Deadly Beauty

A bird feather, stuck to our living room window.

A pretty little thing, I wonder what species?

And in the lower left of the image, the imprint of more bird feathers. 

I think it makes for a pleasing image.

But the cost. A bird smashed into the window with enough force to leave a feather and the imprint. Anyone who has ever walked into a glass door (I have) will have some little understanding of what it is like. But for a bird flying full speed, it can be fatal.

We've taken a number of steps to minimize such collisions. The vertical line to the right of the feather is one of several hanging cords, which serve to deter the birds. We have a few stickers on the window as well. The feeders are all ten plus feet away, giving the birds time to course correct when they detect the window. 

But many birds feed  on the ground, and when spooked they see a reflection of trees in the window, and fly at full speed into the glass. 

It has been a while since I've found a dead bird below one of our windows. Perhaps the measures we've taken are working. Or perhaps the birds fly off, only to succumb to injuries out of sight. Or maybe the hawk that spooked them picks them from the ground. 

I like to think (hope?) that the birds are ok. And at worst just a bit stunned. As a kid, whenever a cartoon character would get hit in the head, little birds would circle said head, before recovery. Perhaps the birds see little humans circling their heads, before they recover.

Good News, Bad News

When I was retrieving the camera card from the trail cam out by the Back Bubbler, I noticed this:

A dead Spotted Lanternfly. Good I thought, better dead than alive.

The next time I found tw:

A few days later I took this picture:

There are at least nine dead Lanternflies in the image (and a dead grasshopper). I counted a total nineteen of them in and immediately around the Back Bubbler.

Still good that they were dead, but a bit troubling that three were so many. And I wondered, where were they coming from?

This is where:

I found another thirty or so on the Willow tree over the Bubbler, three of which can be see in the image above. As it was a cold morning (in the low 30's F) I was able to kill them all. And I've been killing a couple a day since.

So that's the good news, many dead Lanternflies.

The bad news? That there were so many to kill. That does not bode well for the upcoming spring.

And I'm only finding these because I had a reason to go to this tree. How many other trees are there in the forest about our place infested like this that I do not know about?

I'm sure we'll find out next year. 

Really bad news to come methinks.

Pool of Death

It's not looking good for this Beetle.

But the Pitcher Plant is soon to enjoy a meal.

The circle of death.

The Spider and the Flies ...

Lots of flies.

Friday morning I noticed quite a few tiny insects flying around outside my office window. 

Not the first time ...

And then, from my desk, I saw the scene in the image above. 

A spiderweb covered in dew. 

In the afternoon? Wait what? That's not dew!

It's the flies!

If you look closely at the upper left you'll see some flying around (along with a flower fly).

There were so many ...

... they broke the web!

That spider hit the jackpot!

Around the Yard

Working from home, which I will be doing until at least next September, I spend quite a bit of time in the yard. Breaks that used to take place in the office lunch room or wandering outside the office building now occur in the yard.

And that's a good thing.

Here's some of what I've been seeing ...

Not a tiny pinecone, but Frass. I've been seeing Frass all about the yard, but I've not been able to find the producers. But it is good to know the caterpillars are there.

I am still seeing caterpillars. This Smartweed Caterpillar is still munching away on the pond reeds.

And Yellow bear Caterpillars ...

... are all over the yard.

Other critters visiting ...

A rather devilish looking White-tailed Deer in the not yet deer fenced area of the yard. Look how skinny it is. It is really quite sad. New Jersey has a deer density that is often greater than 100 deer per square mile. The overpopulation is not good for the deer or the other critters that share the forest. A healthy population, not just for deer but for the entire ecosystem, is one tenth that number (references here and here).

Another Northern Short-tailed Shrew. And another dead shrew. This one likely met its fate at the paws of Max. This is not a good thing. 

Snakes have been slithering about the yard.

This Eastern Garter Snake lives just outside the garage in the back garden.

This snake skin was next to the bench in the Bench Garden.

And I think this tail is that of a Black Racer, which was hanging out by the Fish Pond for several days.

I'll end this episode with one of my favorite yard flowers ...

... Indian Pipe, which is popping up in the woods behind the "Hermitage".

We are very lucky to have such a wonderful property.

Yard Critters of the Week

A Yard Critter twofer! 

Although sadly one est morte (that's French for "is dead"; all that studying in high school finally paid off!).

A Northern Short-tailed Shrew and a beetle, the Roundneck Sexton Beetle, Nicrophorus orbicollis.

This is the Shrew (duh!). Patty spotted it a couple of mornings ago at the end of our driveway. Other than the blood about the mouth there are no obvious injuries. 

As with most of the shrews we've seen in the yard, they are dead, And curiously, untouched by other non-insect critters. (There was a live one.) This one has been at the end of the driveway for several days now. But while larger carnivores have ignored it, the insects have not.

Why are they uneaten? Well in the case of this critter one of its defenses is to emit a foul oder when attacked. Stinky! And it seems this critter is venomous. And uses echolocation to find its prey (its small beady not much use underground, where it spends most of its time).

Pretty cool critter, huh?

Now I suppose that stinky odor attracts insects.

Including this Burying Beetle. Today was trash day, and as I was taking this weeks rubbish to the curb (full disclosure, we have no curbs on our road) I noticed the shrew was moving. 

AARRGGHH! A ZOMBIE SHREW!

But it was just this beetle pushing it around. As the name suggests, Burying Beetles tend to dead critters, and help keep the world from being piled high with dead bodies. Once a male beetle finds a dead critter, it emits its own fragrance, attractive to the lady beetles. 

My insect guides state that this is a rather common beetle, and given its distinct coloration, and the dead critters we've had in the yard, I'm surprised I've not seen it before.

But I've seen it now. And it, and the shrew, are the latest additions to the yard critters.

🪲  🐀  🪲  🐀  🪲

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

It's Getting Worse

It was just a matter of time.

Labor Day weekend we had some friends come by and when I was doing some prep I found three, maybe four, dead Spotted Lanternflies on the steps outside the living room.

I instinctively stomped on them when I saw them, but they didn't move. And the third one was obviously dead. I have no idea what killed them.

There was just bits of apparently eaten insects. I found some other dead insects out there as well.

Today, I spotted some live ones on the Peanut Butter Tree. At least six. I had four confirmed kills today. And perhaps a couple more. Using my new fly swatter. I may have killed more, but they were swatted into the undergrowth.

But our yard is mostly trees. And we are surrounded by trees and farms. 

And as noted in this post, these things are swarming only twelve miles away. 

It is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Failure

Life is hard. And sometimes things don't work out as one might like.

As with these two failed Monarch chrysalises.

Patty spotted this one, back in Barb's garden. The butterfly wasn't able to completely emerge it seems.

I spotted this one, out by our fish pond. It seems something broke open the top of the chrysalis in this case. Curiously, while there is Milkweed close to the chrysalis in Barb's Garden, there isn't any nearby the fish pond, at least from a caterpillar's perspective.

And while there is a good number of Monarch Butterflies flitting about the yard, it is always said to find those that didn't make it.

Wings

The frist thing of note I spotted while installing the deer fence were these three wings.

From a Luna Moth. These moths are common in the yard, for the few weeks they are alive, but this is the first evidence I've seen of them this year. 

Maybe we need to get the moth light out ...

Mouse

We have many mice at our place, although they are rarely seen live. Small and nocturnal, they live their lives mostly unnoticed, with just the occasional glimpse should we disturb them . But generally, it is only in death they make their presence known.

 This one was live, albeit just barely.

Sadly, it had an encounter with Max. And even though we keep Max on a leash and on or close to the deck, this mouse wandered close enough to catch the cat's interest. 

🐭  🐭  🐭  🐭  🐭

We put traps in our attic, our crawl space, and our garage. But seeing this poor critter made me very sad.

Back Woods Wandering

Earlier this month in the If You Build It They Will Come post, I noted that we had placed a couple of bird boxen out in the Back Woods. While out there I noticed another 'trail'. Although unlike the first, this one did not have blazes painted on the trees. I made a note to go exploring.

One day, while dong some work on our back pond, which is not in the back woods, I heard a large flock of blackbirds in those back woods. I headed out to see what the fuss was about. And since I was already exploring ...

Civil engineers I think not. But it got me across the wet bits.

This is the second abandoned hunting blind I found out there. While these aren't all that expensive, it is a bit of work to get it out there. Curious that they are just left to be slowly reclaimed by the forest.

There were a couple deer stands and trail cams as well. I made sure to smile and wave.

I don't think this is a blind further along the reclamation path. But I didn't find any sign of recent wildlife use either.

Other than a couple of roosting Wild Turkeys and one Golden-crowned Kinglet, there was little wildlife to be be found at all. 

There was this. A bird, large. But that is the best I can do as far as an ID is concerned.

🌲  🌲  🌳  🌳  🌲  🌲

This is the satellite view off the woods:

The blue dot being our place. North is up. And I thought I was walking in a mostly northerly direction out there.

I was incorrect.

After a while I could see a building through the trees. I was quite confused. There are no builds where I thought I was. Eventually it dawned on me. I was behind my neighbor to the left's place. I had traveled in a big arc. 

Further confusing me was that I was again at the creek edge. My internal compass was really out of whack. Fortunately, the creek there was quite shallow and I had my Muck Boots on, so I was able to cross without incident. I did notice the remains of some engineering work not unlike that in the first image above, well past the usable stage however.

Next time I venture out there I'm taking a compass.

CSI - Piney Place

What a difference a day makes.

I found the evidence the very next morning.

Feathers, plastered by rain, on the side of the fallen Willow tree.

And on the opposite side of the trunk , (far side from the house), more feathers. Confirming methinks that the victim was a Common Grackle.

Reconstructing events, it appears the airstrike occurred on or above the tree trunk, the hawk swooping in the direction away from the house towards the woods. With the impact blasting off the feathers, or perhaps the hawk started 'cleaning' its prey on the ground, before flying up to dine. 

I've never seen an actual strike in the yard, although I've come close, and have seen the shower of feathers resulting from an airborne collision. More often than not, a hawk swoops through and the birds scatter. The hawk flying off empty taloned. Given the number of birds coming to our feeders I'm surprised more aren't taken by hawks. Those hawks must be eating somewhere.

Airstrike

The last day of February was a dreary rainy day. We had just finished a zoom call with friends, where we were unsuccessful at solving a (fictional) murder (much more fun, with better food, in person - damn pandemic), Walking through the dining room I spotted a hawk swooping through the yard.

And it had something in its talons (my first thought was a Common Grackle).

The game was afoot! (Literally?)

A Red-shouldered Hawk with prey.

It landed high up on a branch, one level deep into the woods (on the owl box tree).

But try as I might I could not determine what it was dining on. I had a relatively clear view, yet I saw no fur nor feathers.

This image offers the best clue, what appears to be a bird foot sticking up between the hawk's beak and talons. Looking through binoculars I saw a similar 'bird foot' hanging down at one point.

After it flew I visited the scene, and while I found whitewash (a fancy name for bird poop) I saw no fallen remains. Searching the yard revealed no other clues. No feathers nor blood stains.

Nada. That makes me 0 for 2 on death puzzles today.

Backwoods Trail

A week ago while participating in the Pinelands Midwinter Bird Census, I mentioned that I went wandering in the Backwoods behind our place. 

This tree had fallen across the path, with evidence of Sapsucker visitation. Alas, no Sapsuckers appeared for me to count. 

There were numerous other trees which had fallen, several others also across the path. I cleared some of the smaller branches, but access for anyone bringing anything back there is severely constrained, especially if they are coming from the road point access. And stuff has been brought back there.

After I passed this tree, and after I had spotted the Pileated Woodpecker, I noticed this:

A trail. Look closely and you can see pink blazes on the trees, foot prints in the mud, and a wood plank across some of the deeper mud.

Further along even more obvious trail 'improvements'.

I followed the trail until I found this:

A fallen deer stand. 

Note the fallen tree in the background. It has a "posted sign" on it. Which is curious because this is Sate Forest land.

The other curios thing was the significant amount of deer hair along the trail. The deer hair, along with the boot prints in the mud, were seemingly at odds with the fallen stand. Of course, it could have fallen very recently, but that did not appear to be the case.

The view back from the fallen tree and stand.

Someone (or ones) had gone through quite a bit of work to haul all of this out there.

Which is rather curious as well.