December brings more than just holidays. It also brings the National Audubon Society's annual Christmas Bird Count, which birders eagerly anticipate. This citizen science project has been running since 1900, and provides a wealth of data about wintering bird populations all over the western hemisphere. Connecticut is divided into 18 territories. Each territory is a 15 mile diameter circle. The Litchfield Hills circle is centered in the Milton section of Litchfield. Ray Belding is the compiler. He can be reached via email at hoatzin1@optonline.net. I (Dave Rosgen) am in charge of the White Memorial/Bantam Lake section of this circle. I could use the help of a few hardy, independent birders to cover some of our trails away from the places that I and my core team of experienced birders cover. You can contact me via email at dave@whitememorialcc.org. The Litchfield Hills CBC is scheduled to happen on Sunday, 12/18, unless a snow or ice storm postpones it. The nearby Woodbury-Roxbury CBC is scheduled for the day before, 12/17. Ken Elkins is a compiler of that count. He can be reached via email at kelkins@audubon.org . For a complete list of Christmas Counts, visit the CT. Ornithological Association's website, which is http://ctbirding.org.
Herbarium Specimen Preparation -- Invasive Species Vouchers
Nicki Hall mounting preserved invasive plant specimens collected on White Memorial Foundation. |
The specimens and labels are mounted to the herbarium paper by laying them into a thin layer of adhesive that is spread over a flat surface. |
Every specimen has data that needs to be digitized and stored in a database. |
We have collected specimens from several invasive plant species that inhabit White Memorial Foundation. These specimens voucher their existence on the property. Scientists and policy makers can use these specimens in their work when these specimens are stored at Research Herbarium in Connecticut. This past growing season (2011) was our first year for collecting specimens and we will continue this work until every invasive plant species has a voucher specimen. This work will help the White Memorial staff prioritize species and habitats that are affected by invasive plants.
Leaf-footed Bug Visits a Friend
Leaf-footed Bug |
What wildlife are you thankful for? Share your thoughts here.
Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) Photo by Leo Kulinski, Jr. |
Happy Thanksgiving to all of our visitors from around the world. We are thankful for of your support.
Amphibian Cover-board Monthly Check -- November 2011
Redback Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) |
Introducing Our Graduate Student Intern -- Abby Conroy
Abby Conroy, MS Graduate Candidate at Green Mountain College checking amphibian cover-boards. |
Late Season Reptile & Amphibian Activity
Eastern Garter Snake photo by Dave Rosgen
Painted Turtle photo by Darlene Knox
Wood Frog photo by Ashley Hayes
Northern Spring Peeper photo by Ashley Hayes
Green Frog photo by Ashley Hayes
By the middle of November most reptiles and amphibians are starting to hibernate or brumate (a less deep sleep than hibernation). However, since part of this is temperature driven, and temperatures have fluctuated widely for the past 3 weeks, some of these animals have remained at least partially active. The majority of these have been Northern Spring Peepers, which are commonly heard peeping every fall well into November. Whether they are confused about the season or their peeping failed to get them a mate last spring is unknown. A Wood Frog, which is a species that hibernates under logs and other forest floor debris and emerges real early in the spring, was seen at Little Pond on the 13th. Green Frogs were seen on several occasions, including several hopping across White Hall Rd. by Pike Marsh on some of the recent mild, rainy evenings, and a few at Mallard Marsh. Last Tuesday, 11/15, Nicole Morin and I saw a Redback Salamander under a log along the Interpretive Trail and a Painted Turtle sunning itself at Ongley Pond. Later in the week, Jim Kandefer saw an Eastern Garter Snake along the Little Pond Boardwalk. The nearby Little Pond Trail produced our best herp find this month in the form of a baby Northern Brown Snake on the 12th. With the weather forecasted to continue to fluctuate between mild and chilly for the next 2 weeks, we may continue to see these animals for awhile.
Japanese Barberry Control Workshop Review
Jeff Ward, Chief Forester CT Ag. Exp. Station (CAES) and wearing white ball cap with plaid-flannel at left, introduces the topics that will be discussed during the workshop. |
I'm sure most of you understand that there is a problem when anything negatively
influences native trees and plants, but earthworms!
What's wrong with earthworms?!
Earthworms are not native to southern New England soils because our landscape was covered by glaciers only 15,000 years ago and these 1 mile thick ice blocks prevented earthworms from colonizing our soils. Although earthworms might be considered a positive thing in your garden, they are not a good thing in forests. Earthworms consume the leaf litter layer at an astonishing rate, which as you already know the lack of a healthy leaf litter layer encourages soil erosion. This workshop was a real lesson in forest ecology!
The principle investigators of this project are Jeff Ward (CAES), Scott Williams (CAES), Thomas Worthley (UCONN Coop. Ext.), and J. P. Barskey (CAES). They have discovered that managing Japanese Barberry is at least a two-step procedure. First, the healthy barberry shrub needs to be treated with herbicide, prescribed burning, propane torch, or is cut down with a mechanical method. After the plant sends up new shoots the following growing season, a second treatment is required by using a propane torch or herbicide. Safety equipment and considerations, costs of equipment, materials, and labor were also discussed. Further evidence was provided demonstrating that infected tick density decreases after these treatments are applied. As well as, evidence that showed how Japanese Barberry responded if the second treatment was not applied, it returns with gusto!
In the following images you can see the various methods that were demonstrated by Mike Short (CAES Technician) during this workshop, but also notice that the orange-red hue in the forest understory, all of this is Japanese Barberry!
Walk behind self propelled brush mower. |
Brush Saw |
Star brush blade on a brush saw. |
Yellow heart wood of a mulched Japanese Barberry shrub. |
Jeff Ward demonstrates the use of a propane torch burning Japanese Barberry clumps to kill buds. |
Major Early Snowstorm and its Aftermath
Museum after the 10/29/2011 snowstorm
photo by Dave Rosgen
at White Memorial's Wheeler Hill
photo by Dave Rosgen
2 days after the snowstorm
photo by Dave Rosgen
Winterberry Holly photo by Dave Rosgen
Pokeberry photo by Dave Rosgen
Eastern Bluebird photo from www.allaboutbirds.org
Fox Sparrow photo by Bob Stanowski
Connecticut was pounded by a record-breaking early Nor'easter snowstorm from around 1 p.m. on Saturday, 10/29/2011, through sunrise on Sunday, 10/30/2011. It dropped 20" of snow on White Memorial and was accompanied by high winds for about 8 hours. This spelled disaster for many trees, shrubs, and other plants which were either flattened by the heavy, wet snow, or broke under its weight. Power was knocked out to the Museum Area for 9 days. Much of the tree damage involved broken limbs or sections of trunk rather than entire trees being blown over as happened during the tropical storms in August and September. Still, damage is extensive, and it will take quite a while to get all of our trails cleared despite the Herculean efforts of our great maintenance crew. A major savior to our wildlife (especially the birds) through all of this mess has been the super abundance of berries, nuts, and seeds. Though it was rendered unavailable for a while after the snowstorm, rapid melting of the snow exposed much of these foods within 12 hours. Therefore, I doubt that much, if any, starvation occurred among our wildlife. One exception would be totally insectivorous birds, but virtually all of them had already migrated south before this storm. One species just beginning to migrate south through here now is the Fox Sparrow. Bird feeders can greatly help these birds through foul weather, and that proved to be the case for the feeders behind the museum. In addition to hosting a ton of White-throated Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, and other common birds after the snowstorm, they also fed 3 Fox Sparrows for a week. Since then we've seen this species feeding on weed seeds along the Little Pond Trail and at the Butterfly Garden. Some people expressed concern for American Robins, Eastern Bluebirds, and Cedar Waxwings after the storm, but they are doing just fine chowing down on an abundance of Winterberry Holly and Pokeweed berries. Waterbirds seemed to be unphased by the storm since Bantam Lake and most of our ponds (except Cemetery) remained ice free. Bald Eagles and other raptors seemed to carry-on as usual. I even saw 2 different Bald Eagles fly low over the museum on Sunday, 10/30, while I was shoveling snow off the deck. So, while this unprecedented snowstorm completely disrupted the lives of us humans and did quite a bit of damage to vegetation, it probably didn't do much harm to our wildlife.
Program Introduction for Waterbury Naturalist Club
We needed to cancel this program due to the recent snow storm and subsequent damage clean-up.
We have rescheduled this program for March 6, 2012.
We have rescheduled this program for March 6, 2012.
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