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Wildlife Management Notes

Wildlife Management Notes and Observations
June 22, 2000

Woodland pond at Birdsong.

Weather It has been incredibly hot and dry with only a few minimal showers in the last two months. Soil moisture in southwest Georgia is at a record low; regionally, rivers are at record-low daily flows. To cope with the drought, human water use is up - for large-scale crop irrigation and urban area lawn watering - and results in further draw-down of reservoirs and groundwater. Many people are drilling wells deeper because the aquifer level has dropped so low and farmers are experiencing total losses of crops; even if it does start raining it is already too late. With dry soil and high temperatures, wildfire is a serious problem and there are ongoing bans on prescribed burning. There is, however, hope now that with the arrival of hurricane season the weather pattern will shift and bring some much needed rain.

Here at Birdsong we too are experiencing these dry conditions. Except for really dry grass trails and lawns, the place has remained beautiful and fairly green throughout this stressful time. The Frog Pond and Big Bay Pond have been completely dry for several months and the other ponds and Big Bay Swamp are 2 to 2-1/2 feet lower than normal. Many of our creeks and drains are no longer flowing. Vegetation has therefore been under great stress, particularly in the last two months. There have been fewer varieties of late spring wildflowers and the grass on the trails has scarcely grown at all - we've only had to mow once so far this year.

Fortunately, in just the last week we are experiencing a slight shift. There have been very cloudy, overcast days which helps cool things off, and there have been thunderstorms scattered around the area. We got 0.4 inches three nights ago, and that small amount has really refreshed the lawn, garden, and fields. Right now, it has gotten very overcast and cooler with thunder to the south. Perhaps some relief is on the way. It is going to take a lot of rainfall to recover from our 20+ inch deficit and actually reach soil moisture and replenish the groundwater, so we need a rain dance. Want to join us?

Prescribed Burning Our spring burning came to an abrupt halt due to exceedingly dry and risky conditions and burning bans. We got in one final burn through one half of the Wildlife Woods three days after the only heavy rain in late April. We still want to burn the Big Bay Field hot to control sprouting shortleaf pines, but have been waiting until the turkey nesting season is completely over. Now that we've had a little rain perhaps burning permits will be granted again.

Butterflies and the Butterfly Garden The dry weather has affected everything. We are finally beginning to see more butterflies. The Garden's nectar plants are now growing and blooming more profusely, and we're beginning to find more eggs and caterpillars on host plants. We're seeing pipevine, tiger, giant, black, and a few zebra swallowtails, as well as fritillaries. Yesterday there was a pair of palamedes swallowtails on clarodendron. Pentas, buddleia, and lantana are becoming very attractive to the adults. The patch of old-fashioned lantana along the south house garden fence rows is the most popular spot - it's been alive with fritillaries, buckeyes, and skippers. Grace Howell has been collecting the eggs and caterpillars of giant and black swallowtails and gulf fritillaries so we can show visitors all stages of the butterfly life cycle. She also has a special container set up for a huge hickory horned devil caterpillar that Laura Bell found on the ground. It has pupated under damp earth and litter and we are now awaiting the arrival of an adult Royal Walnut Moth.

Purple Martins The last brood of purple martin babies appear to have fledged as of yesterday. Early morning is a very cheerful, boisterous time around the martin pole as parents urge young ones to fly with lots of singing and aerial antics. It has not been an easy season for them either. After the spate of high nineties and 100 degree weather three weeks ago we found four fatalities under the pole. They must have bailed out of the gourds because of the heat and weren't yet able to really fly. Overall, however, there has been good nesting success this year after a slow start. We think that this last brood of young fledged yesterday is the second brood for parents nesting in that gourd.

Other Nesting and Fledging We've been witnessing delightful fledging episodes, with parents escorting their new broods on their first forays out of the nest. Families of bluebirds, chickadees, carolina wrens, cardinals, jays, towhees and parula warblers have been seen. There's lots of noise and activity as the parents lead their speckled young foraging through the trees - it really has been fun to watch. Recently, mother turkeys have been sighted with between six and nine poults in various places around Birdsong. No quail babies reported yet. We are still hearing lots of singing by tanagers, blue grosbeaks, indigo buntings, orchard orioles, great-crested flycatchers, vireos, blue-gray gnatcatchers, wood thrushes, parulas, pine warblers, and of course, bluebirds, so the nesting season continues in full force for many.

Bird Window Right after the last newsletter came out we had another two weeks of visiting migrants still coming through. Our mulberry trees had a long berry season this spring, and the trees fruited out in sequence so we got to really enjoy all the fruit-eating birds for many weeks. One of the best trees is the large old mulberry in the left vista. We had a spectacular showing of cedar waxwings, scarlet tanagers (three males of differing plumage), and male and female rose- breasted grosbeaks enjoying the mulberries and then coming to the Bird Window for the mist and pool. Others taking Window breaks from mulberries were summer tanagers, orchard orioles, catbirds, red-headed and red-bellied woodpeckers. By May 10, most migrants moved on through and we've been seeing our summer residents feeding young and enjoying the bath. A pileated has just started coming in for suet cake - we're pleased; we haven't had one feeding at the Window for several years.

So, in spite of the drought, life goes on. It has still been as delightful a spring as any with Mother Nature giving us something wonderful to experience every day. We hope you'll come out and enjoy Birdsong, too. And bring some rain.

    From Betty
    My love to everyone
    Praise and thanks!
    Blessed be.
        -KDB

"Wildlife Management Notes" appears regularly in our bi-monthly Newsletter. Below is an index of links to previous wildlife management articles:

• April 2000
• December 1999
• October 1999
• April 1999
• February 1999
• December 1998

Copyright © 1999, Birdsong Nature Center
Revised -- June 27, 2000