Cold Feet

Bobcat (Lynx rufus) track frozen in mud and ice.
Photo by James Fischer
This year we have 20 volunteers monitoring our Winter Track Transects on the property.  These are the kind if people who don't mind getting cold feet, especially when they get a chance to observe something cool!  Although we've had little snow so far this season, we are still able to observe tracks and sign this winter.  If you are interested in helping with this endeavor, please contact James Fischer, WMCC Research Director.

Squirrels Communicating Over the Bridge

Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) branch serving as a bridge for
Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) to cross over a
small spring seep in a Connecticut woodland.
Photo by James Fischer
Jared Franklin and I were surveying the Apple Hill vicinity.  We came upon an interesting observation of Eastern Gray Squirrel that I would like to share with you.  All of us at times observe squirrels navigating through the tree canopies over our heads.  You can observe this behavior in many of our woodlands at White Memorial.  I often see squirrels using the trees canopies a bridges over the wood roads, especially when I am leading a large group of people on walks or when I am walking with a dog.  It appears to me that the squirrels are using the intermingled branches of several individual trees as another thoroughfare through the woods.  What a great way to avoid potential threats while still making their way through the forest.  These canopy through-ways bypass threats from both the ground and to a certain extent the air because there are so many branches that could shield a squirrel from the approach of a aerial predator.  This connectivity has always intrigued me because I wonder if these thoroughfares could be limited to the use of only certain individual squirrels.  Or could there be potential tolls for the use of these thoroughfares?  Similar to the way people pay a fee to use the state government turnpike or through-way road systems.

The evidence that I have had trouble collecting were ways that squirrels could communicate that these bypasses were frequently used by squirrels.  Jared and I observed a sturdy Northern Spicebush branch leaning over a small wet area.  The wet area was sparsely vegetated, which left little cover for a squirrel to use for protection.  What drew our attention to how important this branch was to the local squirrel population was the tell tale bites found in the bark of this branch.

Eastern Gray Squirrel bites marking this branch serving as a bridge.
Photo by James Fischer
Eastern Gray Squirrels wound the bark on branches and tree trunks to serve as a visual cue to other squirrels.  They will also rub areas of their bodies that have chemical scent patches or urinate on the marks so that there is a olfactory stimulus to insure the message gets across.  These squirrels are saying something on this branch and whatever it is they are saying it often!  Notice how some of the wounds look older than the others.

Wow!  I wonder if this how they do it the tree canopies?  Certain individuals may wound and scent mark specific trails that communicates that it is their trail by using their trail-blazes.  Maybe the rest of their social structure could explain who and why certain squirrels use these pathways.  Could social and genetic relatedness explain why some animals use the canopies byways?  Could some canopy trails become legacy resources used by several generations of squirrels?  So many questions...

Bat Maternity Roost Microclimate Monitoring

(l to r) Ethan Toczko and Brian Blais (CT DEEP, Wildlife Division)
download data collected by datalogger.  

The datalogger is located in rafters of White Memorial's Green Barn
 and collects temperature and relative humidity reading periodically.  
Ethan Toczko and Brian Blais (CT DEEP, Wildlife Diversity Unit Technicians) downloaded some information that has been steadily collected for the past summer season.  Jenny Dickson (CT DEEP, Supervising Wildlife Biologist) is studying the microclimate of Big Brown Bat maternity roosts and associating this information with prevalence of White Nose Syndrome.  White Nose Syndrome (WNS) is an emerging infectious disease that kills bats primarily during the winter season while they are hibernating but has been observed in young animals who are dispersing from the roosts where they were born.  Recently, the disease causing agent was verified as a fungus that is native to Europe and brought to North America.  This invasive species has caused as much as 90% of the bats to die each year while hibernating in Connecticut's underground cave-like structures.  Fortunately, Big Brown Bats are the only hibernating bat species in CT not experiencing this level of mortality but some animals do die from WNS each year.  The datalogger is located in the rafters of White Memorial's Green Barn and collects temperature and relative humidity readings.  Although the data is collected continuously and culminates in thousands of data points, we only have to pull out our tallest extension ladder to download the data once a year!  Finally, technology that creates less work!

Lingering Birds

Rusty Blackbird photo from
www.columbusaudubon.org
Fox Sparrow photo by Leo Kulinski
Belted Kingfisher photo by Darlene Knox
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker photo by Leo Kulinski
The relatively mild weather that has blessed Connecticut for much of the past 6 weeks should have been conducive to let late migrant birds linger around here for longer than they usually would. This is especially likely when there is an abundance of wild food, as there is this year. However, unlike the waterbirds discussed in my last post, there don't seem to be all that many migrant landbirds lingering around here. They do take more effort to find than waterbirds, but we have tried to look for them on a few occasions this month. This is not to say that we haven't had some success. Yesterday, I was greeted by a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker when I went up onto the Museum's deck to fill the feeders. When they get hungry enough they will visit suet feeders. On the 7th, Mike Doyle had a Belted Kingfisher at Bantam Lake's Pt. Folly. They will occasionally stay through the winter if there is enough open water and an adequate supply of small fish to eat. On the 5th, Buzz Devine counted 86 Rusty Blackbirds in a flock along the north side of the Little Pond Boardwalk. Four days later, I saw 2 at Cemetery Pond. They are quite nomadic, and probably have gone farther south by now, but every year we find a few Rusties around here during the winter. Some Red-winged Blackbirds also spend the winter here. Our most recent report of them was from the Museum's feeders on the 10th. Though I haven't seen a Winter Wren or Fox Sparrow on White Memorial property since 11/25, that doesn't mean that 1 or 2 aren't around here somewhere. I have seen a Fox Sparrow elsewhere in Litchfield in the past week. It is a little odd that we haven't seen any big flocks of American Robins around here since 11/25, especially given the continued abundance of Winterberry Holly berries. They may be around; just not in places that we haven't visited lately. All that will change this coming Sunday, 12/18, when we plan to cover White Memorial's property and Bantam Lake as thoroughly as possible for the Litchfield Hills Christmas Bird Count. If you would like to help, please email me at dave@whitememorialcc.org. I still need people who can work independently censusing birds along some of our outlying trails, like the Cathedral Complex and Trail Rider's Jump.

Bantam Lake Waterbird Update, 12/15/2011

Bantam Lake's Pt. Folly Marina photographed
by Ashley Hayes on 12/10/2011, showing
that it is still completely ice-free
Lesser Scaup photo from www.utdallas.edu
Hooded Merganser photo by Bob Stanowski
Common Goldeneye photo by
Micahel Woodruff from www.fishandgameidaho.gov
Bufflehead photo from www.flyways.us
A significant increase in waterfowl migration activity has occurred at Bantam Lake in the past week. This coincides with more and more reports of ponds and portions of lakes in Vermont, upstate New York, Quebec, and Ontario icing over. Unlike last year, and many other past years, Bantam Lake was still ice-free as of this morning, 12/15/2011. Relatively mild conditions since early November are the reason for this. While several nights have seen temperatures dip into the 20's, and a couple of recent nights saw temperatures go down into the teens, this has not been enough for ice to form on the Lake. Cemetery Pond and our marshes have iced-over a few times, but they usually opened-up again when daytime temperatures climbed into the 40's. This has been great for waterfowl, as it has provided them with plenty of foraging area. Species which have increased the most in the past week have included Ring-necked Duck (43 on the 13th), Bufflehead (31 on the 13th), Common Goldeneye (35 on the 13th), Hooded Merganser (53 on the 13th), and Common Merganser (55 on the 13th). Also of note were 6 Gadwall on the 13th, 2 Northern Shovelers almost every day, 2 Northern Pintails on the 14th, 4 Lesser Scaup on the 13th, 2 White-winged Scoters on the 8th, a Long-tailed Duck on the 9th, a Ruddy Duck on the 11th, a Red-throated Loon on the 7th, Pied-billed Grebes on several days, and a Red-necked Grebe on the 11th and 12th. In addition, as many as 87 American Coots have been seen daily at the Lake's North Bay. At this point it should be noted that the vast majority of these sightings have come from N. Bay and Pt. Folly. South Bay has produced virtually nothing, and the central section has mainly yielded fish-eating divers. It should also be noted that this number and diversity of waterbirds is above average for so late in the migration season here, even in other years when the Lake has remained ice-free. This could be a product of generally mild conditions all over the northeast, more birds because of their highly successful breeding activity last summer, or an abundance of food at Bantam Lake. Most likely, it is a combination of these things. Whatever it is, we are hopeful that these birds will stay around for the Christmas Bird Count on the 18th, and that a few more will join them. As it is, all of the sightings from today are in the official count period. If you go out to look for these birds, please report your observations to ebird, and share them with the White Memorial Archives.

Summary of Results from the 2011 Woodbury Route Breeding Bird Survey

Eastern Towhee photo by Bob Nicks
from www.carolinabirdclub.org
Savannah Sparrow photo by Paul Fusco
Blue-winged Warbler photo by Brian Zweibel
from www.carolinabirdclub.org
Brown Thrasher photo by Paul Fusco
As a follow-up to my last posting about the results of last summer's Breeding Bird Survey of the Warren-to-Northfield route, here are the results of the survey of the Woodbury-to-Goshen route that I conducted on July 4th. I thought that by doing this on this date I would avoid a lot of the annoyances caused by vehicular traffic on weekdays. Wrong! Actually, I was right that there would be very little traffic during the early morning, but it picked up considerably after 8:30 a.m. This was especially true on State Routes 109 and 202. Despite the traffic, this survey produced 3 more species and 582 more individual birds than last year. The 72 species found this year is a little above average and the 1,910 individual birds recorded is about 400 more than average. It certainly helped that weather conditions were absolutely gorgeous this day. Besides sunshine, there was only a light breeze and low humidity. It also helped that the destruction of land for housing and other developments ground to a halt along this route 3 years ago and hasn't resumed. We can be cautiously optimistic that Brown Thrashers (3), a Blue-winged Warbler, 17 Eastern Towhees, and a Savannah Sparrow were found along this route this year. All 4 of these grassland/shrubland species are hurting across much of their range. A fifth member of this habitat group, the Indigo Bunting, was found along this route this year in the form of 10 individuals, but this marks the second year of a decline in their numbers. Species noticeably less common this year than last year included Tree Swallow (probably due to June being so cold and wet) and Ovenbird (maybe because they sing a lot less in July than in June). Only 9 other species were less numerous this year than last year. By contrast, 56 species were found to be in higher numbers this year than last year. This tracks with the findings from the Summer Bird Counts that were held in June. However, as I said in the last blog posting, it is impossible to detect all of the birds at each of the 50 stops because the standardized protocol has us spending only 3 minutes at each stop. As it is, some people think that I'm hallucinating because I get so many birds at many of these spots in such a short time. It is simply a matter of having excellent hearing and knowing what I'm hearing. Very few of the birds on these surveys are actually seen. Getting back to the birds, themselves, the species showing the biggest increases over last year were Chipping Sparrow, Gray Catbird, American Goldfinch, Cedar Waxwing, American Robin, Veery, Red-eyed Vireo, Tufted Titmouse, and House Sparrow. Most of these species are highly adaptable. The 5 most abundant species this year, in decreasing order of abundance, were American Robin, Gray Catbird, Chipping Sparrow, American Goldfinch, and Tufted Titmouse.

White Memorial's 15 Year Forest Management Plan

Let it snow!
Roger Johnson skillfully operates a chainsaw
to harvest timber on White Memorial Foundation.
Photo by Gerri Griswold

Lukas Hyder, White Memorial Foundation's Assistant Superintendant, has announced the completion of the property-wide Forest Management Plan (2011 - 2025).  The Forest Management Plan reviews the standing timber and prescribes management treatments for every forest stand on the 4000 acres that White Memorial conserves.  The Plan also examines the wide variety of alternative uses of the property including recreation, wildlife habitat management, and invasive species management.

Photo by Gerri Griswold

Summary of Results of the 2011 Warren Breeding Bird Survey Route

American Bittern photo by Sallie Gentry
from www.fws.gov
Black-throated Green Warbler photo by
Jacob Spendelow from www.tringa.org
Veery photo by Darlene Knox
Pileated Woodpecker photo by Leo Kulinski
Gray Catbird photo by Leo Kulinski from
www.whalesandwolves.com
Downy Woodpecker photo from
Cedar Waxwing photo by Bob Stanowski
The U.S. Geological Survey's Breeding Bird Survey of the Warren-to-Northfield route was conducted by Dave Rosgen on Sunday, June 19, 2011. This is an annual event that is always undertaken in June or early July on a day with sunny skies and little or no wind. White Memorial has assisted with this survey and the one that runs from Woodbury to Goshen every year since 1965. I've been doing it since 1998. So, why did I wait until December 8th to post the results on this blog? Simple. Even though I sent the field data sheets to the U.S.G.S. in late September, I haven't had time until now to tally-up all the numbers for our analysis purposes. Nicole Morin was an invaluable assistant with this effort. The photos above illustrate some of the species that highlighted this year's survey. Tops among them was our first-ever American Bittern at Hart Pond Wildlife Management Area in Cornwall. Otherwise, this year's survey produced an average total of 75 species and an above-average total of 2,081 individual birds. More species were found in higher numbers this year than in lower numbers. Since this standardized survey involves spending only 3 minutes at each of 50 stops, it is actually very hard to compare the numbers of birds found from one year to the next due to the variables of weather and other things that affect the detectablity of birds. However, it is interesting to note that almost all of the birds found in higher-than-average or lower-than-average numbers on this survey were also found in similar situations on the Litchfield Hills Summer Bird Count and on White Memorial's Breeding Bird Censuses. Species which were found to be much more numerous this year than last year included Red-bellied, Downy, and Pileated Woodpeckers, Eastern Phoebe, Veery, Wood Thrush, Gray Catbird, Cedar Waxwing, Yellow, Black-throated Green, and Black & White Warblers, Ovenbird, Red-winged Blackbird, and American Goldfinch. Less numerous species included Eastern Kingbird, Red-eyed Vireo, American Crow, Barn Swallow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, and Common Yellowthroat. The top 5 most abundant species this year were Veery, Gray Catbird, Cedar Waxwing, Red-eyed Vireo, and American Goldfinch.

Summary of Bluebird Nest Box Usage at White Memorial in 2011

Eastern Bluebird photo by Bob Stanowski
Eastern Bluebird Used Nest that Successfully
Fledged 3 Young from a Nest Box in
White Memorial's Mill Field
photo by Dave Rosgen
Tree Swallow photo by Darlene Knox
House Wren photo by Ann Cook
The 2011 nesting season was a record-breaking success for Eastern Bluebirds, but a near disaster for Tree Swallows using CT. Bluebird Restoration Project nest boxes on White Memorial Foundation land. Weather was a major player in these results. While Bluebirds either timed their nesting activity right or just got lucky, they managed to avoid the worst of the awful cold, wet weather that plagued Northwest Connecticut for parts of May and June. Many of White Memorial's Bluebirds made their first nesting attempt and successfully fledged young during a nice stretch of weather in May, then delayed making their second nesting attempt until nice weather returned in July. One pair even nested successfully 3 times this year!


Connecticut Bluebird Restoration Project
Summary of bluebird box usage at: The White Memorial Foundation
Towns: Litchfield & Morris
Year: 2011 Number of boxes: 82
SPECIES
# of Pairs
# of Active Nests
# (%) Successful
# Failed
# of Young Fledged
# Fledged per Active Nest
Eastern Bluebird
19
25
23 (92%)
2
91
3.6
Tree Swallow
50
51
39 (76%)
12
170
3.3
House Wren
5
6
6 (100%)
0
20
3.3
Black-cap Chickadee
2
1
1 (100%)
0
5
5.0
Tufted Titmouse
0
-
-
-
-
-
White-br Nuthatch
0
-
-
-
-
-
TOTALS
76
83
69 (83%)
14
286
3.4

Unwelcome Nest Box Tenants
SPECIES
# of Boxes Occupied
# of Nests Removed
# of Successful
Nests
# of Young Fledged
House Sparrow
6
5
3
7
White-footed/ Deer Mice
3
3
-
-
Paper Wasp
6
12
-
-
Dominion Wasp
-
-
-
-
Ants
4
8
-
-
TOTALS
19
28
3
7


A record-high total of 19 pairs of Bluebirds used our nest boxes this year. Of their total of 25 active nests, 23 were successful in fledging a record-high total of 91 young. That made for an excellent success rate of 92% and productivity rate of 3.6 young fledged per active nest. They only suffered 2 nest failures: 1 due to a House Wren destroying a clutch of eggs and the other due to a huge Raccoon eating a clutch of eggs. More on him later. Tree Swallows started their nesting activity slowly in April and May and plugged along trying to nest and bring-off a brood of young through June's horrible weather. Many of them met with failure. Actually, some of our 50 pairs of Tree Swallows suffered from more causes of failures than just the weather this year. A huge Raccoon somehow found a way to climb up the otherwise Raccoon-proof PVC pipe predator guards on 4 nest box poles and get the eggs in the boxes. Non-native House Sparrows caused 2 of the Tree Swallow failures, and a House Wren caused 1 failure. Otherwise, 5 of their record-high 12 failures were caused by the foul weather. Despite this, they still managed to fledge 170 young from 39 successful nests. This gave them a nesting success rate of 76% and a productivity rate of 3.3 young fledged per active nest. House Wrens don't use many of Bluebird boxes because we try to keep them out in the fields, away from edge habitat that Wrens prefer. Still, 5 pairs of House Wrens did nest in them this year. They were 100% successful in their 6 nesting attempts, and fledged a total of 20 young. Two pairs of Black-capped Chickadees attempted to nest in our Bluebird boxes. One didn't get beyond the nest building stage before a Tree Swallow usurped the box. The other pair was successful in fledging 5 young. The overall figures were good, despite the Tree Swallow's contribution of failures. A total of 76 pairs of native birds made a total of 83 active nesting attempts in the nest boxes. Of these, 69 were successful and 14 were failures. They fledged a total of 286 young. That gave them a combined success rate of 83% and productivity rate of 3.4 young fledged per active nest. As for the unwelcome nest box tenants, House Sparrows tried to nest in 6 of the boxes. Despite removing a total of 5 nests, they still managed to fledge a total of 7 young from 3 late nests that slipped past us. Other problem critters included Mice in 3 boxes, Paper Wasps in 6 boxes, and Ants in 4 boxes.

White Memorial's Terrestrial Small Mammal Inventory

Juvenile Masked Shrew (Sorex cinereus)
Photo by James Fischer
Inventorying terrestrial small mammal species requires the use of multiple survey methods to insure a thorough assessment of all species.  We are preparing for this project during 2012 and will need help by a series of dedicated volunteers.  Every volunteer will receive training and advisement during the course of this project.  Our goal is to assess the species of terrestrial small mammal species that inhabit the critical habitats found on White Memorial Foundation property.  We will focus our survey efforts on the shrews and moles (Order Insectivora - insect eaters), as well as squirrels, mice, and voles (Order Rodentia - gnawing mammals or rodents).  These species are often overlooked by inventory efforts because they are secretive, even though they are abundant and widespread.  These species are important because they are prey species for many of our predators or serve as predators themselves to many invertebrate organisms.  Some of these species have been found to serve important ecological roles in the disease transmission that affect humans (i.e. Lyme Disease).  And their most important role of all is that they are challenging to work with, which forces you to put on your ecological detectives hat when you explore their lives.  Life's greatest gifts come from its biggest challenges and can be found in the smallest of packages.  If you are interested in helping with this survey please contact James Fischer, WMCC Research Director.  There is much to be done to get ready for the season, so every bit of help ahead of time is greatly appreciated.

The Research & Conservation Forum -- December 2011

Click on the image to see the latest edition!

Winter Track Transects Workshop

River Otter (Lontra canadensis)
Photo by Margaret and Thomas Sellers

December 10, 2011
9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
A. B. Ceder Classroom

Facilitated by James Fischer, Research Director

Do you enjoy the winter season?  
Do you want to learn which animals leave all of those tracks in the snow?  
Come find out who they are and how they live at White Memorial!
All who want to participate in this year's tracking transects must attend the training. 

Hope to see you there!

It will be a fun day for all of us!  The information that we gather is very useful to our long-term monitoring and conservation of these species.  Please dress for the weather and walking/standing outdoors.  This workshop is facilitated indoors and outdoors.  Bring a lunch, water, paper, pen, & your favorite tracking field guide.  We'll provide light refreshments.