BLOG 16: From Winter Into Spring

It’s been a chilly spring here in the Poconos so far. Well, I guess every spring starts of chilly, right? It would be more accurate to say this has been a very indecisive spring. I think nature is conflicted right now…spring doesn’t want to get out of bed and winter doesn’t want to go to sleep. For those who play Facebook with me that’s an old observation but I’m adding to it some new pictures! That’s a good thing, right? Well, whether it is or isn’t your there and I’m here and together we are going to forge ahead  . . . and you can jump blog at any time!

I am so surprised at how almost any time of the year you can still find creepy crawlies if you just take a moment or two and poke around  (like you have nothing better to do on a cold winter’s afternoon) 

These ice-glazed winterberries (Ilex verticillata) were photographed on January 25^th!

And a few feet away, animal tracks in the snow (squirrel?)

And a short distance from that I tore a log from the frozen earth and under it what did I discover? A tank bug ( pill bug, woodlouse...etc)  It was alive and moving…although very slowly.

There are always little beasties about, struggling to survive in the elements if you know where to look.

Here are  some more random pics I took with my cheapo Best Buy camera documenting the gradual return of critter life to the Pocono Mountains!

Here, you can see the lay of the land on March 15^th. It was still pretty cold and there was plenty of snow around.

But just on a whim I went outside and started flipping over some stones and check this out! A cricket!

I really had no idea they were up and about in suck cold weather. And how about this! A wooly bear! (Tiger Moth caterpillar-Pyrrharctia isabella)

Again, I had no idea they were active and wooliying around in the winter months! And just as I'm type this I found this interesting tidbit on Wikipedia,

"...woolly bear larva emerges from the egg in the fall and overwinters in its caterpillar form, when it literally freezes solid. It survives being frozen by producing a cryoprotectant in its tissues. In the spring it thaws out and emerges to pupate"

Who knew!?? And interestingly, as I mentioned in a previous Kieran's Critters (BLOG 14: A Critter in the Snow!) this rock remained a good source of salamanders from December all the way through March. Here’s the stone surrounded by white stuff on March 21^st and yet another salamander that was hiding under it!

On March 31^st when I was heading out at the end of the day I saw flocks of migrating geese were passing over the house. I grabbed my camera and got a shot of the very last V formation before the sun went down. Its times like this (many times like this) that I wish I had a zoom lens that actually did something!

April 1^st was when it really seemed that Mother Nature was taking this spring thing seriously and was going to commit to warming things up! You can't trust too many folks on Fools' Day but this Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis)  that slithered into our yard seemed real enough!

By April 3^rd the white crud had almost entirely melted way and little bits of green were starting to blossom around the property.

And that brings us to today! By the way, how are you liking this? I’m a bit rushed today so I’m just packing in the photos with much less exposition! I actually think most of you will prefer this photo heavy, rhetoric lite approach (because if you don't I know I'm going to hear about it!)

Anyway, I drove off yesterday to a small, barely used park in my area that I don’t think most people here even know about (In fact I know they don’t know about it) and I wandered around to see what I might find! It was about 50 degrees today so not chilly but certainly not entirely comfortable either.

Here’s a nice little section of the creek that runs through the park. I’ve never seen any creatures in it besides Blacknose dace (Rhinichthys atratulus) and water striders even in the middle of summer but I’m sure it must harbor other wildlife I’ve just never spotted.

In addition to countless Red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) I found here’s a beautiful, almost golden colored, Northern Two-Lined Salamander (Eurycea bislineata) ( see BLOG 13 ) My cruddy little camera really doesn't capture it's true radiance!

But this was what was most interesting to me. Yep, this muddy spit of seepage believe it or not. I know,   not very picturesque!

But when you slog through the mud and get right up over it and the sun hits the water just right it really is quite beautiful. I love the color of all the leaves and plant matter lying still in orangey, iron rich mud. 

Being careful not to step in the water and injure any aquatic denizen’s further examination of this puddle revealed amphibious egg masses!

This, by the way, is why I’m not thrilled with a popular activity in these parts called “off roading” where people (mostly young guys) drive all-terrain vehicles (ATV) or QUADS or whatever else  through the woods, delighting in splashing through water filled ditches. Very often they’re smashing right through little worlds like this. It’s perfectly legal and wood frogs (these are Wood frog eggs) aren’t endangered…but it just bothers me! I know, you're rolling your eyes and playing  a tiny violin. Hey, if I can’t make a fuss on my own blog where can I??

Anyway, I was getting increasingly cold squatting  on the spongy banks of this ditch as cold orange goo seeped into my sneakers but I was intent of snapping at least 1 picture of a wood frog. I have no idea how long I was sitting there (too long) but I finally saw some movement and gently pulled some leaves aside and grabbed the quick shot of a submerged wood frog.

This time of year in the chilled water of their breeding pools they seem to be this almost black color but later in the year they are a light tan and occasionally I have fond ones that are almost red or even pinkish! And I’m not proud of admitting I harassed the thing but I did…just a bit. I poked the mud near him and when he hopped up and out onto the grassy bank I snapped this final spit second photograph

So there it is! I wish I had more time to explain and analyze and theorize and reflect but these are busy times for me and I’m happy I was at least able to bring you this brief survey of my findings over the past weeks and months.  I’ll be back sooner or later with more Kieran’s Critters! As always any questions or comments are always welcome!

If you have any complaints you can take ‘em to the nearest forest puddle you can find and deposit them in the orange mud.

Merry Meet and Merry Part and Merry Meet Again :)

BLOG 15: CreepySnitch & Friends

“The world outside my window this afternoon is cold and hollow. Frozen tears plummet from the smoldering sky and a grey sorrow lies across the landscape and oozes into every cranny and crevice. The wind blows now, and the tears fall sideways and winter howls in misery.  And as the lonely sun dissolves behind silver trees there in the dark corners of the forest  floor ‘neath roots and leaves,  along faint pathways hewn cross snow and ice, and  in little places here and there through the bitter darkness the mice remain quick and busy and productive.  These tiny wanderers of the woodlands are indomitable!”   

--Nareik Legov (Days on the Mountain)

Some time ago I was spending the night at a friend’s house around Christmas in an apartment in Budd Lake NJ. The sliding glass doors were kept open just a crack to run some electrical wires outside for the satellite dish. That was all one adventurous mouse needed to slip into the warm abode where he proceeded to help himself to sunflower seeds set aside for the birdfeeders.   A few of these snitched seeds I would imagine he carried off to some cozy borough on the outside but a goodly amount of them he stored in one of my friend’s expensive leather boots!  He also braved drifts of synthetic snow and circumvented an obstacle course of  porcelain ornaments so he could reach the base of the Christmas Tree and refresh himself!  The tree’s stand was kept filled with water. 

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring . . . um except for this mouse -- he was stirring a lot! (I don’t think Clement Clarke Moore knew much about mice!)  Then sometime in the wee hours the door came slamming down on my Havahart trap and our culprit was caged!

Wild mice can carry all sorts of parasites and bacteria and I never recommend anyone collecting them and keeping them as pets.  I’ve never been one to listen to good advice though…especially my own! I couldn’t bear the thought of turning this little gentleman loose just so he could infiltrate the building again at some other point and be killed by people less forgiving than myself or my friend.  And so I set him up in small tank with a water bottle and a wheel and some cardboard real estate. Mr. CreepySnitch has resided there peacefully for a about four years now,  with all the seeds and other goodies he could ever desire!

CreepySnitch at home

I was uncertain for a while whether Creepysnitch was a Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) or a White-Footed Mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) and I still go back and forth on the matter from time to time. Both species are widespread throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania along with the House Mouse (Mus musculus) which is a different looking sort of critter with darker more uniform coloration and smaller eyes and ears. 

CreepySnitch ready for the big wheel!

In favor of the Deer Mouse ID is Creepy’s off white belly and his 2 tone tail (dark on top and very light on the bottom) and his tail’s overall length being as long or longer than the rest of his body. White-Footed mice have whiter bellies, a tail that’s nearly one-half their total body length and that isn’t distinctly bi-colored.

To confuse thing however (and what’s the fun of nature if it can’t ever confuse you?) in his “The Mammals of Northeastern Pennsylvania” John Serrao mentions that the Deer Mouse’s tail “ends in a tuft” and that the White-Footed mouse’s tail is “without [a] white tuft at [the] tip.”  Creepy doesn’t have any "tuft" or maybe he just doesn’t to my untrained peepers!? 

Also, subtle color variations according to age and geographic range can introduce variables into the mix that  complicate the standard methods of on-site identifications.  

Young Deer Mouse with darker pelage from Tannersville PA

Want to get even more mixed up?  If you happen upon any natural history accounts pre-1920 you’re apt to hear about a creature called “Peromyscus americanus” the “white-footed deer mouse.” So, sometimes you never really know what the heck you’re reading about!

From "Wildlife of Orchard and Field" by Ernest Ingersoll (1902)

Hey, is there a mammalogist in the house that can clear all this up for us? I’d appreciate it! Thanks! 

Another befuddling variation!

Deer mice are fully grown at a little over 8” and many people are surprised to learn that in addition to seeds, berries, nuts, acorns, plants and fruits they also eat small insects and centipedes!  Makes me wonder why we never saw Jerry running around with a cricket or a big meal worm!? 

WOW! That was alarming! I have a weird sense of humor...sorry about that!

Anyway, Deer mice stuff their cheeks with food the way hamsters do and carry provisions off to their home which could be in a hollow log or an abandoned bird’s nest or a log pile or even, unfortunately, the walls of your house! Seal those cracks in the foundation folks!  In “A Field Guide to Your Own Back Yard” John Hanson Mitchell writes, 

“The nests look very much like a ball of dry grass or feathers and twigs and, unless you know what to look for, will be overlooked by your average back-yard explorer...”  "they will nest in the oddest sort of places…I once found [one] in the air conditioner of a small industry.”

Mouse nest found in Kinnelon NJ

And just one closing note; I have found several references that describe White-Footed mice and Deer Mice as “singing.” Robert Snedigar reported in 1939 that,

“Persons fortunate enough to witness and hear an exhibition of one of the celebrated ‘singing mice’ have sometimes assumed that the tiny songster was seeking by music to enter into lady’s affections. In these singing mice, different sorts of sounds have been described as the song, but ordinarily it is spoken of as a bird-like twitter, weak in volume, variable in pitch and intensity of tone.” 

And while I’m normally loath to link my readers to other websites this recording “The Song of the Deer Mouse” made by filed-naturalist  John Sankey from  Ontario, Canada is worth 10 seconds of your time. 

MOUSE SINGING

Sounds more like high pitch "clucking" but then again, so do a lot of modern singers! CreepySnitch has never sung but he does sometimes “buzz” rhythmically! It’s a rapid, vibrating of one of his back feet against his cardboard home that he  sustains for a good 20 seconds, rests and then starts up again. I tried to record it for this blog but I was unsuccessful. As soon as I can capture a bit of it I’ll add it here. I’ll bet you just won’t be able to get to sleep now until the day arrives! (note the sarcasm)

Wild Deer Mouse from Stroudsburg PA

OK, my apologies! I’ve gone way long on this entry.  Thank  you for reading and, as always, I invite any questions or comments you may have about Deer Mice or White-Footed Mice or White-Footed Deer Mice  or anything else I covered, or neglected to cover, in this installment of Kieran’s Critters!

A wild Deer Mouse in the Poconos

Merry meet and merry part and merry meet again!

BLOG 14: A Critter In The Snow!

Where the heck have I been? Well, I’ve been right here! Trust me…you're the one who hasn’t been showing up! I know that seems ridiculous but you’re just a bit disoriented at the moment, trust me!  Sit down, take a deep breath, and I’ll give you a few moments to get your bearings.  OK? Feeling better? Great…onwards!!!

(I hope you bought that)

So, as you know (or maybe you don’t) the deep freeze has well set in, in the Pocono Mountains.   The creatures have all “shut their doors and locked the locks until the vernal equinox” (to quote a jazz song). I mean, if you are a lover of creepy crawlies like me than the months of snow and ice have very little in store for you!  It’s an interminable wait until spring! 

But I said “little in store” not “nothing in store!”

On Groundhog’s Day in 2013 I found a comatose Red-Eared Slider floating in a pond in East Stroudsburg (she’s OK now!) 

 This slider I found  in an icy pond was probably an abandoned pet!

And back in 2005 I found an injured musk turtle, also in February, by the pond at Muriel Hepner Park in Denville, New Jersey! 

Injured Stinkpot that was being picked  at by crows!

And just this last December 22 I encountered another cool critter!

There was snow all over the ground but the air temperature had briefly climbed into the high 40s (Fahrenheit) one morning and just on a whim I flipped over a flat stone which normally is in a very hot, sun baked portion of our yard.  I thought there might be a 1 in billion chance there was a sluggish garter snake under it…hey, you never know!

The lay of the land in December of 2013

In 2008 The Pocono Record   published a story about Monroe County naturalist Brian Hardiman who found a Rat Snake basking in the sun on a snowy October 30^th and in the same article, Pocono naturalist,  John Serrao mentions a Garter snake he found in November! So who ever knows until you investigate!?

So I turned over the slab of red shale and  there,  in almost a state of complete torpidity, was this Red- backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus). Please don’t ask me what the heck “torpidity” means! I probably just made it up!

 I know that certain native amphibians like the Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) and the Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) produce a natural type of antifreeze in their blood, a glucose which enables them to survive bitter temperatures! A matter of fact, Woodys are the only frog found as far north as Alaska and Labrador! Red-backs, however, I thought steered clear of any and all winter weather, squirming their way down to almost 4 feet beneath the frost line! I have never seen one this late in the season! 

Arrow points to the exact spot where I found the salamander!

James Petranka in “Salamanders of the United States and Canada” writes, 

“In the Atlantic coastal states, individuals are often active in winter during prolonged periods of warm weather.” 

So maybe this isn’t that unusual but this wasn’t a prolonged period! It was a few hours and then the temps plummeted again!  

Anyway, someone was as impressed as me because one of my shots of December’s salamander was published in The Pocono Record on January 12^th of this year!

Well, that’s all I have for everyone right now! 

Merry meet and merry part and merry meet again!