80AcresOnline

Observing wildlife–and the sign they leave behind–is one of the satisfactions of having some land. It’s also a necessary part of our wildlife management program. Census is one of the seven essential activities under the Texas Parks & Wildlife private lands wildlife program.

This makes sense–if you don’t know what you have, or (roughly) how many of it, you can’t manage it very well.

Cameras help with observation even when the animal isn’t there: photographing tracks, scat, nests, etc., can document the presence of something you don’t often (or ever!) see. So can simple interventions. We discovered that animals regularly used the paths we mowed for ourselves and the planks we put across muddy dips for our own convenience. In wet weather, they left footprints; they often left scat. One great horned owl neatly dropped two regurgitated owl pellets onto one plank. Read the rest of this entry »

In nature, things die. Plants die; animals die; rocks crumble. As a manager, it’s important for me to know what died and have some idea why. If it was a plant was it killed by disease, drought, insect damage, overuse by a native critter? Was it a juvenile, an adult, an aged adult? If it was an animal, did some other critter kill it (and if so, as it prey or a rival in a turf dispute?) or did it die of disease or old age or non-natural injury (vehicular injury, gunshot wound, poison, etc.?)

Walking in the creek woods yesterday, I found another set of bones. Both skull and lower jaw, all teeth intact, a shoulder blade, a leg bone (broken, chewed), a rib. As I had other work to do, I brought only the skull back with me, to be sure of species (I’m still learning skull shape–my guess was right, but the dental formula proved it.) Read the rest of this entry »

Robberfly taking a large dragonfly

I’ve started working on a long-term project to define who eats what and is eaten by whom. Published sources are not as much help as you might think, since they’re not really local and the local mix of food sources varies from both historical record (we have different plants, in different proportions, and thus different proportions of animals for the meat-eaters to prey on) and from published sources set in a different area.

It’s being every bit as difficult I suspected it would be. Critters do not all come and pose in front of the camera with an array of their food sources so consumption can be documented. Nor are they limited to the foods we put out. Killing a lot of native critters to do stomach content analyses (a very accurate way of finding out what *that* individual ate, but non-reproducible in that individual) isn’t something I want to do, or have the time and expertise to do anyway. Read the rest of this entry »

In severe weather (as today),  flocks of doves come in to feed.  They crowd together, little heads bobbing up and down, and their level gray-taupe backs look like a moving carpet.  The Inca doves are prettier; the white-wings en masse  can look all too much like a carpet of feathered rats.

Admittedly, no one ever said squirrels were brilliant. But we have squirrels running the wires between power poles all the time (squirrels, and opossums, and occasionally rats.)

In December, though, the Eastern Fox Squirrels we have go crazy…chasing each other up and down trees, across the yard, making strange wild leaps in the air (often with a flip or reveral) and tail-signaling like crazy. “I’m handsome, I’m brave, I’m strong, you want me!” “I’m beautiful, I’m lithe, my tail’s bushier, I’m not at all sure you’re good enough for me.” “Com’ere!” “Catch me!” “I’ve got you now, my pretty!” “Fooled you!”

All day Friday a pair of squirrels were busy dashing, leaping, showing off, with brief pauses to eat the birdfeed. I wasn’t watching closely, so I didn’t see whatever “Hey, watch THIS!” move the sacrificial squirrel made about four in the afternoon. I was working away on the book, writing, when a loud (very loud!) BANG! was followed by the loss of power and frantic beeps from the UPS. Well after dark, the repair truck showed up, and sure enough, under the power pole, was the show-off.

Now I could be wrong. It could have been some prudent older squirrel or timid young squirrel who put a foot wrong and caused the power outage. But given the recent behavior of squirrels in our neighborhood, I’d bet on the mating game. Someone just had to show off for someone else.

One of the nature listservs I’m on carefully notes the first sighting of migrants (going or coming) at each location.

With that in mind, I saw the first Fox Sparrow of winter at Owl Pavilion today around noon. As usual, it was shyer than some of the other birds (cardinals will practically part my hair; Bewick’s and Carolina wrens have perched on the hammock I was in) and tried to keep stalks of grass between itself and me. But I know my winter sparrows and that russet back and boldly striped breast belong to no other.

Our wintering sparrows include White-crowned, White-throated, Field, Lincoln’s, Savannah, Song, Harris’s, Vesper, and Fox. Spring and fall migrations sometimes drop another one on us briefly, but never in great numbers. I like the winter sparrows a lot–used to think “small streaky brown mysteries”, but spent one winter studying them and another practicing.

Haven’t seen a thrush or thrasher yet this year, but did catch sight of a flicker, though not today.

Squirrels on a metal roof sound like a herd of goats…it’s possible that goats would sound even louder, but we have no goats and we do have quite a few squirrels. These are Eastern Fox Squirrels, pleasantly brindled on top, with pumpkin-yellow fur on their bellies.

They mate in winter–in December (sometimes even in November, the scamps)–and this involves a lot of dashing up and down trees in a spiral, usually closely followed by another squirrel. Also leaping in place, leaping up and reversing direction, leaping up and turning flips…anything to attract the attention of a squirrel of the opposite sex. They leap on the ground, from trees to ground, from ground to trees, from trees to roof, from roof to trees…and they seem to think the roof is the perfect playground for galloping up to the ridge and down again, scuffling in the gutter and then pouncing on one of the water tanks (or a tree) and then back again.

Dawn in winter begins not with bird song but with the thud and gallop of squirrels. I’m convinced we have a five pounder up there some mornings–or a twenty pounder–as it thunders across the roof, boomity-boomity-boomity boom!

We call them bushy-tailed rats when we’re annoyed with them, but I do enjoy watching them signal with those big bushy tails. Flirt-flirt–“See my tail? it’s a fine tail! It’s bushier than your tail! Look what I can do with my tail!” They warn of hawks and other possible dangers (“Chuck! Chuck-chuck-drrrrrattttt!) Of course they steal feed from the birds…not a serious problem for us, as they would rather steal pecans off the trees and the ground, and acorns, and so on. Watching a squirrel negotiate the matter of spilled cracked corn with a flock of White-winged Doves is instructive. One dove–the squirrel intimidates it. But when the full flock is here, a heaving gray carpet on the ground, the squirrel lashes its tail madly in the tree and scolds. The doves ignore. The squirrel sneaks closer. The doves armpit…the squirrel backs up a few inches and tries again. Eventually the squirrel is eating a little corn in its own cell…a dove-body-width away from any of the doves.

Doves, to some people, symbolize peace. Those people have never watched doves–especially white-winged doves–around other birds. Doves have a habit of “armpitting” other birds (and sometimes one another.) Somewhere in my files I have a photograph of a white-winged dove armpitting a cardinal who dared to land on the same branch.

What’s arm-pitting? The dove showing dominance lifts the wing on the side where the other bird is–the higher the lift, the more annoyed the dominant dove is–and reveals what would be, in a person, the armpit. I’ve seen doves stick the armpitting wing straight up, the wingtip high above the bird, but also lift it less than that.

I’ve seen Inca, ground, and mourning doves “armpit” as well as white-wings. I haven’t seen other species do it (they may–I just haven’t seen it.) Sparrows showing dominance hop towards the other bird, and peck. Mockingbirds extend both wings out a little sideways (not up) and peck. Cardinals threaten with body posture and extended beak.

Armpitting doves look silly while doing it–that one wing stuck up high, while the rest of the bird appears to be calm and composed.

Here beginneth the 80 AcresOnline blog…where I’ll be talking about our wildlife management project and other nature-related topics from time to time.   Construction’s still going on at the website, so expect only short bits here for awhile.

Today’s walk?   Color, color, color: flameleaf sumac (aptly named), yellow elbowbush and Mexican buckeye, rich red rusty blackhaw viburnum,  pink-through-rose-to-purple roughleaf dogwood.  Yellow and orange butterflies, including one lone monarch vainly trying to fly into a stiff north wind.