By Rachel Katz
Spring burst onto the scene with an explosion of woodland wildflowers. They have
to flower quickly before they get shaded out when the trees leaf out. In fact,
mayapples, a large-leafed foot-high plant, pop out of the ground with their
leaves and flowers intact and ready to pollinate. Our woods are not very rich, as
they were logged in relatively recent history. So I was happy each time I found
another species of wildflower in bloom. We enjoyed the spring beauty, the violets
and wild blue phlox. I'd been to other more diverse woods and seen the array of
flowers there. I was walking in the woods one day with Tony discussing the flower
Trout Lily: a plant with two small brown-spotted leaves (they look sort of
diseased) that also has a stalk with a pretty yellow flower. I had just said,
"I'd be surprised if we found any Trout Lily on our land," when I looked down and
saw I was standing in a patch.
We often see Great Blue Herons around the water on our land. We usually catch
sight of them as they are taking off and get to watch their graceful slow-motion
swim across the sky. But we never see them nesting, because they nest in
colonies, called rookeries. We discovered there is such a colony in a nearby
conservation area. We pulled together a brave rookery finding team: Erin, Tamar,
Tony and I from Dancing Rabbit, neighbor Judy Sharp, and local ornithology
professor Pete Goldman. We had heard a rumor of its general location, but didn't
know exactly where we were going. We trudged off into the muddy brushy woods
along the river looking for the telltale signs of a rookery. They like to nest
high in trees, especially Sycamores, in or near water. We finally heard some
unusual noises, which turned out to be the calls of the herons and their
nestlings. We crept up to enjoy the show carefully, because the herons are easily
spooked. Some other day I'll tell you about our adventure finding our way back!
Snakes, snakes everywhere. We've been seeing a variety of snakes, large and
small, around the farm. The vast majority of the snakes found here aren't
poisonous, so we can enjoy them without mixed feelings. Whenever I'm working on a
job outside, there are frequent "nature moments" when an interesting example of
our flora or fauna appears. I was helping Skyhouse with their big clean up day by
helping move piles of wood. Snakes really like piles of wood because they can
usually find lots of prey there. We found about a dozen garter snakes and two
large prairie kingsnakes. The work team temporarily transformed into a snake
protection team, carefully lifting the boards so the snakes could escape
unharmed.
This winter we found two owl pellets, which are the coughed up indigestible
remains of prey. We carefully dissected them to find several complete rodent
skeletons, but we weren't sure what kind of rodents. I visited the Science
Department of Truman State University and met with a mammalogist who was kind
enough to examine the skulls. With the help of a microscope we discovered we had
two different species of voles. We also found that not all of the bones were from
mammals. A few in the larger Great Horned Owl pellet were from birds (that
cannibal!)
Voles are cute fat little rodents that are slow and nonaggressive. They are also
everyone's prey. We've been watching a pair of kestrels do their mating rituals
from behind the two cabins on the outer edge of where we currently have
buildings. For months, the male hunts for both his mate and himself. He brings
the prey to a special tree and calls her with a special call. Then he hands the
prey over and watches as she eats it. More often than not, his gift is a dead
vole. He will continue to feed her while she is on the nest raising their young.
We have lots of ticks. Lone Star ticks, Dog ticks and the occasional Deer tick
are all often found on our tents, our clothes and ourselves. We've been wondering
what we can do to decrease the local tick population to make it more fun to enjoy
our land in the summer. Talking to an entomologist from Truman State University,
I learned that the tick population is strongly tied to the vole population. Most
newborn ticks get their first blood meal from the poor voles. The voles are prey
yet again. Based on my experience, it seems we ought to build kestrel nest boxes
and encouraging more owls to call our land home. Maybe we should even pile some
more wood around.
I love hummingbirds. I fill a feeder for them every five days. I built
windowboxes with flowers that hummingbirds like. They have rewarded me with their
presence in my garden. The species we have here is the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird.
The male visited my feeder first, with his bright red throat. He obviously
enjoyed all the work I'd done for him, as he'd perch on the fence around my
garden and survey his domain. Soon after, a female began to come. When either
would visit, sometimes about every ten minutes, I would sit just inside the
window looking out at their long slender beaks, their bright colors, and their
miraculous wings, moving so fast they can barely be seen. I learned that they
each weigh one-tenth of an ounce and can travel sixty miles an hour. They ought
to be able to travel fast because they migrate all the way from Central America,
including a 500 mile flight over the Gulf of Mexico. I am continually surprised
at the beautiful gifts our land holds for us, whether it's the magic of a baby
bird learning to fly or the amazing diversity of insects to be observed. Please
keep exploring it with me: look for my column in the next March Hare.
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