Hummingbird Explosion

Do you have a hummingbird feeder in your yard? Then you have noticed the hummingbird explosion that just happened. The explosion happened at my feeders last week.

The hummingbirds in this part of the country are Ruby-throated hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are fascinating because they are so unique and everyone loves to watch these tiny birds as they effortlessly hover and fly backwards with wings that beat over 50 times per second.

About this time every year the 2 or 3 hummingbirds that have been visiting your feeder just exploded into many more. We have counted as many as 20 hummingbirds at one time either on or hovering for a spot on one of our two feeders in late July or early August.

The extra hummers are the new babies that are just now out on their own. They don’t look like babies because hummingbird babies are actually bigger than their mothers by the time they leave the nest (the mothers have lost weight trying to raise a couple of hungry kids on their own since male hummers play no part in feeding the youngsters like bluebird fathers do). Juvenile males don’t usually get the iridescent red throat feathers until next spring so all of the extra hummingbirds look like the females. At our 2 feeders one mature male has claimed one feeder all for himself while 15-20 female and juvenile hummers share the other one.

By the way, hummingbirds don’t just live on the sugar in flower nectar or from our feeders…they eat lots of insects and spiders for the protein that they need. The best formula for your feeder is 1 part white cane sugar per 4 parts water. This formula approximates the 21% sugar content of most nectar. Make it sweeter and you will get more bees and ants. And remember to clean and refill the feeders about every 3 days or the formula will spoil in warm weather.

Last year my wife was able to get a hummingbird to land on her finger and eat sugar water out of her hand. But it took 4 hours of patience (Nancy’s, not mine) and I didn’t get a picture because I fell asleep on the couch waiting for the event to unfold.

Usually by about early October all the Ruby-throated hummingbirds are gone around here. Actually the males leave first, as early as August. The juveniles and females leave later. Most Ruby-throated hummingbirds winter in Central America and return to this part of Tennessee in late March or early April. Males arrive first and females a few weeks later. And no, they don’t migrate on the backs of geese as some old myth suggests. The little hummingbirds make the flight by themselves, losing as much as half their body weight on the trip. Some fly as far as 500 miles in 20 hours at one time without stopping, across the Gulf of Mexico. Others follow the coast through Texas and Mexico.

Don’t worry about leaving your hummingbird feeders up too long. The birds know when to migrate by the length of daylight…they won’t stay too long. Ruby-throated hummingbirds migrating from further north or other hummingbird species migrating through may use your feeders. Rufous Hummingbirds sometimes migrate through here as well as 3 other species.

Hummingbirds sometimes get in a garage and have trouble getting out because they tend to fly up to look for an opening. Hang a feeder at the door opening and the bird may come down to refuel and then head out instead of in. Supposedly, you can minimize the chances of getting a hummingbird in your garage by painting the door release handles black instead of red since bright colors (like flowers) are what attracts the little guys.

Keep those feeders full and clean because the hummingbird population explosion is happening now. I hope you enjoy watching our smallest bird as much as I do.

A Tale of Two Snakes

Everything is not always what you think it is at first. Take the recent two occurrences in my neighborhood for instance.

A couple of weeks ago my neighbor Joe called. He and Saundra had a snake caught in some netting in their yard and they thought that it might be a copperhead. They didn’t want to kill the snake but they didn’t want to get too friendly if it was venomous.

With one look I knew it wasn’t a copperhead and I knew it wasn’t venomous because the only two venomous snakes we have around here are copperheads and timber rattlesnakes and it wasn’t either of those. My guess was that it was an Eastern hog-nosed snake but since I had only ever seen one once before in my life I had to go home and get a couple of snake books to be sure. With a closer look we positively identified it as a hog-nosed snake…a beautiful pattern and a cute little turned-up nose. I had been looking for one. I knew they lived around here especially since we have loads of toads and hog-nosed snakes are toad and frog specialists.

I held the snake by its head and tail while Saundra very carefully cut away the fine nylon netting that the snake had entangled itself in. Hog-nosed snakes are known to act very aggressively by striking and hissing and even flattening their head like a cobra. In fact, my friend Gary found another one few days later that did just that. According to the books, they always strike with their mouth closed…supposedly they never bite. Nevertheless, I didn’t test the “never bites” theory because even non-venomous snakes have lots of needle sharp teeth. If aggressive acting doesn’t work against a threat, hog-nosed snakes roll over and play dead. This 2 foot long guy was probably a little tired from being tangled up for a day so he was pretty calm. He just breathed a sigh of relief and headed off to find a toad.

The second snake tale happened a day later. My neighbor Bob knocked on the front door with a plastic bucket and a little 10 inch snake that he found in his front yard. He thought that it might be a rattlesnake because the brown patterned snake had a bright yellow tail that it vibrated rapidly just like a rattlesnake would. However, even new born rattlesnakes have a little button on the end of their tail which is the first segment of their rattle, not a straight tapered yellow tail.

This snake was a baby copperhead. The bright yellow tail is an identifying trait of baby copperheads. As they grow and shed their skin they will lose the yellow on their tail. But, even babies have venom and can bite. After some pictures and some neighborhood show and tell, Bob was going to release the copperhead back in the woods.

So what is the moral of this tale? The moral is that not every snake you see is a copperhead or a rattlesnake. Many people kill snakes that they think are copperheads when in most cases they are probably, milk snakes, garter snakes, hog-nosed snakes, kingsnakes, watersnakes, etc. I could go on and on naming beneficial harmless snakes. I know of two instances locally where even blacksnakes were killed thinking they were copperheads. Also, just for the record, in Tennessee, every snake, even venomous ones are protected by law from killing or even capturing.

So before you slice that snake in two think about all the insects, mice, frogs and toads that they keep in check without poisons and chemicals. It is amazing what nature will take care of if we just get out of the way and let it do its thing.

Finding a Fox

Several people have asked me how I decide what nature subject to write about. It’s easy! I write an article about whatever I have a good picture of. Sometimes getting a picture is difficult, especially if the animal is mainly nocturnal, or very wary.

Foxes have been on my short list for a while now. But they have always been too far away or moving too fast, or seen after dark.

But a couple of weeks ago I received an email from Sue L. who said that her neighbor had a den of red fox pups in their backyard that were well within camera range. Carolyn and Gunny (the neighbors with the foxes) agreed to let me try to get a picture for a future article. Even better, their friend, Don Hepburn, with a better camera than mine, already had some great shots of the pups. So that is how I finally was able to get a picture and write an article about foxes in Fairfield Glade. Thanks to everyone involved.

There are actually 2 types of foxes in this area…red fox and gray fox. I have seen both kinds frequently so I think both are pretty common in this area. Both are similar in size and eating habits. Both types of foxes are around 7-14 pounds and both eat rabbits, other rodents, birds, eggs, insects, berries and fruit. The major difference is that gray foxes can climb trees. They have strong curved claws that allow them to easily climb trees to escape predators and catch prey. Coyotes are probably most fox’s main natural predator.

Red foxes, (in the picture above) like the ones in Carolyn and Gunny’s backyard, can be identified by their orange-red coats, black feet, and white tipped tails. There is a gray phase of the red fox called a Silver fox, but it still has a white tipped tail and black feet.

Grey foxes (like the one at left), on the other hand, are grizzled grey above with a white throat and rusty red sides. Gray foxes have a black tip to the tail. The reddish color on the sides of the gray fox causes them to sometimes be misidentified as a red fox, but the color on the tip of the tail is usually the way to tell a red fox from a gray fox. The grey fox in the picture crossed the road in front of me a few days ago with three pups behind her. One of the pups climbed 10 feet up a tree and then back down while I watched.

Since most of us don’t raise chickens in Fairfield Glade red foxes don’t usually get into trouble around here. As you may know, red foxes have a reputation for liking chickens. They also like Insects so they should be loving the cicada boom this spring. Both types of foxes eat fruit. Near where I used to live in Texas there was an old abandoned peach orchard. In the fall I would find fox scat full of peach seeds. I guess they just ate them whole. Thankfully, (from the fox’s viewpoint) they were small peaches with small seeds.

A gray fox comes around my house once in a while and digs up grubs in the mulch. But I don’t mind. In fact, I always kind of like environmentally friendly insect control over the chemical kind. I did get up at 2am one night and sit by an open window to try to get Mr. Fox’s picture, but his night vision was better than mine and when I raised the camera he disappeared into the night.

As you drive around here at night keep you eyes open for a fox crossing a road in front of you; I have seen several this way. Sometimes you might even see one at dusk or dawn. If you see a fox try to determine if it is a red fox or a gray fox since you now know how to tell the difference.

Hike to Gregory Bald

Yesterday, Nancy and I and Linda Barclay hiked to Gregory Bald in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for the Azalea show.

Mid to late June every year the Flame Azaleas and the Catawba Rhododendron bloom on Gregory Bald. In the Smokies a "Bald" is an open area with no trees high on a mountain. In the pioneer days balds were used for grazing livestock, but it is not known how they originally formed.

This was no easy hike. My GPS showed the round trip mileage at 11.3. The elevation gain was over 3000 vertical feet. Except for about 100 yards, every step was uphill for 3 1/2 hours. We went from about 1900 feet above sea level to almost 5000 feet.

White Rhododendron surrounded the trail much of the way. In some places the blooms began to drop their petals and the trail was carpeted with white flowers. We saw a few orange Flame Azaleas on the way up but nothing like the show on top. Gregory Bald in June is 10 acres of wild azaleas of many different colors. Orange and red colors predominate, but there are also yellow, fuchsia, and even white.

Here is a slide show of the photos we took.

We only stayed at the top for about 15 minutes taking pictures of the azaleas and a very tame female deer until an incoming thunderstorm chased us back down. We hiked and ate our lunch in a downpour with lightning in the background...it was great!

If you go next June, there is a shorter route you can take that is only about 9 miles round trip with a 2000 foot elevation gain. Just talk to a National Park Service Ranger for the directions.

Fly Fishing with Jimmy Carter

Ray and I went to Pennsylvania to fish a couple of Trout Unlimited's "100 Best Trout Streams" last week.

We fished the Little Juniata (locally called the Little J), Spruce Creek, and two others, Yellow Creek and Bob's Creek. We caught trout on all 4 streams and some pretty nice ones. We caught mostly Browns, several Rainbows, and one Brook Trout.

Spruce Creek is a beautiful, fairly small stream, that is all located on private land except for six tenths of a mile on Penn State University owned land that anyone can fish. The private land includes a couple of lodges where folks with lots of money go to get away from the regular fishermen. Larry Csonka, Dick Cheney, and former President Jimmy Carter fish the private waters of Spruce Creek. While we were there Jimmy Carter was upstream for a several day fishing trip. We can therefore correctly say that we went fly fishing with Jimmy Carter. He just happened to be 5 miles upstream.
The owners of the local Tavern in the 20 house hamlet of Spruce Creek said that Jimmy always stops in for dinner when he is in the area. They said that he has about 6 Secret Service guys with him that come in ahead of time wearing brand new fishing vests for disguise and slacks and penny loafers and radio earpieces and microphones up their sleeves.

We had good weather, outstanding fishing, and a little fun with our fishing buddy Jimmy. We didn't get a chance to straighten him out about his politics.

Listen, can you hear them?

Have you heard them? They are here but they won’t be for much longer. I am talking about the Periodical Cicadas. They have been around for a few weeks now but since they only live 4-5 weeks they will soon be gone.

I don’t know if you hear them everywhere in the Glade but you sure can up around my house. The 1 ½ inch long insects are loud. Depending on the species they make several different sounds…some make a series of clicks and buzzes, some sound like a water sprinkler, and some make a sound like the word “pharaoh” extended. These are male cicadas calling females to join them for a bottle of wine, some candlelight and a good time. Interested females respond with a little wing flick, kind of like a wink. And they are calling vigorously because they have waited 17 years for one night of romance.

Periodical cicadas have an amazing life cycle. Once the adults mate and the females lay their eggs in pencil sized twigs their job is over and they die. The eggs hatch in a few weeks and the tiny ant sized nymphs emerge from the twig, drop the ground and tunnel down 18-24 inches to suck sap from tree roots for the next 17 years. Even thousands of cicadas do little to no damage to the tree. After 17 years the nymphs dig to the surface (in mid-May in Tennessee), crawl up on any nearby vertical surface and break out of their nymphal skin to emerge as adults to begin the cycle all over again. Amazing!

The cicadas here this year are Brood number 14 (technically Roman numeral brood XIV) of the 17-year cicadas. There is also another race of cicadas that are 13-year cicadas. Tennessee has both races of cicadas. You don’t have to wait 13 or 17 years to see and hear periodical cicadas again because different broods emerge in different years. The next big year for cicadas here in Cumberland County is 2011 for Brood XIX of the 13-year cicada race. There are other cicada species that emerge annually late in the summer every year, but not anywhere near the great numbers of the periodical cicadas. The annual cicadas have a ten second long high-pitched whine that you can hear in August.

I remember about 7 or 8 years ago I was in Washington, D.C. when an especially large periodical cicada brood emerged there. Cicadas were everywhere! They were climbing up anything not moving (including humans) flying into people, and generally just scaring the heck out of everyone. Their big red eyes might look scary but Cicadas are harmless; they don’t bite or sting.

Early settlers to North America thought the periodical cicadas, which are only found in eastern North America, were plagues of locusts coming to eat their crops. The name has stuck in many places but cicadas are not locusts. Locusts are actually a type of grasshopper and do not look anything like cicadas. Pesticides have little or no effect on cicadas because they don’t eat vegetation. The adults only eat small amounts of sap during their short time above ground.

There is one way you can control cicadas in a very limited way…eat them! That is right, eat them. Birds, squirrels, snakes, fish, mammals, even dogs and cats love them. Any why not, cicadas are high in protein, low in fat, and have no carbs. People say they taste crispy, crunchy, and nutty. They are said to be especially good sautéed in butter with garlic and basil. I would recommend a nice cool bottle of California Chablis with that.

The 17-year periodical cicadas will be gone in a week or two. So enjoy them while you can. Go out and look for the empty beige nymphal skins on tree trunks or the beautiful red-eyed adults on vegetation. If you are still here in 2025 you can look for the sons and daughters of the cicadas that are here now. Mark your calendar so you don’t forget.

Donkey, Burro, or Ass?

I have been conducting an informal poll recently about donkeys…no not about Hillary and Barack…about real donkeys. My unscientific conclusion is that most, and by most I mean not 51% but more like 90+%, of the people I asked, don’t know the difference between a donkey, burro, mule, ass, or especially a hinny. Granted, I didn’t poll any farmers.

A donkey, a burro, and an ass are all just different names for the same animal. It is a small equine (horse-like) mammal with a relatively large head, large ears and small hooves. Burro is the Mexican name but it is used as often as donkey. A male burro is called a jackass, sometimes shortened to either jack or ass, and a female is a jenny.

My dad used to say that you could buy a donkey very cheaply in the fall because no one wanted to feed one over the winter in the north. Just to prove his point he bought a female donkey one fall for $25 to roam in the 120 acres of fenced woods at our cottage in Pennsylvania. Our “Jenny” was to be delivered on a Saturday, and when we saw a car coming up the dirt road with no horse trailer behind it we were disappointed…however, not for long. The couple selling us the burro had taken out the back seat of the car and our full-grown burro traveled 4 hours from Ohio in the back seat of a Buick. Just think of the people passing that car on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and thinking “now that is one ugly kid in the back seat”. After that the car may have smelled like leather, but not the new car type of leather.

On the weekends we would go to the cottage and round up the burros (my dad’s buddy bought a male burro to provide a companion for Jenny) and put a bridle on them so we could ride. The burros were semi-wild from roaming the woods all week and although they didn’t buck, they would do all sorts of tricks to get us off their backs. The first trick every time was to reach around and try to take a big old burro bite out of the leg of the kid on their back. You had to have the bridle reins ready to whip their nose to keep from losing a thigh. Then, they would take us under every low tree in the woods to try to rub us off. If that didn’t work they would get up a little speed and then stop abruptly and lower their head to roll us over the front. Since we always rode bareback it was almost impossible to stay on even though we knew what was coming. What fun!

One very interesting fact about donkeys is that one or two are often kept with a herd of sheep for protection against coyotes and feral (wild) dogs. I’ve read that canine predation of sheep and lambs stops completely if a donkey is in the field.

A mule is not a donkey. A mule is a cross between a female horse and a male donkey. Mules, like many hybrids, are sterile, so if you want another mule you have to breed a male donkey to a female horse again…that is the only way to get a mule. Mules can be any size. If the mother is a pony, you get a small mule. If the mother is a Clydesdale, your mule will be large. Don’t worry, these days horse people mostly use artificial insemination so the male burro doesn’t have to stand on a stool. Mules are noted for their intelligence. They say you can work a horse to death but a mule (and also a burro) will stop and refuse to continue before it is exhausted. That is one reason that mules are sometimes considered stubborn. But they are also known as calm, strong, surefooted, and reliable. These traits are the reason mules are used to carry greenhorns to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Now, even if you knew about mules and donkeys, only one person that I polled had ever heard of a hinny. A hinny is nearly the same as a mule except the hinny has a horse for a father and a donkey for a mother…just the opposite of a mule. Hinnies are usually smaller and considered to not have all the good traits of a mule and therefore they are very rare.

By the way, the question in the title referring to the picture asks Donkey, Burro, or Ass? The answer is…Yes!

Beavers in my neighborhood

We usually think of beavers as living high in a Rocky Mountain stream in the age of the mountain men. Beavers certainly did contribute to the exploration of the west by mountain men searching for their fortune in the form of beaver pelts for hats and clothing, and in the process beavers were wiped out in many areas of the U.S. due to the demand for their fur. However, over the last 150 years beavers have reestablished themselves either naturally, or with human help through trap and relocation, to almost all of their original range. Today they are living in Tennessee and are actually right here in Fairfield Glade.

If you go to the Overlook near Dorchester Golf course (follow the signs off of Westchester) and go down the path to Daddy’s Creek you will see trees recently cut down by beavers. Also look for white sticks at the water’s edge cut off at 45 degree angles (white, because the beavers have eaten off all the bark). The white sticks in a stream are usually my first indication that beavers are in the vicinity. Don’t look for a beaver dam or classic beaver lodge because on bigger and faster streams like Daddy’s Creek beavers often just excavate a den under the river bank. If you want to see any beavers you will need to be patient and very stealthy. Beavers rarely are out during the day, especially where there is any human activity. I have seen them high in the mountains in Colorado, in Texas, Idaho and Pennsylvania, but only at dusk and dawn.

Beavers are big. Adults are 40-70 pounds and 3 to 4 feet long including the flat broad tail. Once I was fly fishing in Idaho about dawn one morning, standing nearly chest deep in a quiet lake when I saw a very large beaver swimming on top of the water heading directly for me. I stayed still until I could no longer stand the thought of staring eye to eye with a 50 pound rodent. Wanting to communicate properly, I slapped the water with my hand and Mr. Beaver slapped the water with his tail and disappeared underwater. I half expected to soon feel something gnawing on my leg but I reminded myself that beavers are never a threat to humans.

Beavers are sometimes not welcome neighbors to humans because they cut down trees and they dam up streams and flood low areas. But when they aren’t interfering with us, they actually do much good in nature. Their dams create wetlands that are needed by many species. And their dams actually minimize flooding and erosion by holding back water. They cut down trees to eat the inner bark and to build dams and lodges. Beavers have been know to cut down trees up to 5 feet in diameter, but usually they work on trees less than a foot across. This isn’t a problem out in the middle of nowhere, but if it is in your backyard then you may not be too happy to see beavers move in next door and drop your $200 River Birch on your driveway. A wrap of chicken wire two feet up the trunk will save your trees.

You don’t need to be a mountain man to see wild beavers but you do need to get a little bit off the beaten path along a nice stream in the Big South Fork Recreation Area, the Cades Cove area of the GSMNP, or just down by our own little Daddy’s Creek. The variety of wildlife within a few miles of your home is amazing…you just have to look around. Beavers right here in Fairfield Glade…who would have believed it.

The Dung Beetle

While hiking today we came across a very interesting sight...a dung beetle.

In the middle of the trail a coyote or fox had left a deposit as they often do to mark their territory. Canines often defecate where it can be seen and smelled so that other canines will recognize the marked territory of the depositor.

In this case several dung beetles had found the treasure and had begun to break it down and form it into little balls that they could then roll away to their den. The male dung beetle usually collects the dung, forms it into balls, and then rolls it home to the female. The beetle pushes the ball backwards by himself. If you see other beetles trying to move the same ball of dung they aren't helping, they are trying to steal someone else's ball of dung. The same thing happens in human society too.

Meanwhile the female has been busy digging a tunnel for her incoming ball of dung. Once rolled into the tunnel, she deposits her eggs into the mass so that the larva when they hatch will have a ready meal. The meal, which the adults eat as well, consists of undigested materials and microorganisms in the feces.

Dung beetles are important in nature because they break down and recycle the waste. Different species of beetles often specialize in different types of dung and not all species of dung beetles roll their food into balls. In addition to the "rollers" there are "tunnelers" and "dwellers". The tunnelers root under the pile and stay there to do their thing, while the dwellers just dive into the heap and live there.

Dung beetles can be very important in a cow pasture to keep it from being knee deep in cow patties and I have read that some developing countries import specific dung beetles so that they aren't overrun with human waste.

So there you have it...everything you always wanted to know about dung beetles.

Male Update

Well now, here is another tick update.

This time the picture is a male Lone Star Tick. The previous post showed a picture of a Female. The males are a little smaller and they don't have the white dot (or "star") that the female has. The size of this guy is about 1/8 inch long. To the naked eye the male Lone Star Tick mainly just looks dark brown. But if you look closely you can see some tiny white detail along the back edge of the shell.

Nancy found this little guy on her pants leg after a 4 mile hike today.

Lone Star Tick

Here is a little update to the tick information that is published a few blog postings below.

This little girl (about 1/8 inch long) is a female Lone Star Tick that my neighbor Rudy contributed. Rudy found this tick crawling on his neck after standing in vegetation in the woods to take a picture of a friend's house that is under construction.

Lone Star ticks are named for the white dot on the back of the females. Males are slightly smaller and without the dot. The area behind the dot is the part that expands to the size of a grape when the tick fills up with a nice tasty meal of blood.

The Lone Star Tick is common in the Southeastern United States and it carries the bacterial species that causes Human Ehrlichiosis.

The Best Rainbow ever.

As you may know, last year was a record drought year for many areas, especially the southeastern U.S.

The state of Georgia is even getting so crazy that they want to move the state line about a mile north so they can suck water out of the Tennessee River. They claim that the southern Tennessee state line was surveyed incorrectly a couple of hundred years ago. If Georgia got their way Chattanooga and part of Memphis would drop down into Georgia and Mississippi. Now I think we might give up Memphis without a fight, but the Tennessee River and Chattanooga are a different story. Tennessee Governor Bredesen announced that Tennessee will protect her borders and the mayor of Chattanooga sent the Georgia State Legislature some bottled water to get them through.

But the good news is that the southeast has been getting some nice rain the past week or so and more is predicted in the near future.

Yesterday we had a brief rain shower and as I was looking out the front window I noticed that the sun was shining very brightly while it was raining. I grabbed my camera and looked out the back to see if there was a rainbow. Wow! There was the best rainbow that I had ever seen. I have seen some nice rainbows and even several double rainbows but never any as big and bright as this one. It looks pretty good in the picture above but not nearly as good as it looked in person.

I could see exactly where the end was shining in the woods in the valley below my house but I didn't go looking for the pot of gold. I figured the odds were about the same as a lottery ticket.

April begins Chigger and Tick season

Ahh, April! Sweet spring! Everything beautiful is busting out…flowers, buds, green leaves and warm sunshine. But the warm sunshine that wakes up the beautiful flora also wakes up some unwelcome fauna. April is the beginning of chigger and tick season here in Tennessee (snakes too, but that is another subject).

Chiggers and Ticks are part of that 8-legged scientific class called Arachnida which includes scorpions, spiders, and mites. Almost all Arachnids are carnivores and they feed mostly on pre-digested meat….in some cases that means you. Arachnids are definitely not the most popular class of animals around. I will tell you a little of what you need to know about chiggers and ticks and I will also tell you how to keep from being their next meal. Listen carefully.

First chiggers! You probably have never seen chiggers; they are extremely tiny. Without a magnifying glass they are almost impossible to see even though they are yellow to red in color. Contrary to what most people think, they do not burrow into your skin; they pierce the skin with their mouthparts and inject digestive enzymes into skin cells which they then suck up. The itchy red spots that you get are caused by your reaction to their digestive juices. As you know, chiggers usually bite in your most tender thin skin areas such as under socks and under waistbands of underwear. The good news is that chiggers are not known to transmit any diseases to humans, but the bad news is that their bites can itch intensely for a week. (Chiggerex is by far best over the counter product that I have found to ease the itch- although nothing helps completely).

Chiggers live in thick vegetation and populations are sometimes very localized. One bush might be covered with chiggers while the one right beside it might have none. That is why two golfers can step inside the woods to look for a golf ball and one gets chigger bites and one doesn’t. To avoid chiggers stay out of tall grass or brushy vegetation, especially in damp shady areas. If you get in areas like this, assume that you are going to host a herd of chiggers.

Now about ticks! The two main kinds of ticks in Tennessee are the American Dog Tick and the Lone Star Tick. Both feed on humans. Ticks are not as itchy as chiggers, but they are far from harmless. Ticks can transmit several pretty serious diseases to humans including Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF), Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, and even a few more.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is more common on the Cumberland Plateau than it is in the Rocky Mountains and only North Carolina and Oklahoma have more reported cases of RMSF than Tennessee. Symptoms of RMSF can include a spotty rash, headache, abdominal pain, fever, sensitivity to light, etc. It can be very serious but it can be treated with antibiotics…the earlier the better.

Ehrlichiosis is another serious tick borne disease found around here with symptoms of headache, chills, joint aches, nausea, vomiting, etc. It may also be treated with antibiotics. Symptoms of RMSF and Ehrlichiosis typically appear 3 to 21 days after a tick bite. Definitely see a doctor if you experience any of these symptoms.

Lyme disease, although very serious in other parts of the country, is not as common around here. That doesn’t mean you can’t get it; it’s just less likely. I read somewhere that if you are diagnosed with Lyme disease in Tennessee you either got it in some other state or you need a second opinion.

OK, after all that serious and scary stuff, let’s get practical. Your chances of getting one of the bad tick transmitted diseases are very, very small. Be aware, but don’t lock yourself up in the house. Practice prevention. Avoid brushing again bushes and high grass where chiggers and ticks live. You probably won’t encounter any in your yard but if you are heading out into the thick stuff wear light colored clothing and long sleeves and tuck pants into your socks to help keep chiggers and ticks from your skin and to spot ticks before they get you. Use insect repellent like DEET on skin and Permethrin on clothes and shoes (read directions carefully). Plant based Lemon Eucalyptus is another repellent that I like.

When you get home, often a hot soapy shower with vigorous washcloth rubbing will dislodge most chiggers, since they are on your skin and not in it.

But, opposed to chiggers, ticks do burrow into your skin and suck your blood. After walking in possible tick habitat go home and check your body carefully for ticks. Both adult ticks (1/8 to 3/16 inches long) and nymphs (the size of a pinhead) feed on people. The small ones are very hard to spot but they can transmit all the same bad stuff as the adults. A number of sources say that ticks need 24 hours or more to transmit disease, so the sooner you remove any unwanted hitchhikers, the better. If one is attached to you, grasp it with tweezers as close to the skin as possible and slowly and carefully pull it out. All other methods (such as burning with a match, nail polish, etc.) are not recommended.

You can avoid most encounters with chiggers and ticks by first understanding where you might run into them, and by dressing properly and using insect repellent. Next shower and remove any chiggers and ticks when you get home and last, be aware of the symptoms of the diseases that ticks are known to carry.

April is a beautiful month. Get out and enjoy the sunshine. With a little knowledge and prevention you should be able to leave the little critters outside.

The Southern Pine Beetle

Many of you already know that the Southern Pine Beetle is the reason for all of the dead pine trees around here. But do you know why this native beetle killed so many trees? Will it strike again? What else is on the horizon?

The Southern Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus Frontalis) has co-existed with pine trees for hundreds of years without causing the destruction that you can see today as you drive around Fairfield Glade and much of Eastern Tennessee. Normally the little brown or black beetle, the size of a grain of rice, causes little damage. In fact, before the latest attack in the years 1999 through 2002, you have to go clear back to 1976 to find significant pine beetle damage in Tennessee. Also many of the dead pines around here were 60 years old or more. How did they evade the beetle for so long?

It was one of those perfect storms. Southern Pine Beetles normally only cause problems to damaged or stressed trees. Healthy trees either ward off or survive pine beetles. But late summer droughts and severe winter snow and ice in 1998 and 1999 put extra stress on many trees. Plus, large, densely planted pine plantations under stress conditions were a pine beetle paradise. Pine beetle populations are cyclic and they usually peak in Tennessee about every 10-12 years. Everything came together for a Southern Pine Beetle extravaganza… stressed trees, large plots of trees, and a beetle population peak. The result is the thousands of dead pines that you see today. Most dead pines have already fallen, and I don’t recommend hanging out next to any that are still standing in a windstorm.

The types of pine trees affected most by pine beetles are Southern Yellow Pines such as Loblolly, Shortleaf, Virginia, and Pitch pines….precisely the type that we have around here. White Pines are also here but they were less affected because they produce more resin to fight off the beetles.

Will it happen again? Yes it will, but it might be some time before pines die in such numbers as they did in 1999 through 2002. Healthy trees can usually co-exist with the beetles unless conditions all come together like they did a few years ago. It is just one of those natural things.

But there are other problems on the horizon. You can expect major losses of several different kinds of trees in the near future. Here is a short description of just a few of the things coming your way.

The Woolly Adelgid (pronounced a-DEL-jid) is a tiny aphid-like insect that is killing Hemlock trees. It is especially a problem in the Smoky Mountains where some Hemlocks are 150 feet tall and 500 years old. Near Newfound Gap you can see whole hillsides of dying Hemlocks. There is hope that an imported beetle will control the Adelgid just like it does in Asia.

The Emerald Ash Borer has wiped out 20 million Ash Trees in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania. It is headed in this direction.

I lived in Pennsylvania when the Gypsy Moths first hit there. Complete hillsides were stripped of all leaves by the voracious Gypsy Moth caterpillars. A walk in the woods sounded like rain from the droppings of thousands of caterpillars. These imports especially like Oak trees…just like the ones in FFG. Estimates are that they will be here in big numbers in 5-10 years. However, once the initial onslaught is over the moths and trees co-exist in better balance.

One story that is showing promise concerns the American Chestnut tree. An Asian bark fungus almost completely wiped out the American Chestnut which used to comprise 25% of the Southern Appalachian forests. But, after 60 years with virtually no American Chestnut trees, researchers have developed blight resistant trees that are just about ready to replant.

Nature is a never ending evolutionary battle. The relationship of the Southern Pine Beetle with its host trees is just one of the more visible results. If history is an indication, the beetles and the pines will continue to co-exist. The woods are already full of small pines filling in the spaces left by their parents.

Hiking with a Goat

A couple of weeks ago I went hiking with 21 of my favorite hiking buddies….one of them is a goat….literally.

The Wednesday Tennessee Trails Association group usually has 12-15 hikers each week. The week that we went to hike on the Cumberland Trail we had more than the usual number of hikers because we all wanted to see first hand what was under way on one section of the state park trail. It is hard to believe that someone is legally able to destroy a state park!

When we parked at the trailhead we were met by a long haired cream and black billy goat. He came trotting down the road and just hung around as we were getting organized to begin the hike. We figured that he was looking for a free handout but since no one fed him I was surprised that he followed us as we started to hike. After a little hesitation at the first bridge, Mr. Goat fell right in line and for some reason he liked to hike about 2^nd or 3^rd in line. If he stopped to eat leaves along the way he would catch up and run past the end of the line to get back to 2^nd or 3^rd. I liked being about in the middle or further back because someone near the front of the line didn’t smell very good and I think that it was Billy. After about 4 ½ miles of beautiful scenic hiking we came to what we were looking for….bulldozed trees and carved up earth in the middle of the Cumberland Trail State Park.

As you may know, when land is sold, sometimes the mineral rights to that land are sold separately or retained by the original owner. In this case, the state of Tennessee spent nearly $2 million to purchase land that is now part of the Soddy segment of the Cumberland Trail State Park. The mineral rights were not part of that purchase, as they aren’t in many Tennessee properties. Now after millions of dollars and thousands of volunteer hours to purchase and build the trail, the owner of the mineral rights has decided to harvest rock for building and landscaping. They have moved in heavy equipment, mowed down trees, built gravel roads and bulldozed and trucked rocks right out of and over the Cumberland Trail. Current mining laws classify rocks as minerals and don’t require the rock harvester to restore the land in any way…even in a state park. Twenty-one of us, plus a goat, hiked in to see this unbelievable destruction. As a homeowner and as a frequent visitor to many of the beautiful scenic areas of Tennessee this is kind of scary. If you don’t own the mineral rights to your land, theoretically, the one who does could drive onto your property, dig out the rocks, haul them away and leave the hole. That is exactly what they are doing on the Cumberland Trail.

If you live in Tennessee your help is needed! Please email or write to our state legislators and ask them to co-sponsor and support House Bill 2764 and Senate Bill 2781. These bills won’t change the rights of the mineral owners or even stop the rock harvesting, but they will at least require the harvesters to restore the land by planting trees and grass. It’s a start. In Fairfield Glade our State Senator is Charlotte Burks, 9 Legislative Plaza, Nashville, TN, 37243, sen.charlotte.burks@legislature.state.tn.us . Our State Representative is Eric Swafford, 202 War Memorial Bldg, Nashville, TN, 37243, rep.eric.swafford@legislature.state.tn.us .

The goat and I will thank you. Well, at least I will thank you. At the end of the trail that day we met a woman who said the goat lives in the farm next to her and he really doesn’t like people. But for some reason he seemed to like us, and hopefully it was because of our warm personalities good looks and not because we smelled like a fellow goat. As much fun as we had with the goat that day the air in the vicinity of Mr. Billy and in the vicinity of the rock harvesters was not as fresh as it usually is in the great outdoors.

Baaaaa!

A winter Visitor

Keep your eyes open and you might see our National Emblem in Fairfield Glade. Yes, there is a beautiful American Bald Eagle visiting Fairfield Glade this winter.

I am a little surprised… not to see one in Tennessee, but because this Bald Eagle seems to be hanging around Fairfield Glade, not just passing through. Bald Eagles both nest year round and migrate in the winter in Tennessee. They migrate from the north to find open water and more fish. But they usually like two things…very large bodies of water and lack of human activity. We have bodies of water in Fairfield Glade but they aren’t large by eagle standards and all of our lakes are surrounded by houses and humans. We are extremely lucky and privileged to have such a wonderful visitor. The beautiful picture here was taken by Linda Sisco on Lake Dartmoor from her kitchen window. But I have heard from other Glade residents that the magnificent bird was also seen on Lake St. George and even tiny Spring Lake. Linda and her husband have seen the eagle around this year since late November. One was here last year also…probably the same one.

As you know, our National Bird was nearly extinct in the early 1960’s. Loss of habitat, shooting, and especially DDT (a pesticide) was blamed for reducing the number of Bald Eagles to only around 400 nesting pairs in the continental U.S. They have since recovered to about 10,000 nesting pairs in the lower 48 states and they were removed from the “Threatened and Endangered Species List” about 6 months ago. Even so, they are still highly protected by law. You could go to jail for even possessing one Bald Eagle feather. The Bald Eagle only lives in North America, with the majority found from Alaska to the northwest U.S.; but they are also found in all states except Hawaii, especially along both coasts. The total population is around 70,000 birds today. What a remarkable and wonderful recovery!

If you want to see Fairfield Glade’s Bald Eagle (I am guessing there is only one here at this time) here are some ideas. First, whatever you do, don’t get too close…eagles are very sensitive to human activity and are easily disturbed….you may scare it out of the county so no one can see it. Viewing from a car or a house is the best way to not disturb the eagle. While fly fishing in Oklahoma a few years ago a little 10 year old boy told me that looking for “trash in the trees” is how to spot eagles. What looks like a white plastic bag or a white piece of paper in a tree could be the white head or tail of a mature eagle (young eagles don’t get the white head and tail until about 5 years of age). Look in the tall trees near the lakes. Bald Eagles perch in the tallest trees to search for fish swimming or floating in the water. I have seen them in Colorado along a trout stream where each eagle had its own favorite tree. They eat fish almost exclusively but will eat ducks, rabbits, turtles, or even carrion at times. Look for a very large bird. Bald Eagles are 3 feet tall and have a wingspan of 6-8 feet. By contrast, a large crow has a 3 foot wingspan.

It is doubtful that “our” Bald Eagle will nest here since our lakes are small, but about 40 eagle pairs do nest in Tennessee. If you really want to see lots of Bald Eagles visit Reelfoot Lake in far northwest Tennessee. About 200 Bald Eagles visit there in the winter and about 10 pairs stay and nest there each year. There are eagle tours and festivities at Reelfoot Lake until the first weekend in March.

Bald Eagles live to about 30 years in the wild so if we treat this one with the respect and dignity that it deserves maybe he/she will visit FFG every year. What a nice winter treat for us! Thanks to Linda Sisco for getting a great picture for all of us to see.

Wild Pigs

Wild pigs in the Glade! So what are these things and what the heck are they doing here? It is an interesting story (at least to me).

What are these things? All of the wild pigs today are either 1-Eurasian (Russian) wild boars, 2-domestic pigs that have become feral, or 3-hybrids of the two. Russian boars, wild pigs, razorbacks, feral hogs….they are all the same species. In this article I may call them any these things, but remember they are basically all the same animal. They can be black, brown, red, white, spotted or striped. They can grow to several hundred pounds, but most average just a little over a hundred pounds and stand up to 3 feet tall at the shoulder. Most experts agree that there are probably few, if any, pure Russian wild boars left…they have all interbred with feral hogs. The majority of the bloodlines are from domestic pigs gone wild. But make no mistake about it…they don’t resemble the fat pink pig you saw at the county fair. These wild guys have adapted to a life on the run. I encountered two in Arkansas once while fly fishing and when they saw me they ran away and jumped logs as gracefully as a deer. By the way, I took the picture here of a stuffed wild pig at the Tennessee Wildlife Management Agency (TWMA) office in Crossville.

How did wild pigs get to Fairfield Glade? Pigs are not native to North America. Like House Sparrows and Starlings they are imports. They were probably first brought to America by the Spanish explorer DeSoto in about 1539. Later, in the early 1900’s, Eurasian Wild Boars were imported into North Carolina and some other states for hunting in fenced hunting preserves. In the many years since then both domestic pigs and Russian Boars either escaped or were allowed to run wild and they established free-ranging wild populations. Early settlers allowed their pigs to forage freely in the woods and then they rounded them up from time to time to ear mark them or to butcher them. Not all returned to the farm on cue. According to Jim Zimmerman at the TWRA, wild pigs were released in Catoosa Wildlife Management Area for hunting years ago, but probably not since the 1950’s. It is interesting that in Tennessee there is a technical difference (not a physical difference) between a wild boar and a feral hog. Officially, a “wild boar” is any pig on Catoosa or one of a couple of other Wildlife Management Areas (WMA). If that same “wild boar” steps over the line onto private property it is now technically considered a “feral hog” with an open hunting season and no limits on the number that you may shoot. Theoretically, with a little corn and a little “here piggy piggy” you could entice one out of Catoosa and have him for lunch. I hear that they are very tasty.

Are they dangerous? I went to some experts for this question. I talked to Jim Zimmerman and Mark Lipner at TWRA as well as a ranger in the GSMNP. All said that wild pigs will run from humans; they will not attack. Now if you pick up a piglet or corner an adult pig with no way to escape you could get bitten or slashed with their razor sharp tusks. But then the same might happen with your neighbor’s poodle. So don’t be worried about any crazy stories of wild boar attacks.

Are there many around? Wild pig populations are growing…quickly. Fifteen years ago it was estimated that there were 1-2 million in the U.S. Now the estimate is over 4 million. They are found in 40 states and expanding. In Tennessee they are especially a big problem in the Smokies where they compete with native deer and bear for available food. There are plenty on the Cumberland Plateau, particularly in and surrounding Catoosa WMA.

What do they eat? Pigs are omnivorous; they will eat anything, including acorns, berries, fruit, roots, worms, grubs, beetles, and agricultural crops. They love corn and cause tremendous damage where crops are grown. They will even eat ground nesting birds and fawns. Golfers in Fairfield Glade have seen the traps for pigs on Heatherhurst. Steve Kraft, FFG head golf pro, said the pigs sometimes tear up the fairways rooting for grubs. They recently have done some damage on the Brae course on holes 15 & 16.

How can you spot some? You will have a difficult time seeing any wild pigs because they avoid humans and they often come out only at dusk, dawn, or at night. Although their eyesight isn’t great, their hearing, and especially their sense of smell, is excellent. Wild pigs almost always sense you and are gone without you even knowing that they were anywhere near. Your best chances to spot wild pigs is in wet areas around creeks. Mark Lipner at TWRA said that the Otter Creek drainage area is as good an area as any to look for pigs or pig signs.

What does all of this mean to you? Unless wild pigs tear up your lawn or dine on your favorite hole on Heatherhurst you probably won’t run into any pig issues. Although it hasn’t been a problem yet, a bigger threat could be the transmission of a couple of diseases to domestic livestock. Going forward, more effective wild pig control methods will be needed or we will begin to see effects. I am sure you will hear more about feral hogs in the future. In the meantime wild pigs are just another part of the nature around us here in Fairfield Glade. Enjoy it!

Time for Bird Feeding

It is that time of year to start filling up the bird feeders again.

There is some difference of opinion about rather feeding birds hurts or helps them. Those against feeding claim that birds become dependent on humans for food and then have trouble fending for themselves if the feeding stops. But the studies that I have read say that the birds either go to other feeders or easily go back to finding food themselves if no feeders are available. We know that birds can survive just fine without human help….heck they have done it for millions of years. In my view, bird feeding is mainly for the enjoyment that it gives us humans….and it provides plenty of that.

But we do create some problems by putting up feeders. Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks cruise by my feeder from time to time looking for a nice juicy songbird for dinner. And feral cats can make a fine living hanging around under a feeder. You can’t do much about the occasional hawk, but most of us have found various ways to scare the feral cats away.

Bird seed is a favorite food of a range of animals besides birds. As you all know, squirrels, raccoons, deer, and even bears, love birdseed. A neighbor told me of someone in another state that used to put birdseed, cracked corn and apples slices out each night to feed the local deer. Each night the deer would come and they would always eat the birdseed first, before either the corn or the apples.

I have had pretty good luck against squirrels and raccoons by mounting my bird feeders on a six foot freestanding pole with a two foot predator guard on the pole. This setup must be at least six feet from trees and decks to keep the squirrels from leaping across. You can make your own predator guards out of 36 x 8 inch stovepipe or buy them at Birds Unlimited in Knoxville.

You’ll get the biggest variety of birds if you have a variety of feeders and food. In addition to the regular hanging feeders you may want to try, tray feeders, ground feeders and suet feeders to attract more birds.

For the type of birdseed, almost all the experts say that black oil sunflower seeds are number one. Striped sunflower seeds are ok, but not as good as the black ones. Safflower seed is a white seed that birds like but squirrels hate. Niger is that tiny black “thistle” seed that Goldfinches love. Niger takes a special feeder or Lowe’s sells it in a “sock” that you can hang. I’ve read that white millet is good, but most birds don’t eat red millet.

Watch out for low-priced and mixed seed. These often contain lots of “filler” seed like milo, red millet, wheat, or oats that most birds just scatter on the ground and don’t eat.

And don’t forget the insect eating birds like Bluebirds and Woodpeckers. We feed Bluebirds mealworms and cut up raisins and cranberries all winter. Woodpeckers come to suet and peanut feeders, but so will many other birds.

So, does feeding birds hurt or help? I haven’t read anything that convinces me that it hurts the birds, but it sure provides lots of enjoyment for us humans. Load up those feeders, winter is coming!

Insect Horror Movie!

The plot and the characters are in place for a terrific new insect horror film. The ads would read like this…“Giant caterpillerzilla threatens food supply until air force saves the day with new deadly smart bombs…and it’s all going on in your backyard.”

Actually it is not a movie, and it is nothing special, it is just an everyday happening in nature. The following is a true story.

If you have ever grown tomatoes you are probably aware of those giant green caterpillars called Tomato Hornworms. These things are as big as your thumb and they look like they could swallow a finger, but their green camouflage color make them extremely difficult to see on a tomato plant. There are three ways to spot them. First, if your tomatoes are in a container on a deck (like mine) you might see the little black droppings of the caterpillar on the deck. That is your clue that a Tomato Hornworm is in the vicinity. Another way to find them is to notice that the leaves are missing from a whole stem on your tomato plant. In these two cases you can then step back and carefully search the plant for the Hornworm. The third way to find a Tomato Hornworm is the scary way. You are reaching for a tomato and you notice a very, very large, green, caterpillar with a dangerous looking spine on its backside about an inch from your fingers. When you spot them this way it is sure to jolt you to attention in a hurry.

The Tomato Hornworm is the caterpillar form of a moth called a Hawk Moth. The moth lays its eggs on tomato plants and the larva (caterpillar) eats leaves voraciously and grows quickly to 3 or 4 inches long and ½ inch or more thick. A couple of them will strip a tomato plant of all its leaves if you don’t remove them. I usually remove them with a pair of pliers and if you have had them you know that they don’t let go easily.

So that is the first part of the story of the big scary caterpillar and the threat to your tomatoes. But the rest of the story is the interesting part and the gory part of this nature documentary.

There is a tiny ½ inch wasp called a Brachnid Wasp that we probably never notice, that preys on the Tomato Hornworms. Their smart bomb method is devious and deadly. The wasp locates a Hornworm and injects it under the skin with numerous eggs. The eggs hatch in a couple of days into little wasp larva like tiny maggots. The larva feed on the caterpillar from the inside. They don’t kill the caterpillar yet, they just cause it to stop feeding. However, I am sure that the caterpillar is not feeling too frisky at this point. In a few days the larva bore out and form cocoons on the outside of the caterpillar. The picture in this article shows a Tomato Hornworm caterpillar covered with these tiny cocoons. In a few more days the young wasps hatch and go on their way looking for more Tomato Hornworms to prey on. The air force to the rescue! The host caterpillar dies without causing any more damage to your tomatoes.

It is estimated that by late summer that 90% of all Tomato Hornworms are parasitized by the tiny Brachnid Wasps. This is natural insect control by another insect. This is not a unique case; there are a number of types of wasps that parasitize other insects or spiders in this way.

So let nature help. If you see one of those scary Tomato Hornworms covered with tiny football shaped white cocoons let it be. The Hornworm won’t be feeding any more and if you let the wasps hatch there will be that many more of your tiny wasp buddies helping to control a common garden pest.

Nature can be scary, exciting, interesting, fun, and kind of gory at times…and it is happening in your backyard.

Snunks!

Crossin' the highway late last night

He shoulda looked left and he shoulda looked right
He didn't see the station wagon car
The skunk got squashed and there you are!

You got yer dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high Heaven!

Remember that song “Dead Skunk” by Loudon Wainwright III? Some days it seems like he wrote it about Fairfield Glade.

I always thought that skunks were as dumb as armadillos in Texas for getting flattened as often as they do. You don’t see fox, coyotes, bobcats, or other mammals dead on the road very often. But I recently found out why so many skunks get squashed. Their eyesight is not clear beyond about 10 feet so they just never see the cars coming. Their hearing and sense of smell are sharp but that doesn’t help them much on the highway.

Growing up, we always called February “skunk month” because that is their breeding season and when they are most active…except when they are inactive on the road. But I have been seeing (and smelling) dead skunks all summer around here. Things will slow down in the colder months, because although skunks don’t truly hibernate, they do become much less active

Everyone seems to be afraid of skunks because of their potent chemical protection. But not many of us can think of a human that got sprayed by a skunk. Dogs are a different story. A friend’s slow learning dog has been nailed three separate times. The reason is that skunks spray in self defense so unless you run up and attempt to grab one you probably won’t get sprayed. By the way, their spraying range is only about 15 feet, so you conceivably could impress your neighbors by agitating a skunk from 20 feet away.

A few months ago I was hiking on the Cumberland Trail and a movement next to me caught my eye. Within 12 inches of my foot, walking right beside me was a skunk. I jumped 3 feet but the skunk just ambled along. Only when I kept approaching him to get a picture did he stop, stamp his feet as a warning and eventually do a handstand on his front feet to warn me prior to firing. I took the hint and backed off and everyone was cool…no chemicals were launched.

There are two kinds of skunks in Tennessee, Striped Skunks and Spotted Skunks. I have only seen the more common striped ones around here. Skunks are related to weasels, mink, otters, wolverines, etc. All of these mammals have strong scent glands but none are as potent or as specialized as skunks.

Up to 70% of a skunk’s diet is insects, but they will also eat lizards, snakes, birds, or even garbage if you put it out the night before. Those little cone shaped holes in your lawn or mulch are probably from skunks digging out grubs. Hey, they are neat, they work at night when you are sleeping, they do the job, and there is no charge…what more could you ask for?

So, look outside before letting the dog out at night and try to miss them on the highway and we should be able to appreciate and enjoy skunks just a little bit more. They are just another part of the big picture of nature around us.

Snakes in the Glade

Just about everyone you know (maybe you are included) seems to be afraid of snakes. Some people are irrationally afraid. I guess it is because snakes are that odd long and skinny shape and maybe because some are venomous.

Like most things in nature, snakes are beneficial to us and our environment. They eat rodents, insects, frogs and toads among other things. But even I have to admit that birds eat those things too, and birds are much warmer and fuzzier than snakes.

There are over 30 different kinds of snakes in Tennessee, but there are only 2 venomous kinds found here on the Cumberland Plateau….Timber Rattlesnakes and Copperheads. Regardless of what someone told you, there are no Water Moccasins (sometimes called Cottonmouths) in this part of Tennessee. Yet it seems that everyone who sees a snake claims that it was a Copperhead, Rattlesnake or Water Moccasin. The odds are that it was one of the other 30 non-venomous kinds of snakes. Water snakes, Milk Snakes, Corn Snakes, Garter Snakes, and even Black Snakes are killed by well meaning folks mistaking them for venomous snakes. By the way, it is illegal in Tennessee to kill, harm, or even possess any native snake, venomous or not.

Here is some information about our two venomous snakes and how to avoid trouble with them.

Copperheads can grow to 3½ feet long but most that you will see are smaller. I have seen several around Fairfield Glade…mostly on the roads...mostly dead. The one in the picture to the left was in my neighbor's garage on an eye-level shelf. That will give you a jolt!

One interesting fact is that baby Copperheads have bright yellow tips of their tails...cute! Copperheads are definitely venomous but almost never deadly because of their relatively small size, small amount of venom, less toxic venom and small fangs. It is estimated that in 50% of Copperhead bites no venom is injected. I have read that Copperhead bites are almost never even treated with anti-venom even though it is available.

Timber Rattlesnakes can grow to 5 feet or more but most are 3-4 feet long. They have bigger and more of everything a Copperhead has including more toxic venom. We came across this rattlesnake on a hike in northern Tennessee. He was very calm and just wanted to be left alone.

Rattlesnake bites can be serious, but once again, Timber Rattlesnake bites are rarely fatal. In Tennessee only 7 people have died from snakebite in the last 40 years. In fact, only 12-15 people in the whole U.S. die each year from snakebite (most of those from bigger or more toxic rattlesnakes than we have here). Twice as many people die from bee stings and over 100 people from lightning strikes each year.

Timber Rattlesnakes are not very common around here, but they are here. My next door neighbor Harold found one hiding under a bag of mulch under his deck recently. After a few pictures he herded his visitor back down into the woods making both feel more comfortable.

There are a couple of things you can do to avoid being on the wrong end of a venomous snake. First, most snakebites involve either stepping on a snake or reaching where they are hiding. In the summer, snakes are most active when it is cooler, so watch where you walk, especially at night, even on roads. Snakes are especially active on warm humid nights or after a rain. In the spring and fall they are more active during the day. Don’t reach where you can’t see, like in piles of rocks or bricks or cement blocks, or in wood piles or under boards. If you have a wood pile, just always assume that there is a snake in there.

I have seen Milk Snakes, Black Rat Snakes, Northern Water Snakes, Black Racers, Worm Snakes, Copperheads and Rattlesnakes since I moved here. I always like to see snakes just because they are another interesting part of the nature around us. But at the same time I watch where I walk and where I reach.

So respect snakes and be aware that they are around here….but don’t fear them. Heck, you don’t fear Buicks and you have a much greater chance of getting injured with a Buick on Peavine than you do of tangling with a venomous snake.