First Day of Spring - Prairies

I spent part of the first day of spring just looking around to see how things came through the winter. The mowed fields looked good and it won’t be long before I’m out spraying sprouts from the cut shrubs marked by the red flags. The fields are beginning to take on a green coloration.

Unfortunately, the green comes from Kentucky 31 Tall Fescue, a non-native grass planted extensively by farmers throughout Southern Ohio. These mowed fields have the most recent history of use as standard crop and pasture fields. Fescue was planted as part of the normal cropping rotation and both the plants and seeds persist. It will be a long time before this exotic grass is eliminated.

The older prairies have very little fescue left in the stand. Much of the tall grass in this field managed to stay upright through the winter.

In other areas, the heavy snows flattened everything to the ground. This particular prairie is surrounded by trees and the snow fell unaffected by the wind. In more open areas, the grass was constantly moved by the wind and the snow was knocked off before it could build up a heavy layer. In this spot, the snow settled evenly over all the grass and all the stems laid down as one unit.

This area of short grass produced very few seed stalks and the leaf growth was stout enough to remain standing despite the covering of snow.

I found a couple stalks of Switch Grass in one of the prairies. Switch Grass is considered to be an Ohio native, but it’s uncommon to find it in this area outside of planted stands. I’m just a little bit apprehensive about accepting this as a naturally occurring species at Blue Jay Barrens.

The ants are busily repairing the mangled ant mound. The ravaged areas are beginning to take on a smoothness that suggests it won’t be long until this mound regains a more natural shape.

Despite the xeric nature of the area, wet weather seeps are not uncommon. The clay subsoil will trap small surface pools that can persist on into May or June. Some of the more productive of these seeps may create a small oasis in the middle of the otherwise dry prairies.

During the years just prior to my buying the property, the previous owner had thoughts of subdividing the land. This pipe, driven deep into the center of a Blue Jay Barrens prairie, marks one of the proposed corners of that subdivision. Had they proceeded with the subdivision, I would most likely never have been interested in buying here and Blue Jay Barrens would never have existed. I leave the pipe as a reminder of how close we came to losing this unique property.

Sap Drinkers

While walking through the woods yesterday, I kept noticing Mourning Cloak Butterflies hurrying through the trees. The Mourning Cloak overwinters as an adult and becomes active as soon as the temperatures begin to warm. It’s not considered rare, but I usually don’t encounter more than one individual at a time. At one point I encountered two Mourning Cloaks having a little chase around the base of a tree. As they gained altitude, a third joined the chase. When the chase concluded, all three came back to the tree. That’s when I noticed the Mourning Cloaks, along with several other insects, making a meal of Sugar Maple Sap.

The Mourning Cloaks are in really good shape considering they’ve spent the last few months squeezed into some crevice or behind a piece of loose bark. At least those hairy bodies give the appearance of a warm blanket capable of keeping out the winter chill.

During the winter, falling ice chunks and branches damage the small side branches of the Sugar Maples. When the sap begins to run in the spring, it runs from these cuts and provides a sugary meal for many types of insects and other wildlife. Slicing a maple branch to release the sap has long been a strategy used to attract butterflies.

The majority of the insect crowd was composed of flies. If a food source becomes available in the woods, I think the flies are always the first to arrive.

Eastern Commas were also in abundance at the sap flow. This species also overwinters as adults, so it’s not uncommon to see the wings with some damage or wear. Commas are very common at Blue Jay Barrens and are regularly encountered through the warm months of the year.

The Eastern Comma gets its name from the white, comma shaped mark on the outside of the hind wing. The very similar Question Mark has the white mark broken into two distinct parts. I rarely encounter Question Marks here. I think watching butterflies is a perfect activity for the first day of spring.

Planting Bluebird Seeds

If you guessed high fiber breakfast cereal, you’re wrong. This is what I cleaned out of a nest box that was being used as a winter roost by several Bluebirds. I had four boxes that were heavily used by wintering Bluebirds this year. Are you wondering why I saved a bowl full of the mess?

Bluebirds wintering in Ohio, subsist primarily on berries. The flesh of the berries is digested by the birds, but the seeds pass on through. This causes the roost boxes to accumulate a collection of seeds along with the organic fertilizer. This journey through the bird benefits the seed. The seed coat is weakened by the digestive juices and leaves the seed in perfect condition to absorb moisture and germinate.

Here’s a sample of some of the seeds in the mix. I can recognize Eastern Red Cedar and some type of grape, but I have no ID on most of them. We had a lot of shrubs this year that carried fruit long into the winter, so there are many possible candidates.

I decided to plant the nest box cleanings and see what germinated. I always keep a few pots full of compost handy for just such an undertaking. There are probably a lot of other seeds that are already in the pot, but all tree or shrub seedlings should come from the Bluebirds.

The planting area was made available courtesy of a squirrel that didn’t want me to raise a blueberry bush in the end pot. I had seven pots, each with a different type of blueberry that I was starting. Every day, the squirrel dug a hole in the center of the end pot and pushed the blueberry bush onto the ground. I replanted the bush each time. I tried moving the pot to the other end of the bunch and the squirrel followed. I finally found the bush chewed into little pieces. Hopefully, the squirrel won’t have any objections to a shrub collection growing here.

Peepers et. al.

Spring Peeper numbers have grown tremendously in the pond since last weekend. The sound of their calling is almost deafening. As you crouch at the edge of the pond, the peepers almost on your boot tops, the sound becomes a physical pressure inside the ears and your head seems to vibrate. Now that their concentration is centered on breeding, they pay little attention to my flashlight.

Most of the calling frogs prefer to perch on a bit of floating debris or an algae mat. Fallen branches make a perfect platform. It’s terribly difficult to pinpoint the location of a calling Peeper. Even when you’ve got them in the center of your spotlight beam, the sound doesn’t seem to match the visual. It’s like watching a film with an out of sync soundtrack.

Several frogs call from the pond bank. Since the number of calling frogs keeps increasing out in the pond, the frogs at the edge may represent new arrivals that haven’t yet found the prime breeding territory. This Peeper is at the edge of the pond calling from atop a raft of cut grass. The decomposing grass nourishes an explosion of unicellular organisms that will be consumed by the developing tadpoles.

A new batch of salamander eggs has arrived in the pond. I suspect that this cluster, looking very much like a plastic bag full of eyes, is from the Spotted Salamander. Spotted Salamanders should have bred during the rains last weekend. They are uncommon here, but I have plans to develop some additional breeding pools in an effort to increase their numbers.

Wood Frogs have produced several bunches of eggs. Eggs laid during high water times are sometimes stuck on branches that keep the eggs from dropping with the water level. After taking the picture, I rescued this bunch and made sure that it was properly submerged.

Not an amphibian, but this Mole Cricket took off at my approach and started to swim out into the pond. This was an unexpected encounter that added a little more zest to the evening. Mole Crickets are supposed to survive for two years in this area and overwinter as adults their second year, so I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising to find one.

Cutting Big Autumn Olive

Yesterday evening I went out and cut some of the Autumn Olive that were too large for DR Brush to handle. I said I cleared this area last year, so some of you may be wondering how I could miss a ten foot, multi-stemmed shrub. It must have been easy, seeing as how I there were six more just like this one. This area was a thick mess last year and I lost a lot of blood clearing as much as I did. Despite all the Autumn Olive I’m finding this year, I’m happy with the way it turned out.

The best tool for this job is a sharp bow saw. A bow saw is light weight, easy to use and quiet enough to let you hear the wildlife around you while you’re working. I hate to use a chain saw, so when I cut bigger trees, I just use bigger bow saws.

Some of you probably think I’m going to say that this stump looks like a face. Popular opinion suggests that I see a face in everything, but I never once thought this stump looked like a frog or maybe a pig, depending on how you look at it. I was going to point out that this shrub was probably about seven or eight years old. Once they get started, Autumn Olive can put on a lot of growth in a hurry. That’s why you can miss seeing them one year and have them stand out like a monster the next.

Things look much more open with the Autumn Olive gone. I’ll work on those rose bushes next. I normally leave fallen trees to decompose naturally. When they are laying in the middle of an area infested with invasives, I’ll move them out of the way so I have clear access to do maintenance.

Here’s the trophy shot. Look what I got everybody. I bagged this one in the fence row using my 21 inch crown-tooth bow saw with adjustable tension. I’ll drag this mess off and add it to the brush pile.

Cutting Autumn Olive

With the lengthening days and the time change, it’s now light enough after I get home from work for me to go outside and do something before it gets dark. So far we’ve only saved cloudy daylight. I’m hoping we can soon save some sunny daylight. I went out yesterday and cut some Autumn Olive. This is an area that was thick with Autumn Olive and roses last year. It was so thick with invasives that it was impractical to mark them all after they were cut. I walked through this summer and sprayed all the sprouts I could find, but I missed several.

This is one of the Autumn Olives that failed to get sprayed. The roots must have a lot of stored energy to be able to jump back up to this size in one year. At least things were open enough this year that I could walk through without risking my life.

This is the wicked part of the Autumn Olive. Often mistaken for a thorn, it’s really a strong, pointy branch. The bump on the side is a bud and there is also a bud on the tip. During the winter, these branches are sharp enough to rip through any unprotected skin. I believe these may be what protected Sleeping Beauty in her Castle.

Mowing Autumn Olive is a job for DR Brush. These branches can penetrate a standard inflatable rubber tire like that found on JR. DR’s hard rubber tires are unbothered by anything pointy. Once the buds begin to grow they lose the point and are no longer a threat.

Cutting causes Autumn Olive to develop a mass of stump sprouts.

All of those sprouts came from the stump in the lower left. If left to grow, all the cut sprouts will develop their own mass of sprouts and you’ll have a real tangle.

The rainy weather caused more dead trees to fall. It looks like the Autumn Olive has put up a barricade to keep me out.

The DR isn’t stopped by much. Red flags now mark the stumps of the cut Autumn Olive. There was still quite a little stronghold here, but I think next year will see a great reduction.

Note: I've corrected the duplicated text at the end of my Tree Stumps post if anyone is interested in going back and seeing what I meant to say. Thanks to my Unofficial Proof Reader for pointing out that error to me.

Bluebird Boxes

I’ve noticed the Bluebirds beginning to pair off and stake out their preferred nesting box, so I went out yesterday evening to check for nesting material. This is the oldest active box I have. It may look a little bit shabby, but last year it successfully fledged two nests of Bluebirds and one of Tree Swallows. No sign that nest building has begun for this year.

This ant hill sprang up four years ago, just a couple of months after I put up this box. I haven’t seen any ants attempt to climb up to the nest. The black plastic tubing may be a deterrent. I buried the bottom of the tubing to discourage anything from climbing up through the inside of the pipe.

This box was made by the local FFA class. Several Bluebirds have roosted here through the winter. They’ve made a bit of a mess around the entrance hole.

They’ve also made a mess inside. Bluebirds exist primarily on fruit through the winter, so their droppings are usually full of seeds. I cleaned a bunch of poop and seeds out of this box about two weeks ago, so all of this has accumulated since then. Insects should soon make up the bulk of the Bluebird diet.

The seeds I cleaned out before represented a wide variety of fruits. This batch is entirely from Eastern Red Cedar. Cedar fruits are generally plentiful through the year, unless one of the giant Starling flocks moves in and decides to stay for a while. Starlings love to gorge on the fruit and scatter the seeds all over the prairies.