Yesterday’s blog on Brood XIX was a brief summary of what I have been doing the past several evenings as I marvel at this occurrence. There are two things I had hoped to find in this year’s emergence after reading more about these amazing insects – a blue-eyed adult (a rare genetic oddity) and one with a fungus-infected rear end. I still haven’t seen a baby blue-eyed bug, but I have found one with a white butt. Oddly, I carried something from the front porch inside and when I walked back into the foyer, there was a cicada crawling on the floor (a hitch hiker on that package I carried in I suppose). I picked it up and was going to release it outside when I saw its rear was white. The fungus!
Periodical cicada infected with the fungus, Massospora cicadina
A stage 1 infection of this fungus on a cicada shows up as a whitish coating on the lower third of its abdomen. This fungus has a bizarre life history, matching that of its “prey”, the periodical cicadas (the fungus is known to infect both 13-year and 17-year periodical cicadas). I found a transcript online of an interview with Dr. Matt Kasson, an associate professor of forest pathology and mycology at West Virginia University. He has been studying this unique fungus for a number of years and described some of its unusual characteristics. Unlike other types of so-called zombie fungi (they alter the behavior of their host to create conditions better for spore dispersal) in which the death of the host is the usual means of better spore dispersal, this fungus exhibits active-host transmission. It keeps the host alive in order to better spread the spores. It does this by altering the cicadas behavior. He called the behavior hypersexualization. Male cicadas with the fungus will try to mate with females but will also exhibit the female behavior of wing flicking which creates an audible snapping sound. Uninfected males do not wing flick. Females do this in response to the male calls. This causes other male cicadas to try to mate with the infected males, enhancing the chances for fungal dispersal. One paper suggested this is a type of STD for cicadas!
Later in the emergence, cicadas infected with the Stage 1 phase of the fungus begin producing resting spores as part of the Stage 2 phase of the infection. These resting spores spread onto to the ground and will infect the next generation of cicadas that will emerge from the soil 13 or 17 years later. Scientists aren’t sure whether the hatching larvae pick up the resting spores as they burrow into the soil to feed on tree roots or whether the next generation of nymphs picks them up when they tunnel to the surface to emerge (or whether both occur).
One result of the fungus is that portions of the abdomen fall off of infected individuals. I have noticed a few cicadas with half their abdomen missing and initially thought this was from predation. After learning more about the infection, I picked one up and looked closely and saw white coloration inside the remaining body cavity. Is this the fungus? This morning, I sent photos of both cicadas to Dr. Kasson for his assessment of whether these are infected individuals. He quickly responded and confirmed the one in the first photo at the top of this page is indeed an infected cicada and he would like the sample. The other one is too damaged to determine from the photos. If you have any Brood XIX cicadas you suspect of being infected, you can contact him at mtkasson@mail.wvu.edu.
Cicada with half of its abdomen missingIs this the fungus inside the body cavity of that cicada?
The more I learn about fungi, the more I think that they truly are the life form in control of this planet. Or is it just that they want me to think that?
Nothing in the cry of cicadas suggests that they are about to die.
~Matsuo Basho
I imagine you are deluged with social media posts and news reports about the spectacle that those of us in this area are living with right now – the emergence of Brood XIX of periodical cicadas. I hesitated adding one more blog about this phenomenon, but, let’s face it, it is pretty astonishing. And, perhaps it will help one of the many people I read about on social media every day that are wondering what that strange whining sound is all about. So, let’s start with that sound (recorded yesterday in front of our house; yu will also hear one of the many Wood Thrush that sing in our woods)…(turn sound up)
I photographed members of this brood the last time they were above ground in this area back in 2011. My article in this months’ issue of Walter magazine is about the current emergence but has photos from 2011 (due to publication schedules, the current brood had not emerged by my deadline date). The dates of those 2011 photos correspond closely (within a week, with this year being a bit earlier) with this year’s emergence. That is pretty remarkable given the 13-year time difference. Note – we also have a few species of so-called annual cicadas in our area but they are generally larger, green in color, and emerge later in the summer.
Here’s a quick summary of this marvelous event and the life cycle of these amazing creatures. Nymphs spend 13 years underground sucking on nutrients in tree roots. They may be able to tell the passage of time by the seasonality of the trees in terms of sap flow and nutrient differences between winter and summer tree seasons. When the time is right, they dig their way to the surface, often leaving a prepared exit hole and waiting until soil temperatures reach about 64 degrees. They tend to emerge at night and then crawl up a vertical surface to transform into the adult cicada. That process involves splitting the back of the nymphal skin, pulling out and then clinging to something (usually the excuviae they just shed) and pumping fluid into their wings to expand them. This process takes an hour or more. Adults begin to fly the next day (they aren’t great at it) and males start singing in a few days when enough have emerged to “chorus”. Chorusing is usually done high in the trees. This attracts females and mating takes place. She then uses her knife-like ovipositor to slice into twigs and lay her eggs. This causes flagging of the branches, often pruning the tips. Nymphs hatch in about 6 weeks, drop to the ground, dig a couple of feet into the soil and start the cycle all over again.
-Periodical cicada holes showing the high concentration. This photo is of the space between stepping stones in a walkway in downtown Pittsboro. I have seen estimates as high as one million cicadas per a acre during this emergence (click photos to enlarge)
There are seven species of periodical cicadas (all are found only in the Midwest or Eastern North America) – four have 13-year cycles and three have 17-year life cycles. We are pretty sure we have three species of the Brood XIX 13-year cicadas emerging on our property (a brood is an assemblage of periodical cicadas with synchronized emergence over a geographic area) . Our largest is Magicicada tredecim (with an orange abdomen). The two smaller species are similar in size to each other but differ in color – M. tredecassini (small and no orange) and M. tredecula (small with narrow orange stripes). The large species seemed to be the dominant one the first day or two of the emergence. The past couple of days has had a lot more of the two smaller species. Emergence seems to have occurred in patches on our property, with some high concentrations in select areas in the yard one evening and another location the next night. It looks as though they aren’t climbing much higher than 10 or 15 feet into the trees to transform with many at the tips of low branches.
Birds are feasting on them and I have seen Carolina Chickadees, Eastern Bluebirds, and Summer Tanagers all grabbing them. I imagine squirrels, mice, and maybe even deer are dining on these tiny “shellfish wannabes” as well. Nearby friends have posted photos of lizards and snakes with very full bellies so I think the cicadas are on the menu of many local species. I’m still trying to decide if I want to try one (the nymphs supposedly taste nutty when cooked). I’ll let you know if I do.
Here are a few of the highlights from my cicada wanderings in our yard:
Periodical cicada nymph crawling along a twigNymph just starting to split out of its shell
Something you may notice on the exuviae (shed “skins”) of the nymphs are small white “strings”. These are the tracheal tubes, the “pipes” of the respiratory system of the insect. They run throughout the nymphs’ body and are connected to the outside via the spiracles (respiratory openings on the thorax and abdomen of insects). When the nymphs shed their exoskeleton, the tracheal linings are also shed.
Nymph as it emerges showing tracheal tube connectionsA close up of the tracheal tubes in an emerging cicada.A mass of periodical cicadas that emerged last weekendEmerged cicadas in two stages of wing expansion
According to one resource I read, the two large black spots you see in freshly emerged periodical cicadas contain pigment that will gradually spread throughout the cicada’s body as it hardens, transforming it from this ghostly white color to the final black form. Some have also speculated that the large spots may deter predators since they resemble large eyes, giving the impression of a much larger creature.
Another grouping showing fully emerged cicadas
It takes an hour or so for the wings to fully expand. The cicadas will go through a color transformation as well.
Adult transforming to final colorAdult periodical cicadas that have fully transformed into their final darker color
Looking at the timing in my photos from 2011, mating should be occurring this week with egg-laying by the week after. They will start dying shortly after that and hatchlings should drop out of the trees by late June. We will then need to be patient, as we won’t see them again until 2037! Hope i’m still around to enjoy the spectacle.
Coyotes have the gift of seldom being seen; they keep to the edge of vision and beyond…
~N. Scott Momaday
As you may have noticed in recent months, I have not written as many blogs as in the past. I will try to do better since there is a lot to share. I’m going to start with a quick recent event and then go back to follow up on some great experiences over the past few months including finishing up our trip to South Africa last November, a fantastic trip to Nebraska last month for birding adventures, a wonderful canoe camping trip on the Cashie River in eastern North Carolina, and some of the natural happenings here in our woods.
In all my years here in Chatham County, I have only seen one coyote on this property and that was many years ago, But our trail cameras pick them up frequently, though their appearances often come in spurts with a spate of regular captures and then nothing for weeks at a time. Information presented here on the biology of coyotes is from a summary of coyote management in our state from the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. Coyotes typically mate for life and breed from January to early March. Litters of 4 to 6 are born from March through May. Coyotes tend to be more active in these months.
I have shared several video clips of coyotes in past blogs. Most often, they are seen trotting along with a seeming purpose or destination in mind. Occasionally, we have seen one carrying something, but could not discern what it was, though we assume it was a food item or prey of some sort. Coyotes are omnivores, adapting their diets to local food availability. Diet studies show a range of food choices from deer (mostly fawns or scavenged carcasses), small rodents, rabbits and other mammals, birds, insects and vegetation. The will also take advantage of human-related food sources like pet food left outside, garbage, etc.
Though most video clips captured by the trail cameras show only a few seconds of a coyote(s) trotting through the scene, we occasionally get one that lingers. This recent coyote checks out something in the leaf litter, I can’t tell whether it got a small snack or just a sniff.
Most of the time, we see a single coyote or a pair. A few times we have seen three coyotes on a video clip. The clips are either 30 seconds for daytime videos or 20 seconds for nighttime (that is the maximum length for night recordings with these cameras). So, give the tendency of coyotes to trot through a scene and for them to be strung out in a line, we may miss some if they are traveling together. Coyotes will form packs, but they are usually made up of related individuals. A breeding pair of adults plus one or more juveniles from the previous year that have not dispersed. This past week, one camera caught 4 coyotes walking by, the first time that has been recorded here. Look closely at the first coyote, especially the first few frames of the clip. It is a lactating female…she has pups!
As I was looking closely at this clip to confirm she was a mother coyote, I noticed she has a deformed or mangled left ear. I have seen that same coyote on several other clips. It is clear to see her distinctive ear in this clip from last month.
I remembered seeing this coyote on a clip from May of last year and when I looked closely at that clip, she was lactating back then as well. It is much tougher to see in this clip, but a close examination shows she has teats distending from her belly.
Though I see frequent posts on local neighborhood list serves expressing fear and concern over the presence of coyotes, I am happy to have them as neighbors. I only hope they can help control the population of deer that have changed the forest structure here and in so many other locations. Plus, I hope it gives cat owners another reason to keep their cats indoors since outdoor cats are a major threat to bird populations (as well as all sorts of other living creatures). I wish ol’ one ear another successful breeding season.
You can’t imagine anything like nature as we know it without predators.
~Dale Jamieson
I’ve been out in the yard a lot these past couple of weeks doing the spring chores of removing the dead stalks from last year’s wildflowers, adding some mulch to walkways, etc. The spring wildflowers are showing themselves as are the usual array of winter and year-round yard birds, the first frogs of the season, and the first notable insects (this month has seen the first Bumblebee and Carpenter Bee, and the first Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Zebra Swallowtail, Spring Azure, and Falcate Orange-tip). Spring wildflowers bring out the pollinators and the abundance of animal life brings out the predators.
This week I was cleaning out some debris next to the house and uncovered a pair of Brown Snakes (Storeria dekayi). The common name is descriptive (they are indeed, brown) but this is the reason I try to capitalize common names so there is less confusion about just a description of an animal versus its name.
-A pair of Brown Snakes along a runoff area near the house (click photos to enlarge)
-Close up view of a Brown Snake
Brown Snakes are very common here and throughout most of North Carolina. They are certainly one of the most frequently encountered snakes in our area and are often found in mulch beds and under leaves and logs where they search for earthworms, slugs, snails, and other invertebrates that make up most of their diet. These cute little snakes (10 – 20 inches in length) are harmless and are one of the first snakes I see every spring.
Another predator that frequents our yard is one whose presence is usually announced by motionless birds at our feeders. If I glance at the feeders and see a bird sitting perfectly still (often in odd-looking poses), I start looking in the nearby trees for the cause, and this winter it almost always has been a Cooper’s Hawk. In our area, we have two of the “bird hawks”, the Accipiters – the Cooper’s Hawk and the Sharp-shinned Hawk (“Sharpie”). They can be difficult to tell apart because the adults look almost identical save for a couple of diagnostic features that are not always easy to discern in the field. Cooper’s Hawks are the larger of the two, looking about the size of a crow. Sharp-shinned Hawks are smaller, more like the size of a Blue Jay. Of course, like most raptors, there is a size difference between males and females, with females generally being larger. This creates a close overlap sometimes between a large female Sharpie and a small male Cooper’s. Another feature that can help is shape of the base of the tail – Cooper’s tend to have a more rounded tail tip whereas Sharpies have a squared off tail. This can be a tricky one though. In this case, I think this is a male Cooper’s Hawk as it is smaller than one I have occasionally seen, but look at that tail!.
-A male Cooper’s Hawk Sitting above one of our feeder stations. Down below are a couple of small birds frozen in place at the feeders
-I watched this guy for about 20 minutes as he surveyed the scene. The bird frequently pulled its left foot up under it breast feathers and posed
Cooper’s Hawks make frequent trips to our feeders and cause quite a stir every time. The female caught a dove a few weeks ago and plucked and ate it against our deer fence out back. I often see some small birds perched near the hawk in the cover of a holly tree. It seems the hawk is wary of attempting to catch them and the prey seem to know they are safer surrounded by all those spiky leaves.
Earlier this week, while sitting on the screen porch, I heard the swoosh of wings as the hawk dive-bombed the area. I caught a glimpse of it as it streaked across the back fence and then made a right angle turn and flew off into the woods. I thought whatever it had chased had made its escape. But, when I walked out back, I found this pile of dove feathers so it seems dove was on its menu again.
-A pile of Mourning Dove feathers indicates the Cooper’s may have made another kill
I think it must be tough to be one of the larger birds at the feeders, especially a dove. They tend to be slower at taking flight when the hawk streaks onto the scene. Two days ago, a Red-bellied Woodpecker hit the back window very hard in an attempt to escape (it unfortunately died). I decided to not feed in that area any more this season as it is too close to the house to allow consistent escape routes from the aerial terror. I also caught the Cooper’s Hawk on one of the trail cameras this month, perched on a log frequented by squirrels. Now, if only they would start dining on that menu item (I have only seen it once, when a female Cooper’s caught a young squirrel out back).
Another raptor species has also been making itself known these past few weeks. It is breeding season for Red-shouldered Hawks and they often soar above our ridge (hence our apt road name, Buteo Ridge). One day last week, I heard some screaming and saw one land in a tree out back. Meanwhile, another smaller one (male?) soared nearby, also calling. Then, a third one appeared and there was some slight interactions and the larger one kept changing position in different trees while the two smaller ones continued to soar overhead. This went on for about 15 minutes. Have a listen (sound up)…
Our largest predators, the Coyotes, continue to baffle me in their activity patterns. Last month, I rarely saw them on the trail cameras. Then, for a span of a couple of weeks, they were seen day and night for many days in a row. This past week, nothing.
Finally, something that most of us don’t usually think of as a predator. The wildlife ponds have attracted a lot of action this spring. They are full of Spotted Salamander eggs (another predator) and lately, they are the source of the sounds of spring. First there were a few Upland Chorus Frogs calling. Now, it is the Spring Peepers. And they can be deafening! But what a treat (unless you are a small insect). And to quote a famous “philosopher”, Here it is, your moment of Zen…(sound up)
The present was an egg laid by the past that had the future inside is shell.
~Zora Neale Hurston
This is a quick follow-up to my last post about the breeding congress of Spotted Salamanders two nights ago. I went out last night around 10 pm and checked both pools. In the murky pool (lots of vegetation and leaf debris on the bottom), I saw four female salamanders on twigs, ready to start laying eggs. In the clearer pool, I saw three female salamanders clinging to twigs underwater. They were all in the typical egg-laying position, holding onto the twigs with their hind legs, but no eggs yet. When Melissa photographed a salamander two weeks ago actually laying eggs, it was about midnight. I wonder if they wait until later in the evening to start egg-laying?
I lowered my camera into the water to try to get a photo but either the light or the movement disturbed all three females and they released their hold and swam beneath the leaves on the bottom of the pool. I decided to leave them alone and let them do their thing without bright lights shining on them, so I headed inside.
This morning I went out to check on the results of their night-time activity.
-A 12-hour old Spotted Salamander egg mass in our wildlife pool (click photos to enlarge))
I can see twelve new egg masses in the clear water pool. If the three females I saw were the only ones to lay, that’s an average of 4 egg masses per female, which coincides with what I have read in the scientific literature.
-A photo showing last night’s egg masses (three in the lower center of the photo) along with egg masses laid two weeks earlier on January 30
You can see how the egg masses swell with water over their first several days by comparing the sizes of those laid two weeks earlier with the fresh ones from last night. It looks like they swell 3 or 4 times their original size. Each egg mass contains anywhere from 100 to up to 250 eggs, so we are talking about another banner year for salamander eggs in our yard. And the season probably isn’t over yet if we get any more heavy night-time rains in the next few weeks. I’ll keep you posted.
All nature’s creatures join to express nature’s purpose. Somewhere in their mounting and mating, rutting and butting is the very secret of nature itself.
~Graham Swift
Rainy nights in January and February bring out the lust in our neighborhood…salamander lust that is. My last post highlighted the first major mating migration of the year for our neighborhood Spotted Salamanders (there had been a small one a couple of weeks before that). I had been on the road in Virginia two nights after that migration incident and missed most of the egg-laying activity that followed. But, Melissa was home and went out got a nice pic of a female “sallie” clinging to one of the branches I had placed in the water just for this purpose. The salamander was laying eggs!
Spotted Salamander laying eggs two nights after a big salamander migration (photo by Melissa Dowland) (click photos to enlarge)
Melissa and I were watching tv last night when I heard heavy rain hitting our metal roof…time to put on rain gear and head out to our two wildlife pools to see what might be happening. We walked out the front door and up to the driveway and started seeing salamanders on the move, headed to one of our pools.
-Spotted Salamander crossing our driveway to get to a breeding pool
They can move pretty fast and so we were careful as we walked, trying not to accidentally step on one. We saw 4 salamanders heading toward the pools and one small one headed away. That one had probably been in there from the earlier migrations and was done with its breeding (or maybe just intimidated by the larger size of all the others).
-One of four salamanders we saw on the move in our yard in just a few minutes during the rain
It really is a miracle to me that these critters can find their way back to a small pool of water to breed after spending months in burrows in the surrounding forest. Some have been shown to follow the same path back to their breeding pool year after year, even entering the pool in the same spot. How they do this is unknown, but chemical cues about the environment through taste and smell may be involved.
The highlight was seeing the “salamander swarm” (aka breeding congress). We went to our pool without the small waterfall first and could see lots of eggs masses from the last time they were feeling lusty along with numerous salamanders congregated and squirming about on the pool bottom. Occasionally, one would swim to the surface, break through to presumably gulp some air, and head back down. But visibility was limited due to vegetation in this pool so we went over to the other one that tends to be much clearer.
It was quite a sight with 15 or more salamanders bumping and nudging each other in one big writhing blob of black and yellow. Here’s a video clip of the action (the sounds are the pump for the waterfall and us occasionally gasping at what we saw).
It is incredible to witness this behavior (and right outside our front door). I think some of the female salamanders may be pulling spermatophores (those white blobs on the bottom) into their cloaca using their hind legs. Not sure if that is how it happens, but check out a couple of the salamanders toward the end of the clip with their hind legs cupped up underneath their bellies. I think that may be what is going on. Now, two nights from the rain (this Wednesday) should be more egg-laying (if only I can get home in time to witness it). Will let you know.
The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.
~Dolly Parton
Melissa and I traveled to Damascus, VA, yesterday for a funeral service for one of my aunts. It was a lovely tribute to a wonderful woman. Even though it is about a 4-hour drive, we decided to head back home after the funeral because it is a busy week ahead for us both. The weather was less than ideal for a long drive with heavy rains for much of the return trip. When I looked at the forecast earlier in the week and saw the prediction for warm temperatures and over an inch of rain at night, I knew we would probably have our first big salamander run of the season (a couple of weeks ago I found a few salamander spermatphores on the bottom of our wildlife pools after a good night-time rain).
So, as we approached our community, we slowed down to look for salamanders crossing the road. There is a small pool in the woods a couple of miles from our house that has always been a favored breeding spot for Marbled and Spotted Salamanders. Indeed, we saw several out in the road (that we stopped and helped cross safely), along with some dead ones that had been hit by cars
-A dead Spotted Salamander on the road near a breeding pond (click photos to enlarge)
We stopped a few times on the way in to get some more out of the road and finally got to our house. After getting some stuff out of the car, I went back out to one of our wildlife pools to see what might be happening here. It was a major breeding congress (I still chuckle every time I say that) in action!
I ran back in and got Melissa and we watched in awe for a few minutes and then decided to contact some friends that might want to come over to witness this spectacle. After texting several fellow nature nerds, we had one local teacher take us up on the offer.
We were going to meet her out at the spot a couple of miles from our house where we had seen the salamanders crossing the paved road in order to try to help more of the love-struck amphibians get safely across. The heavy rain had stopped, and that usually means the salamanders slow down their movements. But, on the way out the door we did find a large female on our moss/stone walkway, slowly headed to one of our pools.
-A Spotted Salamander on our walkway headed to a breeding pool in our yard
When we met up with our friend, we checked the large roadside pool and were surprised to not see any adults, though there were lots of Marbled Salamander larvae (that species breeds earlier in the Fall and these larvae will feast on the newly hatched Spotted Salamander larvae later this spring). Unfortunately we did find several more dead Spotted Salamanders in the road. There is a another pool across the road, but the water was so cloudy we couldn’t see anything. I did spot an Upland Chorus Frog headed to the pool to join the gang that was already filling the night air with their loud calls (their call sounds like the sound made by running your thumbnail across the teeth of a comb).
-An Upland Chorus Frog about the join a roadside pool that was full of calling frogs
Back at home, we all oohed and aahed at the salamander extravaganza. But, without the rain, the activity had slowed considerably. Interestingly, the ones in our pool with a waterfall were doing more of the swimming up and down to the water surface than those in the other pool. I wonder if the water droplets flung into the pool from the small waterfall may mimic rainfall enough to stimulate this behavior?
The next thing to watch for will be the females laying egg masses the next night or two (I will be out of town in two nights and may miss the bulk of this behavior). We really aren’t sure how many Spotted Salamanders are in our two small pools, but a fair guess is at least 25-30 in each. This amazing migration and congregation of these beautiful amphibians occurs on rainy nights from January through early March in fish-less pools throughout much of our state. It is always exciting to witness this abundance of wildness, especially when it is so close to home. As our friend Andy put it after Melissa sent him the text about the circumstance surrounding this particular event…”Nice to go from a celebration of life to another celebration of life”. I don’t think my aunt would have minded what some might think is an unusual comparison. She knew about our nature nerdiness, and she loved life and wanted others to enjoy it in all its glory.
I suppose I really don’t have to worry about this particular quote. I think I do a pretty good job of taking the time to do the things I enjoy. With Melissa leading a museum winter workshop in Yellowstone, I decided to get out and see a few wild things myself. By the way, if you haven’t followed her trip on the museum’s website, check it out at this link. It sounds like it has been one of the best trips ever (and certainly the coldest!).
So, last week I headed east for an overnight trip to visit four of our wildlife refuges – Pocosin Lakes, Mattamuskeet, Alligator River, and Pea Island. I first stopped by to chat with my friend, Wendy Stanton, refuge manager for Pocosin Lakes. We had a good conversation about visitor issues, closures, volunteer needs, and future plans. I also met two wonderful education/refuge staff that are being funded through the NC Wildlife Federation. They are providing programming at the refuge and the Red Wolf Center in Columbia, helping to manage volunteers, providing outreach programming in schools, and many other duties. It sounds like they have been a great addition to the limited staff at the refuge. After the meeting, I headed down to Alligator River NWR in hopes of seeing some bears, wolves, and birds. It turned out to be a very quiet wildlife day – lots of birds, but no mammals.
-A backlit adult Bald Eagle perched along Wildlife Drive at Alligator River NWR (click photos to enlarge)-The day ended with a spectacular sunset at the refuge
I spent the night in Kill Devil Hills and was out before sunrise, headed to Pea Island. After passing an American Bittern out along Hwy 12 at at the edge of a marsh (no room to safely stop), I stopped at the parking lot on the south end of the Oregon Inlet Bridge to see if there was anything happening there. A few dolphins were fishing the shallows and some Sanderlings were chasing each other around the exposed sandy beach, often coming within a few feet of where I stood.
-A Sanderling takes a short pause in its usual frantic pace to probe the sand in a puddle-A Willet posing in beautiful morning light
Driving down to the Pea Island Visitor Center, i was surprised to see relatively few birds on North Pond, but I hung out for a bit and managed a couple of captures.
-Pied-billed Grebe at Pea island NWR-A Great Egret flies by just after sunrise-A juvenile Bald Eagle flies directly overhead
I asked at the Visitor C=enter where I might see the huge flock of Redhead ducks and the Snow Buntings I had seen on social media posts recently. The ducks were no problem they told me but they had no idea where I could find the buntings. So, off I went and soon saw a solid raft of ducks not far off the highway. The flock stretched for a hundred yards or so and was so densely packed I couldn’t see how any others could land in there, but some still managed. It was amazing seeing such a large concentration of birds.
-A small portion of the huge flock of Redhead ducks at Pea Island NWR
I soon headed to Alligator River for one more pass through the refuge to see what I could see before heading in the direction of home. I scanned the large flocks of waterfowl in the flooded fields near the road and enjoyed some time with a flock of both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs (I feel sorry for the ones named “Lesser”). One of the birds grabbed what looked like a huge grub and scurried off to gulp it down before others nearby could steal it.
-A Greater Yellowlegs in the marsh at Alligator River NWR
While I was watching the shorebirds, a Downy Woodpecker flew into a nearby sapling and began hammering away. I didn’t pay it much attention at first assuming it was looking for bugs in a dead branch. But then I looked with my binoculars and saw it was on a mantid egg case. I’ve seen the results of this feeding behavior many times but never had managed a photo of it, so I spent a few minutes watching and taking pics. After it finished with this one, the hungry bird moved to a nearby branch and started working on another egg case. If you zoom in on the bird’s beak, you can see a mantid baby stuck to the woodpecker’s maxilla (upper beak)
A Downy Woodpecker tearing into a Carolina Mantid egg case -Part of a huge flock of Pintails at Alligator River NWR
On the way home, I stopped at Mattamuskeet and the Pungo Unit without seeing too much other wildlife. I did see the Snow Geese finally leave Pungo Lake, but they flew off the refuge to the west. I also saw some more folks behind the closed area signs. I spoke with one group asking them to come back, but they ignored me. It is a tough balancing act to manage for the welfare of the wildlife and to allow people to experience the grandeur of the animals so that they will care for the birds and the place.
Two days after that coast trip, I joined a group of folks participating in the quarterly Jordan Lake eagle count. I wrote an article on the eagles that can be found at the B. Everett Jordan dam in winter for the upcoming February issue of Walter magazine. In my research, I contacted a ranger, Steve McMurray, about the eagles at Jordan Lake. He mentioned the quarterly count and invited me to join so, there I was, shivering a bit at 7 a.m., looking out over a vast expanse of the lake. We spotted 8 eagles in the allotted count time (1.5 hours) and I enjoyed meeting and talking with some fellow bird lovers. After the count, I drove over to the dam to see what was happening. When I walked down the trail along the tailrace, I counted 12 eagles on the opposite shoreline waiting their turn at a fish meal. A photographer walked down the opposite shore where all the eagles were perched and flushed the closest one. It flew across the channel and allowed me a few quick images before disappearing over the trees.
-A fl-by of an adult Bald Eagle at B. Everett Jordan dam on Jordan Lake
Two days later, at 5 a.m., I was driving back to Pungo with some good friends to enjoy some more wildlife watching. It was a slow morning but the lake was full of swans and their calls are one of the most beautiful natural sounds I know. After driving through the refuge, we hiked out to the Duck Pen Observation Blind. I had been out there recently and saw how the area around the blind had been damaged by bears and careless humans over the past couple of years. Even though vegetation has grown up around the blind, blocking much of the view, we had a nice look at some of the many Tundra Swans resting on the calm lake waters. The low angle light was really nice and we spent a lot of time looking and listening.
-Some Tundra Swans from the Duck Pen blind on a calm afternoon at Pungo Lake-Swan synchrony
After eating some lunch back at the road, we made a trip over to Mattamuskeet. A highlight was walking the boardwalk of the New Holland Trail that meanders through a picturesque cypress swamp.
-A vertical pano of the swamp forest along the New Holland Trail boardwalk at Mattamuskeet NWR
On our way out we stopped at the photo blind on the impoundment. This is really a nice little blind and the birds are pretty tolerant of your approach if you are quiet, move slowly, and use the surrounding trees as cover as you approach.
Our plan was to return to Pungo in hopes of seeing birds in the field or some fly-overs and then head home. When we arrived, we saw plenty of swans but they were all headed off the refuge to the west to feed with few visible at close range on any of accessible impoundments. I saw a friend hiking along the road and, as we were talking, a huge flock of Snow Geese lifted off the lake and flew directly over us. This group was much larger than what we saw a couple of weeks ago on the bird count. We all stared skyward, mesmerized by the sounds and undulating waves of birds.
Just as the last of the flock appeared, we heard the distinctive calls of Sandhill Cranes! I had looked for them on the bird count and my trip last week but they were nowhere to be found. And, as we approached sundown, twenty two of these amazing birds flew into view, circling over the fields before landing in the impoundment behind the trees. This is the largest group of sandhills I have seen on the refuge.
-At last, the Sandhill Cranes reveal themselves at Pungo! (with a portion of the flyover of thousands of Snow Geese above them)
After that extraordinary experience, we drove down to “Bear Road” and peered down the now closed road. After several minutes, we finally saw the small bear that has been coming out most evenings to feed. To close the day, a large group of blackbirds was swirling in a cloud of wings on the horizon.
-A murmuration of Red-winged Blackbirds at dusk
I think we all left with a happy soul after a wonderful day on some of North Carolina’s public lands. Thank you to all the people working tirelessly to help make these places so special for the wildlife and all of us.
Christmas Bird Count data helps us better understand birds so we can better protect them!
~US Fish & Wildlife Service
Here’s a quick report on our annual trip to Pungo for the Pettigrew Christmas Bird Count that was held last weekend. For a change, we had nice weather – chilly and windy, but sunny most of the day. The count circle is centered on Lake Phelps and Melissa and I cover the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. We camped at Goose Creek State Park and were at Pungo around 6:30 a.m. as the sky was turning light. We headed straight for one of the flooded impoundments on the refuge to catch the sunrise and were surprised to see only a few swans on the water (this area usually has hundreds all winter). We were also hoping to see the Sandhill Cranes that had been reported from a week before, but no luck. The water levels were very high due to recent heavy rains and we wondered if that might be an issue but I later learned from refuge staff that there had been someone illegally hunting on the refuge in that spot the day before.
It seems as though the increased visitation at this refuge since the pandemic has bought with it some bad visitor behavior and several areas of the refuge have restricted access, When we arrived at the observation platform we found the port-a-john lying on its side. We wondered if a bear or a lousy human had been the culprit.
-Was this bear or human mischief? (click photos to enlarge)
I later learned from staff that, unfortunately, it had been a human pushing it over with his truck (the person has not yet been caught). Surprisingly, it was in its proper position the next day when we returned (set up and cleaned by the company that supplies these I was told).
In spite of my concerns about the issues facing the refuge, the wildlife was able to remind me of why I love this place so much. I didn’t take a lot of photos but here are a few highlights from our day in the field at Pungo.
-Tundra Swans flying off the refuge to feed as the moon sets Saturday morning
-Tundra Swans on Pungo Lake. The strong south wind had them piling up on the south shore where it was more protected.
-A Turkey Vulture peers at me as I walked along “pishing” for birds in the thick roadside vegetation (making a repeated pish noise that imitates the alarm call of several songbirds – this often causes nearby birds to reveal themselves as they try to see what is going on).
-We found some great tracks in the sandy and muddy soils along the roads – bear, otter, bobcat, raccoon, canid (red wolf or coyote), and plenty of deer tracks. This is a nice front paw print of a black bear
-Although it is a bird count, I always stop to enjoy the other critters we come across (we saw three bears, one otter, and several deer). Melissa spotted this young black bear trotting toward us along one of the roads. I stopped the truck and it kept coming until, finally, it saw us and slowly turned around. Then another car came from the opposite direction and the little guy decided to head into the swamp. We watched as it swam across two open bodies of water and finally disappeared into the flooded forest.
-While driving slowly along in the afternoon, I heard some chickadees calling (hearing aids are a wonderful thing). We stopped and got out as they were feeding on the seeds of Sweet Gum (as were some Red-winged and a few Rusty Blackbirds). There are one or two small seeds in every hole in a Sweet Gum ball and several species of birds utilize these as a winter food source. I have always wanted a photo of this behavior so we started following these busy birds around as they flitted from branch to branch extracting seeds and picking at them to eat. You can see a seed in this one’s beak.
-They often grabbed a seed while hanging on one of the gum balls and then would fly to a nearby branch to feed on it.
The wildlife highlight of the day was when Melissa spotted (yes, she spots more things now than I do) an American Bittern in a roadside canal. It was on her side of the vehicle (she claims this a rarity and that I always have the wildlife on my side to photograph:). She took lots of photos and several video clips as it patiently made its way along the shoreline.
– Finally, the bittern flew to a closer side of the canal and started walking across the road where I managed this pic.
-It disappeared into the tall grass and then came back out, looking much like the dried vegetation that surrounded it. These birds are simply beautiful, and those eyes!!
All in all, a wonderful day. Here are our results for the Pungo Unit portion of the count as reported on eBird:
2500 Snow Goose — This is actually few snow geese for this count! There was one flock on Pungo Lake. 100 Canada Goose 10000 Tundra Swan — This is typical to low for this location at this count. 80 Wood Duck 20 Northern Shoveler 212 Gadwall — Large mixed flock on the Pungo Lake with scope 803 American Wigeon — Large mixed flock on Pungo Lake 25 Mallard 21 American Black Duck 840 Northern Pintail — Large mixed flock on Pungo Lake 1520 Green-winged Teal — Large flock on Pungo Lake both sitting and then in flight. 2 Bufflehead 12 Hooded Merganser 1 Pied-billed Grebe 73 Mourning Dove 65 Killdeer 3 Bonaparte’s Gull 500 Ring-billed Gull 1 Double-crested Cormorant 1 American Bittern 3 Great Blue Heron 25 Turkey Vulture 9 Northern Harrier 1 Cooper’s Hawk 6 Bald Eagle 2 Great Horned Owl 3 Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Downy Woodpecker 5 Northern Flicker 1 American Kestrel 5 Eastern Phoebe 1 Blue-headed Vireo 9 Blue Jay 8 American Crow 3 Carolina Chickadee 3 Tufted Titmouse 4 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3 Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 Winter Wren 4 Carolina Wren 12 European Starling 1 Brown Thrasher 1 Northern Mockingbird 252 American Robin 20 American Pipit 50 White-throated Sparrow 4 Savannah Sparrow 43 Song Sparrow 60 Swamp Sparrow 8 Eastern Towhee 19 Eastern Meadowlark 1600 Red-winged Blackbird 1 Brown-headed Cowbird 2 Rusty Blackbird 20 Common Grackle 20 Yellow-rumped Warbler 3 Northern Cardinal
Total number of species – 57.
Results for the entire count circle included a total of 106 species, which is about average for this count.
I’ll get back to blogging about our Africa trip next time.
~The slogan formerly found on the logo of Kruger National Park, South Africa
Last summer, a friend and former coworker, Andrew Torlage, asked me out for a beer to discuss an idea. Andrew was born in South Africa and moved to North Carolina less than a decade ago. He is starting a tour company (named Vakasha – which means to visit) where he hopes to share the beauty of his homeland with others. He was asking for some feedback on his plans and some assistance with getting together the inaugural group. Though not on my bucket list of places to travel anytime soon, Melissa and I jumped at the chance. So, in November, we headed to Johannesburg with a group of eight plus Andrew. The trip was sensational, full of natural beauty, extraordinary wildlife, cultural highlights, laughter with friends, and good food (and wine!). I’m going to put together a few of the many, many highlights in the next blog or two. It was truly quite a trip!
We flew on Delta in what is their longest flight (and the 13th longest flight of any commercial airline) – approximately 16 hours from Atlanta to Johannesburg. We stayed in a beautiful Airbnb in J’burg a full day and a half before meeting up with Andrew, our guide. The people, the city, the power of visiting Soweto and learning more about the incredible Nelson Mandela, made for an amazing beginning to our trip.
-A Gray Go-Away-Bird. It’s common name is based on its unusual call – a nasal “gwaay”. These were common at our Airbnb in Johannesburg
-Andrew picked us up in our transportation for the next several days and we were off
After getting ourselves and our gear into the van and trailer, we headed to Kruger National Park, our home for the next 4 days. We proved our nature nerdiness to everyone right away when we stopped at the entrance gate and discovered a dung beetle doing its thing. With screams of delight we gathered everyone around to witness the spectacle.
-Perhaps the most common prey animal for several of the park’s larger predators is the Impala (this one is a buck). Andrew told us the locals called this the “McDonald’s of the bush” due to the M-shape they all have on their rear and the fact they are on the menu of so many other animals. We preferred the “M&M animal” because when you saw one, you saw several.
-A Southern Ground Hornbill, the largest of the hornbills. This is a species of concern in Kruger, but we were lucky enough to see several.
-I’m used to bear jams in Yellowstone, but this is the scene at a Leopard jam in Kruger. You are not allowed to get out of a vehicle in Kruger so people jockey for position in their cars or safari vehicles. My position in our van did not allow me a pic without a stick blocking part of the animal’s face. But, that wasn’t the last one we saw that day…
-On our afternoon game drive with a ranger, we came across another traffic jam. An adjacent car said there was a Leopard lying in the grass next to the road. After several minutes of staring and moving around a bit in the safari vehicle (a large open bus) a woman next to me spotted it (this is all we could see). It amazed all of us that it was so hidden and only about 20 feet from us.
-Driving back toward our camp, we came across another Leopard (probably the same one we had seen earlier that had now moved across the road). Leopards are solitary animals and are expert stalkers. They use the element of surprise and their power to overcome prey. They spend the hotter parts of most days resting.
-We spent several minutes with this beautiful animal and it finally turned its face toward us for a few seconds, allowing this nice portrait. Leopards often carry their prey up a tree trunk and feast in relative safety from other predators such as Lions and Hyenas.
-While watching the Leopard, we spotted this Magpie Shrike perched in a nearby shrub. We saw several species of African birds that have extremely long tails. This may be an adaptation to mate choice (aerial displays) and/or the ability to perform abrupt maneuvers in flight for foraging.
-A bit later that day we drove back by the spot where the Leopard had been hiding in the grass and it was up and moving. It slowly began stalking a large herd of Impala on the other side of the road. The vehicles in the traffic jam gave cover to the approaching Leopard and we all braced for an exciting predator-prey moment. But as the big cat tried to cross the road, there were just too many people and cars and it apparently gave up the hunt and moved off the road and sat down.
-Each of the major camps in Kruger are surrounded by an electric fence and electrified cattle guard with a gate manned by a ranger to keep out the potentially dangerous animals like Leopards, Elephants, and Lions.
-A personal highlight was seeing the Giraffes. What amazing adaptations! They are the tallest land mammal on Earth with big males coming in at over 15 feet at the shoulder and able to reach leaves a full 24 feet above the ground. They can also tilt their heads vertically due to special bone articulations at the base of the skull and that, along with their height and long tongues (up to 18 inches) gives them extra reach for their feeding.
-You can identify males from females from a distance by looking at their “horns” (more accurately called ossicones). Male horns are usually bare at the tips from their head/neck butting for mating rights, whereas female horns have tufts of dark hair. I believe this one is a male.
-We soon saw a small herd of Elephants alongside the road. it was a mixed-age group including a few very young ones. More on these magnificent creatures in the next post.
-We visited a hide (we call the blinds) on a watering hole mid-day and saw a herd of impala and some birds. Suddenly, two huge White Rhinos ambled into view and the rest of the wildlife gave them a wide berth. Due to excessive poaching in recent years, park managers dart every rhinoceros in the park and cut off their horns, which are highly valued on the black market. I must admit to being saddened to not see the diagnostic horn but thankful if it helps keep these giant beasts alive. The horn continues to grow throughout the animals’ life so rangers must cut off the horns again every few years. The record length for a White Rhino horn was 5.1 feet! White Rhinos are the second largest land mammal on Earth (big males can weigh over 5000 pounds) and are part of the so-called “Big 5” of Africa (much sought-after by tourists ) – Elephants, Rhinos, Cape Buffalo, Lions, and Leopards. And we were lucky to observe all five on this trip!
-A diminutive Steenbok (standing only 20 inches at the shoulder) is one of the smallest antelope. The name is derived from the Afrikaans word, steen, which means brick – because of its color).
-Lions are Africa’s largest land carnivore (big males are between 400 and 500 pounds). They hunt cooperatively and can take down large prey from Giraffes to Cape Buffalo and Zebra (even Elephants). They spend much of their day resting as this group of 3 (one off-camera) was doing, sleeping right in the road. The rangers knew that this group had recently taken down a Cape Buffalo and were feeling well fed.
-A Lion wakes up as our big open safari van passes. I imagined it was thinking, “you know I could jump up there and take you guys if I wanted”. Hence the reason for not getting out of your vehicle in Kruger!
-On our way back to camp we stopped for a second to look at some wildlife and when it came time to crank up the safari van again, there was nothing. Turns out the very bumpy road had caused something to become disconnected in the wiring and it took some time to figure out the problem and get it fixed. We all cheered as the engine cranked (a lot of the predators were starting their nightly hunt) and we finally headed back. Along the way we enjoyed a spectacular Kruger sunset. The next post will highlight the remaining two days in Kruger and travel to our next destination.
Roads End Naturalist 