Jack Frost Visits Kentucky

Traditionally, Jack Frost is the personification of frost and cold weather, a variant of Old Man Winter held responsible for frosty weather, for nipping the nose and toes, coloring the foliage in autumn, and leaving fernlike patterns on cold windows in winter. He is traditionally thought to leave the frosty, fernlike patterns on windows on cold winter mornings (window frost or fern frost), and nipping the extremities in cold weather (frost bite). We are used to seeing thick frost on the windows of our car when it sits outside over a clear winter night. Then we have to scrape it all off before we can see to drive to work or school in the morning. If you are running late, you may back out whether you can see clearly or not!

Have you ever wondered what causes frost? Frost forms in much the same way as dew forms. Frost usually forms when a surface cools through loss of infrared radiation to a temperature which is colder than the dewpoint of the air next to the surface, AND the temperature of that surface is below freezing (32 deg F, or 0 deg. C). The source of this moisture is water vapor contained in the air.
The heaviest coatings of frost usually do not occur at the coldest temperatures because very cold air can not hold very much water vapor. Instead, thick deposits of frost usually occur when the air temperature is close to 32 deg. F. 

Water molecules in the air are constantly bouncing off of surrounding surfaces. If a surface is cold enough, the molecules will stick to the surface rather than bouncing off. Once a layer of frozen molecules form, new molecules will tend to align themselves with those already there, forming regular crystals. If you get down close to the frost, you can see these delicate crystals rising up into the air. Don't breathe on them or they may melt!

Have you ever seen a frost flower? Looking like spun glass or cotton candy, these fragile creations, which are really not flowers at all, last only until the warm rays of the morning sun melt them away. Since their formation and disappearance cover such a short period of time, few people have seen them or even know of their existence.

Frost flowers develop when air temperatures are freezing but the ground still is warm enough for the plant’s root system to be active. Plant juices flow from these roots up into the stem, where the cold air freezes them. As the moisture in the plant freezes, the ice crystals push out through the stem. They may emerge from a small slit to form thin ribbonlike strands or they may split open a whole section of the stem and push out in a thin, curling sheet. Sometimes several ribbons of ice push out to create a flowerlike petal effect. As long as the juices flow, air temperatures remain low, and the plant is shaded from the sun, these ice crystals continue to form. But the petals of frost flowers are very delicate and will break when touched. They usually melt or sublimate when exposed to sunlight and are usually visible in the early morning or in shaded areas.

So the next time you see a white coating of frost in your yard in the morning, so outside with a magnifying glass and see all the wonderful structures built by old Jack Frost!

Naturally yours,

~denapple

Help! Fire!

On November 26, 2012, some of our neighbors were probably terrified to see flames and smoke on the big meadow near Mahan Manor. It's OK, we told all who called. We are doing a controlled burn. What? Most people hear the word "fire" and assume it is a wildfire like those in California which destroy hundreds of thousands of acres, including homes, but that isn't always so. "Wildfire" is the term applied to any unwanted, unplanned, damaging fire burning in forest, shrub or grass and is one of the most powerful natural forces known to people. While sometimes caused by lightning, nine out of ten wildfires are human-caused.

Why has the number of acres burned remained high over the last few years? Many factors are involved and include:

1. Past fire suppression policies which allowed for the accumulation of fuel in the form of fallen leaves, branches, and excessive plant overgrowth in forest and wildland areas.
2. Increasingly dry, hot weather.
3. Changing weather patterns across the US.
4. Increased residential development in the wildland/urban interface.

Natural fires are considered nature's housekeepers, by removing brush, leaves and needles that provide fuel to burn. By reintroducing fire into fire dependent ecosystems in a controlled setting, we can recreate the effects of natural fire, give balance back to fire-dependent communities, and prevent the catastrophic losses of uncontrolled, unwanted wildfire. Fire teams can use controlled burns/prescribed fires when and where doing so will safely reduce the amount of fuel for fires. Fire teams can also decide to allow lightning caused fires to continue to burn in areas that will not affect the safety of people while reducing fuels. As one of the most important natural agents of change, fire plays a vital role in maintaining certain ecosystems. Prescribed fire reintroduces the beneficial effects of fire into an ecosystem, producing the kinds of vegetation and landscapes we want, and reducing the hazard of catastrophic wildfire caused by excessive fuel buildup.

Prescribed Fire, also known as a controlled burn, refers to the controlled application of fire by a team of fire experts under specified weather conditions that help restore health to fire-adapted environments. By safely reducing excessive amounts of brush, shrubs, and trees, encouraging the new growth of native vegetation, and maintaining the many plant and animal species whose habitats depend on periodic fire, prescribed burning helps reduce the catastrophic damage of wildfire on our lands and surrounding communities. Prescribed fire is one of the most effective tools we have in preventing the outbreak and spread of wildfires. But because prescribed fire is fire, fire management experts are extremely careful in planning and executing a prescribed fire.

The burned areas will start to green up again in an amazingly short time, and by next spring you will have to look closely to find evidence of a fire at all.  Remember Smokey's ABCs: Always Be Careful with fire. Smokey wants people to be responsible when they use fire. Fire has many uses, and our maintenance staff is trained in the proper ways to use fire. It is still wrong and irresponsible to play with matches, leave fires unattended, throw lighted cigarettes away, or use equipment without proper spark arrestors.

Naturally yours,

~denapple

Call of the Wild Goose

Have you noticed V's of geese lately? Are they migrating through Kentucky on their way somewhere else? Maybe, and maybe not. Canada Geese fly in a V formation because it's both aerodynamic and energy efficient. Each bird in the line flies slightly higher than the bird in front of it, acting as a windbreaker and reducing drag. The lineup provides easy communication between the geese while keeping track of each other. They take turns leading the formation, falling back in the line when they become tired.

Canada Geese maintain nests in Canada and in the northern regions of the United States throughout the summer. Once lakes and rivers begin to freeze over and food becomes scarce, the geese congregate into flocks of 30 to 100 birds to start their migration to warmer places. The fall migration occurs in September or October. They travel the same flight corridors called flyways every fall and spring to get to their destinations in southern parts of the United States and northern Mexico. The flyways follow coastlines, rivers and mountain ranges. Canada Geese migrate 2,000 miles to 3,000 miles, and can fly 1,500 miles in 24 hours with ideal weather conditions! The geese generally travel 40 miles per hour, but they can reach 70 mph with a good wind. The geese fly at altitudes between 2,000 feet and 9,000 feet.

Though common today, at one time Canada Geese were hunted almost to extinction. The birds had vanished from the north-central United States by 1900, and droughts in the 1930s reduced their numbers elsewhere. Since then, however, the growth of federal and state refuge systems has helped build goose populations that now probably exceed those of presettlement times. The present abundance of Canada Geese in open suburban areas like parks, airports and golf courses, and their habit of defecating almost a pound of material per goose per day, has given the bird an increasingly negative image.

People may be surprised to hear that birds learn to migrate from their parents and flock—they don't hatch with this complex knowledge. So geese hatched in Kentucky never learned to fly north and instead took up local residence year-round. We've provided food and safety right here in our cities and suburbs. The geese have no reason to go elsewhere, so they settle in and raise families.

Canada Geese are found in many types of watery habitat, including lakes, rivers, marshes, bogs and sloughs. In their breeding range, a pair usually requires at least five acres of open water plus access to upland fields or open land for grazing. In winter, geese need grazing habitat for feeding and open water for drinking. Geese are vegetarians, eating a variety of plant species and parts, especially grasses, sedges, grain and berries. They often feed in flocks, and have become fond of farm-grown grains, especially corn and shoots of winter wheat. These birds are exceedingly adaptable to human-altered habitats and are common on suburban parks, lawns, golf courses and even at Cave Hill Cemetery. So don't be surprised to see them near your own neighborhoods.

Naturally yours,

~denapple

Carnivorous Plants?

The Woodland Garden at the Nature Preserve is a work in progress. We now have two bridges over the brook, if you haven't been by lately, and stones line with waterway. Just above the basin at the end of the brook is a new bog featuring some truly unusual pitcher plants. No, you don't use them to get a drink from the stream. Contradictory to what we often think, the pitcher plant does not really look like the one we have in the fridge. Rather, most of them resemble goblets of all shapes and sizes! And they EAT insects!

With its deeply folded leaves, the cup-shaped plant stores up a sweet-smelling juice which lures an unsuspecting insect into its mouth. And when it is about to sip…an unfortunate thing happens. It falls in. Unable to climb back, this fallen insect flails helplessly in the fluid until it loses energy and submits to the overpowering force of its fate. See the fine hairs along the lip of the plant? They line the entire cup, and once an insect enters, it can't climb back out again.

So what happens to the ill-fated insect? Much like animals, the pitcher plant “eats” the poor thing up. How does this seemingly harmless plant do such thing? The secret lies in the juice. This liquid is no ordinary nectar. It actually contains chemicals (similar to those found in the stomach) that could slowly munch and swallow the skin of its prey until it dissolves completely—becoming the very juice that it once tried to drink.

How did the pitcher plant become meat eating? It actually took millions of years before simple, harmless leaves became carnivorous. Yes, it is the mysterious and wonderful product of natural selection! Nature itself favored the growth of leaves with larger dents until it became what we know today. The plant “evolved” because those that adapted to eat insects survived the poor and acidic soil conditions, obtaining the necessary proteins, nitrogen and other minerals it couldn’t just absorb from the soil like other plants.

The good news is, these are small plants and will not shout out "FEED ME!" like Audrey II did in Little Shop of Horrors! You are still safe walking through the Nature preserve!

Naturally yours,

~denapple

Do Bees Sleep?

As Patty and I walked to the Nature Center on this bright crisp fall morning, we noticed a collection of bees hanging on one of the fall blooming bushes, and they were absolutely still. Are they dead? What's wrong with them? It's OK, they are just asleep. The temperature got into the mid-40s overnight, and these bees simply grabbed onto a convenient branch to wait until the sun warmed them up again. At 9:30 they were asleep, and when I came by again around 11:00, they were still there. Surely they are dead, I thought. But a gentle poke in the leg made one of the stir and grumble, "Will you go away lady! It's not time to get up yet!" It was a great opportunity for a really close up photo of his eyes though.!

Do bees sleep? Ask this question of Google and be amazed at the answers you find. Over all, the replies are YES! Bees do sleep! Research done as recently as 1988 showed that bees at rest exhibit some of the same characteristics as humans in a sleep period: they don't move around, they don't react to stimuli very readily, their muscles relax, and their body temperature drops. So, while the buzzing in the hive is probably not snoring, research concludes that bees do sleep. (http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=28485.0) Of course, the research had no conclusions on bee dreams, but there was a study showing that sleep deprived bees don't do the waggle dance right to show their hive mates where the nectar is.

Naturally yours,

~denapple

Kentucky Orchids?

Fragrant Ladies' Tresses

When I envision orchids, I think of the large purple orchids we used to wear to prom. And I expect them to come from the jungles of South America. Yet when I started learning about native wild flowers, I was amazed to see the variety of sizes, shapes and colors found in our Kentucky native orchids. Why am I talking about orchids in October? I found some Fragrant Ladies' Tresses blooming in the Woodland Garden here at Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve today and was astounded!

 

Fragrant Ladies' Tresses

This particular species (Spiranthese cernua var. odorata) has been tissue cultured for years and is widely available in the nursery trade. It naturally occurs throughout much of the eastern United States although in Kentucky the variety odorata is very rare. This is a great garden plant because it really has no disease or insect problems and flowers late in the growing season, just starting to bloom now. Notice the unexpected twisting of the stalk.

 

Fringeless Purple Orchid

The Orchid family is considered the largest family of flowers, with over 23,000 species worldwide, primarily in tropical regions. Orchids found in the wild should be left in the wild, because they depend on fungi growing in the soil to supply nutrients to their roots.

 

Rose Pogonia

I expect to find orchids only in damp shady areas, and have been surprised to find them growing in bright sunlight, or in the middle of a large grassy field. The name "Pogonia" comes from a Greek word meaning "bearded," referring to the crest on the lip of most species.

 

Large Whorled Pogonia

This Large Whorled Pogonia resembles the large windmills being used so much lately to generate electricity. I would not have guessed it's an orchid at all.

 

Spring Coralroot

While the Lady Slipper orchids have large showy blossoms, the spring blossoms on this Coralroot are almost invisible, unless you get down on your knees with a magnifying glass!

 

 

Lady's Slippers are in the genus Cypripedium, a word derived from a Greek word referring to a "little foot", and they are also called "moccasin flowers" sometimes. Orchids are identified by their bilateral symmetry. One larger petal is often a highly specialized complex structure used to promote cross-pollination, such as the pouch in these Lady's Slippers. See, you don't have to travel to the jungles of South America to find exotic wildflowers!

Naturally yours,

~denapple

Shorebirds at the Shore

Solitary Sandpiper

 When I hear the word "shorebirds," I automatically think of birds seen at the beach. After all, that's the "shore" right? Well, not always.  Shorebirds, or waders, are not simply birds found at the shore, but are the families of plovers, sandpipers and related forms that are part of the order Charadriiformes. Most of these birds can be found along shorelines, especially in migration, but they are also found inland, upland, on arctic tundra or at sea. They are related to gulls, terns and auks, also Charadriiformes. One of the many attractions of shorebirds is the long-distance migration of species such as American Golden-Plover  between the high arctic and southern South America.

As a birder, I find shorebirds hard to identify, since many of them look very much alike. I sent a photo of this bird to Brainard Palmer-Ball (the birding expert in Kentucky) for some help. His expert eye noticed the following: the main characters for this guy are the size (not tiny, but not large, sort of medium-smallish); the very noticeable eye-ring; and the olive colored legs. The back being mostly plain dark gray with a few smidges of white are also helpful (rather than being mottled and marbled with more browns, rufous, and beige). The bobbing you noticed is also a characteristic behavior (but it's more of a jerk of the body up in front rather than bobbing of the tail). Brainard finally took pity on me and identified this as a Solitary Sandpiper. Watch the short video below to see the bobbing motion made by this bird.

 

 It's exciting to find one of these little birds in Kentucky. They breed in the taiga, nesting in trees in deserted songbird nests of northern Canada, and migrate to South America for the winter, so you can only find them here during the migration season. This Sandpiper was searching for insects along the muddy banks of the upper pond in Meadowlark Meadow. It looks like we are having more success in attracting different species of birds to the Nature Preserve! Come for a hike yourself and see what migrants you can find!

Naturally yours,

~denapple

Horned Devil Found at Nature Preserve

Are we being invaded by space aliens? Is this some mutant monster from an industrial accident?

Should we all run off yelling and screaming?

Looks pretty scary, doesn't it? Not to fear though, this is a hickory horned devil caterpillar, which will turn into a royal walnut moth eventually. One of our observant visitors found this beauty and brought him to the office to identify and share.

With their spiky horns and impressive length (up to 6 inches), mature hickory horned devils can be rather intimidating creatures, especially while rearing up their spiky heads when disturbed. These caterpillars are harmless, however, and they spend all summer feeding on leaves of such trees as hickory, walnut, pecan, persimmon, sumac or sweet gum. They molt as they grow, changing from the original black to brown, then tan and finally to green. In the fall, hickory horned devils stop eating and descend from the trees. At this time they are in danger of being eaten by copperheads waiting below.

If the plump caterpillars don’t become snake snack food, they burrow down into the ground and change into shiny brown pupae. The pupae remain underground for one or two winters. In the spring, the adult royal walnut moth (or regal moth) emerges. This beautiful, orange-striped moth with yellow markings has a wingspan of up to 5½ inches. (That's really HUGE for a moth!)

Keep your eyes open when you walk around our trails at the Nature Preserve. You may find something incredible too!

Naturally yours,

~denapple

Fast as Lightning!

The drought and heat in Kentucky have not been pleasant this summer. For Nature Camp, we turned on the sprinklers in the maple tree, so everyone could cool off, as well as having lots of fun!

As the last campers headed for home on the last day of camp, the dark clouds started rolling in. The rumbling thunder got louder and louder, until...

...CRAACCKKK! BOOOMMMMMM! Lightning struck the cupola on top of the maintenance building (the tallest spot in an open field), and travelled down the electrical wiring into the building, frying all the electrical circuits and outlets.

The old saying about lightning not striking twice in the same place is completely untrue, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to talk about safety in thunder storms.

Lightning is a giant discharge of electricity accompanied by a brilliant flash of light and a loud crack of thunder. The spark can reach over five miles (eight kilometers) in length, raise the temperature of the air by as much as 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (27,700 degrees Celsius), and contain a hundred million electrical volts. Lightning detection systems in the United States monitor an average of 25 million strokes of lightning from clouds to ground during some 100,000 thunderstorms every year. It is estimated that Earth as a whole is struck by an average of more than a hundred lightning bolts every second. You can track and learn more about lightning at http://www.intellicast.com/Storm/Severe/Lightning.aspx

During a thunderstorm, each flash of cloud-to-ground lightning is a potential killer. The determining factor on whether a particular flash could be deadly depends on whether a person is in the path of the lightning discharge. In addition to the visible flash that travels through the air, the current associated with the lightning discharge travels along the ground. Although some victims are struck directly by the main lightning stroke, many victims are struck as the current moves in and along the ground.  If you can hear thunder, you are within 10 miles (16 kilometers) of a storm—and can be struck by lightning. Seek shelter and avoid situations in which you may be vulnerable.
Use the 30-30 rule when visibility is good and there is nothing obstructing your view of the thunderstorm. When you see lightning, count the time until you hear thunder. If that time is 30 seconds or less, the thunderstorm is within six miles (ten kilometers) of you and is dangerous. Seek shelter immediately.

A house or other substantial building offers the best protection from lightning. For a shelter to provide protection from lightning, it must contain a mechanism for conducting the electrical current from the point of contact to the ground. These mechanisms may be on the outside of the structure, may be contained within the walls of the structure, or may be a combination of the two.
On the outside, lightning can travel along the outer shell of the building or may follow metal gutters and downspouts to the ground. Inside a structure, lightning can follow conductors such as the electrical wiring, plumbing, and telephone lines to the ground.

Photo by Don Spain

Most lightning deaths and injuries in the United States occur during the summer months, when the combination of lightning and outdoor activities reaches a peak. People involved in activities such as boating, swimming, fishing, bicycling, golfing, jogging, walking, hiking, camping, or working outdoors all need to take the appropriate actions in a timely manner when thunderstorms approach. Where organized sports activities take place, coaches, umpires, referees, or camp counselors must protect the safety of the participants by stopping the activities sooner, so that the participants and spectators can get to a safe place before the lightning threat becomes significant.

Inside homes, people must also avoid activities which put their lives at risk from a possible lightning strike. As with the outdoor activities, these activities should be avoided before, during, and after storms. In particular, people should stay away from windows and doors and avoid contact with anything that conducts electricity, including landline telephones. Most people hurt by lightning while inside their homes are talking on the telephone at the time.

Please, when you hear rumbling thunder, even at a distance, take the threat seriously. Remember, "when thunder roars, go indoors!"

Naturally yours,

~denapple

Resident Raptors at the Nature Preserve

Last summer at the Raptor Open House Saturday, Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky released a bird at the Nature Preserve. A neighbor of Tavia's found this red-shouldered hawk near her home, and Mike Huff captured it to be taken to Raptor Rehab for care. They found a Dell computer box to put her in, and thus she was named Adell. Fortunately, nothing much was wrong with her, and she was ready for release in a few weeks.

When the release time came, Adell flew to a nearby pine tree, and was instantly mobbed by our resident mocking birds. This happens on many raptor releases, and we've always been puzzled about it. How do the local birds know so fast that a raptor is being released? Adell took it in stride though, and we have seen and heard her around the Preserve ever since. Go to http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-shouldered_Hawk/id to hear the distinctive sound of the red shouldered hawk. Blue jays can mimic them, and it's easy to be fooled.

Adell found a mate, and they often are seen and heard around the Nature Preserve. This week, they couldn't resist soaring over Meadowlark Meadow, calling loudly to each other. And yes, the mockingbirds, orioles and robins still chase them around.

Female raptors are larger than males, so I might guess the bird on the right to be the male.

From below, the red shouldered hawk is easily identified by the light colored "window" near the tip of their wings which allows the sun to shine through. Since breeding season is about over, she's starting to molt. Notice that she seems to be missing a feather on each wing. Birds don't lose all their feathers at once, but a few here and there until they are all replaced. The flight feathers drop out in pairs so the bird isn't put off balance.

Last spring we saw Adell headed for what appeared to be nest in the woods near the maintenance building, so Mike decided to climb the tree and see if she had chicks. The tree climb was successful (I know who I'll call next time a cat can't get down from a tree!), but he found nothing but an empty nest. We also haven't see any hawk fledglings, so maybe she didn't have a successful brood this year. We hope she will have better luck next year though, and we keep our eyes out for her!

Naturally yours,

~denapple

Murder in the Meadow

"Get your gear," shouted Special Agent Huff. "We've got a body by the meadow."

Agent Huff skidded the crime mobile to a halt and I jumped in. He took off across the grounds of the Nature Preserve, driving at breakneck speed. Creasey Mahan Investigative Services is on duty again, investigating the latest death.

Last week, we discovered one dead bird along the meadow, and frankly, didn't think much of it. Three days later, however, we found four more feathered corpses in the same location. "It looks like a serial killer, Agent Huff," I said, snapping photos at the crime scene. "Why would there be five dead birds, apparently the same species, in the same spot, with no blood or signs of violence?" I could not take any prints, and DNA for these victims was not in the database, so I consulted the experts with the Beckham Bird Club. After referring to the field guide, they all agreed that these were young European Starlings, recently fledged from their nest. But they reached no conclusion about the time or cause of death.

Agent Huff and I returned to the crime scene. A thorough search revealed a sixth victim nearby.

Ducky, the medical examiner, was unavailable, so we had to do our own post-mortem without his special expertise. There was no blood, no apparent wounds or broken bones, no sign of burns from electrical power lines above the bodies. The mystery started to drive us crazy.

Let's review the possible suspects. Might it be a neighborhood cat? The bacteria in a cat's bite can kill a bird, and cats will kill without eating their victims. But no feathers were mussed at all. Might these young stupid fledglings land on the hot power line directly above where we found their bodies? Yes, but six of them in the same spot over the period of a week?

Agent Huff added that he'd seen a raccoon in the nearby tree just this morning, and raccoons will get into a nest to kill/eat the chicks. We tracked this suspect to its lair in the tree, but couldn't decide how it would catch young birds that can fly.

"Look at this photo!" I exclaimed. "These marks in the nest box are from a BB gun! From a distance, might a BB shot might kill a young bird without leaving an obvious wound?"

"Hmm. I might have to put up some security cameras, or maybe send Agent Wheeler on a stake out. If we have BB gun traders, we are in serious trouble." Agent Huff frowned at the thought.

Back at the office, Agent Wheeler pondered the location where all six victims had been found. LG&E had come by recently to dig around the poles and sprayed some sort of chemicals there, presumably an insecticide to preserve the wood. Would that be strong enough to kill these young birds? Remember, a mother bluebird was very aggressive a few weeks ago in this same place. Maybe she was reacting to the sprayers.

It's the end of this episode. This case will be classified as "unsolved" for now. But the Creasey Mahan Investigative Services team will be on the watch for more evidence.