Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.
~Dr. Seuss
Last weekend, I had the privilege of co-leading a group of folks to two of my favorite NC places, the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes NWR and Mattamuskeet NWR. It was for a program sponsored by the NC Botanical Garden and New Hope Bird Alliance. Due to some scheduling issues, leaders from NHBA could not make it so I asked Melissa to be drive her car and be a co-lead. That was fitting that we got to do this trip together again given the many times we shared the teaching of educator workshops here in the past.
Cold and windy describes the weather on the first afternoon’s outing. We didn’t get to Pungo until late in the day and settled in at the front fields of the refuge waiting for the snow geese to arrive (there were already thousands of tundra swans on the scene). And when they did, they did it in their typical grand style…
You wait in anticipation of the huge flocks of snow geese and then you see them, squiggly gray streaks on the horizon. Soon they are overhead in a great swarm. They circle and circle, crisscrossing themselves in the sky until finally they start to settle in a noisy snow globe of birds. It was a stunning start to our time together.
The birds were quite cooperative allowing me to get a number of photos of them coming in to land.
Snow geese flying by as they search for that perfect spot to land
I always hope to see the diminutive Ross’s Geese mixed in with the huge flocks of their bigger cousins, and with this many birds being so close (probably 100 feet away as they landed), it was a good opportunity. Can you spot the Ross’s Goose in the next photo (they are about 1/2 to 2/3 the size of a Snow Goose with a noticeably shorter bill).
Look for the tiny Ross’s Goose in this photoHere is that another pic cropped to isolate my sought-after bird
The next morning came early (earlier than usual for many methinks). A cold wind was blowing, and the skies were a dull gray when we arrived at Marsh A, my favorite sunrise spot at Pungo. There weren’t as many swans as I often see but the sounds were still mesmerizing. We decided to do a short hike in hopes of seeing a resident screech owl and were surprised when the Eastern sky started to glow, a brief tease of a sunrise that lasted only a minute.
Sunrise on Marsh A
After a couple of hours at Pungo, we headed over to Mattamuskeet. We spent considerable time looking through scopes at various species of ducks – gadwall, green-winged and blue-winged teal, Northern pintails, American widgeon, Northern Shovelers, ruddy ducks, among others.
After a nice visit to the Visitor Center (where my favorite faux refuge staff stars in their “airboat” interpretive video – check it out next time you are down that way and see if you recognize her), we headed over to the New Holland Trail. Every time I visit this beautiful boardwalk I feel compelled to take the same photo at the same spot capturing the reflections of the cypress trees. I used to sell photos at the museum store and the staff frequently turned this pic upside down assuming it was a photo taken looking up at the sky.
Cypress reflections
Looking at the amazing lodge brought back a flood of memories of this wonderful place that has showed me (and countless others that were with me) so many beautiful skies and amazing birds over the years.
The lodge at Mattamuskeet. Here’s hoping the funding is provided to open it to the pubic in the near future
As is the usual plan, we headed back to Pungo for the final show of the day (hopefully another snow goose spectacle). Several of the participants had to leave early and missed a truly amazing scene. The birds were closer and I took way too many photos of birds landing.
Blue color morph of a snow goose coming in for a landing.Some snow goose acrobaticsHere they comeOne of my favorite pics of the afternoon – juvenile (front) and adult (back) blue snow geese landing
And, once again, I found couple of Ross’s Geese to make my day complete.
Pair of Ross’s geese moving left to right behind a couple of other birds
There were numerous blast offs by the snow geese, occasionally from a fly-over by a bald eagle, other times for reasons known only to the goose that started it.
Blast off of a flock of snow geese
The end of the day brought so many amazing sights and sounds as the birds filled the sky above the fields that were also full of tundra swans.
What a way to end it
A full day of birds was a great way to finish something I had been doing for so long, sharing the wonders of the winter birds of Eastern North Carolina with others. What a privilege for all those years.
Each breaking wave, each rush of the sea on the slope of sand, reminds me why these places of pilgrimage matter. They matter to me because in the long view, I do not. ~Terry Tempest Williams
In mid-January, I had the privilege to take 12 exceptional North Carolina educators to Mexico. We had two primary goals: to see overwintering monarchs in the mountains of Michoachan and to witness the breeding behaviors of humpback whales in Banderas Bay. This experience was the newest Educators of Excellence Institute offered by the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. It was also my last Institute in my full-time role at the Museum. My first Institute was back in 2005, when Mike asked me to co-lead a trip to Yellowstone. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know where that led… and that our love of Yellowstone is what will finally pull us away from North Carolina, and me from the Museum. Over past 20 years, I’ve been privileged to lead more than 30 Institutes for the Museum, mostly to Yellowstone and the Blue Ridge Mountains. But this year we had the opportunity to try something new in partnership with EcoQuest Travel, offering the Mexico’s Magical Migrations Institute.
The awesome group of teachers were selected from a very competative pool of applicants to travel with the Museum on this trip. From top left to bottom right: Vanessa Garcia (Sampson County), Cindy Bredenberg (Chatham County), Krista Brinchek (Wake County), Kathryn Edwards (Martin County), Mika Twietmeyer (Durham County), Herminia Reese (Cumberland County), Doug Clark (Lincoln County), Beverly Owens (Cleveland County), Kate Highsmith (Cabarras County), Marcie Burke (Pitt County), Trista Williams (Swain County), and Meghan Baker (Buncombe County).
At the very start of my career, when I knew next to nothing about the natural world, I got involved in monitoring monarch caterpillars at the site that would one day become Prairie Ridge (through Mike, of course). During the peak of caterpillar season (aka the late summer and early fall), we’d go out to a milkweed patch once a week and look at every milkweed leaf along a transect for monarch eggs and caterpillars, identifying the caterpillars to their particular stage of development (first through fifth instars, or molts). In the fall, we’d also take every opportunity we could to catch and tag monarch butterflies with uniquely-numbered stickers from Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas, a program tracking the migration of the adult butterflies.
Through these experiences, I learned about the amazing numbers of butterflies that migrated to Mexico in the winter, but I didn’t anticipate having the chance to see them. So when this opportunity arose to not only get to go see this phenomenon, but to take a bunch of teachers along (who, by the way, are the best people in the world to share an experience like this with), I was thrilled.
This is my earliest photo of a monarch caterpillar, a recently emerged third instar if my IDing skills are still sharp, taken back in 2006, my third summer at the Museum.
Our group flew into Mexico City, spent a morning at Teotihuacan (which was really cool, but I truly am a naturalist so I’m going to skip that part), then headed into the Central Mountains of the Transvolcanic Belt. The high peaks in central Mexico provide just the right habitat for overwintering monarchs to persist through the tough times: cool (but not freezing) temperatures that slow their metabolisms down just enough but not too much, some sources of water and nectar, and towering oyamel fir trees to huddle against for warmth and shelter during cold nights, cloudy days, and inclement weather.
Not the site of any of the monarch reserves (which are not above treeline), but we saw this stunning volcanic mountain as we flew over Central Mexico from Toluca to Puerto Vallarta.
The overwintering generation of monarchs is special. Most adults live only about one month, but the generation that migrates to Mexico lives up to nine months! Shortening day length in the north triggers physiological changes (typically including a halt in reproduction called diapause) as well as the drive to migrate south. Solar cues, and perhaps a sensitivity to the magnetic field of the Earth, steer them in the right direction. And somehow, magically, they end up on a few mountaintops above 10,000 feet in Mexico. By the millions. That’s right, millions.
We had two days at two different butterfly reserves. The first was Sierra Chincua Butterfly Sanctuary. As we drove up in our small bus, I was surprised at how familiar the landscape seemed. It had a hint of our North Carolina high peaks with coniferous trees and an herbaceous understory. But with more reflection, I decided it reminded me even more of the forests in the Pacific Northwest dominated by things like redwood, Sitka spruce and the like. Even though it was winter, there were many wildflowers blooming in the understory that, again, reminded me of species we see locally. There were vivid red pinapple sage flowers (the color reminiscent of cardinal flower) and lupines, among a variety of others. And the oyamel firs, taller than our Fraser fir or red spruce, actually reminded me of eastern hemlock with what seemed to be softer needles on the drooping branches of tall trees. But they did have those “friendly fir” upward-pointing cones!
A flower that reminded me of fothergilla or willow.Oyamel fir cones
To get to the monarch roosting site, we rode horses led by local guides (who were, of course, walking the trail at a much faster pace than I would have been capable of). This was a bit scary for some of our group, but I loved it! (Note to self: make friends with people who have horses in Montana.)
Me and my trusty steed
The last half-mile or so was a walk along a trail, with multiple stops to look at wildflowers (definitley not just to catch our breath). And then we walked into a grove filled with monarch butterflies roosting with wings folded, almost on top of one another, covering the branches and trunks of fir trees.
There were probably 2-3 trees in our line of sight that were this covered with butterflies, plus many others that had fewer butterflies on them concentrated along a branch or two rather than the whole tree. This is taken with my 400mm lens and then cropped a bit; we were probably about 50 yards from them.The layers of butterflies on the trunks of trees was something I had really wanted to see. Again, this was taken from pretty far away, but it was amazing to see it and then to be able to zoom in closer in the pictures!
Though we’d been in the sun for most of our drive to the reserve, as often happens in North Carolina’s Black Mountains, the tall peaks at Chincua made their own weather. For the majority of our time at the roosting site, the sun was covered with clouds. But for a few magical minutes, the sun came out and thousands of monarchs seemed to flow off the trees and take flight.
I wish we’d had more moments of sun, because when the butterflies took flight, it was stunning!
Though there were a number of people at the site to see the butterflies, everyone was silent nearly the entire time. We heard (and made) whispers here and there… guides quietly explaining the amazing migratory phenonmenon, breaths containing exclamations of joy at the sight. There was also a lot of non-verbal communication going on: pointing to ensure others noticed something special, eye contact filled with meaning (and tears) as we shared the awe of the experience. A poignant moment for me was when I looked across at another group and saw a young Mexican woman with a monarch on her head. I pointed at my camera, silently asking if I could take her picture. She nodded and grinned.
An unknown friend with whom I shared an incredibly special moment
Sitting with the monarchs, I wrote in my journal: “It is a pilgrimage.” Pilgrimage can be defined as “a journey to a sacred place.” Whether by plane, bus, and horse as our group traveled from North Carolina, or by car and foot as many of the Mexicans we shared this experience with came, the word pilgrimage perfectly describes our experience. Because, in the quiet of the oyamel fir grove with the sound of butterfly wings like a breeze on the air, we were truly in a sacred place.
For those of you not on social media (I posted some of this today on FB)…
I cleaned out (removed excessive filamentous algae and some leaves) our two small wildlife pools last Friday in anticipation of the predicted rain, thinking it might be the first salamander run of the year.We went to bed early and the rains came (I regret not staying up a little later to see the salamanders on the move). Saturday morning, the bottoms of the pools were covered in spermatophores (it looks like little white blobs resembling bird poop all over the bottom of the pond). We were away the weekend (to Pungo, so I need to do another post on that spectacle), and late Sunday, the first eggs were laid. I checked Monday night, more egg laying. After a campfire Tuesday, I checked again and was pleasantly surprised to see yet more egg laying in progress. Here is a beautiful spotted salamander female from Tuesday night.
-Spotted Salamander laying eggs (iPhone pic). Another egg mass is just to the right of her head. I place a few dead branches in each pool each year about this time of year as the females prefer to grasp a twig or some other vegetation and attach the egg masses to them. (click photo to enlarge)
Next week looks like a rainy week so I am hoping to get out and see more salamanders moving into these pools. But, I really don’t know how all these larvae will find enough to eat. There are already a lot of egg masses. Good luck little guys!
While we have been busy on the road and having all sorts of appointments, the creatures of our woods continue with their busy lives. The trail cameras have recorded a lot of the usual suspects – deer, squirrels, and coyotes. But it is always fascinating to see what these denizens of our forest are up to. Turn your sound up and view at full size.
I currently have 7 trail cameras out on the landscape, All are Browning cameras. I have 4 different models out there as I purchased them at different times as new models wth features I wanted became available. I think I have had 4 cameras die on me, but one of my originals (now about 4 years old) is still going strong. It has somewhat lower resolution video and has one distracting feature, at least from the perspective of certain animals…it has a tiny blinking red light when it is on. Most species either ignore this or quickly get used to it. But many carnivores like coyotes, bobcats, and foxes, are quite wary of this light as seen in their behavior when they get near one.
I have all my cameras set up to record a maximum of 30 seconds of video and then they shut off. If the animal is still there and moving, the camera starts recording after 5 seconds and that cycle repeats until there is no longer any movement. Night recordings are only 20 seconds in length by design. This coyote did something that doesn’t happen very often in front of a camera – it stopped and stood there for a long time. After a few minutes it jumped off the log and trotted off.
That log has been a hot spot of coyote activity these past two weeks. Here is one of the few clips where three coyotes pass through, seemingly on a mission (as they most always seem to be)
Here’s a question for everyone. A couple of posts back I had a clip of probably this same fox. I called it a gray fox in that post because I didn’t see the typical white tail tip of a red fox. But now I’m just not sure. The dark front legs and the seemingly uniform color of the main body makes me think it may be a red fox with almost no white on its tail tip. Gray foxes usually have a dark tail tip which I also don’t see. The night time videos don’t relay colors so I have to use other clues. Please put any thoughts you may have in the comments.
A camera on a tree along the creek bed keeps track of another favorite pathway for wildlife.
As I mentioned, there is a new coyote crew in our woods. They appeared a few months ago. One-ear and her mate had been the dominant crew here for a couple of years. We went about 5 weeks through December and early January without any sign of One-ear and I was beginning to think she had either moved on or died (coyotes can live 10-14 years in the wild, but I have no idea how old she was when I first recorded her on camera). And then this happened one night…
After rains (or melting snow), this section of the creek forms a large pool because of the log jam below.That attracts all sorts of critters from raccoons to bathing crows to deer. Here, two nice bucks walk through the pool.
Just downstream from that camera is another place where our intermittent stream tends to hold a nice pool of water after rains. This is a frequent site visited by our deer herd, whether to get a drink or just have fun.
This last clip is not from one of the game cameras,. I recorded this with my new mirrorless camera and lens this week while changing out the game camera cards. As I was walking, a female pileated woodpecker (she lacks the red streak on the cheek) took off from a log nearby and flew a short distance. I stopped and stood next to a tree and the bird started to come back in my direction, hopping from one log to another searching for insects.
In this season of cold and stress for wildlife, our woods are still alive with critters trying to survive. Mating season for coyotes is upon us and that may explain the substantial number of hits on my game cameras the past couple of weeks. We’ll see what this next week of extreme cold will bring.
I was back in my favorite spot in North Carolina this past week – Pocosin Lakes NWR. A lot has changed on the refuge since my first visit back in the early 1980’s. Back then, you could walk almost anywhere this time of year and get great views of the thousands of waterfowl that spend the winter in the area. And if I saw a couple of cars, it was a very busy day. Now, lots of people have discovered the magic of this place and, unfortunately, some people have created issues that caused the refuge to restrict access in order to protect the wildlife from undue disturbance. But, it is still a place where you can be awed at the spectacle of thousands of birds on the waterways and in the sky and where the only sounds you typically hear are those of wild things and the wind, the perfect soundscape.
This past week I was happy to join my friend, Parks, as he explored the refuges of Eastern NC with a group from Mitchell Community College. He went with us years ago on a Yellowstone trip and has been taking students and community members there every year since. He is looking to add another experiential learning opportunity closer to home and what better place than what I have often called the “Yellowstone of the East”. There is no greater place in this part of the world to experience so much wildlife as our Eastern NC national wildlife refuges. We spent three and half days at the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes, Alligator River, and Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuges with a side trip to Pettigrew State Park. The weather started out rainy and then progressed to sunny with bitter cold and ended with strong winds, but we saw much of what the region has to offer. Here are some of our highlights. Several of these photos were taken after the group left but represent things we saw.
After a hard rain on Monday, we decided to alter plans to be at Pungo the next morning. Instead, we headed to Alligator River NWR. We were skunked on bears and Red Wolves, but did see a lot of great wildlife like an early morning Beaver and several great birds.
A Beaver slowly swimming in one of the roadside canals gives us a look before diving and moving beyond our vehicle (click photos to enlarge) At one point we had to stop for three gobblers walking in the road. They thought about flying across the canal but opted to fly up into some trees alongside the road instead
Another highlight (with no pics rom me unfortunately) was an American Woodcock strutting across the road in front of us. It rocked its body forward and back as it slowly walked seemingly slow dancing its way as it moved in front of our vehicle. One theory on this strange behavior is they may be exerting pressure on the soil as they walk which may cause their favorite prey, earthworms, to move, making it easier to sense them. But I think they just know they are cool and want everyone else to know that as well. Later, I saw a Wilson’s Snipe doing a slow walk with some body bobbing but not nearly as much cool foot action (see the video clip later in this blog).
We headed to Mattamuskeet and spotted several good birds right at the entrance including a Black-crowned Night Heron and a Least Bittern (sorry, no pics). An American Bittern and several species of waterfowl rounded out our species list at that refuge.
An Anhinga greeted us along Wildlife Drive at Mattamuskeet NWR
Sunset at the Pungo Unit did not disappoint. In addition to the Snow Geese and swans in the fields, we spotted three Black Bears coming out to feed.
A large sow and two young of the year cubs coming out at dusk to feed
The next day was a Pungo day from sunrise to sunset. The soft sounds of swans as the pink and orange light of morning tints the sky is something I will always cherish about this place.
Soft light highlighting the wings of a swan at sunrise
There were a lot of other critters to observe besides the waterfowl and we spent the day looking at everything we could find while trying to stay warm in the van.
Juvenile Great Blue Heron soaking up some sun on a cold dayNear one of the refuge crop fields we discovered a bear dining hall. It looks like a bear (or bears) walked into the adjacent corn field and brought back ears of corn and even whole stalks to this one spot to dine. I have seen them do this before and a big bear will often lean against a tree trunk as it strips the kernels off the corn cob. We estimated there were at lest 90 ears of corn in this pile.The Eastern Screech Owl we saw on the Christmas count is still hanging out in its roost tree but gave us a little more of an appearance this time.
A highlight for everyone but me was a brief sighting of a canid while we were out walking. I was turned talking to someone and he pointed at something across the canal behind me. When I turned, I could hear it running away and all I saw was the River Cane swaying as the animal passed through. Everyone said it was a Red Wolf, though no one clearly saw the bright orange collar that almost all of the wolves now wear. Needless to say, I was bummed that I missed it.
Sunset brought another grand display of birds in the sky above the fields.Tundra Swans flying back to the lake at sunset
On their finl day, with a very cold wind blowing, the group headed home a little early, leaving me to explore the refuge on my own. I slowly drove along the roads looking for any movement in the canals or adjacent trees.
It started with a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk that was uncharacteristically cooperative. But why is it that most cooperative birds are always sitting in the “branchiest” shrub or tree in the area?A Wilson’s Snipe probing the mud along D-canal, searching for food.
I spent several minutes with this snipe, watching as it poked its long bill into the mud along the canal edge. As it moved from spot to spot, it often bobbed its body as it walked. Again, the most often stated reason why several species of birds do this bob and walk is to disturb their prey organisms underground, causing them to move and become easier targets to find and grab. But, whatever the evolutionary answer, it is fun to watch.
A Nutria (an introduced rodent from South America) lounges in the sun along the canal edge. People often mistake them for muskrats, beavers or otters. They swim much like a beaver, but have white whiskers and a rat-like tail. Though similar in general appearance, they are much larger than muskrats, and, again, the white whiskers distinguish them,. And otters are much more agile in the water, frequently diving and resurfacing as they swim.
I stopped at a pullout for a lunch break and noticed some movement along a fallen tree next to the canal. It was a tiny bird playing hide and seek with me. Finally, I spotted it out in the open and grabbed a few images of the diminutive Winter Wren, our smallest wren.
A Winter Wren taking a break from foraging to admire its reflection
I got back in the car and started to eat my apple and peanut butter, making a mess on my hands as I crunched away. Naturally, since I had sticky peanut butter on my fingertips, I glance out the window and see two River Otters barely 15 feet from my car. I quickly wiped off my hands so I wouldn’t get goo on my new camera and carefully opened the car door. The otters responded by rising up, snorting and disappearing up the canal. The really cool thing was there was a thin skim of ice on the canal surface away from the sunny opening at the road so I could hear a sound like the crinkling of newspaper every time an otter surfaced. I walked along the trail, listening for the crinkle sound, and finally saw one of the otters hiding in a small patch of open water. I took a few photos and left them to continue their way up the canal.
An otter keeping an eye on me from an opening it created in the skim of ice on the canalA mewing call alerted me to this Yellow-bellied Sapsucker working on a tree (note the sap wells it had drilled just to the right of its tail).
Late in the day I took a walk along West Lake Road (the section that has been closed to vehicles). I had seen some snipe and yellowlegs fly down into the grasses at the far end of Marsh A and wanted to check it out.
Several Savannah Sparrows jumped up from the short grass along the road as I walked A Greater Yellowlegs feeding in the shallows. I usually rely on their 3-note calls to distinguish them from Lesser Yellowlegs (they have a 2-note call)A pic showing how well snipe blend into the marsh grassesI can’t resist taking pics of swans doing the wing flap
As sunset approached, I headed up to the front fields hoping the Snow Geese would fly in and put on one last show for me. When I arrived, I was amazed at how many Tundra Swans were out in the fields, the most I have seen this winter. That was a good sign as it seems the Snow Geese like to land in the same fields where the swans are feeding. It wasn’t long until I saw the waves of birds on the horizon, headed my way.
Snow Geese circling the field several times before starting to landOne of several blast-offs by the Snow Geese for unknown reasons. If a Bald Eagle flies over, the flock will blast off, but I saw nothing this afternoon that could have spooked them. I just don’t understand the energetics of this species.The low angle light added a golden tone to the birds as they flew over.
The huge flock of Snow Geese finally takes off and heads for the lake, the end of an amazing day of sights and sounds on the Pungo Unit.
I’m afraid this is a longer than usual post but it is also one of the last times I may spend time in what has been an amazing place for me over the past 45 years. I have had countless encounters with the wildlife of this region from Bobcats and Bears to huge flocks of Tundra Swans and Snow Geese. I have had the privilege of sharing the magic of our wildlife refuges with literally thousands of people over that time. And I have had special solo moments of just myself and the landscape and the animals that call it home. The natural soundscapes will always be one of my most powerful memories of this region, especially of Pungo. What helps me through this loss of place is that we will be living in another land of wildlife and natural sounds. It is the only place that rivals my love of these North Carolina sacred lands – it is Yellowstone. I hope you all find your special places and visit them often to renew your spirit and your soul. It is a gift we all need to give to ourselves and to those we love. A huge thank you to those that created and those that manage and protect our public lands.
The last time you’re doing something – knowing you’re doing it for the last – makes it even more alive than the first.
~Gloria Naylor
This week we headed down to the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes NWR for our annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC). As best as I can remember, I have been doing this count since its start in about 1985 when my good friend, Paris Trail, and I teamed up with then Pettgrew State Park superintendent, Sid Shearin, to create an Audubon Christmas Bird Count circle centered on the park. The 15-mile diameter circle extends into the Pungo Unit and I was given that as my part of the circle to cover for the count. I have been there for almost every one of the counts since in all kinds of weather and with the help of a variety of friends over the years. This year, Melissa and I were joined by a cadre of 4 friends, all excellent birders, so we anticipated a great count total. We rented a local Airbnb adjacent to the refuge for two nights to make things easier. And the weather cooperated in spectacular fashion with sunny skies and pleasant temperatures. Here are some of our highlights…
One of over a hundred Rusty Blackbirds we saw on the CBC this year (click photos to enlarge)It was a good year for spotting Bald Eagles like this juvenile flying by and giving us the eyeThe calm winds meant waterfowl was spread out across Pungo Lake. The Snow Geese were uncharacteristically close to the middle of the lake making viewing a blast off much betterAfter flying around a few times, the Snow Geese started to settle back into their dense line of white on the lakeWe had three screech owls calling but only this little guy was seenThe rare bird of the day was this Ash-throated Flycatcher, one of 5 seen in the count circle. This is a western species, breeding from Washington to Texas and they usually migrate in winter to Mexico with occasional strays in the east. Prior to 2005, they were viewed as accidental in NC. Since then, they have been seen almost annually, mainly near the coast at places like Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes NWR.
The day after the count we traveled at a more relaxed pace, enjoying the beauty and serenity of a Pungo sunrise with the swansThe shift to colder temperatures caused a nice layer of mist at sunrise
This is the 125th year of the Audubon Christmas Bird Counts, the oldest citizen science program in the world. Data from these counts has proven valuable to scientists studying all sorts of issues related to bird abundance and distribution. It has been a privilege to be a small part of such a wonderful program. With our upcoming move to Gardiner, Montana, I don’t know if this will be our last CBC here or not . Melissa’s family is in VA so there is always a chance we could come down for a count day, but who knows. I will look into joining the Yellowstone CBC based in Gardiner, but holiday travel to the east coast may prohibit that (last year that count recorded 23 species – quite a difference!). If this is my last one at Pungo, it will be remembered as a great day spent with a group of excellent birders and friends in a place we all love.
Species observed in our section of the Pettigrew CBC
Snow Goose (8000); Ross’s Goose (9); Tundra Swan (9000); Gadwall (1000); American Wigeon (800); American Black Duck (120); Northern Pintail (630); Green-winged Teal (2000); Ring-necked Duck (300); Canada Goose (300); Wood Duck (1); Blue-winged Teal (4); Northern Shoveler (30); Mallard (90); Hooded Merganser (7); Ruddy Duck (1); Sandhill Crane (22); Great Blue Heron (8); Wilson’s Snipe (150); Killdeer (126); American Woodcock (4); Greater Yellowlegs (6); Ring-billed Gull (250); Mourning Dove (148); Black Vulture (5); Turkey Vulture (27); Sharp-shinned Hawk (2); Northern Harrier (5); Bald Eagle (14); Red-shouldered Hawk (1); Red-tailed Hawk (4); American Kestrel (4); Eastern Screech Owl (3); Great Horned Owl (2); Belted Kingfisher (4); Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (9); Red-bellied Woodpecker (13); Downy Woodpecker (14); Hairy Woodpecker (1); Pileated Woodpecker (4); Northern Flicker (18); Ash-throated Flycatcher (1); Chipping Sparrow (1); White-throated Sparrow (70); Savannah Sparrow (35); Song Sparrow (40); Swamp Sparrow (30); Eastern Towhee (6); Eastern Meadowlark (17); Red-winged Blackbird (4000); Brown-headed Cowbird (1); Rusty Blackbird (102); Common Grackle (35); Northern Cardinal (12); European Starling (3); Eastern Phoebe (25); Blue-headed Vireo (1); Blue Jay (10); American Crow (9); Carolina Chickadee (50); Tufted Titmouse (1); Horned Lark (12); Tree Swallow (100); Ruby-crowned Kinglet (13); Golden-crowned Kinglet (5); Brown-headed Nuthatch (4); Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (1); Northern House Wren (1); Carolina Wren (15); Gray Catbird (9); Brown Thrasher (1); Northern Mockingbird (4); Eastern Bluebird (5); Hermit Thrush (7); American Robin (200); Cedar Waxwing (20); House Finch (2); Purple Finch (2); American Goldfinch (12); Orange-crowned Warbler (1); Palm Warbler (25); Yellow-rumped Warbler (60)
While we were in Montana for a couple of weeks last month, our wild neighbors were quite active. The trail cameras recorded lots of interesting snippets of what happens in our woods that we would otherwise not see. Here are a few of the highlights…(enlarge to full screen for best viewing).
It always amazes me what goes on in our woods that we never personally witness, but that happens day and night, often within sight of the house. Though the Montana move will give us a whole new suite of nearby wild residents, I am going to miss these regulars in our nature neighborhood.
Moving doesn’t change who you are. It only changes the view outside your window.
~Rachel Hollis
Most of you probably already know about our coming big change (we put it up on FaceBook a few weeks ago). But, if you don’t, here it is. Melissa and I bought a house in Gardiner, Montana, the north entrance to our favorite place, Yellowstone National Park. We have thought about it for a long time but the opportunity was never there, until this summer. Melissa found a place for sale online right before we went out in June and we managed to take a walk-through, and…well, we move in May. It will be hard to leave our beautiful home in the woods, our friends, her family in VA, and the many special places we love in NC and the East, but, as I said in my FB post, “if not now, when?”
We drove out in early November to start some projects and make contacts with folks. It took 4 days to drive out, truck camping along most of the route. We bypassed most of our usual dispersed camping sites in the National Forests because of hunting seasons and the resulting greater number of people out camping in those areas. Instead, we stayed at some state parks along the way which were virtually empty this time of year. A quick drive through one of our favorite wildlife refuges, Loess Bluffs NWR, gave us a break from the hours on the interstates and a nice view of a pair of eagles discussing changes in their neighborhood.
Pair of Bald Eagles calling at another pair that had just flown into some nearby trees (click photos to enlarge)
The house sits at the base of a travertine cliff overlooking the town (some willows across the road block out the view of most of the buildings). But it will be a big change from here – we have neighbors! I can talk to them from our deck. We will live in a town! Gardiner has a population of about 700 people plus the couple of million that come through in the peak visitation months. And our local fauna (in our very small yard) will be quite different than what we see now.
Elk on our street on our first morning in the new house
The previous owners installed an electric fence behind the house to protect their plantings (mostly non-native plants it seems) from the deer and elk. The right side of the house is protected only by having the shrubs encased in welded wire fencing (a common practice for anyone with shrubs or trees they want to protect in the town or nearby park headquarters in Mammoth). So, it is a bit ironic that we will go from an acre or so enclosed in a deer fence with 13 acres additional to a tiny plot of rocky terrain partially protected by electric fencing, wire cages and some rabbit fencing (Mountain Cottontails appear to be abundant). And I probably won’t mind seeing the megafauna eating the plants outside our side window (even Bison occasionally graze on the “lawn” in winter as they pass through town).
Trio of Mule Deer browsing our shrubs off the deck
And though I love watching the birds, insects, and other critters from our current home’s windows… as the quote implies, a new view to enjoy awaits us. Our living room windows look out across town to the park lands beyond the Yellowstone River. Two mountains loom above the southern horizon as viewed from our house – Sepulcher Mountain and Electric Peak. Sepulcher is 9,642 ft high and is in Wyoming. Electric Peak is the tallest mountain in the Gallatin Range of Montana at 10,969 ft. In addition to being close to the state line, our new home is only a couple of miles from the 45h parallel of latitude, halfway between the Equator and the North Pole.
Moonlit view of Sepulcher Mountain within Yellowstone as seen from our deck.
Though Gardiner seems like a busy little town in summer, it lies in a vast landscape of sagebrush and sagebrush mixed grasslands. The surrounding area is lower in elevation and drier than much of the nearby park lands, making it ideal winter grazing habitat for ungulates such as Bison, elk, deer, and Pronghorn. When viewed from the surrounding hillsides, Gardiner is a small strip of human presence in a sea of open wildlife habitat.
View of Gardiner from the park entrance road. Our house is to the left of the white water tower seen in the lower third of the photo. A short hike up the road next to the house gets you into US Forest Service lands where you can view Gardiner with Electric Peak in the background.
Most of our days at the house were spent measuring to see what will fit, getting the basics of electricity, water, etc. set up, starting some renovation projects like painting kitchen cabinets, and learning about what we can and can not get in our new hometown. Many things require an hour or 1.5 hour drive to Livingston or Bozemen. But, amidst all the tasks, the abundant windows did provide some distractions, especially at sunrise and sunset.
Sunrise looking out one side of the living room (shot with 500mm telephoto).
We did get some snow a couple of the days and we finally made an afternoon trip into the park toward the end of our stay. This time of year does spoil you with so few visitors out in the park. At one point, we were the only car in the entirety of Lamar Valley, something that hasn’t happened for me since my early pre-wolf introduction trips of the 1980’s. We saw a few Bison herds, a couple of nice groups of elk, and Melissa spotted a beautiful Red Fox.lounging on a snow-covered boulder close to the road as we headed back to town.
Elk inside the park that had been digging in the snow to feed
She was driving and the fox was on my side of the road. We stopped and I grabbed a couple of pics with the 500mm (I should have grabbed her camera and zoom lens) as the fox stared off the the edge of the rock. It soon stood up and then nose-dived into the snow bringing up a small rodent of some sort which was quickly dispatched.
Red Fox near the road spies or hears something as we stop for a photoRight after I took this photo, the fox leaped into the snow and caught a rodent
A few minutes outside of town is a great spot to view Bighorn Sheep this time of year. They come down from the hgh elevations of summer and are herding up in time for the rut which happens from November through January. We spent an hour late one day admiring some of the many nice rams in this herd as they checked out each other and the available females.
A nice Rocky Mountain Bighorn ram on alert for the competition
On our last afternoon, Melissa wanted to go for a hike up the road. We walked a hundred yards or so up behind our house and walked off into the National Forest lands. It looks like a great place to explore and watch for wildlife. I also wanted to get up behind the house and take a closer look at the cliff that looms above our new place (I did ask all the neighbors if a rock had ever hit their house….so far, no). It is a pretty steep incline but we followed a well-used game trail up to the base of the cliff and walked along the ditch line that had been put in years ago to catch falling rock (comforting). There was lots of scat from deer, elk, rabbits, marmots, and unknown critters (so much to learn). Then Melissa called me over to take a look at something she had found under a ledge on the cliff face.
The cliff behind our place (ours is the second house and has the white pipe running up the back)
It was a carcass of what looked like a Pronghorn. This is not a typical spot for a Pronghorn to hang out. She sent a pic of it to our friends that are wildlife experts and they think it could be a Mountain Lion cache! I guess a trail camera may be needed here. This is what is so surprising about this place…we will soon live in a town and there are pigeons, starlings, and house sparrows in the yard and on the cliff behind the house. But there are also elk and deer in the yard and maybe a Mountain Lion killed a Pronghorn and stashed it up under a ledge in the cliff behind our house!
The carcass of what looks like a Pronghorn lying under a ledge in the cliff face above the house
The proxinity to the park, the abundant wildlife, the community of people (luckily, we have great neighbors and good friends a short walk away). All of this is still sort of swirling around in our heads as we prepare to make this jump into a new, yet familiar world. So many things we will miss about North Carolina and Chatham County. So many things to learn in this new place (important stuff like what caterpillars will be out there for gosh sakes?). And, in some ways, we still go back and forth…are we crazy to upend our rather comfortable lives for a place we do love but that has many uncertainties in terms of daily living? Well, the new place “spoke to us” on the last morning as we were getting ready to pack up the truck. We saw the wolf research plane circling across the river inside the park so Melissa started peering though our spotting scope (soon to be a designated piece of living room furniture). She soon spotted WOLVES! Yes, that’s right, we saw a pack of at least 11 wolves inside Yellowstone from our living room window.
Melissa scoping for wolves on our last morning
When we got home I remembered something that happened on my very first educator workshop in Yellowstone almost thirty years ago. We were in Lamar Valley standing in the freezing cold hoping to see wolves. The Druid Peak pack had a den in the trees above the road and we had learned of their presence from some wolf biologists we had met earlier. Some teachers had borrowed the van keys to get inside and warm up for a bit. We were about 75 yards from where the vans were parked. After spending several minutes in the van, they started walking back to the rest of us when we heard wolves howling, including the higher-pitched notes of wolf puppies. It was an emotional moment for everyone and I saw the teachers that had been at the van jumping for joy and hugging each other in their excitement. When they got back, I asked for the keys and the one person carrying them had apparently dropped them in all the commotion. They had walked along the side of the road back to our group, so we would have to search all along a sagebrush edged road looking for a set of keys. I was upset and a little panicked as I wasn’t sure how long it would take for the rental company to get us an extra set of keys from Bozemen if we couldn’t find them. An elderly Japanese wildlife photographer had been standing with our group and overheard what had happened. He joined us as we spread out along the road searching for the keys. I guess he could tell I was getting even more nervous as we searched. He leaned close and gently whispered “If it is meant to be, it will be”. I found the keys lying under a sagebrush right after that! And I now realize he might not have been talking about just those keys.
Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way.
~John Muir
I keep telling myself I’ll do a blog about something other than our trail camera findings, but then I check the cameras and see more cool stuff. So, here’s another one with some quick glimpses into the lives of the critters in our woods.
Many species are attracted to the creek after heavy rains. This pool is a gathering spot for Raccoons, Coyotes, and White-tailed Deer. But here is a reason for not drinking creek water…
There were also the usual quick glimpses of our Coyote clan plus these two uncommon visitors which I have slowed down so you can see them a bit better. The cameras have a slight delay from the time movement triggers them to when they start recording so they often capture something that is already almost out of the field of view.
Our desire to document is bringing us closer to nature and to animals.
~Ruxandra Guidi
It seems as though the cameras are catching more clips of extended behavior than in the past with our woodland neighbors pausing or maximizing their routes by the cameras so we catch just a little more of how they behave.
In my last post, we saw lots of deer behavior. I thought I was finished sharing that for a bit, but this week, two nice bucks decided to spar right in front of a camera. This behavior is common right now and I have many clips showing bucks of different sizes testing each other. When it is a mismatch in antlers, it is usually a brief match. These two went after each other a while longer but moved away from the camera in many of their bouts.
The cameras continue to catch our Coyotes going to and fro and I have often wondered whether some of the scenes of deer running or Coyotes seemingly chasing something were interactions between these two species. One camera finally caught a brief scene that gives an interesting insight into what may happen when they meet.
Studies have shown no significant impact on deer populations in areas colonized by Coyotes. Coyotes probably do have an impact on fawn recruitment, but are not big predators on adult deer. However, the presence of Coyotes may alter the behavior and foraging patterns of deer and keep deer moving more within their home range, which could have a positive impact on the plant community and other groups of organisms that depend on these habitats.
We caught the adult female Coyote I call One-ear doing something you probably have seen a dog do – scraping the ground vigorously after urinating. This is called “scrape behavior” and is believed to help mark a Coyote’s territory by spreading the urine scent. Canids also have scent glands in their paws which most likely adds additional scent to the scraped area. The scraped area may also be a visual sign to indicate a Coyote’s presence on the landscape.
Several clips showed one or two of the pups in One-ear’s clan. They still look scrawny with their thin summer coats on though that should start to change this month as their longer winter fur comes in.
Always glad to see an opossum on the trail cameras. I think the Coyotes may be having an impact on the ‘possum population as I am not seeing quite as many as in the past. This one is preparing a den by carrying leaves (and perhaps an unintentional stick) with its tail. This camera is near the large Tulip Poplar that houses some Raccoons and Gray Squirrels, so this Virginia Opossum may be moving into that productive wildlife condo.
Our intermittent stream has been flowing more this month with all the heavy rains. I shared a clip last time of a deer playing in a pool and it seems the local Raccoons also enjoy a playful dip.
It looks like a stretch of nice weather is finally headed our way over the next week or so. Looking forward to seeing what the cameras catch next time.
Roads End Naturalist 