More Evidence of Hardship

Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)

Although temperatures have begun to return to normal here in the northern Piedmont (average this time of year should be 44 degrees Fahrenheit), the ground is still covered with plenty of deep, crusty snow and the wildlife is desperate for food.

For the first time in the 26 years I have lived here, a Northern Mockingbird has begun to appear regularly at my suet feeder.  Mockingbirds, like American Robins, are insectivores during the warmer months, but switch to berries during the winter.  Clearly, the supply of edible, freeze-dried fruit on the vine has been exhausted and the mockingbird has turned to the only food it can find.

For so many of us, this winter can't end soon enough.

It's Much Worse in New England!

Our back yard Friday morning, January 3

6-1/2", measured on the picnic table in the back yard

Kali and I live on Edge Hill Road - aptly named, since the road follows the crest of a ridge for seven miles or so.  The entrance to our drive from Edge Hill Road is directly opposite a 40-acre field used  for an annual fund-raising carnival and horse show.  The wind blowing from the northwest roars across the open field, then rises up to Edge Hill Road.  On cold, snowy, windy days like today, the wind chill (and the snow drifting across Edge Hill Road) is unbelievable.  Our municipality usually erects snow fencing along Edge Hill Road to minimize the drifting, but they didn't do it this year, with predictable results.

The house in which we live is set back from the crest of Edge Hill Road a distance of 0.1-mile.  Because we're back from the crest, and because a previous owner of the property installed a large evergreen plantation between Edge Hill Road and the house, we are somewhat protected from the worst of the wind.  The birds that crowd our feeder certainly appreciate the windbreak.

Snowy trail leading into the native grasslands

A "Plague" of Robins

Late last week, I commented on a post by Grizz at his Riverdaze... blog that American Robins (Turdus migratorius) had, so far, failed to strip the tiny fruits from my crabapple tree as they usually do much earlier in the winter.  Well, the major winter storm that buried New England and New York only left three inches of snow here in the northern Piedmont, but it was enough to send the overwintering robins into a feeding frenzy.  As I shoveled the walks and drive on Saturday morning, hordes of robins descended on the crabapple tree and feasted.

Just a few of the dozens of American Robins gorging themselves on crabapples

Winter has been pretty mild so far this year, so the birds have found alternate sources of food in the thickets where they hide.  I suspect that crabapples don't have much fat content, so the overwintering berry eaters prefer other fattier fruits.  But winter's winding down now, and the birds have harvested much of the other available fruit; they must be becoming desperate.

My dependents eat even before I do (but I have admit I brewed coffee first)

A Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta candensis).  These northern visitors were more numerous at the beginning of winter, but a few have hung around all season.

A few more snowy images.  This was our first substantial snowfall of the season.

View down to the pond behind my residence

The old-field just beyond my front lawn

My Prius is all flocked up

The east end of my residence, added in 1833 to an existing 1791 house

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British contemporary dance/movement company Motionhouse performed Scattered in Philadelphia on Saturday night. For 70 uninterrupted minutes Kali and I were mesmerized by seven young dancers interacting very, very vigorously with a "half-pipe" curved wall onto which was projected a video exploring water in all its forms. The piece worked so magically well that I honestly expected the performers to be soaking wet after an extended set in which they played on a virtual waterfall. Bravo, Motionhouse!

Grasslands Field Trip/Snowbirds

Dr. Roger Latham with a sprig of Three-awn grass (Aristida pupurascens)

The Natural Lands Trust, a regional conservancy with headquarters in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, sponsored a day-long tour of grasslands at three of its preserves on Wednesday, October 20.  Two of my colleagues and I joined in the tour, which attracted about 25 participants.

Recently established warm-season grassland at the Hildacy Preserve

We began the tour at the Hildacy Preserve where the organization has established new native warm-season grasslands in former weedy meadows.  The day ended at the Stroud Preserve, one of the organization's largest, where Bobolinks (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) reliably nest year after year in cool-season grassland pasture.  It was the middle part of the day, though, that made the trip so worthwhile; we visited the organization's first preserve, the Willisbrook Preserve, which protects a serpentine barren.

NLT's Drew Gilchrist pointing out features of the cool-season pastures that attract Bobolinks

Roger Latham with a sample of serpentinite at the Willisbrook Preserve

Serpentinite is a metamorphosed igneous rock formed only at the tectonic spreading centers at the bottom of the ocean.  Here in the Piedmont, which has been subject to repeated collisions with Africa over the last half-billion years, some of the tortured bedrock contains sections of the oceanic crust that have been welded onto the continent.  Serpentinite, a greenish rock, produces soils that are very low in calcium and very high in magnesium, nickle, and chromium.

Serpentine aster

The heavy metals are present in concentrations that are toxic for most plants, but which support a limited palette of highly-adapted species found nowhere else.  Three species are particularly showy:  Round-leaved fameflower (Talinum teretifolium), Moss-pink (Phlox subulata) [both of which bloom in the spring and summer], and Serpentine aster (Aster depauperatus) [which was blooming when we visited].

We were fortunate to be escorted on the tour by members of the Natural Lands Trust's knowledgeable stewardship staff, including Darrin Groff, the professional most experienced with using prescribed fire as a management tool in Pennsylvania, and by Dr. Roger Latham, the preeminent grassland expert in Pennsylvania.

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Snowbirds have arrived at my feeder.  Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis) and White-throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicolis) appeared on October 15, 2010, and a Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) showed up for the first time yesterday, Sunday, October 24, and has already made the feeder its own.  Even though the birds are here, we have yet to have our first frost.