WOOD FROGS---THE "POLAR BEARS" OF THE FROG WORLD

We arrived home from our Florida Trip at 7:30 on Tuesday March 31.  The "Black Knight" performed flawlessly and delivered us to Gretna without any problems.  The Black Knight?  That is my black Honda Element---a great car.

Wednesday morning, April 1st we awakened to a temperature of 29 degrees---a far cry from the 80's we had been experiencing in Naples.  There are still snow piles here and it looks like winter.  No sign of Spring until the  sun came  up and then it started.

 The Wood Frogs are singing.  It actually sounds more like barking and is quite loud.  We have 5 water areas and all of them have been captured by the wood frogs for their annual Spring mating ritual.  They are welcome on all but the swimming pool cover, where we will have to move their egg masses to a safer place or the  thousands of tadpoles will not survive.

I first encountered these fascinating amphibians when we moved here in the 1990's.  They hibernate during the cold of winter, but with the first warm days of March they suddenly appear in the open water and begin to "sing".  I have seen them do this when there are still large pieces of ice in  the water.   The temperature remains at 32 degrees until the ice melts, so I do not know how they are able to stir up the energy to be jumping all over the place like they do.  They are cold-blooded, but something about their makeup allows them to function at very cold temperatures.

When we were in Alaska in 2003  we stayed at a bed and breakfast owned  by Judy Cooper.  She was a musher, had lots of dogs and lived on  a large piece of land.  When i asked here about the wildlife in the area, she mentioned that she had a vernal pool in her woods and every year she had Wood Frogs appear and mate just as they do in PA.  Now this is near Fairbanks in Central Alaska  and the ground is permafrost, so somehow these little guys can survive being frozen, wake up and mate every year.  No other reptile or amphibian can survive that far north, only Wood Frogs.

So we  are again enjoying the signs of Spring.  Only it is not flowers blooming or birds singing, it is the "barking " of the Wood Frogs who must have "ice water in their veins" to be up and about when it is this cold.

SOUTH FLORIDA---A CITY IMPOSED ON NATURE

I have visited SOUTH FLORIDA six times in the last 40 years.  The first time was in 1974 when we motored south in our VW camper over the Christmas holiday. Later we traveled in a 20 foot motorhome and this time we traveled in our Honda Element.  In the past our focus was on campgrounds for lodging; this time it was more complicated.  We did not plan ahead, so when we arrived in Florida we did not  have any prearranged place to stay.  Extended places to stay were all taken and we had to resort to hotels and motels where rooms were also in short supply.  We did have  short stays with Marilyn Hollis and Pat Glanz, which we greatly appreciate. We also camped in a tent for  a short time. With Marilyn's help we were able to find a place in a 55+ community south of Naples. We have been here since March 1st. It is a nice area and is as  natural as a place like this can be.  The backyard of "our place" backs on to a manmade canal that nature has reclaimed and which attracts songbirds and wading birds.  I have also heard the calls of the Red-shouldered Hawk and the Great Horned Owl  during our stay here.

If you look at a night-time photo of Florida the coasts are lit up and the center is dark.  99% of the development in South Florida below Orlando is along the coasts.  Looking south from  I-4, which crosses the state at Orlando, the pattern of light resembles a horseshoe fitted over the state. Originally this whole area was a "sea of grass" with water flowing from Highlands County (Sebring area) to the Everglades and out to sea.  Over the last 100 years people have drained, diked  and developed the land, so the water no longer follows its natural flow.  Route 41 crossing the state just north of the Everglades acts like a huge  dike and only recently has work begun to allow water to flow normally.  The "dry land" in central Florida is now dominated by farming, citrus groves, thousands of grazing beef cattle and the famous retirement "trailer parks".

I am an optimistic ecologist and I believe the natural areas of Florida will continue to thrive despite human abuse and neglect.  Many people care about these places and are doing their part to make the ecosystems work for all the creatures who live here. In many ways South Florida is still the wildest area east of the Mississippi River.  The Eastern Panther hangs on as a predator, alligators thrive,  snakes, turtles and lizards abound and the many birds are doing OK.    There are not many places where panther tracks and a cottonmouth eating a fish would be casually reported by a hiker.  It is a wild and beautiful place surrounded by a city.  You just never know what you may see next.

There are no mountains in South Florida, but there are ridges which are more than 50 feet high.
However  the highest places in most of South Florida are landfills and road and bridge overpasses.
I believe the climate is getting warmer and the horseshoe shaped development imposed on this land will be drastically affected by a significant increase in sea level. The ecosystem here, on the other hand, was designed by climate change over the last 10,000 years and it will be able to adapt to what ever comes its way.

Humans, however, will have very few options. Move up or out. Over time the sea will most likely reclaim the land the cities are parked on and some of the inland areas will return to a more natural state as  the rains of the wet season seek the natural flow south toward the Everglades.

So what is my real opinion of Florida after all these years?  It is GREAT place to visit, but I would NOT want to live here.

HIT BY A BASEBALL ON Pi DAY

I have been a Pittsburgh Pirate fan since I was a child and being in Florida during March I decided to get tickets to see a Spring Training game.  I have not seen a Pirate's game for a very long time, so this was an opportunity I could not pass up.

On February 17th I went to Jet Blue Stadium in Fort Myers to buy a ticket for the Red Sox vs Pirates spring training game held on March 14, 2015.  The only ticket not sold was for a handicapped person, so I bought it.

Last Saturday March 14, I drove from Naples, where we are staying, North about 45 minutes to the stadium. I arrived early. The gates opened at 11 am and I wheeled myself to my
seat with no difficulty. The Pirates were on the field warming up, hitting and fielding and this lasted until noon when they retired to the clubhouse. The grounds crew spent the next hour manicuring the field, wetting it down and putting the chalk lines on the batter's box, fowl lines, etc. It was pretty neat to watch.  It was a beautiful day and although it was hot, I had the advantage of shade for the whole game.

The game started at 1:05. The early part of the game was rather slow with the main excitement being the Red Sox's  Mike Napoli hitting two home runs. Going into the 8th inning the score was tied at 2-2. The Pirates used a couple of hits and good base running to score 3 runs in the top of the 8th, held off a Red Sox rally in the bottom of the ninth and won 5-2. Great game and they won.

Oh yes, about "HIT BY A BASEBALL ON PI DAY".

Well March 14, 2015 was "Pi Day" because the date translates into 3.1415---the first five digits of the mathematical term Pi.  Pi is a numerical constant that represents the ratio of a circle'e circumference to its diameter.  The number goes on to infinity.  If you want more details ask a math teacher.

During the rally in the 8th inning, a player by the name Deibinson Romero was at bat and he hit a foul ball that bounced off a mesh fence right behind me. I looked back, saw it coming and ducked.

The ball hit me on the left shoulder and careened down into the stands below. I felt it, but was not really hurt.  The attendants were concerned about my well being, but all I wanted was the baseball.
After some inquiry we discovered who had the ball and he graciously gave it to  me.  The ball has two gray marks on it where it hit and actually broke the fence. I am just glad it did not hit me in the head or I would have ended up in the hospital.  It must have been traveling close to 100 mph when it hit that fence. Incidentally, Romero stuck out, so he was no help in the rally.

So, yes, I celebrated  Pi Day by being hit by a baseball and have the ball to  prove it.

A ONE-LEGGED MAN CAMPING IN A TENT

Bea and I headed south on Monday January 5th to beat a pending snow storm coming on Tuesday. Made it to Rocky Mount, NC the first night, St Augustine, Fl the second and Sebring, Fl on the third.  We found a room that was handicapped accessible and stayed three weeks.  We liked Sebring
My Grandfather wintered here in the 1940’s.

At the end of January Bea had to go to California for our grandson Porter’s Grandparents Day at his school.  The site would have been hard for me to navigate, so I stayed in Florida.

What to do?  What else but set up an experiment to see if a one-legged almost 75 year old man could survive camping in a tent for 7 days.

My choice for this experiment was  Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park.  Its 54,000 acres contain dry prairie. wet prairie, marshes, sloughs, Cabbage Palm and Oak Hammocks.  This preserve protects the largest dry prairie still left in Florida.  it is the home of several endangered/threatened animal species including the Grasshopper Sparrow and the Crested Caracara. It is in a remote part of central Florida and is a favorite for those who enjoy astronomy because there are no city lights.   it was a full moon when I was there and the evening sky was spectacular. I fell in love with the place.

I had reserved a camping site for only one night.  The following day I was able to move to another site where i stayed for 6 days. My neighbors were very friendly and were willing to help me when I needed assistance.  The  weather was great---clear and sunny during the day and cold at night.  It got down to the high 30’s and low 40’s at night and windy with highs in the 60’s during the day.

Sunrise at Kissimmee Prairie

Sunrise from my campsite.  The crows showed up at 7 am each morning and made sure I was awake.
The land is flat and much of it is free of trees and shrubs—just prairie plants including native grasses, Sawtooth Palmetto and a variety of wildflowers, so you can see long distances




Since I could not walk, I drove the roads during the day and at night.   I got to see some really exciting things happen just by being in the right place at the right time. The first night I was at the preserve I saw a small whitish bird fly up from the side of the road.  it turns out that is was a Burrowing Owl.  This small owl feeds on insects and is attracted to the roads because in cold weather the insects congregate along the warmer road surface at night.   On another occasion as I was looking for song birds, a Red-shouldered Hawk carrying a snake landed on a branch of a tree just in front of me.

A short time  after I took this photo, a second hawk flew in and clobbered this guy knocking him off the branch.  The last I saw was the one with the snake flying over my head, and  the second one in hot pursuit about  20 feet behind.  WOW. The snake looked like a Black Racer.  This was the second time I had seen a Red-shouldered Hawk with a snake.

I saw a good variety of birdlife during my stay, but the star was the Crested Caracara.  Although this  bird is more common in Central America, it is found in the prairie areas of  central Florida.  I had seen different individuals sitting  but the most spectacular was when it was gliding and soaring above me with the sun glistening off its beautiful wings and underbelly.  AWESOME.  It is a relative of falcons.

I  did  a little hiking with my walker.  A short trail near the campground went through a hardwood hammock, so I “drove" my walker about 1/4 mile trough this really impressive  woodlot. As I traveled I saw 8 turkeys and heard and then saw a Barred Owl.  I made several calls and it looked at me with distain as if telling me "you are not really an owl”. He/she was about 50 feet away—a really cool sight.

On another occasion I found a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron rookery.  I watched a male heron display by repeatedly lifting the yellow feather on his  head up and down.  I had never observed anything like that before.  According to the staff at the park this site was one of the rookeries patrolled by rangers working for the Audubon Society in the early 1900's.

Camping in  a tent while having only one leg is not an easy experience, but I was able to adapt and use the tools at my disposal.  I had to constantly be aware of where the crows were---at any opportunity they would swoop down and grab any visible food item and things left on the table had to be covered all the time.  One time I left an orange on the table.  i came back a short time later and they had rolled it  off the table and carried it about 25 feet away.  A family of five was busy  feasting on my orange. On two different evenings I cooked my supper over an open fire---I had not done that for a very long time.

I had no trouble sleeping.  However two different nights I was awakened by the "singing" of coyotes. Their calls are not really howls or barks, they are quite musical, so I prefer to call it "singing". A bit eerie, but interesting.  I often heard the Barred Owl at night as well.  One night I woke up and above me I could see the Big Dipper clearly visible in the sky.  In the wee  hours of the morning I would hear the Crows (you could set your clock by their visit---right at 7 am).  Off in the distance I could hear the bugling of Sandhill Cranes and the shrill call of the Red-shouldered Hawk.

I had a very tame Palm Warbler often sitting  with me when I ate a meal.  It seemed interested in small crumbs of food.

This place does nor have big water areas but does attract a good variety of wildlife.  The area has White-tailed Deer, River Otters, Alligators and most of the common wading birds. In January a Florida Panther was released into the preserve.  It was  injured and had been rehabilitated.

Just like Middle Creek in PA, the staff do controlled burning.  At the time I was leaving on February 4th they were burning a 2800 acre section of the prairie.  Burning at the beginning of the growing season seems to have the most positive effect.

I had a great experience at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve.  I met some very nice people and would love to go back sometime.

NOTE:  TO SEE MORE PHOTOS OF MY TRIP, CLICK ON THE SLIDE SHOW ON MY BLOG.








Dick's Blog---Native Plant Action Network

MIDDLE CREEK---PLANTING A MEADOW AND A MEMORABLE TOUR

On Saturday May 3, 2014 our volunteer crew planted a meadow at Middle Creek. It was a beautiful day and the work went quickly.  On the Friday before Dave White, Jim Metzler and Ken Barshinger put a grid on the site, so planting would go on with a minimum of delay.  It only took about one and a half hours to plant the one acre meadow.

i would like to thank Fred Habagger, Sharon Hughes, Jennifer Hanf, Jen Slater, Dave White, Ernie Peffley, Jodi Good and Chris Brown for all their help in making this event a success.

The maintenance crew from Middle Creek went over the site on Monday with a culti-packer to give good seed to soil contact.  Now we wait to see what develops.  The recent rains we have had should give the plants a good start.  The first plants will be up in July and by the end of August some of them may be blooming.

After we finished planting and cleaning up my daughter Christine and I decided to tour around Middle Creek and see what was happening.  It was a really neat experience.  I observed things that were unexpected and I have never seen before.

The Bluebird boxes located closest to the meadow site are a side-by-side pair at one foot distance between them.  Although the boxes are newer, this is the same configuration we put in place in 1998 when i was supervising the BB trail. The result that year was that Bluebirds used one box and Tree Swallows used the other one.  This was the first time we actually confirmed that Bluebirds and Tree Swallows could successfully nest as close as one foot apart.  This year the exact same scenario is playing out with the same  two species sharing this site.  As we were watching them the Bluebirds and Tree Swallows seemed to be taking turns sitting on the post holding the boxes.  We will have to check with the monitor of these boxes to see if history repeats itself.

Our first stop on our "tour" was to look at the meadows SW of the Visitor Center that had been recently burned.  As I scanned the area, my daughter said she saw something black moving along the edge of the meadow nearest the woods.  It turned out to be a BLACK Gray Squirrel.  It was hopping along the grass path  and in and out of the burned area as if looking for some food. Soon a couple of hikers passed and it scurried into the woods.  I had seen white squirrels in Washington DC many years ago, but as far as I can remember this was a first time I have ever observed a black one.  That was neat to see.

As we slowly followed the tour road we saw Canada Geese sitting on eggs in artificial nests, some Mallards and lots of song birds including Bobolinks, Red-winged Blackbirds, Kingbirds, Bluebirds  and Tree Swallows.  We drove to the end of the road in the NE section of the property and were rewarded with a beautiful sight.  As we were turning, we spotted some movement in a small tree along the edge of the road. On closer inspection it turned out to be a Yellow Warbler.  This bird defines the color YELLOW---it literally glows.  This beauty is all yellow except for a series of red steaks on its breast and for the next 10 minutes or so we watched as it flitted through the newly unfolding  leaves of this plant that was no more than 20 feet from our car.  I have seen this bird  before, but never this close or with such vibrant color.  Wow!

As we continued on our journey we were serenaded by male Red-Winged Blackbirds vying for the best territories to attract  the females that will arrive soon.  At the pull-off at the right angle turn near Stop #4 we stopped to bird watch.  After sitting for awhile with not much action, a lone hen Turkey emerged from the nearby meadow, scooped up a loose acorn and casually walked over the road not 30 feet from us.  When she reached the edge of a small pond, she  immediately took off and flew to the opposite bank about 75 feet away.  The landing site was a narrow dike about 3 feet wide, so as she made her approach she had to stop quickly.  To do so she had to open her tail completely and it looked like one of the most beautiful FANS i have ever seen. The white, tan and brown colors of her tail feathers were absolutely beautiful.  I have often seen turkeys fly, but i have never seen anything like this before.

With that memorable experience, our Middle Creek adventure was over for now and we headed home. If you do not have these kind of experiences you need to get out more---there is a big wonderful world out there just waiting for you.  

MEADOWS 2013---OBSERVATIONS

I have been planting native grass and wildflower meadows for the past 12 years.  For health reasons, I can no longer do so.

iI would like to assist others with the same endeavor, if I can.

For the past two years I have been supervising meadow planting from my wheelchair---it has slowed me down, but did not stop me.

During the Summer and Fall of 2013, I visited various meadow sites to see how they were doing.

I was very pleased with how the meadows had  progressed.

 Landis Woods Meadow, Lancaster, PA, planted in 2012

Brown Meadow, Huntingdon Co., PA, planted 2007

Middle Creek Meadow, N. Lancaster Co, planted in 2009

SOME OBSERVATIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED---

 Humans like immediate gratification!!

Plant a lot of Black-Eyed Susan, Wild Bergamot, Brown-Eyed Susan  and Tickseed Sunflower seed to start. Black-Eyed Susan and Tickseed Sunflowers will bloom the first summer. and continue into the second season. Wild Bergamot, Wild Senna,White Beardtongue, and Brown-Eyed Susan will grow the first year and bloom the second giving you a colorful meadow two years in a row.  

If the conditions are right, you can get an amazing number of the grasses and  flowers to bloom the first and second years, with many continuing indefinitely.

Black-Eyed Susans and Brown-Eyed Susans bloom vigorously for 2 to 3 years and then usually fade to a few here and there in the meadow.

Tall plants  including Joe-Pye-Weed, Wingstem, Green-Headed Coneflower and Tall Sunflower are great wildflowers, but you must be mindful that they can get 8 to 10 feet  tall and they can dominate a site.

Little Bluestem, Purple Top and Broom Sedge are great grasses  for short meadows.

Big Bluestem and Indian Grass are great grasses for tall meadows, but Switch Grass should be avoided.

Planting a variety of native wildflowers and grasses gives you food sources for insects, birds, amphibians and mammals for the entire season, so as one flower fades, others take its place.  The mixes I have been using assure some blooms from June through November and the first Frost. 

The first plants to bloom in the summer are the White Beardtongue and Golden Alexanders in May/june.

Soon Black-Eyed Susan, Ox-Eye Sunflower, Wild Bergamot, Buttterflyweed and other  Milkweeds  show and can dominate.

In August the NY and Upland Ironweeds, Mist Flower, Brown-Eyed Susan, Green-Headed Coneflower, Joe-Pye-Weed, Wingstem, Great Blue Lobelia and various sunflowers take over.

Fall brings Asters, thoroughworts and the native Grasses with Big Bluestem blooming first, followed by Purple Top and Indian Grass.  Little Bluestem and Broom Sedge bloom later in the Fall.

Using Roundup on a site within 3 weeks after a SPRING  planting yields the best results, because none of the plants I use appear until 6 to 8 weeks. It sets the problem weeds back and then the site can be controlled  with mowing.

I strongly believe maintaining the meadow with an annual mowing on or about April first is the best approach to provide the highest quality wildlife habitat, control woody plants and provide the most visually appealing landscape.

Canada Thistle and Crown Vetch are the worst problem plants in most of the meadows I have worked on.

SEX IN THE RAW

Today I watched sex in the raw.  As I was watching birds in my backyard, I observed a pair of Mourning Doves sitting on a hemlock branch next  to each other.  it seemed on first blush that there was a purpose for their closeness, so I stayed on them with my binoculars and I was rewarded with  a once on a lifetime experience.  It quickly became obvious that these two had something special on their minds.  Both birds started by severely ruffling their feathers to the point that they looked out of sorts and unkempt. They followed this by hurriedly preening and cleaning themselves as if in anticipation of something happening.  Interestingly they actually appeared to be preening and cleaning in a synchronized  series of moves as if copying each.  Both birds sat on the branch facing in the same direction at about 10 inches apart.  After they finished, the male started moving toward his partner, by taking very small steps until he was right next to her.  She looked at him and he immediately touched his bill to hers and he appeared to transfer some item of food.  After a few seconds of bill touching, the male flew up,  mounted the female  and with a brief flurry of wings it was all over.

Afterward the female looked quite content but was probably thinking "Oh god now I have to build a nest".  The male looked spent, and his head drooped a bit as he tried to compose himself.

Wow, I said to myself this is really interesting ( I was beginning to feel like a voyeur) when a pair of gray squirrels came bounding up the tree and disrupted the scene.  Apparently they too were responding to the warmth of  Spring.

You just never know what may be happening right in you own backyard.