Amphibian Egg Mass Update

Thursday in the pond we explored new territory, circumnavigating the island which I have since dubbed "Goose Island". On previous trips to the pond there have always been Canada geese there, but this was my first time getting close enough to see that there are three nests on the island, all with eggs.
There were Northwestern salamander egg masses all around the island.

Northwest salamander egg mass

On the north side of the island, the aquatic vegetation is totally gone. Under the sediment the bottom feels very gravelly, so I think pond plants aren't fond of gravel. On the west side of the island, the wind picked up, kicking small waves that made forward visibility almost impossible. Looking behind me I had perfect visibility, as long as I wasn't looking at the cloud of sediment created by my footsteps. Back on the east side crossing to the mainland, we apparently didn't cross at the same spot. I was fine in my chest waders but my partner had hip waders and overtopped them. Reaching the shoreline through deep water with a sticky bottom was a long, tedious adventure. I was fighting a cold and Roger had wet legs so it seemed like a good place to end the day.
We'll try one more trip to the pond this week and that will likely be it for the season. Pond lilies are emerging, and a layer of pads on the surface means we can't see what's underneath. Last year's final egg hunt was May 7th and this year's plant cover seems on track to equal last year's growth.
After exiting the pond there were two dead shrews on the dirt path back to the cars. Who is killing them and why aren't they eating them?

Dead shrew in the path

Still Hungry, Bearly Full

Time for a look at one of America’s most charismatic critters, the bear. We have three bear species (not Papa, Mama, and Baby). They are the black bear, which is the most wide-ranging, the grizzly, and the polar bear.

Grizzly bear (UNAGB)

Polar bear (Scientific American)

Black bear (ABC News)

Bears are omnivores, meaning the eat plant and animal products. Always the opportunists, they won’t hesitate to raid a dumpster or campsite. One of the reasons wildlife managers discourage you from feeding the bears is because they will learn to equate people with food. Once bears start looking for people, problems arise.

Processed bear food

Bears are very large, so it takes quite a bit of food to keep them going. Grizzlies and black bears sleep through most of the winter (called torpor- not all of them hibernate all the way through) and that helps them by not eating when food sources are most scarce. The rest of the year, they are eating to make up for their long winter’s nap. Sometimes bears will strip the bark from a tree and power up with sugary sap when they first emerge from torpor.

Tree sap breakfast nook

From then on, they are pretty much fattening up for the winter. In the Northwest (including Alaska and Pacific Canada), bears get a big boost of tasty fat in the form of salmon, which return to spawn just before bear bedtime. In the Rockies, an infusion of migratory moths makes an easy treat for the bears that know where to look. The salmon and moths giving the bears a goodnight kiss is another example of nature’s perfect timing.

Photo credits: 

Grizzly: United Nations Association of Great Boston https://unagb.wordpress.com/tag/grizzly-bears/

Polar bear: Scientific American https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/polar-bears-diverged-from-brown-bears-fairly-recently/

Black Bear: ABC News http://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-black-bear-takes-break-rests-hammock/story?id=23940797

Species of the Month: Eastern Cottontail

Peter Cottontail is hopping down the bunny trail with April’s Species of the Month. The eastern cottontail rabbit is among the most common wildlife. I frequently saw them in my grandparents’ back yard and was a little jealous that rabbits didn’t come to my house. Although they almost never reach six feet tall at the ears, they are closely related to the Easter Bunny (Lepus pascha). Rabbits in general are associated with Easter because they symbolize abundant new life. For more on that topic, keep reading to see just how abundant these little critters can be. Once again, this month’s facts come from University of Michigan’s Animal Diversity Web.

Scientific name: Sylvilagus floridanus

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Mammalia (mammals)

Order: Lagomorpha (rabbits, hares, pikas)

Range: Eastern and central Canada south through eastern and central US, Central America, and northwestern South America

Habitat: Interface between wooded and open areas; meadows, orchards, farms, hedges, and second growth forest areas

Lifespan: 3 years

Diet: Herbivorous. Grasses primarily during spring/summer, with some clover and garden plants. Winter diet consists mainly of woody plant parts. They must ingest feces to reabsorb nutrients that were broken down during initial digestion but not absorbed completely. 

Predators: hawks, owls, foxes, coyotes, weasels

Conservation Status: No special protection

Other Information: Rabbits really do multiply like rabbits. Females can have as many as 7 litters of up to a dozen bunnies in a single year. The next litter is usually born just after the last litter leaves the nest. Reproductive age is 2-3 months. A first-time mother could conceivably become a grandmother or great grandmother the same year her first litter is born. Eastern cottontails molt twice a year. A spring molt leaves a short summer coat of brown fur, while a fall molt produces a thicker gray coat. Deer have the same seasonal coloration. Babies are born hairless and blind, in contrast to hares, which are born hairy (good way to remember the difference) and with open eyes. They receive little care, weaning between 16 and 22 days old. The litter disperses at around 7 weeks old. Cottontails avoid predation by freezing or flushing, the zigzagging leaps you’ve probably seen.

UM Animal Diversity Web: http://animaldiversity.org/

The Urban Wilderness

A few weeks ago, I mentioned some of the animals of the urban wilderness, those that have adapted extremely well to life with humans. This week I’ll share some wild urban spaces, little patches of actual jungle in the urban jungle. Note: the actual jungle I refer to isn’t really a jungle.

The Seattle area where I live is home to quite a few wild spots in not so wild areas. I’ll run through some of the ones I have been to. 

Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park is one of the largest city parks in Washington. It has Puget Sound shoreline, which is hope to marine life such as harbor seals and giant Pacific octopi. It also has some old growth forest, home to black-tailed deer and eagles. Other attractions include the zoo and Fort Nisqually. 

Not-so-giant giant sequoia at Point Defiance

The recently renamed Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge preserves the delta of the Nisqually River. Located between Olympia and Tacoma, it is bordered by Interstate 5. With freshwater and saltwater marshes it is an important stop on the Pacific Flyway and its estuarine waters nurture salmon smolts adjusting to seawater. 

Taking flight at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge

The US Army Corps of Engineers’ Hiram Chittenden Locks provides a channel for boats to travel between Lake Washington and Puget Sound. On the west side of the locks is a rookery of great blue herons, the only place I’ve ever seen one. Harbor seals frequent the locks, hoping to snag a migrating salmon. Salmon are visible at the lock’s fish ladder. 

Great blue heron rookery

Sockeye salmon at the fish ladder

I grew up near Philadelphia, and there are some urban wilderness areas there also. John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge is right alongside Interstate 95, just south of the airport. It is one of the last remaining tidal marshes on the Delaware River and an important bird habitat. 

John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge (US Fish and Wildlife Service photo)

Valley Forge National Historical Park is best known as the location of George Washington’s winter camp during the American Revolution. Now completely surrounded by suburban development, it is a haven for white-tailed deer. I’ve also seen turkey vultures and heard turkeys there. 

Colonial Springs, deep in the woods (right off the highway) at Valley Forge

New York, the largest city in the country, even has some wild spaces. Central Park is home to more than just pigeons. I’ve seen a woodpecker and squirrels there. Migrating birds on the Atlantic Flyway probably stop there from time to time. The Oakwood Beach neighborhood of Staten Island is no longer a neighborhood; home have been bought out following Hurricane Sandy. The area is already reverting to nature. Across New York Harbor, New Jersey’s Sandy Hook boasts a rare intact holly forest, as well as coastal dunes. Imagine my delight watching crabs skittering through the woods. 

A woodpecker grows in Manhattan

Holly forest at Sandy Hook (Middletown, NJ Patch photo)

One last place worth mentioning is Springbrook Nature Center in Minneapolis. I’ve never been there but a friend is there frequently. It is home to many species of birds, plus the usual deer and even foxes. With any luck I will get there some day. 

Springbrook Nature Center (photo by Mark Layeux)

What are some surprisingly wild places near you?

US Fish and Wildlife Service: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/John_Heinz/visit/plan_your_visit.html

Middletown, NJ Patch: https://patch.com/new-jersey/middletown-nj/holly-forest-walk-at-sandy-hook

March Showers Bring April Flowers

Spring is here for most of us. Daffodils and crocuses (croci?) have sprouted and blossomed here in the Northwest already, and I look forward to seeing the tulips. While the summer wildflowers in the mountain meadows get all the publicity, our forests also have their own display of wildflowers, starting now.

One of the first plants to leaf out is the Indian plum. In fact, it is already flowering. Indian plum is edible, but I read that they don’t taste very good and there isn’t much to eat. However, they are an important early food source for critters that are just waking up or just arriving from migration. 

Indian plum flowers

Salmonberries are also blooming, and Oregon grape is right around the corner. 

Salmonberry flower

Oregon grape getting ready to bloom

I found some self-heal and colt’s foot flowers on my last walk in the woods. It won’t be long until wood sorrel, bleeding heart, and trillium and the non-native stinky Bob and daisies are also blooming. Over in the wetlands, the skunk cabbage is living up to its name. This aquatic plant looks like cabbage leaves with a large yellow flower that smells like skunk spray. The scent attracts the insects the pollinate it. I have no idea if those same insects are attracted to any unfortunate victims of a skunk attack. Pond lilies are close to reaching the surface. Once that happens, I lose my ability to find egg masses, but it is yet another spring flower to look at.

Colt's foot

Self heal

Wood sorrel

The spring flower show might not be as impressive as what is to come in August (or California’s superbloom- see Nature Minute of Facebook for that), but it is just enough to whet your appetite. Plus, the longer growing season at lower elevations gives you more to look at over an extended time. What flowers are growing in your forest?

Pacific bleeding heart

Skunk cabbage (AKA skunkweed, AKA stinkweed), courtesy US Forest Service 

Western trillium

US Forest Service: https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/regions/Pacific_Northwest/QuinaultRainForestTrail/index.shtml