is strange in that the adults do not feed, but live only a short time to reproduce.
Cecropia moths mating
Catbird eggs
Birds are also breeding and it is interesting to try and locate their nests and follow their progress. I was fortunate to find this catbird nest in a viburnum bush and was impressed by its beautiful blue eggs. Some thrushes such as robins and bluebirds also have blue eggs with no apparent relation to the type of nesting site (open nest or in a cavity).
There were two "shorebirds" in our yard this week, the killdeer, which breeds here and feeds on land, and the solitary sandpiper which is migrating north to Canada and Alaska to breed. It is interesting that the killdeer, a type of plover which nests openly on the ground, has a very dark line which camouflages the eye, whereas the solitary sandpiper has a whitish ring around the eye which accentuates it. The solitary sandpiper nests in trees in old nests of other species and is obviously exposed to different types of predators. But don't such variations in the adaptations of animals test our knowledge and make nature study so more interesting?
Savannah Sparrow
The savannah sparrow is common in Florida in winter but relatively uncommon as a breeder here in VA. It thrives in grasslands throughout middle and northern North America and must have benefitted greatly by the clearing of the original forests by early settlers. Other field specialists present at this time are grasshopper sparrows, meadowlarks and bobolinks. We are experimenting with plantings and mowing schedules to improve our field habitats for these birds and especially to try and encourage bobolinks to remain and breed here.
The elevation of our farm is about 1800-2000 feet; nearby mountains extend up to 5700 feet and a different community of birds is present at the higher elevations. In a recent visit to nearby Grayson Highlands State Park we enjoyed listening to the songs and watching these birds such as rose breasted grosbeaks, least flycatchers and the highly prized cerulean and blackburnian warblers. We are hoping that this adult male cerulean and several other nearby males will remain and breed.
Spring is such a special time of year when everything seems new and fresh and life is just bursting out all over. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Bill Dunson
Galax, VA and Englewood, FL
Spring Peeper (Hyla crucifer)
Most of us recognize the high shrills of our spring peeper as a significant harbinger of spring. These are our first frog breeders, sometimes beginning as early as late February, but most commonly mid-March. For this important event in the ongoing life of peepers, the tiny frogs migrate to vernal pools, and pond and stream edges in meadows and woodlands, where the competition for mates commences.
Most of us recognize the high shrills of our spring peeper as a significant harbinger of spring. These are our first frog breeders, sometimes beginning as early as late February, but most commonly mid-March. For this important event in the ongoing life of peepers, the tiny frogs migrate to vernal pools, and pond and stream edges in meadows and woodlands, where the competition for mates commences. The males sing two types of songs…one is their ‘announcement or advertisement call’ and the other an ‘aggression call’. Both songs are issued from the approximately 12” diameter territory of each male, with the first call meant to attract females and the second to warn off other males.
Peepers are tree frogs, and when the mating season comes to an end, they return to the woodlands and edge habitats for a mostly solitary existence; eventually hibernating under leaves on the ground through the cold months and withstanding freezing temperatures by producing glucose as an anti-freeze. Their diet consists of small invertebrates.
Six years ago I took it upon myself to do a bit of field research into ‘that noisy bunch of frogs’. Below the north slope of our land lies a cow pasture through which Bridle Creek flows. In the lowest lying land, the meadow becomes a marsh in which our local clan of peepers congregates every spring. Their cacophonous peeping becomes nearly deafening at the height of their frenzy. This marshy area is temporary, so the business at hand must be accomplished before sunny summer days dry it out. It takes 1 ½ to 2 months for the tadpoles to develop into frogs, after a week of gestation. That gives them a window of less the 3 months…which is exactly right for this spot.
When I approached the meadow wetland, the closer I got to the breeders, the less they sang. This was during the early morning hours, but well after first light. From what I have learned, it might be easier to observe them at night, with a flashlight; but with a bit of patience, I was fully rewarded. Once I positioned myself in the middle of the marsh, I squatted and remained motionless. After 10 or 15 minutes they forgot I was there, and got back to work. Surrounding me were dozens of mating pairs along with hopeful males trilling in concert. I returned to this exhibition for several days in a row, watching, listening, and photographing the spectacle.
The first two pictures were taken in the meadow, the third in my yard at night…near a small artificial pond.
Early Signs of Spring in the New River Valley
Bittercress is always the first wildflower by the river bottomland, but the exact species is hard to pin down. Both Pennsylvania bittercress (Cardamine pensylvanica) and hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsute) are small plants with tiny white flowers that bloom when the greens of wild onions are appearing and just before the purple carpet of ground ivy goes wild. Bittercress appears before a more showy mustard family member blankets the hayfields with gold (land cress, Barbarea verna). Spring peepers herald the earlier, white-blooming arrivals, usually the first March evenings after mild days. In many years of informal record keeping, late February is the earliest the amorous males begin calling, but this year the frog song began the second week of March. This past winter we had record-breaking snow and ice cover, for two months even in the lower elevations.
This winter was also unusual with huge ice bergs littering the river side. After a series of river freezes that normally occur when the temperatures dip down into the single digits or lower for a string of days, warm, rainy weather broke up the ice and cast it aside, creating huge ice sculptures on the banks. Most of the ice is gone now in the lower elevations, except for a few north-facing coves. Storm damage was also the worst in many years. Trail crews have been working hard to clear all the blow-downs on the Appalachian Trail, and parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville and Mount Mitchell will be closed until May. None of the trees are leafing out yet, but weeping willow will be the first, soon. A friend reported seeing white hepatica on the Virginia Creeper Trail near Abingdon. Daffodils are blooming and any other earlier bulbs that the deer did not eat. They ate all mine.
Jack or Jill in the pulpit?
A brief and comforting glimpse into our snowless future, from Bill Dunson:
I imagine most of you are familiar with the Jack-in-the-pulpit which is a not uncommon wildflower in wet woods of eastern North America. However I doubt if any of you have encountered this interesting member of the arum family on Feb. 7 in bloom as I did today at Lemon Bay Park in Sarasota County, FL. Taylor lists it as missing from Sarasota County which indicates how special this fresh water swamp is on the shore of Lemon Bay.
The pulpit or spathe surrounds the spadix (Jack and/or Jill - let us not be male chauvinists!) which holds the flowers. They are fertilized by flies attracted to the odor and heat of the flowers. Remember that their cousin skunk cabbage (also an arum) has a similar means of attracting pollinators. Young plants tend to have all male flowers; there are more female flowers as they age. Indeed some studies have shown that the predominant sex of the flowers is determined by the condition of the plant. If it has been a good year and the plant is healthy and has a good supply of nutrients in its bulb, it becomes female. In a bad year it produces male flowers. Why do you suppose this could be a good strategy for reproduction? Consider that it is "cheaper" to be a male and produce a lot of pollen to fertilize other plants. Producing fruits with seeds is a lot more expensive in terms of energy and a poor year could result in very few prospects for reproduction in female mode.
Pulpits (Indian turnip) can be eaten if properly prepared, but contain calcium oxalate crystals and other toxins that are poisonous. Fruits are bright red and are presumably eaten by birds and dispersed.
So watch out for the marvelous if somewhat sexually confusing Jack/Jill in the Pulpit in early Spring in your area.
Bill Dunson
Englewood, FL & Galax, VA
And a follow-up story from Bill:
On a second visit to my pulpit site in a freshwater swamp I noticed a difference in the distribution of male and female plants. There seemed to be a correlation between sunlight forest canopy gaps (mostly red bays here as an over-story) and the presence of more large, female plants (which have two leaves). The male-flowering plants only have one leaf and thus fewer resources available. I also opened the bottom of the spathe to see the actual flowers clustered at the base of the spadix (see photos). There is quite a difference in appearance of the two kinds of flowers.
Pulpits seem to be a common member of the early-blooming wildflower community so look for them in damp areas (boggy spots or north-facing wooded slopes) along with May-apples in your area. Note that May-apples have a similar resource-based flowering in that only plants with two leaves will flower. A similar phenomenon occurs with ginseng in that a minimum number of leaves is necessary for flower and fruit production.
Bill Dunson