Happy Winter Solstice

Happy Winter,
It's almost the solstice, the sun's furthest journey south in our sky. Although Americans consider it the beginning of winter, I prefer the old European tradition of thinking of December 22nd as mid-winter. After all, it is the longest night of the year and sunlight increases daily after winter solstice.
"In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago."
words by Christina Rossetti 1872, music by Gustav Holst 1906
to hear the melody, listen to: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/n/intbleak.htm

Well, to my senses our beginning of winter has been anything but bleak! Gorgeous long snowfalls, gigantic icicles, both snow deep enough and ice thick enough to glow blue, and winter birds galore! Attached is a short article I wrote about the amazing adaptations allowing our feathered friends to endure winter. Brew yourself a nice hot cup of cocoa, stoke up the fire and discover their amazing tricks.

We've had magnificent invasions of northern finches, indicating a poor cone crop in Canadian forests. Click on the links below to see photos of these avian invaders and then watch for them at your feeders!
Pine Grosbeaks, especially fond of crab apples, but eat sunflower seed too. Be sure to listen to their sweet song. http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Pine_Grosbeak_dtl.html#sound

Redpolls, goldfinch size with red caps, black "gotee" and males with red blushed chest. Common redpolls are the "house sparrows" of the north. When I lived in Anchorage, AK that's just how abundant they were! http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Common_Redpoll.html#sound

Male redpoll next to male pine grosbeak for size: http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/data/525/622Closeup_Pine_Grosbeak_and_Redpoll_Nov2_03.jpg

Evening Grosbeaks robust, talkative birds that travel in big noisy flocks. The males are washed with a dark gray "evening shadow", but these birds reputedly got their moniker from the mistaken belief that they sang at night (well in the far north summers they do!). I especially love the adult males with their striking brilliant banana yellow under tail coverts and bright "eyebrows". I call them "flying banana superheros".
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Coccothraustes-vespertinus-002.jpg/800px-Coccothraustes-vespertinus-002.jpg

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Evening_Grosbeak.html#sound

Red Crossbill http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Red_Crossbill.html

White-winged Crossbill http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/White-winged_Crossbill.html

These wacky birds look like mutants with deformed bills, but they use their tweezer-shaped beak to pry open cone bracts and then stick out their tongues to get the tasty pine or spruce seed. Conifer seeds are so important to crossbills that they will nest ANY TIME OF YEAR! whenever there is a big enough seed crop.

Northern Shrikes have followed their food south. Zoom in on the photo to notice their sharp hooked beak like a raptor, but perching feet like a robin. These "butcher birds" catch songbirds and mice in their beaks, carrying them to thorny shrubs where they skewer them since their feet cannot hold prey. Shrikes also build up a larder of shish kebabs of their kills. Watch for them hunting near your feeders.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Northern_Shrike.html

Snowy Owls have arrived in Maine! Usually years of winter finch invasions alternate with owl years, but this winter we've hit the jackpot! Good lemming years up north produce abundant snowy owl chicks that survive to adulthood, followed by lean lemming years that send surviving owls southward in search of food. So, take your binoculars and keep a keen eye out next time you hike up Sargent mountain, or drive past blueberry barrens. http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Snowy_Owl.html

Merry Solstice** and enjoy winter's wonders!
The Dorr Museum of Natural History
ps. If the sky clears tonight, watch for northern lights.

Thanksgiving Nature Notes

Let's talk turkey,
Before you gobble down that yummy Thanksgiving dinner, take a few Meleagris gallopavo language lessons. That's scientificeeze for Wild Turkey. Peck at the link below to understand some turkey talk:
http://www.nwtf.org/special_events/calling_contest_turkey_calls.html

You'll notice that gobbling is barely even mentioned, the last vocalization on the list. You won't hear it this time of year in the wild, as males gobble to attract females during the mating season in spring.
Going the way of many wild foods, like cod that disappeared from over-fishing, turkeys were nearly hunted to extinction in the wild. They were completely extripated from New England and most of their range by 1900. But at least for turkeys, we have a happy ending to the story. Re-introduction of native stock wild birds, in the 1940's worked well. In fact, too well. For today, turkeys range across the 48 contiguous states, even into areas where they did not originally occur.
These past few weeks on my way to work, I've seen two large turkey flocks, about 30 birds in each. This time of year the hens travel together separately from the toms. One flock of turkeys was stuffing themselves with wind-fall apples. And I must confess I thought to myself, mmmmmm apple stuffing. Turkeys also feast upon acorns, beech nuts, buds, salamanders and insects.
And as you savor the delicious flavor of your Thanksgiving turkey (or tofurkey), pause to remember that we could well be feasting upon fishy tasting eagle. For good 'ol Ben Franklin wanted Wild Turkey to be our national bird. In his own words,
the Eagle "where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.
"With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping & Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District. He is therefore by no means a proper Emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our Country .
For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on."
http://www.greatseal.com/symbols/turkey.html

For more on our wild turkeys, check out:
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Wild_Turkey.html

Happy Thanksgiving from
The Dorr Museum of Natural History

Early November

Nocturnal Greetings,
Tonight is the anniversary of the discovery of Comet 17P/Holmes that is currently gracing our night sky. 115 years ago tonight it exploded becoming bright enough to see. Edwin Holmes was in his backyard in London looking through his telescope. Just before calling it a night, he aimed his scope to get a look at our sister galaxy, Andromeda's faint companions. http://www.astropix.com/HTML/SHOWCASE/M31.HTM

The comet, which now bears his name, was so big and bright that at first he mistook it for the Andromeda Galaxy! That was 1892. If only he could see it tonight, for Comet Holmes has exploded again and is even bigger and brighter than Andromeda. Take a look at it tonight. Here's a sky chart to help you find it. It's really impressive viewed through binoculars! http://www.spaceweather.com/images2007/05nov07/skymap_north_holmes.gif?PHPSESSID=05pdchsmhb13job27qrhk97h10

It's been warm enough this fall that some of our bats are still flying! Our tree bats, the beautiful Red Bat, Lasiurus borealis, meaning "northern furry-tailed".
http://www.outdooralabama.com/watchable-wildlife/images/red%20bat.jpg

and its sister species the Hoary Bat, Lasiurus cinereus, ("ash-colored furry-tailed") http://research.amnh.org/swrs/lascin.jpg

and the Silver-haired Bat, Lasionycteris noctivagans, ("wandering furry night bat") http://research.amnh.org/swrs/lasnoc.jpg have all flown the coop to find suitable hibernation spots.

Unlike bird migration, which around here in fall is always to the south, except for seabirds who head out to sea, bats migrate in any direction to seek temperatures just right for hibernation; cold enough so they can slow their metabolism, but warm enough that they don't freeze. Some Little Brown Bats, Myotis lucifugus, ("light-fleeing mouse-eared") http://fwp.mt.gov/content/getItem.aspx?id=2699&maxwidth=475 fly northeast to hibernate in small caves and crevices or ice caves in the Allegash.
Big Brown Bats, Eptesicus fuscus, ("dusky brown flying over") http://www.americanartifacts.com/smma/per/bat1.jpg are fond of hibernating together in Maine's old forts and even above the library at UMO!

Other nightlife spotted recently include:
Sawwhet owls seen flying over roads at night
Coyotes loping across the highway
Foxes hunting in fields, revealed by their bright eye-shine
Moths still coming to porch lights
Barred Owls calling "who cooks for you, who cooks for you-all"

Enjoy the crisp fall evenings,
The Dorr Museum of Natural History