Nature News from Daily News-Record – Page 5

This Valentine’s Day, Show Your Love To Mother Nature

©Marlene Condon

February 1, 2020

A male Green frog (Rana clamitans) rests on a lily pad in the author’s small, front-yard pond.
Courtesy of Marlene A. Condon

Most people think of Valentine’s Day as a time only for expressing romantic love, but I’ve always thought it was a nice time of year to also show my love for family and friends, especially those far away. Sending a card or email lets folks know you are thinking of them, and who doesn’t appreciate such a caring gesture?

This Valentine’s Day, why not show your love to the natural world, too, by planning a nature-friendly garden? A good place to start is by minimizing the area of your lawn as it doesn’t provide much food, shelter or nesting sites for wildlife.

In its place, consider growing a variety of plants of differing heights and types, such as herbaceous flowers and grasses, vines, shrubs, and trees. Add a bird bath, small artificially created pond, or pan of water and you’ll have created a wildlife sanctuary!

To find out which species of plants to grow, visit your local library. When I wrote my book on this subject in 2006, I was considered a maverick. But since then, people have come to understand the value of nature-friendly gardening and numerous books have been published on gardening with wildlife in mind. There’s plenty of information out there to guide you.

Keep in mind that flowers should provide nectar, a necessary food source for numerous kinds of creatures, from bees and butterflies to hummingbirds. It’s best to avoid cultivars as they don’t always provide this liquid nutrition.

When garden centers put out their blooming plants in spring, walk up and down the rows to look for animal activity among them. Insects provide an important clue to how valuable a plant is because they won’t waste time visiting flowers that don’t provide something for them to eat. And once you’ve gotten your plants home and have put them into the ground, the insects themselves will be a valuable food source for spiders, lizards and birds.

You should also provide woody plants of different kinds that make fruits for bird and mammal consumption. It’s best if you can provide fruits throughout the year. Shadbush (Amelanchier spp.) is a wonderful native tree for late-spring fruits; some viburnums make fruits that mature in summer; flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) provide fall fruits; and American holly (Ilex opaca) fruits are available in winter when other kinds of fruits are long gone.

Evergreen shrubs and trees, such as Virginia cedar (Juniperus virginiana), are perfect for birds to nest in from spring to fall, and for them to find shelter from weather and predators in winter. Brush piles made from your woody trimmings can also give birds a place to hide from predators, and a place to sleep on cold winter nights.

When deciding which plants to grow, you will need to know how much direct sunlight a plant requires to remain healthy as well as whether its roots prefer dry, damp, or wet soil. The plants you choose to grow must be those for which you can provide the proper environment.

Peanut Butter — It’s Not Just For People

©Marlene Condon

January 3, 2020

A white-breasted nuthatch gets peanut butter while a female downy woodpecker pecks at suet on this “homemade” snag in the author’s front yard.
Marlene A. Condon / Special to the DN-R

Happy New Year! You can give birds a happy start to 2020 if you provide peanut butter (PB) as part of your daily offerings.

Many people put out peanuts, but I find that PB takes up less space in the cupboard, and it does not spoil as quickly. This fatty food is attractive to many kinds of birds: Tufted Titmice, Carolina Wrens, Northern Cardinals, Dark-eyed Juncos, Brown Creepers, White-breasted Nuthatches, Blue Jays, chickadees, and sparrows. And there is nothing better for bringing in woodpeckers.

For birds that can cling to a vertical surface, you can simply smear the peanut butter on tree trunks or pine cones. But for birds that can’t cling very easily (for example, cardinals, sparrows, and juncos), you should place the PB on a flat surface, such as a tray or the top of a stump.

Pure peanut butter can be served, but a fattier version will provide more calories which birds especially need in winter. I melt one part shortening (but you can use lard instead) and then stir in an equal volume of PB (chunky or smooth) until it is well mixed.

To stiffen up the mixture to make it easier to handle, I add about three parts (also by volume) cornmeal. Flour could be used, but the resulting mixture can be difficult to spread. You can adjust the amount, however, to alter the consistency. Cornmeal might be more flavorful, although I can’t say that I’ve noticed any preference indicated by the birds.

Other animals, such as squirrels and raccoons, enjoy peanut butter too. To keep mammals from eating all of the PB, I place it in a modified suet basket which can be hung on a baffled pole out of their reach. A shelf is attached to the basket so that non-clinging birds still have access to the PB.

A suet basket is simply a wire cage into which you can place raw fat pieces (suet) obtained from the meat department of a grocery store, or commercially prepared rendered fat (melted fat hardened into block form). You can usually purchase suet baskets in local hardware and department stores and pet or bird-supply outlets.

I have also drilled holes into snags (standing dead trees) and filled them with peanut butter. These PB trees are magnets for Red-bellied, Downy, Hairy, and even Pileated Woodpeckers—and Gray Squirrels that rapidly deplete this PB supply! To remedy this situation, I placed one-quarter-inch hardware cloth over the holes (hardware cloth is sold at most hardware stores). The birds can still eat the PB through the screen, but the squirrels can’t (see photo).

If you do not have any natural snags into which to drill holes, you might do as I did. A neighbor gave me some locust logs — two that were 6 feet long and one that was 12 feet long — which I “planted” in a vertical position in my front yard where I could easily observe them. They became very popular dining spots for a variety of birds.

Marlene A. Condon is the author/photographer of The Nature-friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People (Stackpole Books; information at www.marlenecondon.com). You can reach her at marlenecondon@aol.com

Virginia is for Lovers of American Mistletoe

©Marlene Condon

December 6, 2019

Winter is a good time to spot parasitic American Mistletoe plants growing high in trees that have lost their leaves.
Marlene A. Condon / Special to the DN-R

While on a birding trip many years ago, I pointed out mistletoe growing high in a tree. One woman in the group was skeptical that this plant grew in Virginia, but it does and it’s easily seen after the trees have shed their leaves.

I first discovered American Mistletoe one December day while I was jogging. I noticed a “ball”, about one foot in diameter, of fleshy-looking green leaves hanging from a large branch of a Red Oak. Perhaps because I had always followed the tradition of hanging a sprig of fake mistletoe in my house at Christmastime in order to be kissed underneath it, I immediately recognized the plant. As an incurable romantic, I was delighted to find the real thing practically in my own backyard!

There are many species of mistletoe that are native to the United States, but only American Mistletoe (Phoradendron serotinum), the common mistletoe that is hung during the Christmas holidays, grows in Virginia.

Many people know that white mistletoe berries are poisonous to humans and pets and thus should not be hung in houses with small children and/or a dog or cat. However, many species of birds, such as Cedar Waxwings and Eastern Bluebirds, relish these small berries and help to spread mistletoe seeds.

Mistletoe berries each contain one seed covered by a very sticky substance. Birds eating these berries end up with this sticky “goo” on their beaks. They wipe their beaks on branches where a seed may be deposited and a new plant can grow. Birds may also spread the seeds through their droppings.

American Mistletoe usually grows near the tops of deciduous trees (those that lose their leaves in autumn) because it needs sunshine. The tiny yellow blooms appear in September and October, but these are difficult to observe. However, by December the ¼-inch fruits have developed and can be seen with the aid of binoculars or a spotting scope.

Mistletoe employs specialized roots to absorb nutrients from the sap of woody plants and is thus considered parasitic. However, its green color tells you that it contains chlorophyll to make some of its own food (chlorophyll is a green pigment capable of forming carbohydrates with the aid of light).

Look for information about American Mistletoe in books about shrubs. Although the stems are green like the leaves, they contain the complex tissue–known as the “woody element” of a plant stem–which conducts water and dissolved minerals. It is the only shrub in the colder parts of North America that is parasitic on broad-leaved trees (trees that have wide leaves instead of the needles of cone-bearing trees).

Although you may not want to have genuine American Mistletoe with its poisonous fruits inside your house this Christmas, you can take advantage of its location if you find some. You can carry the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe one step further by using the real thing, high up in a tree, as an excuse to get a kiss in the great outdoors!

November is a Good Time to Give Thanks

©Marlene A. Condon

November 2, 2019

A pretty (yes, it really is!) orange-colored slug feeds upon a discarded apple core, recycling it back into the environment for the benefit of plants. Marlene A. Condon

Thanksgiving is a good time to recognize the efforts of wildlife on our behalf. These organisms perform their good works mostly out of sight of humans, which means people tend to overlook how valuable wildlife is to their own existence upon the Earth. Let’s look at how some of these critters make our world habitable for us.

All life on the Earth is dependent ultimately upon plants. Plants capture the Sun’s rays and transform this energy into a form usable by humans and other animals. But for plants to function well, they must obtain nutrients, air, and water from within the soil. Thanks to ants, earthworms, moles, and various other kinds of animals that move around within the soil, tunnels (pathways) are created that allow air and water to move in between soil particles where roots can access these vital substances.

Nutrients are provided by decomposition of dead plant and animal matter by microorganisms as well as recyclers, such as slugs and snails. Plants also get “natural fertilizer” from animal droppings that are broken down into a usable form for them by dung beetles and the larvae of some kinds of beetles and flies.

Gardening tip: To save time and effort, place dead plant material around your plants instead of putting it into a compost pile. Doing so provides food for slugs and snails, which means they won’t be starving and needing to eat your plants! You’ll be surprised by how quickly this organic matter disappears.

When woody plants die (trees, shrubs, and some kinds of large vines), they, too, must be cycled back into the environment. Woodpeckers help to start the process by making holes in the wood, either while looking for insects that reproduce inside it or by hollowing out cavities in which they can nest. These openings allow fungal spores to enter and grow upon the wood, breaking it down in the process.

Other organisms also help to recycle wood, the best known of which is the termite. Very few organisms can break down wood due to the cellulose that comprises the bulk of its cell walls. This material is so tough that it’s why trees can grow so tall and remain standing. But even the termite cannot digest wood on its own. Its gut contains a diverse population of microorganisms that break down cellulose to provide nutrition to the termite.

Home maintenance tip: Termites feed upon dead wood. Therefore, it’s important to maintain any wood inside and outside your home in good shape. Keep siding painted or stained, and watch for water leaks that start the decay process that invites termites to recycle the wood. They don’t see your home as different from a dead tree.

Dead and decaying animals also must be recycled. Vultures are an especially indispensible part of this process as they feed in a group that quickly removes most of a carcass. Fly larvae (maggots) and carrion beetles help recycle leftovers.

So, this Thanksgiving, please remember to give thanks for our wildlife!

Witch Hats at Halloween

©Marlene A. Condon

October 5, 2019

Little dark-brown witches’ hats like this one can be found on the leaves of the native Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) shrub—just in time for Halloween. Courtesy of Marlene A. Condon

Perhaps nothing is associated more with Halloween than witches who are always pictured as wearing conical black hats. In Virginia this month, you can see what appears to be small (about 3/8-inches tall), blackish witches’ hats on the aging leaves of a common native shrub called (can you believe it?) Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana).

Each “hat” is the result of a miniscule wingless female Witch Hazel Leaf Gall aphid (Hormaphis hamamelidis) that hatched in spring from an egg left upon a branch the previous year. The purplish black, pear-shaped aphid made her way to a leaf bud to feed upon the plant’s sugary juices.

As she fed, she injected chemicals that induced the growing leaf to multiply its cells around her, forming a hollow cone-shaped gall that provided the aphid with a shelter against predators and the weather. Here she fed and produced a new generation of aphids asexually, which means each of her offspring was a clone of its mother.

The witch-hat galls first appear in springtime, colored a bright red that over time turns yellowish green. By fall, the galls are dark brown or black and you can see them by looking closely at the leaves of the Witch Hazel. This plant can often be found growing along rivers and streams, but it is also quite common at higher elevations, such as in Shenandoah National Park and around Mountain Lake, in southwestern Virginia.

Witch Hazel is a garden plant of interest to gardeners because it starts blooming so late in the year, thus adding interest to the landscape after the usual growing season. Come mid-fall, light-yellow strap-like blooms appear, often while the shrub still has its yellowing leaves which tend to hide them. However, once the leaves drop, the blossoms become much more conspicuous.

Some folks might choose to grow Witch Hazel for the medicinal properties of its bark, twigs or leaves. I chose to plant several of these shrubs many years ago specifically to get to see the little witch hats on the leaves. It’s a bit of fantasy brought to life.

Aphids are at the bottom of the food chain, serving as a vital food source for numerous kinds of critters, such as hummingbirds, ladybugs and immature mantids that are so small themselves that they can only catch and eat insects tinier than they are. Witch Hazel Leaf Gall aphids are more vulnerable to predation on their alternate host, the birch tree, where they do not make a gall.

I was thrilled to discover that this shrub easily supports numerous other kinds of insects, such as a very slim caterpillar that pulls a leaf edge over itself that is as neatly folded as a napkin. And just this year, I discovered the Gray Squirrel feeds voraciously upon Witch Hazel seeds.

In the wild, Witch Hazel tends to be an under story plant, growing beneath the canopy of tall trees. But at home, you can grow it in a location that gets full sun to part shade.

The American ‘Canary’

©Marlene A. Condon

September 7, 2019

The American Goldfinches you see in late fall and early winter have greenish feathers, rather than the bright-yellow plumage of spring and summer that gives rise to the name, American (or Wild) Canary. Courtesy of Marlene A. Condon

The very first time I heard juvenile American Goldfinches, I didn’t recognize the sounds they were making. Employing binoculars, I located them in a tree, where they were begging their parents to be fed.

You can begin to hear their distinctive “crying” sound about the same time that Common Nighthawks are beginning to migrate south through our area, which is around the middle of August. However, it’s not unusual to first hear the young goldfinches as late as the middle of September.

Why would one bird species have young barely out of the nest at a time when other species are already leaving the area to escape the cold weather that’s coming? The answer is diet. Relying almost entirely upon fresh seeds to feed its young, these bright-yellow birds must wait until a numerous supply exists before reproducing, and that occurs in mid- to late summer.

Another reason for the delayed breeding time is the availability of thistle down (the fluffy filaments that help the seeds to be dispersed by the wind) that these little birds use to line their nests. Some species of thistles (Cirsium spp.) begin to bloom in June and have begun to go to seed by mid- to late July, allowing goldfinches to build their nests and to feed their chicks when they hatch.

Therefore, I love to see thistles growing on my property. People worry that these bristly plants can easily get out of hand and take over, but that is not true in a nature-friendly yard. Because goldfinches eat most of the seeds, very few are available to germinate the next year. I don’t have thistles every year, although I wish I did. The nectar-rich blooms bring in many kinds of butterflies, bees, and other kinds of insects.

Our native thistles are biennial plants that live only two years. The first year an attractive spiral of thorny leaves (a rosette) comes up. The following spring a flower stalk emerges from its center, the plant blooms and disperses its seeds, and then the thistle dies. It’s crucial that these thistles be available if goldfinches are to perpetuate their species.

The thistle most likely to be problematic for humans is the non-native Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense). It’s perennial and spreads by underground stems (rhizomes) as well as by seed. Thus, it can be more difficult to completely eradicate from an area.

You can identify this plant easily by checking underneath the leaves and along the stalk for white hairs. Canada Thistle is “bare of hair” — my mnemonic poetic device for remembering how to recognize this non-native thistle. If you find a white “felt” of hairs, the plant is probably a biennial native that you should welcome to your yard.

During summer the pinkish-purple flowers of our native thistles will be covered with numerous butterflies and by fall the seed heads will bring in chirping, colorful, wild “canaries”. Now don’t you agree that a thistle or two in the garden is a great addition to the yard? I hope you do!

Marlene A. Condon is the author/photographer of “The Nature-friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People.” You can reach her at marlenecondon@aol.com and find info on marlenecondon.com.

August Heralds Coming of Cold Weather

©Marlene A. Condon

August 3, 2019

Yellow Crownbeard (Verbesina occidentalis) is a native “weed” that appeared in the author’s garden one year. It has been welcomed ever since because it feeds late-season Monarch butterflies. Courtesy Of Marlene A. Condon

You may think of August as another hot summer month, but for many kinds of critters, it heralds the coming of cold weather and the need to leave for warmer climes. Male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds usually disappear from feeders by the end of this month, and Monarch butterflies start to be seen more often in Virginia as they arrive from farther north.

These two species depend upon flowers for nectar and insects, which is why they are compelled to leave us. Very few plants bloom in winter and insects are, for the most part, not active.

Resident male hummingbirds leave first, followed within a week or so by adult females. Young birds of the year leave last. Most Ruby-throats spend the winter in southern Mexico and Central America, but with this season becoming somewhat warmer on average in recent decades, some hummingbirds are overwintering in states along the Gulf coast.

If you’ve been providing sugar water this summer, it’s a good idea to keep your feeder up throughout the fall. As flowering plants die or go dormant, there is less nectar available for hummingbirds still traveling south from more-northern states. They are sometimes seen as late as October in Virginia. Keeping your feeder out (filled with less sugar water since it won’t get many visitors) is a nice way to make the journey a bit easier for these tiny birds.

Some folks worry that a feeder will keep hummers from leaving, but that’s not the case. Animals that migrate do so when they are physically ready to undertake their long journey southward to escape cold and a dearth of food.

People have started to include milkweeds in their gardens to assist Monarch caterpillars. These plants are especially important throughout the fall months because Monarchs arriving from farther north are mating and laying eggs here. These adults will die, and their offspring will continue the southward journey towards Mexico where eastern U.S. Monarch butterflies overwinter.

If you wish to help Monarchs to reproduce well, the best plant to grow is Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). This native plant grows to about four feet, on average, providing plenty of big leaves for caterpillars to munch on. Additionally, because the plant spreads by underground stems (called rhizomes), it often sends up new shoots late in the season, just in time for migrating Monarchs to lay their eggs where their caterpillars will have fresh green growth to eat.

Another way to assist Monarchs is to grow late-blooming plants that can furnish nectar for adults. Goldenrods (Solidago spp.) and the Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) are perfect, and you may not need to purchase plants if you can leave a bit of bare ground where “weeds” can start to grow. Many of the plants people consider unwanted are not only exceedingly useful to wildlife, but also delightful for people to have in the garden. Goldenrods and dandelions create a sunny, warm glow when their golden and bright yellow blooms, respectively, appear as days are getting shorter and chillier.

Annual Cicadas a Sure Sign of Summer

July 6, 2019

The other-worldly look of the common annual cicada often causes people to overlook the beauty of its unusual coloring. Courtesy of Marlene Condon

When cicadas start “singing” (usually around the middle of June in Virginia, depending upon the weather), you know summer has arrived. These strange-looking insects are heard more often than seen, but if you keep your eyes open, you may be able to spot one or a cast-off skin. They can be found almost anywhere, on both herbaceous plants and woody stems, and even upon manmade structures.

The common cicada in Virginia has a stout, black-and-green body, with clear wings. It’s a big insect, from one-to-two inches in length, with prominent eyes on a wide, blunt head sporting short, bristly antennae.

Males sing to attract mates, but they do not have vocal cords. They create the high-pitched whine that we hear on summer days by vibrating a pair of membranes near the base of the body. The membranes are attached to powerful muscles, which the cicada employs to very rapidly jerk the membranes, causing them to snap in and out.

A male cicada’s job is to provide sperm to as many female cicadas as possible before he dies. After he transfers his sperm to a female, she will use a sharp, spear-like egg-laying tube known as an ovipositor to make slits in numerous twigs. She pushes eggs through the tube into each slit as she makes it, laying perhaps 500 eggs by the time she dies.

The slits are obvious, if you want to look for them on the ends of the live branches of small trees. They are surrounded by fibers along the edges and are not very long. The twigs eventually die and turn brown because the nutrient flow has been severed.

You don’t need to worry about long-term harm to trees. They do not mind a bit of pruning. You can break or knock off the dead twigs, if you don’t like the way they look. However, patience will save you time and energy. The wind will eventually remove the dead twigs, if birds haven’t already done so.

In nature, the actions of one kind of organism are helpful to other kinds of critters. Consider any tree with dead twigs as a “home improvement store” for the numerous kinds of songbirds that need such twigs to build their nests in trees or shrubs. Instead of disliking the cicadas, think instead of how you are assisting birds to reproduce, and you can feel good about those dead twigs.

After the cicada eggs hatch, the immature cicadas — known as nymphs — soon drop off the twigs and search for a crack in the earth. When they find one, they start digging down and disappear to feed upon sap from the roots of trees. Adults also feed upon tree sap above ground.

Nymphs won’t see the light of day again until they emerge as adults in two to five years, despite being called “annual” insects. The reason some cicadas emerge every year is because there are different broods, which don’t all reach maturity at the same time.

Enjoy the summer chorus.

Hello from my Nature-Friendly Garden

June 1, 2019

Wasps, such as this mason wasp feeding at mint flowers in the author’s garden, are valuable pollinators. In return for helping plants to reproduce and thus perpetuate their species, the wasp is rewarded with food. Courtesy of Marlene Condon

Welcome to Nature News, a source for learning about the natural world and how to create wildlife habitat around homes, businesses, schools, libraries and churches— anywhere open land exists that is not used much, if at all, by people. Even if you live in an apartment, you can help our wildlife if you have a sunny balcony where you can grow potted flowers.

A United Nations report published on May 6 tells us “about one-third of all species right now in the U.S. are at heightened risk of potential extinction in the next couple of decades.” All of us can help to prevent this situation from happening.

Many of these animals come through our yards during migration (birds) and some could be living there now (frogs and salamanders), if you’ve already landscaped with wildlife in mind. If you haven’t done that yet, don’t worry as I hope to provide tips to make your yard or balcony more welcoming to the critters we should make feel at home around us.

I’ll be sharing the knowledge I’ve gained from closely observing the natural world throughout my life. I’ve been extremely interested in learning about wildlife and wildflowers for as long as I can remember, and have documented my discoveries in print and photographs. By reading this column, I hope you will gain a new understanding of how the natural world works, and I hope, come to value and love it as much as I do.

Our wildlife keeps the environment functioning properly for our benefit, which means your yard and gardens will be much more productive with its help. For example, gardeners think highly of earthworms because they burrow through the soil, which provides aeration (the creation of spaces where plant roots can grow and receive air and water from the surface). But other organisms, such as ants, also perform this job and are equally important to the health of your plants.

You may think of ants as “pests” because we don’t want them inside our homes, but there are steps you can take to prevent that from happening. Another aspect of this column will aim to explain how you can peacefully coexist with our wildlife, such as caulking cracks to deter the entry of ants and other insects and not placing mulch close to the foundation of your house and other structures.

By placing plants a few feet away from buildings instead of very close to them, as is often done, you allow them access to sunlight and rain, and you keep animals attracted to the plants farther away. This limits the opportunity for them to find a way into your residence, especially if they find mulch around the plants a good place to live.

It’s important to recognize the value of organisms to the environment and to learn to coexist with them. It may not always be easy or what you prefer, but we really have no choice if we want the Earth to be healthy and to support us.