Darling Starling?

After a number of misguided attempts to introduce starlings to North America, perhaps 60-100 starlings were released into Central Park, in New York City, in 1890 and 1891, by an acclimatization society headed by Eugene Schieffelin. Their goal was to introduce all birds mentioned in Shakespeare's works. The entire North American population, now numbering more than 200,000,000, descended from these birds. By the late 1940s (see map), starlings had been seen in nearly all of the U.S. and Canadian provinces. Their population increased from 1966-1976, but seems to have stabilized since, perhaps due to limited nesting sites. Starlings are often found where ever there is food, nest sites and water - typically around cities and towns, and in agricultural areas. The only places they do not frequent are large expanses of woods, arid chaparral and deserts.

No one ever says the Starling is their favorite bird. After all, they are noisy, they poop all over your car, they eat most of the seeds in your birdfeeders, and they devour a farmer's crops. They will take over the nesting boxes you put out for native species and kill any babies in it, or they move cheerfully into holes in the siding of your house. In the winter they gather in huge flocks, and sometimes you have to wonder if they are just birds, or something else altogether. What should a large gathering of Starlings be called?  A flock, a horde, a blob, a swarm, a cloud? Murmuration is actually the term applied to large numbers of Starlings as they fly through the air like a swarm of insects.




Here are some things you never knew before about Starlings:

Both males and females can mimic human speech. (Some people keep starlings as pets). Some starlings also imitate the song of many other birds like the Eastern Wood-Pewee, Meadowlark, Northern Bobwhite and House Sparrow, along with Blue Jays, Red-Tailed Hawks and Cedar Waxwings. Vocalizations inside the nestbox during nest building can be lengthy and quite varied.

An estimated 1/3 to 1/2 of returning females nest in the same box or area in consecutive years. That is why it's even more important not to let them nest in the first place.

A starling couple can build a nest in 1-3 days. Both sexes incubate.

A migrating flock can number 100,000 birds. They roost communally in flocks that may contain as many as a million birds.

Each year, starlings cause an estimated $800 million in damages to agricultural crops

About 15-33% of first broods are parasitized (via egg dumping) by other starlings.

Starlings have an unusual bill that springs open to grip prey or pry plants apart.

Starlings only molt once a year (after breeding) but the spots that show up in the winter wear off by the spring, making them look glossy black.

In Starlings, the length of the intestinal tract actually varies depending on the season. It is shorter in the summertime (when birds are mainly eating protein-rich) insect foods and larger in wintertime when they are mainly eating seeds, which are rich in carbohydrates.

Naturally yours,

~denapple

Wintering Flocks at the Feeder

Everyone should recognize this plump little bird, even if you aren't an active bird watcher. It's the Carolina Chickadee, which lives in Kentucky year-round. You will hear it chattering and scolding with it's loud chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee.  They can be a real challenge to a photographer, since they fly away as soon as you find them in the lens.

During most of the year, Chickadees eat insects, hanging upside down on a branch to scavenge he lower sides of twigs and leaves. In the winter, insects are not to be found, so these small birds have learned to adjust their menus, and you can help. If you have bird feeders, be sure to keep them filled with sunflower seeds. Many wintering birds need the oil in these seeds to keep their metabolism going. If you hang a cake of suet, they love the fat there too. A well-fed chickadee will shiver all night long, even when fast asleep, just to keep warm. When the weather is really cold, some of the little birds have to go into a state of torpor to make it through the night. Their body temperature can drop from the daytime high of 108 degrees Fahrenheit to a low of 50 degrees Fahrenheit. It takes a lot less energy to keep a chickadee's body at 50 degrees than at 108 degrees.

If your body went that cold for a night it would probably never get warm again. The same can happen to chickadees; over 70 percent do not survive their first year. Some chickadees live for 12 years, but most die before they are two and a half. The chickadee's winter world is a harsh thankless place, and the death of another larger animal can help keep a flock of chickadees alive through the cold winter by scavenging.

White Breased Nuthatch

Tufted Titmouse

Chickadees are usually found with their buddies, the Nuthatches and Tufted Titmouse, all winter long. If you see one one them, you see the others in a short time. Chickadees are the "watch bird" of the backyard, calling out specific songs to alert the mixed flocks to the presence of predators. Then other bird species, such as nuthatches and small woodpeckers, may join chickadee mobs in the wild to drive off predators. This may suggest that other bird species also understand "chick-a-dee" warning calls.

Naturally yours,

~denapple

What's that Blob in the Tree?

Now that the tree branches are bare, you may notice dark blobs in the branches and wonder what in the world they are. Here in Kentucky, there are two options to choose from - either mistletoe or squirrel nests. It's easy to tell them apart, since you can see sky through the branches of mistletoe and if the light is good the green leaves are clearly visible.

The word "mistletoe" is derived from the Anglo-Saxon words, "mistel" (dung) and "tan" (twig) -- misteltan is the Old English version of mistletoe. It's thought that the plant is named after bird droppings on a branch. People used to believe that, rather than just passing through birds in the form of seeds, the mistletoe plant was an inherent result of birds landing in the branches of trees. The birds also help spread the seed by wiping their beaks on the tree bark to clean off the sticky seeds after they've eaten. The seeds are sticky because of the juice inside the berry, which helps the seeds stay in the tree rather than falling to the ground. Within six weeks, the mistletoe plant begins growing, although it takes five years to flower.

Mistletoe (Phoradendron flavescens or Viscum album) is a parasitic plant that grows on trees, particularly hardwood trees like oak and apple. A parasite is a plant or animal that needs another plant or animal to survive. As mistletoe grows on a tree its roots invade a tree's bark, which allows mistletoe to absorb the tree's nutrients. Sometimes, mistletoe can harm a tree and cause deformities in a tree's branches, but usually it doesn't kill its host. If the host dies, the mistletoe dies. Mistletoe produces its own food by photosynthesis and is able to live on its own, although it is mostly found in trees.

The dark colored solid blob probably belongs to a squirrel. When I teach classes at the Nature Preserve about animals who live in trees, children often expect squirrels to live in a cavity in the tree trunk, when actually they build nests of leaves between sturdy branches. Do squirrels hibernate in winter? No, they stay in their nests to conserve body heat in cold weather, but are active all year. In fact, squirrels mate in the late Winter or very early Spring. This time may vary with location, and the weather conditions. The best time to see a squirrel's acrobatic skill is, during the "mating chase".

Most squirrels eat nuts, seeds, grain, and fruit.   By far their favorite food would be nuts, followed by sunflower seeds.   Urban squirrel have adapted to eat just about anything,  including pizza,  luncheon meats and all forms of snack foods. Squirrels have been known to eat bird eggs, but this is a last resort. Gray and Fox squirrels hide their food in many places,  so if another squirrel or animal were to find it,  the entire year's supply would not be lost.  Sometimes they hide food temporarily, until they can move it to a more convenient location.  This is called "scatter hoarding". Of course, squirrels help plant trees when they do not eat all the buried acorns.

Mast is an important diet component of many wildlife species. Mast is the fruit of a tree or a shrub and is called “hard” (acorns, hickory nuts, walnuts, etc.) or “soft” (fleshy fruits of dogwood, blackgum, black cherry, etc.). Some of the most important trees and shrubs that produce mast are the oaks,dogwoods, hickories, black cherry, blackgum, beech and maples. The oaks are probably the single most important group of trees for mast production for wildlife. For squirrels, bears, wild hogs and to a lesser extent deer, oak mast appears to be the most important factor influencing reproduction. Following years of good mast production, reproduction, survival and population levels of these wildlife species are high. This has been a good mast year, as evidenced by the large piles of acorns under my bushes and on the driveway!

Naturally yours,

~denapple

Golden Ginkgo Trees

Many trees turn bright yellow in the autumn, but one of my favorites is the bright yellow Ginkgo tree, found in many locations since it is a popular landscaping tree. But this tree is unique in many ways. The trees adopt a very independent attitude to turning. Some trees will be yellow, and semi-bare, while others are still green, and still others exhibit an odd patchwork, with some yellow areas, some green. And the show doesn't last for very long, because once an individual tree decides to drop, it's all over in a few days.

The leaves are unique among seed plants, being fan-shaped with veins radiating out into the leaf blade, sometimes bifurcating (splitting) but never forming a network of veins as a maple tree for example. Two veins enter the leaf blade at the base and fork repeatedly in two; this is known as dichotomous venation. Click this photo for a closer look.

The Ginkgo is known as a living fossil, with fossils recognisably related to modern Ginkgo from the Permian, dating back 270 million years. Plant classification is a bit complex, but in evolutionary order, after the mosses and worts (no proper roots or water transport), and ferns, horsetails, and club mosses (proper roots, bear spores), we get the two big divisions, the gymnosperms ('naked seeds') and angiosperms ('covered seeds'). Angiosperms are all the plants that people put in gardens, like cabbages and dahlias. Almost all surviving gymnosperms are conifers - Christmas trees, and so on - but the group also includes cycads (tropical plants rather like palm-trees), and of course the ginkgoes. This plural is a bit odd, since there's only one species of ginkgo left now, but things were different in the days of the dinosaurs. There were many species then, with a range of leaf shapes.

How did the Ginkgo come to be in your yard? From China it was transplanted to Japan, probably by Buddhist monks in the 1100's. Englebert Kaempfer, a German botanist, wrote about it after his stay in Nagasaki (1690-1692), and by the 1730s ginkgo seeds had been brought to Holland, and a tree was growing in Utrecht. It could then be propagated by layering (since the seeds take many years to start forming), and so spread across Europe. After the War of Independence it arrived in American in 1784, where it became common.

 

Ginkgo trees have separate sexes, just like mammals, and only the female (of course) bears fruit, which is a very important thing to know. If you want to plant one in your yard be sure to get a male tree. The female tree bears seeds every other year, and they smell like vomit! Several such trees grew along the sidewalks next to a class building when I was at Ohio State University, and if you stepped on the fallen fruit, your shoes stank for days.

In addition to its use as a delicacy, the ginkgo has been used in traditional Chinese medicine, and is enjoying popularity now in "alternative" health circles. (Perhaps half of the websites about the ginkgo are herbal remedy sites of one sort or another.) Generally infusions from the leaves are used, and these are claimed to improve one's brain power to an amazing degree. They do contain substances which are known to improve circulation to the brain in particular; rather less believable is the original Chinese theory that the leaves must be good for the brain, because they resemble a section of the brain in shape. Also fascinating: a good number of sites advocating use of ginkgo leaf infusions claim that the seeds are toxic. That's good enough for me - I won't eat them!

Naturally yours,

~denapple

The Mobbing Crowd

It is not uncommon to see a group of crows or mockingbirds chasing a hawk or eagle, or a group of songbirds fluttering and calling around a perched owl. Such "mobbing" behavior is probably the most frequently observed overt antipredator strategy among birds. A predator may be mobbed regardless of whether it is in flight, on the ground or in vegetation. Birds attacking a perched or ground predator always give loud alarm calls and may make physical contact. Flying birds of prey are attacked by swooping down at a steep angle from above and behind, and emitting alarm calls. Sometimes contact is made with bill or feet. Nevertheless, the exact purpose of such noisy group demonstrations remains a matter of some debate.

Mobbing behavior has many functions. The most obvious would be to protect the young in the nest during the nesting season. Other times of the year smaller birds can simply move away from an invading predator, but in the spring, most birds have set up a territory and they are obliged to defend it.  Predators often rely on surprise to succeed. When a predator is discovered, birds will blow its cover by the loud alarm calls. This will alert other birds to the presence of a predator, and reduce its chances of success.

Careful experiments have shown that birds can learn from each other which predators to mob (indeed, one bird in an experiment was taught by another to "mob" a many-colored plastic bottle, although the mobbing was halfhearted). Therefore one function of mobbing may be educational -- to teach young birds the identity of the enemy. Another may be to alert other birds to the presence of the predator, either getting them to join in the mobbing or protecting them, since a predator is unlikely to be able to sneak up on an alert victim. The original mobber may benefit directly by the predator being moved along or indirectly if the protected birds are its kin.

It is not clear why predators don't simply turn on their tormentors and snatch up one or two of the mobbing birds. If they did, presumably mobbing would quickly disappear; that it persists suggests that surprise is an essential element in raptor hunting. One theory proposes that hawks become used to it and harassment simply becomes part of their life. It is going to happen no matter what, so they might as well try not to fight it. Also, there is little reason for the hawks to fly away because they are bound to end up in some other bird's territory and will have to listen to those new birds scream in their face. Large hawks are rarely quick enough to actually catch a small bird. Seldom do we see birds mobbing the smaller, quicker hawks. Small hawks can easily catch songbirds and would love to have the little birds visit them for lunch. So the small hawks are wisely avoided by most birds. The birds, instead, turn their attention to the less threatening larger hawks.

Last summer a Red-Tailed Hawk we called Adell was released at the Nature Preserve by Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky, Inc. As soon as she flew up into a tree, the mockingbirds immediately arrived loudly proclaiming the presence of a new predator. She was only a young hawk, and probably not a very good hunter at the time, but the mockingbirds didn't give her much of a chance.

The good news is that Adell is still at the Preserve. We have seen her flying around several times in the last few weeks. You can recognize her by the deep rusty color of her breast, which is rather unusual for Red-Tailed Hawks. Next time you see a hawk circling around or perched in a tree, look to see if it's Adell!

Sumac in the Fall

We all enjoy the bright colors of fall. Sometimes I can't find enough adjectives to describe the reds of maple trees and dogwoods. But the brightest red of all may be the sumac.  Sumac is a shrub or small tree, native to most of North America, although it is considered a nuisance in some places.

A variety known as Staghorn Sumac has smooth branches likened to the velvet on a deer's antlers - thus the name Staghorn. There are other varieties, which I couldn't pin down with much confidence. Look closely on the stems in this photo. See the small wings?  I think it may be the Winged Sumac.

The fruit grows in large clusters of red berries called "drupes".  (Where in the world do they get these names?) These acidic and tart berries can be eaten raw or dried, though they’re most popularly used in the form of a berry tea or beverage termed "sumac-ade," "Indian lemonade" or "rhus juice". This drink is made by soaking the drupes in cool water, rubbing them to extract the essence, straining the liquid through a cotton cloth and sweetening it. Native Americans also used the leaves and drupes of the Smooth and Staghorn Sumacs combined with tobacco in traditional smoking mixtures, and for many medicinal purposes. Sumac grows in other parts of the world as well. The fruits of the genus Rhus are ground into a deep-red or purple powder used as a spice in Middle Eastern cuisine to add a lemony taste to salads or meat. In Arab cuisine, it is used as a garnish on meze dishes such as hummus and is added to salads in the Levant. In Iranian (Persian and Kurdish) cuisine, sumac is added to rice or kebab.

Poison Sumac Berries

When most people hear the word sumac, they automatically think "poison sumac." Indeed one kind is related to poison ivy, and touching any part of it can induce a terrible rash. You can tell the good from the poison version by the berries. Poison sumac has white berries. Of course that doesn't help during the rest of the year, does it?

Ailanthus or Tree of Heaven

Sumac also bears a resemblance to the Ailanthus, or Tree of Heaven, which is definitely an invasive non-native plant. Both have compound leaves, but Ailanthus turns yellow and tan in the fall; staghorn sumac turns red, ranging into purples and oranges. The two plants have completely different fruit however. Both have greenish flowers at the branch tips. The Ailanthus’ come in whitish-green foamy plumes and the male flowers stink. The staghorn sumac’s flowers come in tight lime green pyramids. Ailanthus flowers mature, on the female plants only, into gold clusters of winged seeds tinged with rust (aging to light tan); staghorn sumac has fuzzy berries that go from lime to deep red.
  

Staghorn Sumac



Ailanthus

Believe it or not, comparing the leaf scars and buds points out the most interesting difference between these two trees and a few others. Ailanthus leaf scars are smile- or shield-shaped with the new bud at the top of the scar; staghorn sumac leaf scars are closer to heart-shaped and, amazingly, the new bud is right in the center of the old scar! The sumac buds are usually hairy if you look closely enough.

Enjoy all the reds of autumn at the Nature Preserve!

Naturally yours,

~denapple

Is It an Orange or Apple?

During these bright autumn days, you might notice a peculiar looking tree growing along the roadside. It looks like bright green oranges or softballs are hanging from its branches! Maclura pomifera, commonly called Osage-orange, hedge-apple, Horse-apple, Bois D'Arc, or Bodark (take your pick), is a small deciduous tree or large shrub, typically growing to 26–49 ft. tall. It is dioeceous, that is, having male and female flowers on different plants. The fruit, a multiple fruit, is roughly spherical, but bumpy and it is filled with a sticky white latex sap. In fall, its color turns a bright yellow-green and it has a faint odor similar to that of oranges. It is not closely related to the citrus fruit called an orange: Maclura belongs to the mulberry family, Moraceae, while oranges belong to the family Rutaceae.

The Osage-orange is native to a small area in eastern Texas, southeastern Oklahoma, and southwestern Arkansas. This region is the home of the Osage Indians which gives the tree its common name. Settlers found that the Osage-orange transplanted easily, tolerated poor soils, extreme heat, and strong winds and had no serious insect or disease problems. It was widely planted in the Midwest as a living fence because, when pruned into a hedge, it provided an impenetrable barrier to livestock. The development of barbed wire curtailed its widespread planting, but many Osage-orange trees can still be found in fence rows. The wood is extremely hard, heavy, durable and shrinks or swells little compared to the wood of other trees. The wood is used for fence posts, treenails, furniture, and archery bows. In fact, many archers consider the wood of the Osage-orange to be the world's finest wood for bows. Another common name for this tree, bodark, is from the French bios d'arc meaning "bow wood." This tree also produces a bright yellow dye which can be extracted from the wood.

The fruit of the Osage-orange is a nuisance in the home landscape and has little value. Hedge apples are not an important source of food for wildlife as most birds and animals find the fruit unpalatable. The thorny trees do provide nesting and cover for wildlife. The belief about the use of hedge apples for insect control is widespread and persistent. it is claimed that placing hedge apples around the foundation or inside the basement will repel or control insects. A few years ago, Iowa State University toxicologists extracted compounds from hedge apples. When concentrated, these compounds were found to repel insects. Scientists also found that natural concentrations of these compounds in the fruit were too low to be an effective repellent. So, don't be fooled into spending much to use hedge apples as an insect repellent. If you decide to pick hedge apples to check out the repellency yourself or to use the fruit as a fall decoration, it would be wise to wear gloves. The milky juice present in the stems and fruit of the Osage-orange can irritate the skin.

Is there any use for hedge apples, other than playing softball that is? Unfortunately, the seeds are a bit difficult to extract. This is why squirrels make such a huge mess in your yard while they are eating. To get the seeds, first wash your hedge apple. Next, cut your hedge apple into slices. Inside of the hedge apple, you will find stringy flesh that you cannot eat in the center. This flesh will be surrounded by hundreds of tiny seeds that look similar sesame seeds. The seeds will be trapped in a very sticky substance inside the husk. You need to remove the seeds from the fleshy part of the apple, then wash away all of the slime. Next, dry your seeds and remove them from their tiny husks. Your hedge apples can now be roasted, just like sesame seeds. You can roast them dry or toss them in some olive oil first. When this is done, you can use the hedge apple seeds in any recipe that calls for sesame seeds. They can be used to top rolls or breads, or spread over a salad if you want to give it a slight crunch. 
I think I would prefer softball. By the way, don't let one hit you in the head - it hurts!

Naturally yours,

~denapple