Where the Bluebird Sings

A Wildlife Journal for North Carolina

Friday, October 09, 2009

Just say 'wren'

We saw this Carolina Wren at Piedmont Environmental Center in Jamestown last week. It was in the company of chickadees, nuthatches and finches.

Carolina Wrens, the state bird of South Carolina, prefer a warm climate and tend to stay in their home territory year-round. It has a long, thin, slightly decurved bill, perfect for picking insects out of tree bark.
This photo was taken by David Hurt.

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Tuesday, October 06, 2009

In nature, hope springs eternal


Summer World – A Season of Bounty
Bernd Heinrich
Ecco

230 pages

$26.99



“Summer World” brings to mind the first day each year when one becomes aware of life stirring just below the surface. In North Carolina that day usually falls some time in February when the temperature hits 75 and the sky is a shade known as Carolina Blue. Flocks of robins descend on winter-weary lawns and Great Blue Herons nest in the tops of the still-bare trees. Listen closely, and you’ll hear frogs singing.


In Maine and Vermont where Bernd Heinrich spends his time, the beginning of summer is evident even under a layer of snow as woodpeckers drum on the trees and chickadees welcome the dawn, which arrives a little earlier each day..


“Summer is a time of green, urgency, and lots of love lost and found,” Heinrich writes. “Almost overnight there is a wild orgy of courting, mating and rearing young.”


And so begins the yearly resurrection that to rehabbers means the beginning of baby season.


Heinrich takes readers on an adventure reminiscent of being a child with an entire summer to wade through ponds, collect frogs and follow caterpillars on their annual journey. That’s because at 69 years old, Heinrich, a professor emeritus of biology at the University of Vermont, retains the curiosity of a youngster and an insatiable desire to figure out why things work the way they do. He is so attuned to nature that he can detect the sound of caterpillar feces raining on the leaves of a tree at night. His curiosity is infectious. His gift is the questions he asks: Why do ruby-throated hummingbirds risk appearing in Maine before nectar-bearing flowers are in bloom? (Their return coincides with that of the yellow-bellied sapsucker, which drills into the trees, providing sap for the hummingbirds to eat.) Why do wood frogs sing when the females don’t choose their mates? (Because their chorus acts like loud music at a frat party, attracting females).


Heinrich’s Vermont countryside is full of miracles. Finding yellowish green moss on rocks under a tree, Heinrich peels it off and puts it in a bowl of water in the sun. In seconds it turns green. In an hour, silvery bubbles form – oxygen – evidence of respiration. It’s alive!


The description of a caterpillar’s metamorphosis into a moth reads like part science fiction, part fairy tale. It’s that sense of wonder that makes “Summer World” a riveting read.


Summer may be about life and the rush to procreate, but death is never far off. The two exist side by side as prey tries to outwit predator. Death is an essential element of life as illustrated by a moose carcass Heinrich finds near a wall of his cabin in Maine one winter. The moose first became food for coyotes. Next came the ravens. After the snow melted, the beetles and flies had their share. When the carcass was reduced to hair and bones, the chickadees and other birds took lining for their nests. Squirrels and mice chewed on the bones. Nothing is wasted.


A lot of activity is packed into the three months of summer. But as the days grow shorter and the nights cooler, life slows down. The birds begin their annual migration, leaves fall from the trees. The frogs, which will be frozen during the winter, already carry the eggs that will be laid on a pond in spring. In the harshest winter, the seeds of summer are already taking root.