Wisdom of the Ages

While it’s cold and snowy where you are, it’s a warm sunny day on the Pacific atoll of Midway Island, where mating season just ended for the Laysan albatross. Most famous of these large seabirds is Wisdom, the oldest known wild bird. She’s at least 67 years old and still laying eggs. Being that old and still raising young makes me wonder just how long these birds can last.

Wisdom’s age was discovered in 2002 when her band was replaced. The biologist who replaced her band looked up her number and noticed that he originally banded her in 1956, and at that time she was an adult of at least 5 years old.

Wisdom (right) and her mate during nesting season (USFWS)

What is remarkable about this particular bird so special, at least to me, is that she managed to survive so many threats in her time, beyond the normal dangers like predators, disease, and typhoons. Working in her favor are the Migratory Bird Treaty and the US Wildlife Refuge System, protecting her and her kind from human predation and habitat loss at their nesting sites on Midway.

Working against Wisdom and other albatrosses are a whole host of man-made problems. Foremost among them is ocean plastic. Laysan albatrosses feed at night, and their food is fish, squid, and fish eggs that come near the surface. Sadly, floating garbage is also at the surface. In a tragic sequence of events common to marine life everywhere, they mistake plastic for food and either eat it themselves or feed it to their chicks. Despite having full stomachs, the birds and other critters die of starvation because plastic is not very nutritious.

Invasive species are also beginning to take a toll on the albatrosses. They have already been extirpated from the Hawaiian Islands, outcompeted or outright killed by the dogs, cats, pigs, and rats that accompanied Europeans as they traversed the Pacific. Now, the Midway colony is under attack by mice. While the birds are much larger than the mice, they succumb to bite wounds rather move to a mouse-free area because of their dedication to their eggs. US Fish and Wildlife Service is working on eradicating mice from Midway, but having lived with them for thousands of years I think we all know how well that will work out.

Mouse attack victim (Audubon)

This week's information comes from the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Audubon Society 

Habitat Rehab

Habitat restoration is one of the most important challenges facing conservationists today. Without adequate habitat, endangered species can’t be recovered. Many human activities require restoration as well. Fully functioning wetland systems can provide flood control and clean drinking water. How does the process of habitat restoration work?

Restored coastal marsh, where dikes were removed to
allow the sea to once again access the land

The first step, as in medicine, is “First, do no harm.” A site evaluation will determine exactly what needs to be done to restore what once was. Noting current conditions establishes a baseline for measuring success of the project. It might involve stabilizing a feature immediately, such as an eroding stream bank. After figuring out what needs to be done, the next step is figuring out how to do it.

In many cases, conservationists will use a reference site similar to what is being restored to determine plants and other features. Plants will influence what kind of animals will begin using the site, but the land and water on the site will determine what plants can live there.

Live willow stake planted to reforest
a former pastureland

A lot of times, restoration work is more than simply replacing plants and animals that lived on a site before people came in and messed it up. A site I monitored in Washington had once been a thriving salmon stream with a wide flood plain. 19^th century farmers drained the area by straitening the stream to allow water to flow in and out faster. They also cleared the trees. Fast forward to the 21^st century, and we’ve figured out that the stream needs to be slowed and shaded. Over a period of several years, the curves were put back in the stream and thousands of new trees and shrubs were planted. Fixing the stream required building temporary dams, removing fish by hand, and using heavy equipment to excavate a new stream bed at just the right depth and slope.

Ohop Creek after being restored to its twisted ways

After work has been completed, the site must be monitored for success. There should be some kind of measurable goal, and even if the restoration fails it can be a lesson for future attempts. The site I mentioned was restored for salmon habitat, and while it will take a few years for trees to begin cooling the water temperature, it has been under constant observation since work began. Several times a year, conservation groups involved in the restoration work check water levels, tree survival, how many salmon are spawning, and what kinds of animals are using the habitat. All of this is checked against initial observations from before the project began.

This prairie, currently a restoration work in progress,
was a field of weeds a few years ago

My work with habitat restoration has been monitoring (documenting wildlife and animal signs, as well as plant survival rates), site maintenance, and invasive species removal. The work is hard and sometimes conditions are brutal, but I find it to be very rewarding.

In many cases, restored habitat is second rate compared to what it once was and what nature has provided. It’s not for a lack of trying, but nature is a much better architect of natural features than what man could ever hope to be. But it’s better than nothing.

Everglades Flora and Fauna

Last week we explored some of the different habitats in the Everglades. This week we’ll look at some the plant and animal residents, then wrap up with some of the many challenges facing the region.

So many different kinds of animals live in the Everglades. They range from tiny biting flies to giant mosquitoes that can carry you back to their dens and every size of mosquito in between. There are also birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, fishes, crustaceans, and arachnids. Many threatened and endangered species call this place home. Some of the highlights: Florida panther, eastern indigo snake, American crocodile, West Indian manatee, five species of sea turtle (leatherback, loggerhead, green, hawksbill, and Atlantic ridley), snail kite, wood stork, piping plover, and red cockaded woodpecker.

Florida panther (US Fish and Wildlife Service)

West Indian manatee

Other critters you can find there include alligators, black bears, deer, marsh rabbits (which is a capable swimmer, gray foxes (which can climb trees), pilot whales, dolphins, several bat species, the gulf toadfish (which is audible to humans), roseate spoonbills, flamingoes, owls, parakeets, shore birds, waterfowl, owls, and birds of prey.

Roseate spoonbill (US Fish and Wildlife Service)

American crocodile (NPS)

Marsh rabbit (North Carolina State Parks)

Plant life in the Everglades includes sawgrass, named for its serrated edges; Simpson’s applecactus, an endangered night-blooming species; wildflowers like climbing aster, coralbean, devil’s potato, and duck potato; several species of orchids that can be found in nearly all of the Everglades habitats, including treetop canopies; and a wide variety of trees. Among the many trees are three mangrove species, West Indies mahogany, live oak, slash pine, bald cypress, gumbo-limbo, buttonwood, royal palm and sabal palm.

Sawgrass (Florida Department of State)

Applecactus (USDA)

Coralbean (NPS)

West Indies mahogany (University of Florida)

Sabal palm (USDA)

Like any other natural area, there is damage caused by humans. Some is recent, but some goes back decades. As development came to Florida, much of the water was diverted by canals. Wetlands were filled in and built over. The diminished flow and water fouled with agricultural runoff and sediment has had far-reaching effects, even today. The current red tide on Florida’s Gulf Coast is likely a result.

Invasive species, especially the Burmese python and boa constrictor, are of increasing concern. These snakes eat just about any native species in the Everglades, including the alligators. With no natural predators, their populations are able to grow unchecked. Although snake hunts are held throughout the year, they are very well camouflaged and are able to escape detection. Another species of concern is the melaleuca tree, which shades out native plants. At least a tree is easier to find than a python. Lionfish are an exotic species that eats the native populations. Increasing demand for them as a food fish is having limited success in eradicating them.

In the marine habitat, propeller scars form when boaters in shallow water mow submerged vegetation or even scrape the sea floor. Scraping bottom is far worse because it kills vegetation directly. It also kicks up sediment, which shades nearby vegetation, indirectly killing more.

The amazing biodiversity of the Everglades leaves quite a lasting impression on visitors. Unfortunately the human impact leaves an even bigger mark on the landscape and wild residential population. While government agencies from the local level up to federal are spending a lot of money to restore the ecosystems, paradoxically, those same governments are allowing more destruction in other parts of the Everglades. It’s a tragic lesson in how our lifestyle choices have consequences most of us never see or think about.

This week's information, like last week, comes from the National Park Service.

Road Trip Adventure- Behind the Scenes

Last week I shared pictures, video, and information about the horseshoe crab. This week we take a behind the scenes look at the adventure. While the trip to Delaware wasn’t as tedious as a National Geographic photo shoot (they might spend three months to get that one shot you see in the magazine), it wasn’t the figurative walk on the beach that it literally appeared to be.

Welcome to the second smallest state!
(Delaware Business Times)

The biggest question mark I had to deal with was weather. The forecast was for thunderstorms. Fortunately my daughter and I dodged those. I wasn’t about to head to the beach during a thunderstorm. Your happiness, gentle reader, is not worth my life. It was cloudy that night, and I wasn’t sure if it was the moon itself or just the tides associated with the moon that draws the crabs to the beach. Apparently, it’s the tides and not moonlight. 

Rain was our closest companion during the weekend. I was hoping to get daylight shots at noon’s high tide the Saturday we were there. However, threatening clouds were on the horizon and with more thunderstorms in the forecast I decided to bag it. We managed to get another trip to the beach at low tide, where a few stragglers were going back out to sea. There were also a few dead crabs below the wrack line, some birds, and a shopping bag full of garbage. Saturday night rain kept me awake and at some point during the night the tent decided it was too wet to hold the water back any longer.

And they were right (Pintrest)

Camping in the rain can be a miserable experience, but our second closest companion, at least while we were in camp, was the mosquitoes. They helped me set up the tent by encouraging me to do it faster. They even managed to get inside. They got in the car. They visited me in the bathroom. They were undaunted by the rain. I learned how foolish I was to believe that they lost their taste for me over the years. East Coast mosquitoes will surely beat West Coast mosquitoes in a street fight any day.

Business was booming at the 24 hour buffet
(End Times News)

With rain, you are sure to have humidity. My hair is too short to get frizzy, but that wouldn’t bother me. The bother was driving into camp, to the beach, and back to camp without being able to see anything. Nothing I did could stop the humidity from fogging up the windshield. If it wasn’t the foggy windshield on Friday night it was the actually foggy fog. How humid was it? I had a box of graham crackers (we had raw smores because of the rain) stored in my cooler (no ice) and the cardboard still managed to get soggy, despite the outside (and inside) of the cooler staying out of the rain. I’ve never seen humidity like it.

All this complaining is to remind you that fieldwork has its discomforts. Even though all I did this time was observation, we do this in all conditions. Always keeping safety in mind, research and fieldwork go on despite nasty weather. Obviously, sometimes conditions make it impossible to get the job done. I can’t count frog eggs in the rain because the surface ripples make it impossible to see any eggs below. I won’t be pulling invasive weeds when there’s a foot of snow on the ground. Sometimes conditions interfere with natural processes we’re trying to observe. Insects won’t be around much on a windy day. A cool, cloudy day will keep reptiles away. So we wait. And that’s why your National Geographic picture is three months in the making.

Species of the Month

It’s time once again for the wearin’ o’ the green. To celebrate, our species of the month is white clover. This three-leafed plant is also known as the shamrock, a traditional symbol of Ireland and Saint Patrick’s Day.

White clover leaf (Michigan State University)

Scientific name: Trifolium repens

Kingdom: Plantae (plants)

Class:   Magnoliopsida (dicotyledons)

Order: Fabales (dicot flowering plants)

Range: native to Europe, now globally distributed

Habitat: pastures, yards

Lifespan: perennial plant, at least two years

Diet: sunlight and water

Predators: small mammals such as groundhogs and rabbits, deer, livestock

White clover flower (USDA PLANTS)

Closeup of the flower (USDA PLANTS)

Conservation Status: no special protection, may be considered noxious in some areas

Other Information: Believe it or not, clover is in the legume family with peas and beans. These plants form a symbiotic relationship with fungi that live in nodules on their roots and can absorb nitrogen from the air and fix it to the soil, benefitting other plants. Most white clover plants have three leaves, but the ones with four leaves are considered good luck. The four leaf clover is actually a genetic mutation. There are also clovers with five, six, or more leaves but whether or not they are lucky is undetermined. White clover is commonly planted with pasture grasses for grazing. The Ladino variety is tall enough to be cut as hay. It is an important flower for honeybees. It spreads quickly and is sometimes used for erosion control as a ground cover. Native to Europe, it is an invasive species in the US.

This week's information comes from USDA's PLANTS database.

The elusive four leaf clover (Wikipedia)

The Devil's Weed

Richard Nixon had an enemies list, and so do I. Unlike Tricky Dick, my enemies are not political foes but plants. Specifically, the invasive Scotch broom and Himalayan blackberry. Both take advantage of disturbances and are persistent. My worst nightmare came true when I found a Scotch broom growing intertwined with a blackberry. I just know they were plotting against me!

Let’s start with Scotch broom. Native to Europe, this shrub with the ugly yellow flower came to America to fight soil erosion and brighten up roadsides. Once it took root, it took over. I’ve seen fields of it. Even a forest of old growth Scotch broom, trees 15 feet tall crowding out the native vegetation. It takes over grasslands and forest, causing habitat loss for the many critters who call grasslands and forests home. If eaten, it can be toxic.

Old growth Scotch broom- not too impressive but it's winter in this picture

Great, it puts nitrogen in the soil (it’s actually a member of the pea family), but what good is nitrogenated soil if no one else gets to use it? Seeds can remain viable in the soil for 80 years, maybe longer. Fire doesn’t destroy them; in fact, they may even benefit from fire since this weed loves a disturbed area. Constant pulling is the best way to control this fiend. Just don’t pull a muscle in your back like I did.

Scotch broom monoculture (from Bingham County, ID)

Himalayan blackberries may be even worse than Scotch broom. Blackberries can fight back. The canes are covered in thorns that make cutting them a chore that involves getting yourself cut in the process. The canes grow up, droop down, and sprout a whole new bush when they reach the ground. Each bush gives off thousands of berries, each with dozens of seeds. Birds, bears, raccoons, and who knows what else eat the berries and poop put the seeds, spreading more evil bushes far and wide.

The Himalayan blackberry is a failed experiment by food biologist Luther Burbank. Using selective breeding, he created varieties of fruits and vegetables that we still eat today. The Himalayan blackberry (which originated in Armenia) was supposed to be a thornless variety. Instead, it turned out to be perfectly adapted to life in the Northwest. It can grow just about anywhere and will cover anything in its path. The one pictured below (next to a tree) is at least 15 feet tall. I added a second picture with the entire tree visible, for perspective.

Himalayan blackberry under this Douglas fir

Left Douglas fir is the one seen above

When you are working on restoring a site to its natural condition, there will more than likely be at least one invasive plant. But it gets so frustrating when you have to clear the same plants year after year, especially when you know you got rid of them all the year before. Diligence and persistence are probably the two most important tools in any restoration ecologist’s kit.

Himalayan blackberry is just now beginning to bear fruit

Scotch broom greets me at my land trust property

Here's the variety with red on the flowers

Luther Burbank info came from this fascinating NPR article. The monoculture picture is from Bingham County, Idaho's noxious weed program.

Vanishing Prairies, Part 1

When you think of the Pacific Northwest you probably think of misty forest full of towering trees and glacier-covered volcanic peaks. You think of killer whales and salmon in Puget Sound and coffee-fueled hipsters of Seattle and Portland. Do prairies ever cross your mind?

The Puget Sound region is home to remnant prairies, an ecosystem that currently only covers 10% of the area it covered before the arrival of European settlers. Why did the prairies disappear? Settlers replaced prairie grasses and flowers with pasture grass, crops, and orchards. Cities sprang up in other areas. Forests took over some prairies after the settlers didn’t keep up the Indians’ practice of setting fires to keep the prairies open. Invasive species overran others.

I was privileged to visit Glacial Heritage Natural Area, a mounded prairie, earlier this year to pull invasive Scotch broom. Mounded prairies are covered in small hills of indeterminate origin. Weather was the biggest challenge that day. Part of the time it was sunny and warm, but there were periods of sideways rain and even sleet. I got into such a frenzy pulling my archenemy that when I happened to find some broom that was already pulled, I was disappointed.

Flash forward to May, and the place was almost unrecognizable. The weather deteriorated to constant downpours, but the biggest change was in the flora. During my first visit, the only plants I could identify were Scotch broom, Himalayan blackberry, and a shooting star that had already bloomed. This time, the place was awash in color. There was more blue camas than I’ve ever seen, as well as endangered golden paintbrush and a bunch of other flowers I’m not familiar with. Next week we’ll discuss some of the critters that call our prairies home, as well as look into the mysterious geology of the mounded prairie. Until then, enjoy some pictures of the flowers!

Notice the mounds?

Red columbine

Endangered golden paintbrush and blue camas

Blue camas

A white "blue" camas

Red sorrel

Stand of Douglas fir in the middle of prairie

The forest edge

Harsh paintbrush

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