Cedar Waxwings

Eastern Red Cedar fruit is ripe and the Cedar Waxwings have moved in to feed on their namesake meal.  As if in response to the overabundance of cedar fruit produced this year, the Cedar Waxwing flocks are larger than I normally see here in the fall.  This individual is part of a flock that numbers in excess of 100 birds.

The birds are in almost constant motion as they move to and from the fruit laden cedar.

Time spent in the branches of the cedar is spent in consuming as much fruit as possible.

There’s no shortage of fruit on this tree now, but if the Cedar Waxwings stick around, the tree will probably be without fruit in less than a week.  This is a show that I look forward to each year.

The Cedar Waxwings move in for a quick feed and then move away to perch on the leafless branches of nearby deciduous trees.

The birds act as though the food will disappear if they don’t grab it right away.

The bird in the center consumes at least a half dozen fruits in this 16 second video.

If these videos fail to perform, they may be viewed on YouTube by clicking Video 1 or Video 2 or Video 3.

Cedar Maintenance in the Middle Field

The marking flags are once again flying in the field as I resume my cedar maintenance activities. 

I’m working in what I think of as the Middle Field.  The field seen through the trees is the Far Field, which runs up against the County road.  In the other direction is the Near Field, which sits beside the house.  Between those two fields is the Middle Field.  It makes sense as long as you don’t consider all of the fields that are in other directions from the house.

The Middle Field is a narrow, wedge shaped field that points to the north.  Even though it is only two acres in size, the Middle Field contains a variety of diverse habitats.  Along the east side is a shallow valley containing a small, intermittent stream.  A narrow strip of deep soil along the stream bank encourages tree growth.

Just a short climb up the slope brings you onto shallower soil where the prairie vegetation dominates.

The areas of open grassland reach as narrow fingers among the tall cedars.  In these areas I don’t need the help of flags to guide my search for little cedars

At the top of the slope is a small thicket of Virginia Pine.  It’s not hard to pick out the tree that was most likely the original colonist.  The rest of the stand probably originated from that single individual.

Just through the pines, the field opens up onto a level hill top.  As the old fence row is cleared, this part of the field will become more associated with the Near Field seen through the trees to the left.

A thriving stand of Dwarf Sumac is found on the hill top.  We’ve had nearly no snow so far this winter, so the Sumac fruits have not been touched by the birds.  The sumac fruits seem to be eaten only out of necessity.  It’s only during the harshest of winters that this fruit seems to disappear.

The pointy end of the Middle Field has already been mowed.  If weather permits, I’ll mow the rest of the field following the cedar maintenance activities.

I’ll be removing Eastern Red Cedar as well as Virginia Pine seedlings from this field. 

Virginia Pines produce an abundance of seeds.  Those seeds seem ready to germinate as soon as they hit the ground, so pine seedlings are especially abundant near the mature pines.  Fortunately, if cut off at ground level, the pines will not regrow.

Because the field was mowed just three years ago, the young cedars are not very tall.  I generally like to conduct cedar maintenance activities in a field prior to mowing.  Sometimes circumstances conspire to limit the amount of time available for field work and I must decide which would be the most beneficial activity to pursue.  Three years ago, I decided to limit the threat of cedar competition on the prairie plants by going ahead and mowing the field.

As a result of that earlier decision, I am now cutting cedars that have regrown from a cut stem.  These individuals form a dense top growth, but still have only a single stem needing cut.

The mower actually caused the stem of this cedar to split three years ago.  Live branches, safe beneath the cut, responded to the loss of the tree top by generating some rapid growth.  The loss of a dominant top stem allowed the side shoots to grow uncontrolled in an attempt to replace that dominant leader.  As long as there is the least bit of green growth left, a cut cedar will successfully regrow.

My activities don’t go unnoticed by the local residents hiding behind an old brush pile.  They usually don’t seem too interested in my cedar maintenance activities.  It’s the mowing that they really get excited about.  They can’t resist checking out the interesting odors generated by freshly cut vegetation.

Cedar Maintenance - First Field Completed

After 37 hours of work, spread over 12 days, I’ve completed cedar maintenance activities on the first and largest field on my winter maintenance list.  A narrow ridgetop dead ends in the center of this eight acre field.  In this area is found the largest Blue Jay Barrens population of the rare Edwards’ Hairstreak butterfly.

The land falls away in all compass directions from the serpentine ridgetop.  The population of small cedars has now been nearly eliminated.  When I last conducted cedar maintenance on this field ten years ago, I spent only three hours on the activity.  I performed a much wider search pattern and removed only those cedars that were easily seen.  That explains why so many of the larger young cedars that I just cut were clearly older than ten years.  I’m hoping that my more intensive search will allow the field to go several years before young cedars once again become noticeable.

The edges of the field are bounded by woodland or cedar thickets.  This line generally marks the transition to deeper soil.

Grass growth ends abruptly where the tree canopy closes to block the sunlight.

Larger Eastern Red Cedars are scattered throughout the field.  In most cases, sun loving grasses and wildflowers grow right up to the trunks of the trees.

Some wide spreading cedars develop a community of woody plants beneath the tree canopy.

I sometimes call these grassy fields prairies and other times refer to them as barrens.  I’ve studied many different systems of classifying grassland communities and have trouble finding a suitable identifier for Blue Jay Barrens.  Some portions of the field are treeless, but these aren’t the broad expanses of grass associated with prairies.  Several portions of this field would fit neatly enough into categories of common classification systems.  Because of a wide range of vegetation, soil depth and bedrock type; it’s the field as a whole that doesn’t seem to belong.  The term barrens seemed appropriate when I named the property years ago and I think it is still my preference.  Whatever it is, I’ve relieved it of several thousand tiny cedars and the rare plants found here will benefit by that action.

When I did my original clearing of this field 25 years ago, I left a small area untouched as an example of what the field was like prior to my management.  The fact that the cedars have made little noticeable growth since then is testimony to the poor soil and harsh growing conditions on this site.  Some of the trees originally cleared from the field were no taller than this, but showed 60+ growth rings in a trunk not much over one inch in diameter.

The cedars originally cut from the field formed six massive brush piles.  The pile at the base of this cedar once rose up into the green branches of the tree.

Many of the large cedars have been around for more than a century.  1938 aerial photography clearly shows these trees having been large even back then.  I believe them to be a valuable component of this uncommon ecosystem.

Cut banks are clear evidence of massive erosion that historically occurred on the site. 

Areas of bare ground that were present when I first took possession of the property are now covered by native vegetation.  Instead of continuing their progression back into the field, the cut banks are mellowing down to a gentle slope suitable for plant growth.

As I worked, I used orange ribbon to mark items that I wanted to come back and deal with later.  Here is a tangle of barbed wire, thrown into a gully decades ago and left to rust.

At some time in the future I’ll probably have to decide how many and what species of oak will be allowed to grow in the field.  I found it interesting that the Red Oak on the right was ringed by a thick stand of cedar seedlings, while the Blackjack Oak on the left had almost no cedar seedlings.  Blackjack Oak is favored by the Edwards’ Hairstreak Butterfly, so I would hope to maintain that species.  If a point is reached where some oaks must be eliminated, the Red Oak is certainly looking like a species that could be sacrificed.  It’ll be a while before a decision of that nature will be required.  I’ll probably still be thinking about it the next time I do cedar maintenance in this field.

Cedar Maintenance Continues

The weather hasn’t been cooperating fully, but I’ve still managed to spend a little time each day working on the Cedar Maintenance.  This completed section is part of an eight acre field that I hope to finish up before the end of the month.

I try to take plenty of before and after photos to document my efforts.  Unfortunately, most of the small cedars don’t show up in a landscape photo.

The change displayed in this after photo is more a result of the appearance of a sunny afternoon than the loss of a few visible cedars.

The density of cedar growth varies considerably across the field.  I’ve estimated that, depending on conditions, it takes somewhere between 2 and 25 hours to clear the little cedars from an acre of ground.  It is somewhat discouraging to suddenly find yourself in a close growing forest of young cedars.

In some of the poorer soil areas, the cedars barely reach out of the short growing grass.

This beauty, just barely topping out at eight inches high, is the result of at least ten years of growth and is a giant in comparison to the other cedars nearby.  Within the body of the plant are die backs, resprouts and segments of short annual growth testifying to its struggle to survive.

My bushel sized tub can hold several hundred of these tiny plants.  This collection was made from an area just over a quarter acre in size and there is still room for more in the tub.

The prevalence of small cedars is influenced strongly by the other plants growing in the field.  This large Red Oak can be thought of as a cedar magnet.

The oak doesn’t actually attract cedars.  It’s birds that find a solitary tree to be an excellent roost.  Fruit eating birds, with bellies full of cedar berries, will flock to the tree to spend the night.  Before departing for the next days foraging, the birds will expel with their droppings the indigestible cedar seeds.  With their coats softened by the bird’s digestive juices, the seeds are in a perfect condition for germination.  Several seeds can be found in each dropping, so it’s common to find these little groupings of three or four seedlings growing tightly together.  The result is an ever growing population of cedars developing in the shadow of the oak.

The seeds for this group probably all fell together and benefited by the small nutrient boost provided to the soil by the bird dropping.  Fortunately, the majority of these seedlings will die before they are more than a couple of years old.

Enough of the seedlings do survive to create a cedar thicket beneath the oak tree.

Besides attracting flocks of seed dropping birds, the oak leaves provide a complication for those trying to clear out the small cedars.  The red of the leaf matches closely the red coloration of a winter stressed cedar.  Leaves propped up in the grass look much like cedars and the red cedars are often identical to a leaf.

I’ve found that Tuliptree seedlings are becoming invasive in many of the fields.  They are most prevalent along the base of banks formed by massive gully erosion that occurred in the fields decades ago.

Windblown Tuliptree seeds are carried by the wind until they fall over the bank.  Only a small percentage of the seeds end up producing trees, but that is still quite a lot of trees growing where I prefer they were absent.

The Tuliptree seed source is clearly visible at the edge of the woods south-west of the field.  Prevailing winds carry the seeds several hundred feet into the field.  Cutting and spraying the seedling Tuliptrees will be an added work item on next summer’s list.  I’ve resigned myself to the fact that while working to complete one item on my list, I will find several more items to add in its place.  I would hate to run out of things to do.

There are always neat things to be found on the small cedars.  This is the mud nest of a Potter Wasp.  The wasp creates a hollow ball of mud in which are placed several caterpillars and a single wasp egg.  The wasp larva feeds on the caterpillars and then pupates within the mud casing. 

The Comma butterfly mimics a dead leaf, but it clearly didn’t belong on this cedar stem.  Commas overwinter as adults and can often be seen flying on warm winter days.  I found this one on a chilly morning and it wasn’t about to move.

I carried the cut cedar, butterfly and all, and wedged it securely at the edge of the brush pile.  I figured that if the butterfly didn’t move for the rest of the winter, it would be just as sheltered here as it would have been in the field.

With a background of dead leaves, the butterfly’s camouflage worked quite well.  Afternoon temperatures topped out at about 55 degrees.  When I came by later, the butterfly had gone.  Hopefully, it went someplace more secure than the little cedars still to be cut.