Maggie's Farm

After mentioning the remarkable success of the restoration of our Wild Turkey populations. I was reminded of a couple of interesting restoration projects which appear to be working.

 OK, it is true that beavers can be a pain, but they also create lovely ponds and marshes for all sorts of critters. 

These stories warm my heart:

You'd be hard-pressed to find a turkey in the Northeast 50 years ago. Now hundreds of thousands roam suburbs where they thrill and bully residents.

New England is enjoying a gentle and lovely Nor'easter this weekend. Breezy but not violent at all and it does not really qualify as a "storm." It's weather, sorta "bad weather for boating." 

Our boat is in a safe slip for now. 

Why, one might ask, are cyclones travelling to the northeast named after winds coming from the northeast? Well, it's because the winds in the cyclone blowing up from the southeest are usually offshore as the storm, as these typically do, travels up the coast. Image below from this site.

Offshore, therefore, the winds are more likely to be from the southwest - wet winds. However, a Sou'wester is any southwest wind. The big cyclonic storm are still called Nor'easters, as in Perfect Storm. Here's a real Sou'wester (the hat):

They won't kill you, but not fun

GH Owl trying to cool off in my pal's yard in Arizona

I doubt many of our readers are interested in identifying sparrows, or interested in their lifestyles. I am interested in all birds. 

Song Sparrow is common for a reason:  The Secret to Song Sparrows’ Extraordinary Success Lies in Their Genome

Like most other bugs, their "adult" reproductive phases are usually brief - a week or two. However, their time as eggs, larvae (in this case, caterpillars), and pupae varies depending on species and climate.

Some even migrate (eg Monarchs) and some, like Mourning Cloaks, (photo) hibernate, which is why you sometimes see them fully-fledged on the first warm days of Spring. Tough buggers, live on tree sap.

How long do butterflies and moths live?

How Long Do Butterflies Live?

Many of the great salt marshes in the northeast US have been filled for development, mosquito (malaria) control, etc. On the southern US Atlantic coast, they still go on for miles.

Fresh water marshes tend to be transient but beavers are good at building new ones. 

Salt or fresh, marshes are a paradise for many critters - local and migratory. I am most familiar with the salt marshes of Cape Cod, but have spent time in those of Georgia and South Carolina too.

Fisherman tries to drag shark out to sea in front of horrified beachgoers before attack

That was a Sandbar Shark, not a Great White 

The idea that sharks are tropical is wrong. Some species are, many not.  Great Whites seem to be worldwide, but especially where there are marine mammals to eat. The Cape Cod area has tons of Grey Seals for the past ten or twenty years.

Conflict with rebounding populations of marine predators: Management preferences of three stakeholder groups on Cape Cod

The Extinction of the Passenger Pigeon

Not too much, and keeping a hummingbird feeder clean is a hassle. Fun for watching though, 

I asked Perplexity, which is a good AI place. 

I've had a Common Raven visiting for two days. I think he or she has gone elsewhere now. 

Never saw it, just heard it.  An adaptable critter.

The (worldwide) Common Raven. 

Mitochondrial adaptation might be part of what happens to us with diligent exercise, but migratory bird physiology seems to do it best.

This is an annual reposting:

Just a couple of weeks left to get your new Wood Duck houses up, and, if you want to place your boxes in water, it's easier to do if you can walk on the ice and punch a hole to hammer a post into the shallows. That is, if you have any sturdy ice on your pond or marsh.

The males arrive to their breeding grounds in March, and hunt for nesting boxes and holes and crevices in trees before the gals arrive later in April. 

If you have a stream or fresh water pond or marsh nearby, they will welcome your effort. Remember, there is no limit to the number of boxes you can place in or near a marsh - these birds are not territorial. I try to add one each year.

I place them on dead trees in the shallows of the beaver marsh, and nail a 3' aluminum flashing on the tree to deter coons and Blacksnakes. Some I put on a post in about 3-6' of water with a strong cement base. I always add a few inches of wood shavings on the bottom.

You can also put them in trees near ponds and marshes,

Our piece on Wood Duck here. I won't shoot a Wood Duck unless by mistake. They are highly edible, but too small. My joy is just to see them around, and my worry is just how many Snapping Turtles and egrets eat the young ones.

The best wood duck houses: http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/duck_houses.asp (fixed). I had planned to build a few more this winter, but I never got to it.

Here's the Ducks Unlimited site on building and situating Wood Duck houses.

They are plankton feeders.

They are more difficult to find these days, but they are still around.

In my local area, I think the high deer population and the coyotes. And habitat destruction of course.

What we need for rebalancing are pumas and wolves. Why not? They used to be here, and they eat deer and coyotes.

What’s Limiting Eastern Ruffed Grouse Populations?

It's not really winter here yet, but the flocks of male Robins are all over. They finished off all of our holly berries. We have holly trees and holly shrubs. They like all fruits and berries. They are known to get drunk on old apples.

The females go further south. Smart.

Sea Turtles are interesting critters.

There are some number of species with different lifestyles. The species commonly seen by snorkelers and divers is the Green Sea Turtle, most common in tropical and subtropical waters. The adults hang out on coasts and coral reefs. They are not green. I've seen one, snorkeling in the Caribbean.

I've also seen their tracks in the sand in the morning on Little St. Simon's Island. Sea turtles' migrations to their nesting beaches is miraculous.

How long can they hold their breath? It depends on how active they are.

These fairly common but not often seen (except during migration) eastern US forest hawks do put on a dramatic show during migration.

They migrate to Brazil in flocks, small or large, and into the hundreds on updrafts. Lifting on a updraft, then coasting down, saves lots of energy. I had a small flock of around five over my house this week. I think they were looking for a spot to roost.

Broad-winged Hawk

It's time when most summering, breeding birds return to their homes in South America.

The brilliantly-colored (male) Eastern US Scarlet Tanager is heading home. They look like tropical birds because they are.

Up here, they are more often heard than seen as they are birds of the woodland treetops.

The pic is a male in breeding plumage. Now, they are yellow-green.

Scarlet Tanager

No more Passenger Pigeons, nobut lots of sorts of North American critters are having comebacks in recent decades, often with human assistance.

A few examples: Wild Turkey, Bald Eagle, Osprey, White-Tailed Deer, Wolf, Mountain Lion, Grizzly Bear -and you can name others.

I did a double take when seeing a blue and white Parakeet (Budgeriar) picking up gravel from my driveway.

Maybe an escape, maybe an "accidental" like birds being blown by storms like Debby. After Tropical Storm Sandy I saw a flock of Brown Pelicans over my house. 

I still do not entirely get it, despite this article.

So why aren't the Great Lakes salty at all?

Whatever, I prefer salt water for recreation. Maybe it's because I learned to swim in a salt water pool, and was always near salt water. I still am.