You Gotta love Bluebirds

You gotta love bluebirds. They are cute, colorful, friendly, and more tolerant of us crazy humans than most birds. This is the time of year that they are beginning to nest in Tennessee. Now is the time to act if you want to attract them to your yard. I can’t think of a more fun or rewarding bird to have around.

Bluebirds are very tolerant of people. If you have bluebirds nesting in a nest box in your yard you will be able to watch them carry materials to the box to build a nest, catch insects in your lawn, feed the babies, and watch the babies grow up and leave the nest. You can open the box and look in anytime until the 12^th day after hatching without causing any problems or scaring them away. What other wild animal can provide all of this enjoyment?

Here are three quick stories to give you encouragement. At age 30 I had never seen a bluebird in my life in Pennsylvania. On a whim, my dad built some bluebird boxes and that first summer he had bluebirds nesting in several boxes. Second story…while at my daughter’s house in Ohio about 10 years ago at Christmas time, I saw some bluebirds. I built her two bluebird boxes and she has raised bluebird babies almost every year since. Third story…a month ago I sent a bluebird box to a friend in Texas. He put up the box and within a week he had bluebirds nesting in it. I can’t guarantee you that success, but I can guarantee that if you don’t put a bluebird box in you yard you almost certainly won’t get bluebirds.

Here is how to attract bluebirds to your yard.

1. Get some information. I recommend a small booklet called “Enjoying Bluebirds More” available at Lowes or on line through Bird Watches Digest. A great free brochure called “Bluebirds, A Tennessee Tradition” is available at the TWRA (Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency) office near Centennial Park in Crossville.
2. Build or buy an approved bluebird nest box. Both of the publications listed above have next box plans. Don’t buy a cheap non-approved box.
3. Keep in mind that bluebirds favor open areas like lawns or fields with small trees to perch on. If your lot is completely heavily wooded it might not attract bluebirds.
4. Be patient. If you don’t get bluebirds the first nesting of the year you might get them the 2^nd. If not this year, then maybe next.

Nature can be fun, relaxing and very enjoyable. Attracting bluebirds to your yard is like having a pet without all the expense and cleanup. Bluebirds are also very beneficial since they eat many insects. Try it. Now is the time. They are looking for places to nest as you read this. Good luck.

Nature's Brightest Colors

Some of the most colorful, most beautiful pictures that I have taken in nature were taken this time of year. With the right timing and circumstances you can see those colors too.

Sunrises and sunsets seem their brightest on a cold winter’s morning or evening. Beautiful orange and red sunrises and sunsets are caused by dust particles scattering the sunlight into its composite colors. Tiny particles in the air usually create orange colors. Larger particles create reds, due to the way the light bends and scatters. If you live in a large city or industrial area you are most likely to see red sunsets because pollution particles are larger. We mostly see orange around here. You don’t see the blues and violets in sunrises or sunsets because those shorter wavelength colors get scattered. I get more pictures of sunrises because my view to the east is unobstructed by houses. But, supposedly, beautiful sunsets are more common than sunrises because there is more dust in the air at the end of the day than at the beginning. Clouds above the horizon, but not blocking the sun, reflect the colors and make the scene more dramatic.

Rainbows. There is nothing like a beautiful rainbow to raise your spirits and get everyone excited. We have all seen rainbows, and here are some facts to help you spot more.

Rainbows are formed when water droplets (rain) reflect and bend regular sunlight into the multiple colors that form all light. When the colors are blended together you see normal light. But when rain reflects and refracts the light you can see the separate colors. To see a rainbow the sun must be at your back and the rain in front of you. It needs to be raining in one part of the sky and the sun needs to be shining in another part. Most rainbows happen in the afternoon towards the east. The lower the sun is in the sky, the higher the rainbow. That is a law of physics. Rare double rainbows happen when conditions are just right and the light is reflected twice by the water droplets. The secondary rainbow will be just above the primary rainbow, and, the colors will be reversed.

Just about every culture and religion has legends and myths about rainbows. To some cultures, a rainbow signifies war. To others it is peace or a bridge to heaven. One Bulgarian legend says that if a person passes under a rainbow that their thinking will change gender. In other words, a man will start thinking like a woman…now that is a scary thought. And, by the way, the pot of gold theory doesn’t really work, I tried it.

One last bright beautiful color this time of year that I can’t fail to mention is blue. Male bluebirds are about as bright blue right now as they will be all year. If you have them around you know what I mean.

Usually we think of winter as being dull, grey, brown, and pretty colorless. But winter can have some of the most vivid colors of the year. Watch for them. Your winter will be brighter.

Winter sunrises

Winter seems to be a great time to see beautiful sunrises here in Eastern Tennessee. Here are a couple of recent ones.




All of these pictures were taken from my back deck looking east at around 6:30 am CST.

Cheap Fun!

Are you looking for some winter fun that is low cost, extremely satisfying, and even stress reducing? I have a solution for you and all the information to get you started.

You don’t need a TV to bring that nature show into your living room. Just hang a bird feeder or two outside your window and you will bring nature to you. I have about 20 different kinds of birds outside my kitchen window every day. Watching the little guys is fun, interesting, educational, relaxing, and sometimes even funny.

Here is a list of the most frequent birds that I have seen at my feeders, and the ones that you can probably expect to see too (in order of quantity). Goldfinches, doves, Bluebirds, woodpeckers (Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied, Red-headed, Northern Flicker, Pileated, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker), Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, White-breasted Nuthatches, Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Carolina wrens. There are more; those are just the most common visitors to birdfeeders.

If you would like to see some of these guys outside your window, here are my recommendations to get started. Even if you are already feeding birds, some of these suggestions might help.

You will get the largest variety of birds by using several different types of feeders. Ground feeders attract birds that like to eat on the ground like Doves, Juncos, Cardinals and Carolina Chickadees. Hanging feeders and platform feeders are preferred by Titmice, Chickadees, and others. For goldfinches you will want special nyjer seed feeders. Bluebirds, woodpeckers, and Titmice come to suet feeders. Bluebirds really love live mealworms on a tray feeder on your deck. Watch out for low-priced 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. You can’t go wrong with Black Oil Sunflower seeds.

Squirrels a problem? I have solved that problem completely. All of my feeders are on poles with predator guards and beyond jumping distance from trees. I have plenty of squirrels near my house but never a one in any feeder. You can feed squirrels corn at a separate location if that is your thing.

If you put seed on the ground or on a low platform feeder you will get an added bonus (or problem) depending on your outlook. I scatter a little seed on the ground for the ground feeding birds. The bonus for me is at night I have seen raccoons, skunks, and possums in my backyard looking for whatever the birds didn’t get. Deer will eat birdseed too.

Get a good bird book. I like Birds of Tennessee Field Guide or Stokes Field Guide to Birds – Eastern Region. Both have great pictures instead of just drawings.

Birds really don’t need us to feed them to survive the winter, but there are some studies that say the winter survival rate is slightly higher when bird feeders are available. My theory is that bird feeding is more important to our winter survival rate. With bird feeding you will ward off cabin fever, golf withdrawal syndrome, spousal overdose, and general malaise. Nature has a way of soothing all of those ills – and you can’t beat the cost.

Neighbor with a mink coat

If you live here in Tennessee you just may have a neighbor with a mink coat and you didn’t even know it. That neighbor is a real mink.

Most people don’t know that wild mink live right here in Eastern Tennessee. If you keep your eyes open and know where to look you just might see one.

Mink are probably best known for the coats that they are made into. These days all mink coats are made from farm raised animals which have been bred to have even better fur than their wild relatives. Mink coats have lost some favor in the past several years due to some misguided environmentalists actually throwing paint on people wearing mink coats to protest the killing of the animals. When I lived in Texas I belonged to the Dallas Ski Club and just about every year we travelled to Vail Colorado to ski. I never knew so many Texans owned mink coats until we went to Vail where they could show off and look like movie stars in their mink coats after skiing. The rest of the year the coats were in the closet.

Mink are native to North America and they are found all over the U.S. and Canada except the extreme southwest. Like everywhere else, here in Tennessee they are usually found around water, especially small brushy streams. They normally hunt small mammals, fish, frogs, crawfish, etc. at night, but they can sometimes be seen during the day. I have seen them twice in small streams along the golf courses in Fairfield Glade. Usually they are gone in a flash, but once my wife and I saw one crossing the roadway near a lake at night. We stopped the car and Mr. Mink walked up beside the car and looked up into the open window at my wife before going on his way.

Mink are a beautiful dark chestnut brown all over except for often a white patch under their chin. They are about 2 feet long including their 8 inch tail. Their smaller cousin, the long-tailed weasel which also lives here, and can be distinguished by their full yellowish underbody. And, like their other cousin, skunks, mink have powerful scent glands. The smell is similar but the mink doesn’t spray like a skunk.

We are really fortunate to have so many different kinds of wildlife in our area. Mink are just one more example of the diverse wild area that we live in. Anytime you are near water, especially small streams, watch for mink. They are one of our most beautiful animals, and most people don’t even know they are here.

P.S. I wish I could say that I took the picture of the mink above, but I didn't. Even though I have seen three within a few miles of my house, I never had my camera with me when I did. Plus, even if I did, the little buggers don't usually sit still long enough for me to focus and shoot. This picture is courtesy of the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife and Parks.

Cranes overhead

Have you heard an eerie sound lately and couldn’t quite figure out what it was or where it was coming from. No, I am not talking about your spouse; I am talking about a sound coming from outside.

The Sandhill Cranes have been migrating the past several weeks over Tennessee. Sandhill Cranes call almost constantly as they fly and it is a sound like no other. Some of the best sounds in nature are coyotes and wolves howling, elk bugling, and to me, Sandhill Cranes calling in flight. Canada Geese also call in flight, but Canada Geese sound like a pack of barking beagles. Not bad, but not nearly as cool as the sound of Sandhill Cranes. Their sound has been described as a low rattling trumpeting, or the trilling of an “R” that is made in some languages.

When I heard Sandhill Cranes the first fall that I moved here, I had no idea what it was. The problem was compounded because I was in a valley and the cranes were over the hill. I could hear their eerie call but couldn’t see anything. Many times they fly very high or even after dark so you often have to look hard to spot them. They will be in a “V” formation, sometimes with 50 or more birds.

Not everyone is as lucky as we are here in Eastern Tennessee. We are right on one of the migration paths of these cranes. The cranes that fly over Tennessee are ones that breed and nest in the Great Lakes region. They fly over Tennessee on their way to winter in Georgia or Florida. In fact, as many as 40,000 cranes actually stop and rest in Tennessee before continuing south. The big stopping area is at the Hiwassee Refuge near Birchwood Tennessee in Meigs County. In past years there has been a big Crane Festival at the refuge in January, but budget cuts have curtailed the festival this year. However, you can still visit the refuge to see the cranes. Supplemental feeding of corn has caused more and more cranes to stop at the Hiwassee Refuge each year. But then, the cranes were so well fed at the refuge that many stayed and skipped the rest of the trip to Florida. It’s kind of like many of us who like Tennessee so much that we don’t feel the need to go to Florida for the winter.

If you visit the Hiwassee Refuge you won’t just see tens of thousands of Sandhill Cranes, in case that isn’t enough for you; there are other birds to see as well. When I was there last January, many birders had their spotting scopes set up to see Snow Geese, eagles, ducks, and other birds. If you are really lucky you might even see a couple of the rare Whooping Cranes that pass through the Hiwassee Refuge also. But the Sandhill Cranes are the big attraction. You can’t miss them…they are 4 to 5 feet high and the adults have red crowns on their heads. These are big birds with 6-7 foot wingspans, even though they only weigh about 12 pounds.

There may still be flocks going over our area in the next couple of weeks, but don’t worry if you missed the beautiful eerie sound of the cranes this fall. They will be flying over Tennessee again next spring on their way up north. You will hear them before you see them – always. When you hear them, look up, there are cranes overhead. Just listen! You will hear one of the best sounds in nature.

Winter

It’s getting cold outside, it will soon be dark at 4 o’clock, everything is brown and grey….Great! Just the way I like it. I love winter.

Pessimists look at the dark side of winter…I look at all the positives.

Winter in most of the country is a time when plants and animals slow down, shut down or head down south. A lot of us head south also. Not me. I love winter.

First of all, we live in a great part of the country with 4 distinct seasons. We get the best of everything…beautiful springs and falls with temperatures just about perfect, and summers that aren’t too hot or humid, and winters that give us a nice change, but aren’t too long or snowy. You have to admit that you don’t hold many fond memories of those long Ohio or Pennsylvania winters or Florida summers. Heck, the winters here are so mild that most of us play golf all winter long.

I love the winter season. With the leaves gone so are the ticks, chiggers and snakes. I can hike anywhere in the woods without spraying down with nasty chemicals or watching where I step. In winter you can see things in the woods that summer vegetation hides, such as rock caves, animal signs, long vistas, and the way home.

The number one key to enjoying winter outdoors is dressing for the weather and dressing in layers. Last week 4 of us hiked 11 miles in the Smoky Mountains through several thousand feet of elevation changes. Starting out it was below freezing so we were bundled up. After 15 minutes we were sweating and shedding hats, gloves, and clothes. By wearing synthetics and not cotton we dried quickly and weren’t cold and damp even though it got colder as we hiked higher. The last 3 miles on the top of the mountain we hiked through snow, so we put gloves, hats, and jackets back on. The same plan works for walking or golfing around here…layer up, layer down, as needed. Start out dressing colder than you think you should because you’ll heat up quickly when walking or hiking.

I love snow. I don’t mean the two feet close down the roads kind. I mean the three inches animal tracks in the woods kind. The sparkling white on tree branches, picture perfect kind. The time for a fire in the fireplace kind. When it snows I am the first one out in the morning looking for tracks in the snow or pictures to take. The last two years we haven’t had quite enough snow. I am hoping for a little more this year…I won’t wish for too much, just the right amount. If we get fresh snow and a full moon look for me hiking around one of the golf course paths about 8 or 9 some night. I will look for you there too.

My neighbor Ed loves the winter air…me too! It feels fresher, denser, and cool. You get more oxygen per breath than you do with the hot summer air. Winter air is a bargain…more for your money. In these economic times you have to love a bargain.

The days are shorter in winter. The change back to standard time makes them seem even shorter yet. But most people waste a lot of good morning daylight. It is light before 6:30am these days…just get up early enough to take advantage of all the available light. Even though the days are shorter, we get fewer cloudy days here than in many parts of the country. The amount of sunshine in the winter is a mood changer. I seem to recall a winter in northern Pennsylvania not seeing the sun for 6 months…or so it seemed. Just a few years ago I spent 10 straight days in December in northern Indiana without seeing the sun once. That is when I looked on a map and found Tennessee. The winter sun here in Fairfield Glade keeps us warm and feeling good.

If you want to complain about winter don’t do it around me. I love winter here in Tennessee. Bundle up, get outside, and see things you can’t see in other seasons. Winter is great! Enjoy it!

Cedar Waxwings

I was playing golf last week with my neighbor Bob and he asked what the next nature article was going to be about. I told him I was thinking of writing about Cedar Waxwings. He said instead of that, why didn’t I write about whatever bird it is that is causing purple stains all over everything in his yard with their droppings. Bingo! They are one and the same!

When I was a youngster with one of my first bird books I always thought that Cedar Waxwings were the best looking birds in the book….never mind that I never even saw a live one until about 10 years ago. Cedar Waxwings are kind of a brownish gray color with a beautiful black mask edged in white. They have a crest on their head and small waxy red appendages on their secondary wing feathers (that gives them their name), and a bright yellow bottom edge of their tail. They are bigger than a sparrow and smaller than a robin…about the size of a bluebird, but slimmer. Females and males look the same. But the way to spot Cedar Waxwings is much easier than looking for colors and patterns. This time of year they fly in large flocks of 50-200 birds. They are usually high in the trees or on bushes with fruit. Look for a large active flock of birds moving from tree to tree. Chances are they are cedar waxwings.

I am not a birder, but distribution maps show that Eastern Tennessee might be about as far south as Cedar Waxwings nest; however they are mainly a northern bird and show up in East Tennessee about this time of year in large winter flocks. They range far and wide in search of fruit, so don’t expect a flock to hang around in one area all winter.

During the summer breeding and nesting season they will eat insects; often chasing them down in the air like flycatchers do. I have seen them do this in my yard just last week. But throughout the winter they mainly eat fruit…lots of it and all kinds. One cute trait of waxwings, although I haven’t witnessed it yet, is that sometimes a row of birds on a branch will pass a berry from bird to bird down to the end of the line for the last bird to eat. They eat all kinds of fruit, including berries from dogwood, cotoneaster, cherries, blackgum, juniper, and especially eastern red cedar. There are lots of blackgum trees in my area of Fairfield Glade and I suspect that it was the blackgum berries that were staining my neighbor’s yard. As you might guess, an animal that eats a lot of fruit might have a lot of droppings. In fact Waxwings eat so much fruit that they sometimes get drunk on fermented berries. If you see a small good-looking bird singing karaoke, it might be a drunken Cedar Waxwing.

Lots of birds fly south to get out of that cold northern weather. But remember, we are the south; so all of you Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other northern folks can watch for your northern buddies, the Cedar Waxwings, visiting for the winter. Look for a large flock of birds moving from tree to tree and purple stains on your driveway. Purple stains are a small price to pay for the chance to see one of our most beautiful birds.

Good Turtle or Bad Turtle?

A couple of months ago my friend Ray called to say that he had a very large turtle under a chair on his patio. A week later another friend, Mark, called to say that he had a nice picture of a turtle crossing the road in Crossville. In both cases these were Common Snapping Turtles, and probably both females. On land, these turtles often act like the nastiest characters that you would ever want to encounter. But, are they the bad turtles that many people think they are or are they really just good guys that are misunderstood?

Snapping turtles live up to 40 and they are large…up to 50 pounds or more. As the most widely distributed turtle in North America, they are found from Maine to Florida and from the East Coast to the Rocky Mountains. They live in ponds or slow moving water and rarely ever leave the water except to lay eggs. That is how I know that the turtles that Ray and Mark found were probably females. Snapping turtles like shallow water with muddy bottoms and lots of vegetation if possible….just like many of the ponds on our golf courses and our local lakes. Common snapping turtles have a close cousin called an Alligator snapping turtle that grows up to 150 pounds, but they are not found in eastern Tennessee.

Right now up north, snapping turtles are getting ready to hibernate for the winter. In cold climates they slow down their metabolism and bury in the mud under the water and ice to survive the winter. During hibernation they get all the oxygen they need through absorption through their skin without having to breathe. Around here they may hibernate for short times or not at all.

Many people don’t like snapping turtles for two reasons: first because when encountered on land snapping turtles are very aggressive, and second, because they eat fish (which many people like to catch for themselves). Here is some interesting information about their aggressiveness: In water snapping turtle are very non-aggressive…they will swim away and will not bite. Their aggressiveness on land is for self defense. I have read that even though they hiss and strike out with their formidable jaws, that they will usually not bite. Supposedly, they will close their jaws just before they reach you hand. I haven’t verified this and don’t intend to, but that is what I read about these guys. Their act is enough to keep me far away. By the way, in case you decide to check out the no-bite theory, their neck is about the same length as their shell so they can reach out a very long way.

Now, about the rumor that snapping turtles will clean out a lake of fish. Snapping turtles eat lots of stuff…mostly vegetation, but also crayfish, snails, worms, fish, carrion, and even small mammals or ducklings if they can catch them. All of the information that I can find says that the fish they eat are mainly slow, non-game fish and that snapping turtles actually benefit sport fishing by reducing the competing non-game fish populations. In any case, because snapping turtles are cold-blooded, they don’t need to eat nearly as much as mammals. Snapping turtles only eat about their own body weight in a full year. And if you think about it, snapping turtles have lived in balance with fish and ducks for millions of years and they haven’t wiped out any bass populations yet.

So are snapping turtle good or bad? You decide for yourself, but for me, I like to see them. Hey, we all moved to the country to be surrounded by the beauty of Tennessee. For me, a big old ugly snapping turtle is a beautiful part of nature.

Changing Leaves

We are lucky here in eastern Tennessee! We live in one of the best places in the U.S. to observe the beautiful fall colors of deciduous trees. Deciduous trees are those that lose their leaves each autumn and the eastern U.S. is the heart of the deciduous forest in this country. The Midwest, southwest, pacific and mountain states don’t have nearly the variety and quantity of colorful deciduous trees that we have between here and Maine.

You will hear people talk about leaf-peeper tours to the New England states, but don’t book that trip yet…Tennessee’s autumn show will rival anyone’s. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a prime leaf-lookers destination and October is the second most crowded month in the Park for that reason. The Cumberland Plateau isn’t far behind for autumn beauty.

As you probably remember from grade school, trees are very important for life on earth because they use photosynthesis to convert light and carbon dioxide to oxygen and sugar. The sugar feeds the tree and the oxygen supports life. Chlorophyll in the leaves enables the photosynthesis and gives the tree leaves their green color all summer long.

So then where in the heck do the brilliant reds, oranges and yellow colors come from? As the days become shorter in the fall and the trees prepare for winter, the green chlorophyll production stops and yellow and orange colors in the leaves become visible. Leftover sugars in the leaves produce the red and purple colors once the chlorophyll disappears. The colors were there all along, we just couldn’t see them because of the green chlorophyll.

The exact prime time for autumn leaf-looking varies each year due to several factors. It is not the temperature but rather the amount of daylight that triggers the changes in the leavers. However, the amount of rainfall and temperature also play a part. Warm sunny days, and cool, but not freezing, nights produce excellent fall colors. The best fall colors appear after a warm dry summer and early autumn rains; but, too much wet weather in late fall causes drab autumn colors. The right combinations produce the best autumn viewing.

Sourwood trees are usually the first to show their fall colors; oaks are the last. We have lots of both around here. The best red and orange colors usually come from red maples, sugar maples, sassafras, sumac, blackgum, sweetgum, and dogwood. Hickories, white oak, chestnut oak, and yellow-popular (tulip tree) have the best yellow colors. We have all of these trees in great abundance on the Cumberland Plateau.

The changing of the leaves starts up north and steadily moves south. Mid to late October is generally the prime viewing time in this area. There are maps on the internet updated daily with the progression of the autumn colors, but the Tennessee Forecast Information Line at 800-697-4200 can keep you up to date on the progression of the Tennessee autumn colors.

Lots of leaf-peepers travel hundreds of miles to view the autumn colors. Many travel to Maine or Pennsylvania or some other state. But we don’t need to go anywhere. Sit back and relax. We have front row seats for the best nature show of the year right here in Tennessee. We are lucky!

Beware, Scorpions !

When you think about scorpions (as I am sure you often do) you usually picture one of those old westerns set in a dry southwestern desert with a hapless cowboy waking up with a deadly scorpion slowly crawling across his forehead. Well, think again! You don’t have to go to Arizona to find scorpions. We have them right here in Fairfield Glade. The picture to the left is the surprise that I found in my house a month ago.

When I first moved to Texas 20 years ago I couldn’t wait to find my first live scorpion. One evening I was working late at the office, and as I was leaving I found a scorpion on the stairs near the parking garage. I scooped it up on a piece of paper and took it back into the office where there were just 2 friends still there. We decided to put Mr. Scorpion in an empty soda bottle so I could take him home. The little guy wouldn’t walk through the small opening on his own, so I brilliantly decided to roll him up in a piece of paper and create a tube through which I could then blow him into the bottle. After being careful to make sure he was on the far end of the tube, and being especially careful to not inhale, I blow-gunned him into the bottle. However, after looking into the bottle we didn’t see him and had no idea where the scorpion ended up. If you enjoy seeing three grown men dancing, spinning, dusting off, and screaming, you would have enjoyed seeing us that evening. Luckily there was no one left in the office to witness the spectacle and happily, after looking closer, we found our scorpion safely inside the bottle and all was calm again.

We didn’t need to panic like we did because the scorpions in Texas, as well as the ones here in Tennessee, aren’t deadly. In fact their sting is usually no more painful or dangerous than a bee sting. There are potentially deadly scorpions in Arizona and other parts of the world, but not in Tennessee.

There are two kinds of scorpions in Tennessee. The native one is the Plain Eastern Stripeless Scorpion. It is 1-2 inches long and reddish to dusty brown. They usually like moist areas under leaves or bark or rocks. Unfortunately, they also tend to find their way into our houses from time to time in search of crickets, ants, cockroaches, spiders, etc. The best way to keep scorpions out of your house is to eliminate the things that they eat from your house.

The other kind of scorpion in Tennessee is the same kind normally found in the southwest…The Striped Scorpion. They were “accidentally” introduced into Tennessee at some point. (It wasn’t me!) Both types look relatively similar, but don’t worry about telling them apart; the Striped Scorpions are no more dangerous than our native scorpions and I am not even sure we have them in Fairfield Glade.

There have been a few Plain Eastern Stripeless scorpions found in my neighborhood and quite a few more found a couple of blocks away, but I am guessing that most of you have never run across one, and probably won’t.

However, if you have had any scorpions in your house, walking around barefoot at night is the best way to find the next one. Almost all stings are a result of stepping on one. Scorpions are known to like to hide in dark moist places like shoes. I always shake out my shoes in the garage before inserting my foot, just out of habit. This is common practice in Texas.

Scorpions normally only come out at night, and one really cool thing about them is that they all glow iridescent green under a blacklight (UV light). If you had a portable blacklight and walked around a cowboy camp at night, you could easily spot green glowing scorpions crawling across someone’s forehead before it stung them. Have fun spotting scorpions and save lives at the same time…what a great combination!

Hornets

This is the season for hornets and wasps and there are several kinds keeping us edgy this time of year. A couple of them are kind of interesting and one is really cool.

The reason that there are so many wasps and hornets in August and September is due to the uniqueness of their life cycle. The hundreds of hornets in a nest all die in the fall, and only newly fertilized queens survive the winter. In the spring, each surviving queen starts her own colony, and as the summer goes on the nests grow, until they reach peak population about this time each year.

During the spring and summer, wasps and hornets are meat eaters and feed on insects like flies, bees, and even grasshoppers. In fact, because they kill so many other insects, hornets are protected in Germany and they are illegal to kill there. If that were the case here most of you would be in jail. But, their diet changes in late summer to nectar, sugar, and fruit, and that is usually when they begin getting into trouble with us at picnics and at hummingbird feeders.

Here is a rundown on the most common types of wasps and hornets that you are most likely to encounter here in Tennessee.

Paper Wasps. This is the black or reddish brown wasp that builds a little nest on a small stalk usually under your roof overhang or under your deck. They are not too aggressive but their sting is supposedly the most powerful of the other wasps or hornets mentioned here. There are usually only a few individuals per nest.

Bald-faced Hornets. These are the guys that build that grey football sized paper nest on a tree branch or on your house. They are non-aggressive unless you get too close to their nest and with several hundred occupants you don’t want to get too close. I have read that when they attack they like to go straight for your face, but I haven’t personally verified if that is true. If you have a personal experience, let me know.

Yellow Jackets. These are the most aggressive wasps and I can attest to that. I have been stung twice in two weeks while minding my own business. Several fellow hikers have been stung too. Yellow jackets nest in the ground or in hollow trees and they defend their nest viciously. Apparently, I got too close to an unseen nest. Like all wasps, Yellow jackets and other wasps can sting repeatedly (unlike honey bees) because their barbless stinger can be extracted and used again and again. If you are stung, get away from their nest…fast!

European Hornets. These look almost exactly like Yellow Jackets except they are much bigger…about 1 ½ inches compared to the Yellow Jackets 5/8 inch. These were immigrants from Europe about 1840 and they have spread over most of the Eastern U.S. and beyond. They first reached Tennessee in 1973. European Hornets are normally not aggressive unless they are defending their nest (usually in a hollow tree but sometimes in your attic). The unique thing about these guys is that they sometimes hunt at night as well as during the day and they also are attracted to lights. Two of my neighbors have European Hornets bombarding their windows every evening. An electric bug zapper does an unbelievable job on them.

Cicada Killers. These are cool. They are about the same size as the European hornets but not as bright yellow. They appear this time of year about the same time as the annual “dog days” cicadas. This is the cool part: The female cicada killer stings and paralyzes a cicada. Then she has to drag her heavy prey up a tree to get enough elevation to fly with the heavy cicada to her underground den. There she lays an egg on the alive but paralyzed cicada so that the wasp larva will have a fresh and ready food supply. It is a tough world out there; being an insect isn’t for sissies.

All of these hornets and wasps pack a pretty good sting but for most people it just hurts for a few minutes and then swells and itches for a few days. But about 5% of individuals are highly allergic to insect stings and one sting could be life threatening. If you are one of them, you know what an Epi-pen (epinephrine syringe) is, and probably have one. If you have had a severe reaction to a sting in the past, you better talk to your doctor before the next sting. For the rest of us, we will just be on high alert and a little edgy until the cooler weather comes and the stinging insects take a break until next year.

Goldfinches in the Garden

We have Goldfinches in our garden and my wife isn’t happy. Sure, these little guys are colorful and cute but it is their diet that is causing problems around here.

When I was growing up we used to call these birds Wild Canaries but at some point the name was either changed or we just found out that officially they are American Goldfinches. They are a migratory bird further north but here in Tennessee they stay year round. Goldfinches like humans because we clear forests into fields and gardens and that is where these birds thrive.

The male goldfinches are bright yellow with black wings and a black cap in the summer breeding season. The rest of the year they are drab olive very similar to the females.

Goldfinches are primarily seed eaters. They eat seeds from thistle, teasel, dandelion, ragweed, and sunflowers. They especially like the store-bought “thistle” seed called nyjer or niger (pronounced ni-jer). This expensive tiny black seed isn’t native thistle, but rather it is imported mostly from Ethiopia and it is sterilized before being imported so it doesn’t become an invasive plant like kudzu has become. There are even special feeders for this seed for goldfinches.

Goldfinches are one of the latest birds to nest each summer…usually waiting until July before starting a family. Their cup nest is so tightly woven and lined that it often can hold water without leaking. Goldfinches are usually monogamous, but supposedly every once in a while, a female will leave as soon as the eggs hatch and let the male feed and raise the babies. Meanwhile that female flies off to find a new boyfriend and start another family. I think there are names for females like that; I just can’t print them in a family newspaper.

There is an interesting fact about their seed diet that protects goldfinches. As you may know, cowbirds are brood parasites. That means the cowbirds don’t build a nest; they just lay one egg each in other birds’ nests and let the other birds raise the cowbird baby. The young cowbird often hatches first and, because it is bigger, it gets all the food from the foster parents to the detriment of the real babies. Well, even though cowbird eggs are found in as many as 10% of goldfinch nests, the cowbirds never make it to maturity in a goldfinch nest. The reason is because cowbirds can’t make it strictly on a diet of pre-digested seeds…they need meat, such as insects, to grow. While goldfinches do eat some insects, they don’t supply enough to meet the protein needs of the cowbirds.

The reason that goldfinches are not on my wife’s favorite birds list is because they tear apart our zinnias and coneflowers to eat the seeds. They even perch on the little rubber snake in the flower box that was put there to scare them away. We have a flower box with many stems with empty seed heads and no petals. But there are enough flowers to still look O.K. and I guess the little guys need to eat too. I’ll feed them nyjer seed again in the winter to keep them around because they are fun to watch and they rate a 9.9 for “cute” on my Olympic rating system.

Chipmunk Crazy

Several people recently have asked me to write about chipmunks. It ‘s not because they love the cute little guys running around their yards…I suspect that it is because they are looking for information on how to eliminate them. Hopefully with the information below you can decide if and what you can do about the chipmunks that are driving you crazy.

First let me make it clear that chipmunks don’t bother me much. In fact, I kind of like to see chipmunks. When we first moved in a couple of years ago my wife was concerned about rattlesnakes or copperheads hanging out in the yard. I pointed out the chipmunks running around and told her that if there were rattlesnakes that we wouldn’t see all the chipmunks because the snakes would get them. Several months later that attempt to calm her backfired when she observed that she hadn’t seen many chipmunks lately. I’ll have to think up another “don’t worry about snakes” idea.

Actually rattlesnakes and blacksnakes do love to feast on chipmunks, as do foxes, hawks, bobcats, and weasels. Dogs and cats sometimes catch them but probably rarely eat them. After the fox article in the paper a couple of weeks ago two different people emailed me to say that they had seen foxes catching chipmunks in their yard. Chipmunks are an important part of the natural food chain. Chipmunks, on the other hand, eat nuts, acorns, seeds, mushrooms, fruit, berries, insects, bird eggs, and even baby birds or baby mice…as well as your flower bulbs and seeds. More on that later.

The Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias Striatus) is the one we see around here. Although eastern chipmunks can readily climb, they spend almost all of their time on or under the ground. Before I put predator guards on my bird feeder poles the chipmunks would zip up and down the poles like they were on a string.

The genus name Tamias means “storer” and the species name Striatus means “striped”. That is the perfect name because this squirrel is a striped storer. They carry seeds and nuts in their expandable cheek pouches to underground storerooms for eating later. They even use their cheek pouches to carry away the dirt from the entrance to their burrows so predators can’t spot their homes as easily. That is why their burrows just look like a small 2 inch hole in the ground.

In cold weather, chipmunks sleep for days or weeks at a time but don’t truly hibernate. Instead, they wake up from time to time to have a little snack from their underground stores. Therefore they don’t need to fatten up for winter like bears and groundhogs do.

Almost everything I have read says that chipmunks do little damage in yards. Yes, they do eat some flower seeds and bulbs but ¼ inch hardware cloth will let the plants grow through but keep the chipmunks out. Their burrows (10-30 feet in length) are generally much too narrow to cause any structural damage to your house or walks. A chipmunk’s territory is ¼ to ½ an acre and since chipmunks lead a solitary life except during a brief 1 week breeding season how many could you possibly get in your yard anyway?

But to some people, chipmunks are a nuisance that drives them crazy and they must be eliminated. I know several people who regularly trap them in live traps. Some drive the captured chipmunks to another part of town and release them while some send them to chipmunk heaven. If you release them just be sure you don’t move your problem to someone else’s yard. Trapping is considered to be the only effective method to control chipmunks; however, it may be a never ending job because a yard without chipmunks is a vacuum waiting to be filled by another one. But then again, trapping chipmunks is a fun challenge for some folks and since most of us in Fairfield Glade are retired anyway what else do you have to do?

But if you are looking for that ultimate way to eliminate all chipmunks from your yard I don’t believe it exists. I just sit back and enjoy the little guys. Everyone is different and whether you love or hate chipmunks is probably just a difference in the eye of the beholder.

Hummingbirds

Here are some photos of Ruby-throated hummingbirds that I took on my deck.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail

Our regular hiking group only hikes in the spring and fall...13 hikes each season. So we like to use the summer season to do some hikes in the Smoky Mountains. A lot of people don't like to drive the 100 miles to the Smokies but the mountains are so beautiful that some of us don't mind the drive.

We have some beautiful hikes around here on the Cumberland Plateau with cliffs and rock houses and waterfalls but the Smokies are unique. I don't think there is anything like them between here and the Rocky Mountains. Since it was supposed to be over 90 degrees in eastern Tennessee on Friday we decided to hike up high above 5000 feet where the weather would be 10-15 degrees cooler.

There were 9 of us. Since we have a smaller group of stronger hikers in the summer we do some hikes that the regular hiking group might not like to tackle. In the past few weeks we have done 8 miles with 1500 feet elevation gain and 11.3 miles with 2000 feet elevation gain. We dedcided to hike the Appalachian Trail (AT) from Newfound Gap to Clingman's Dome. The hike was 8 miles with 1600 feet elevation gain. Clingman's Dome is the highest point on the whole AT at 6642 above sea level.

I had injured my back the Tuesday before the hike and spent Wednesday mostly in bed and Thursday mostly sitting, since standing and walking hurt too much. On Friday, the day of the hike, I decided I would try the first mile and if my back hurt too much I would amble back to the car and read or take pictures until the group returned. Any day in the Smokies is better than a day sitting at home. My back hurt on every step but not so much that I couldn't go. Standing still caused spasms but if I didn't stop it wasn't too bad. Sitting felt great so I just hiked in the front and once I got ahead of the group a ways I would sit on a rock until they caught up. It worked out great. My back felt better at the end of the hike than it did at the beginning.

The 8 mile trail paralleled the road to Clingman's Dome and we could hear cars every now and then but could only see the road once or twice. There wasn't a level step the whole way...every step was either up or down. The ecosystem at that elevation is much different than at lower levels. It was much wetter and greener. At several places along the way we saw these nice Turk's-cap Lilies and close to Clingman's Dome there were lots of Crimson Bee-balm flowers. We stopped at the tower at Clingman's Dome and enjoyed the view even though it was a little hazy.

It was a great hike and we all really enjoyed it. Hopefully we are working up to a hike to Mount Cammerer in the Smokies. It is 11.2 miles rated difficult with almost 3000 feet elevation gain.

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.