February 12, 2003

Winter Weather

This winter has been consistently cold, with repeated frosts and numerous hard freezes. This makes for good dry fuel for burning, but the signs of early spring are arriving later than usual. By now we usually see Carolina jessamine, red maple, and redbud blooms.

We have had some very nice soaking rains come through which have raised the water level in the swamp and ponds. The mix of variables has been perfect for camellias—I can't recall such an abundance and endurance of blooms throughout Betty's garden. They have provided a lot of cheer on these extremely cold days. Trilliums, tea olive, and Oregon grape are also in full flower.

Birds

The Bird Window has been a very lively place! The birds seem to really appreciate the extra food through these very cold months. They also enjoy the mist and pool and bathe ecstatically on even the coldest days. Lately we've been recording up to 25 species of birds a day including a hermit thrush; yellow-rumped and pine warblers; ruby-crowned kinglet; goldfinches; house finches; catbirds; white-throated and chipping sparrows; white-breasted nuthatch; robins; yellow-bellied sapsuckers, red-bellied, and pileated woodpeckers. The cedar waxwings, a favorite with many visitors, arrived a few days ago and are coming to the water in groups. They are so beautiful. On some of them you can actually count 5 and 6 red wax tips on their feathers, and some have an orange tail band instead of the usual yellow. The poor mockingbird is anxiously defending its yaupon shrubs behind the office—a losing battle with so many waxwings. I was amazed to see our first fox sparrow enjoying a bath, a large and colorful, rust-red sparrow. Year-round residents such as titmice, towhees, chickadees, jays, cardinals, quail, mockingbirds, Carolina wrens, and thrashers, are continually visiting the seed, suet, and water. Lately large flocks of red-winged blackbirds mixed with some grackles spend much of the day singing in the nearby treetops and then descend into the feeding area, taking over.

Purple Martins

Larry Herring has donated a beautiful new 10-gourd martin pole to Birdsong. It has a new crossbar design that will provide better perching for the colony. Larry and his team had the gourds all prepared for the season and the pole went up on January 18th. This year the first martin was spotted—on the pole and in the gourds—on February 5th. (The earliest recorded arrival date at Birdsong was January 23rd; several times over the years they appeared on Betty’s birthday, January 29th, which pleased us all immensely.) Doris Marsaglia happened to be here that day with her camera so she got some photos of the arrival. Now we are up to seven birds. They probably knew to stay away until we got through the most intense cold weather. It's wonderful to have them back and hear that distinctive song.

Gin House Field

The Gin House is full of rich green germinating clover and it is attracting a herd of eight young deer who are frequently seen grazing. The meadowlarks are still with us, as are flocks of house finches and palm warblers, chipping sparrows, and other sparrows (we need Michael Bell to identify them), northern flickers, phoebes, and lots and lots of bluebirds. The bluebird boxes show evidence of being used as roosting sites-on these extremely cold nights, bluebirds will gather together in a box and keep each other warm. This is a good time of year to see the interesting system of terraces in the Gin House. These beautiful curving berms were constructed in the 1840's to help prevent erosion. We call them our antique terraces.

The Farm Pond has a little more water in it lately, but not much. Our most notable Farm Pond resident, an alligator, was seen yesterday basking on the exposed north bank. It was a very cold morning and the alligator was stretched out sideways to the sun, soaking up all available warmth. It was muddy from nose to tail, apparently up off the bottom for a sun bath. This gator is now large enough (6 feet) to startle you a little bit if you are strolling by and it flings itself into the water at your approach. We’ve observed this alligator growing up in this pond over the last four or five years.

Big Bay Swamp has water in it, actually flowing through the spillway, something we have not seen for some time. This is after the 1.5 inches of rain we had a few days ago. Our very shy wood ducks appear to be paired off; we flush the whole group occasionally when crossing Big Bay Dam. The swamp is so lovely this time of year; with all the leaves off the trees you can see straight across to the golden broomsedge of Big Bay Field. There is a lot to hear at the Listening Place: brown-headed nuthatches, yellow-bellied sapsuckers, pileated woodpeckers, bluebirds, phoebes, yellow-rumps, pine warblers, red-shouldered hawks, and spring peepers. Behind all of this is the sound of the wind blowing through the trees—it is somehow very reassuring.

Land Management

Since the last newsletter, we burned the Lewis Field and the north edge of Big Bay Swamp to the Listening Place. Just last week we burned a large section, from Linton's Corner all the way to the Shortleaf Woods on the east and also Big Bay Field. It had rained about four days before and the burn was surprisingly easy. I think we've been dealing with drought conditions for the last three or more years and that burning, under those conditions, carries certain risks and takes a lot of care and attention. One of the reasons the burn went so smoothly is because of the amount of advance preparation done by Peter Wright and Bill Waite. They raked around all trees that would have burned at the base, all snags, the fire lanes, and took care of areas of pine straw and other flammable spots along the roads we use for fire lanes. It was a very well conducted burn and a great team effort. We are so fortunate to have such great staff and volunteers.

Next, we'd like to get our perimeter burned. It gives us more leeway then in terms of what we can do on the interior of the property.

Another Wood Rat Mystery

I really miss Nicholas. I know we have to consider our visitors and our other human and economic needs, but his presence and that of his bride and offspring were a constant source of interest and wonder. As you may recall, we had to chase them out of the outdoor bathroom, for reasons of cleanliness and to not frighten the wits out of any more children. Nicholas was, after all, a rather large and impressive rat.

Anyway-last week, Bill Waite discovered a new nest on top of the truck engine, under the hood. It is amazing. It is a work of art. It is a round ball of polyfill fiber about ten inches across, with a little doorway. It was built on a platform of gnawed twigs and grasses, then built up with what appear to be mouthfuls of polyfill mixed with Spanish moss fibers. It is a heavenly little bed. The mystery, apart from its exquisite and expert construction, is: where did he or she get the polyfill? The trucks seats are made of foam. This polyfill is clean and white. We cannot figure out where it came from. The problem is that certain tubes and hoses directly under the nest are chewed through and gone. We can't afford for the woodrat to disable the truck, so the nest has been removed and we are attempting to discourage any further building. Still, once again, we are all amazed by the intelligence and abilities of the eastern woodrat, Neotoma floridana.

Spring is Coming

Two days after the above column was written, it warmed up substantially and there is a sudden burst of flowering of the red maples and Carolina jessamine. More waxwings have arrived to further aggravate our mockingbird, bluebirds are singing, the martins gather noisily in the mornings, the days are growing longer. Right near the house, in broad daylight, barred owls are calling to one another in the middle of the afternoon. So spring is on its way. Birdsong is beautiful; give in to spring fever and come enjoy it.

~KDB