Tennessee Conservationist--Bluebirds in Your Backyard

One of the most delightful birds to welcome into your yard's habitat, the Eastern Bluebird, is the subject of my recent article in the Tennessee Conservationist Magazine, "Bluebirds in Your Backyard."  

When I embarked on the mission of attracting bluebirds to my backyard, I had only a small idea of the enjoyment I would derive from my interactions and observations of this companionable bird and its nesting activities, including offering mealworms.  Monitoring a nestbox, watching bluebird behavior, and checking the progress of nestlings, from the appearance of eggs to the days after fledging, is an enriching journey into the natural world that will alter your appreciation for nature forever.

Bluebirds require all the basics--shelter, food and water--but the central ingredient to attracting bluebirds to your yard is the nestbox.  The article includes details of placing the nestbox and one type of predator guard that has been successful in keeping bluebird families safe from cats, raccoons and snakes in my yard throughout the nesting seasons.

Louise Zepp, editor of the Tennessee Conservationist Magazine, selected "Bluebirds in Your Backyard" as the feature article for the March/April issue to help celebrate bluebirds and promote bluebird conservation.

Links and Resources:

To visit my other TN Conservationists Magazine articles click here.

The Tennessee Conservationist website.

To see my bluebird posts on this blog visit:  Bluebird family

Pileated Woodpeckers--A Family of Four

Winter is the most wonderful time to see woodpeckers.

The limbs are still bare of leaves and you can not only see the woodpeckers more easily but you can see the trunks of the old growth trees and the places where they have been foraging over time.  All those cracks and chips, loosened bark, chiseled holes, as they forage for their favorite food--carpenter ants.

In the above images and the next two below, you see the male of the pileated woodpecker family that visited my yard yesterday.  I was lured out the door not only by the familiar pileated call but by the whimpering sounds that often accompany two woodpeckers in a family, either a male with his mate or an adult with off-spring.  In this case it was both!

It is truly a fun surprise when you step out the door expecting a search, and instead, there are pileated woodpeckers all around you!  Two off-spring of the past nesting season accompanied their parents and were foraging near each other.  It took a minute of orienting to the direction of sounds compared to the two I visually located to realize that I had four woodpeckers, two to the west of where I stood, and two to the east.  They are busy birds.  By the time you've gotten into a good position to see one of them, they've decided to move to a different tree. Below you see the young female. She was distinguishable because her newly forming crest was still a bit bare in the back.  Don't you just love that look!

And below is her handsome brother with dark, fresh plumage that is striking.    

Pileated woodpeckers begin nesting in early April and hatch off-spring from mid April to the end of May in Tennessee.  Little is known about how long the young stay with their parents after fledging.  These juveniles would be approximately 9-10 months old in age. I observed the season's family together as late as March 21st in 2012.  In that observation there was one female off-spring with the adults (see link below) and courtship behavior had already begun.  Below you see the female adult.

And another view of the young female below.

She lingered longer than the rest of the family finding a comfortable branch for preening.  I ran out of battery power, went back into the house to get a fresh camera battery and came back to find her still relaxing on the same branch with her feathers fluffed.

A very satisfying visit!

Click here to see last year's family visit in March 2012 and another fun encounter in May 2009.

Visit Cornell for more information on the Pileated Woodpecker

Denali Discovery Hike--Part IV

Hiking in Denali is spectacular on so many levels--beautiful expansive views, fascinating tundra foliage, the wildlife communities, and unique geographical features with intriguing stories.

Part of the reason the geography of Denali is so fascinating is that you can actually see for great distances and imagine glaciers carving out the valleys over centuries. With the exception of a few park buildings (or a tent) placed sparingly, to educate and offer comfort for visitors, there are few buildings, no lines of cars, and no crowds. The wilderness is preserved and protected all the way down to how many hikers can actually cross the area of tundra that I walked across in this hike.

Above, you can get an idea of how expansive the land feels as you see how small my fellow hikers appear against the view beyond. In the southeastern United States where I live, in Tennessee, it is impossible to preserve our natural areas with this kind of purity simply because of population density.  Even the air and the water in the Great Smoky Mountains--one of the most visited national parks in the USA with over 9 million visitors in 2011--can not escape pollution carried by the wind and water from development and industry.

Knowing that makes exploring this pristine wilderness even more awe inspiring.  It's ruggedness and wide-open terrain offer a vastly different experience from the tree-covered Southern Appalachians that are familiar to me.

That difference made me want to slow everything down and enjoy every plant and lichen, take in every color, follow every path carved by the river. the wind, the caribou. As it was, I paused whenever I could, and lingered as long as I dared without holding up the hike's progression.

Above and below, you see the views we enjoyed as we rested and had a snack at the edge of the river shelf before continuing our trek back to the road where a shuttle bus would eventually pick us up for a ride to Eielson Visitor's Center.

Hiking in tundra is a unique feeling because the ground is soft and spongy.  Your boots sink down into the moss and short cropped foliage with each step and in some places, deeper than others.  Below, my boot all but disappears.

Below you see tundra plant communities that are so much fun to explore. Just look at the palette of colors! You can see why it was tempting to spend more time with each plant.  The white growths are reindeer lichen and the purple/red leaves, bog cranberry.

Below, a fun find--a harebell still in bloom, rising above blueberry leaves, lichen, mountain avens and yellow willow.

Above, mountain aven leaves (left), raindeer lichen and bright red bearberry leaves.  Below, its down hill to the river bed, where we saw our ptarmigan earlier, and then up hill most of the way on our return hike to the park road.

Below, Ranger Bob King (right) entertains as we wait for the park shuttle to arrive.

Below, views of the area we have just hiked, taken from the Eielson Visitor's Center.   The shelf you see in the distance and to the left of the gorge is where we rested for lunch.

This is the fourth post in a series about my Discovery Hike in Denali National Park and Preserve lead by Denali Ranger, Bob King.  To see the entire hike series click here.  Scroll to the bottom for the first post.

Links and Resources:
Click this link to view all my posts on Denali National Park and Preserve.  To see all posts on my visit to Alaska in August and September of 2012, visit Alaska

Denali National Park and Preserve
Willow Ptarmigan
Alaska wild berries

Denali's caribou herd 

For an incredible read about caribou:  Being Caribou by Karsten Huer.  Visit the Being Caribou website.

Denali Discovery Hike--Part III

We continued our hike toward the shelf overlook after crossing the creek and a fun encounter with Willow Ptarmigan.   (click here to see previous posts)

While hiking in the wilderness it is always advisable to be on the lookout for grizzlies.  A large group like this makes enough noise with movement to pretty well let any wildlife know humans are around, however, chest high willows can obscure the view of a feeding bear or even a sleeping bear.

 

Above we stop to examine a bear dig.  Grizzly bears dig down through the tundra soil to unearth roots, voles and ground squirrels, as well as, the foods the animals store.  The freshness of the dig gives an indication of how long ago the bear was present.  This dig was hours old, but later we came upon a large depression in the foliage where a bear had recently taken a nap.  Denali bears nap and feed all hours of day and night.  

Grizzly bears are omnivores and eat foliage and berries along with meat.  Below you see a stand of soapberries, a favored food in August and September.  (Not a flavor I enjoyed!)

Below:  a clump of saxifrage

Above and below, the fire red autumn leaves of the Fireweed.  

Above a variety of lousewort, possibly whorled-leaf lousewort.  Below, the entrance to an arctic ground squirrel's burrow.

Arctic ground squirrel, above.  In one hunting technique, Grizzly bears are known to slam their forepaws against the ground to cause the earth to tremor in an effort to scare a ground squirrel out of its burrow.  In late summer, juvenile ground squirrels are dispersing from their natal homes and dig temporary, shallow burrows.  These shallow tunnels are easier for bears to dig than a deeply tunneled family burrow.

Above and below, tall cotton grass.

Below, flowering Sitka Burnet

Below you see our views as we approach the tundra shelf.  Beyond is the glacial river.

Caribou paths carved in the tundra, below.

The caribou have already begun their migration, but have left behind trodden trails and an occasional hoof print (below).

Next:  Discovery Hike IV and more about the Arctic Ground Squirrel

For more information about Denali's caribou herd click the link.

And for an incredible read about caribou:  Being Caribou by Karsten Huer.  Visit the Being Caribou website.

This is the third post in a series about my Discovery Hike in Denali National Park and Preserve lead by Denali Ranger, Bob King.  To see the entire series click here.  Scroll to the bottom for the first post.

Links and Resources:
Click this link to view all my posts on Denali National Park and Preserve.  To see all posts on my visit to Alaska in the fall of 2012, visit Alaska

Denali National Park and Preserve
Willow Ptarmigan
Alaska wild berries