The Nature of Delaware

By Joe Sebastiani, Seasonal Program Team Leader 

In early November, 2010 I had the pleasure of leading 10 Delaware Nature Society members on a two-week bird survey trip to Cuba.  Organized through the Caribbean Conservation Trust (CCT), we assisted with long-term ornithological surveys taking place in western Cuba.  

It took me a few days just to get over the fact that I was actually in Cuba, which is still off-limits to Americans as a travel destination.  We traveled legally under a humanitarian/environmental license.  On our first full day, we received an orientation to our ornithological mission and recuperated from our long day of travel in the beautiful city of Havana.  

As part of our orientation, we visited Orlando H. Garrido, author of “Field Guide to the Birds of Cuba.”  He summarized the island’s endemic birds through a guided tour of his personal taxidermy collection and his vast experience as an ornithologist.  Orlando is one of Cuba’s greatest naturalists, but is also a noted tennis player, having played in Wimbledon, 1956-1961 and the U.S. Open in 1959.

For a lunch stop, we visited another famous Cuban, Jose Fuster, who is known as the “Cuban Picasso.”  Jose is an acclaimed artist who has turned his entire neighborhood into a vast art project.  His house itself is a work of art and contains his gallery, work station, a visitation area. 

The architecture in Havana is a combination of old Spanish colonial mixed with art-deco, and a twist of New Orleans French Quarter design.  Many of the structures are long overdue for repair, but it is an extremely beautiful and historic city nonetheless.  We experienced a good deal of it driving to and from our appointments for the day. 

Speaking of cars, if you are an antique vehicle enthusiast, you could spend all day “car-watching” in Havana.  American cars from the 50′s are everywhere, and I estimated about 10% of the vehicles we saw were old American models.  Otherwise, European and Asian vehicles were the main method of transportation other than lots of bicycles, motorcycles, old buses, and lots of interesting taxis.

Historic buildings, old forts, monuments, statues, and incredible architecture is everywhere in Havana.  The most grandiose and incredible building in Havana is the Capitolio Nacional which is similar to the US Capitol building but a little taller and richer in detail. 

After a day getting the feel for Havana and an orientation to our bird survey, we were ready for the countryside, national parks, and biosphere reserves…and of course…Cuba’s birds!  More on that to follow in future posts.

Register for the DNS Travel Year In Review on December 9, 6-8:30 p.m.  The program, which includes a dinner and evening presentation of our travel programs from 2010, will include highlights from the Cuba trip.  For more information and to register, click here.

By Jason Beale, Manager, Abbott’s Mill Nature Center

I set out to the Delaware Nature Society’s newest natural area, the Isaacs-Greene Preserve, with the intention of getting some photos of deer scrapes and rubs to write about their annual breeding season, the  rut.  However, as it often happens in nature, other discoveries present themselves as well.

I did indeed find signs of the rut.  Rubs are found on small trees where bucks have used their antlers to remove strips of bark.  This serves two purposes.  It helps the buck shed the remaining velvet from his antlers and deposit scent from glands on the head to mark his territory.

Scrapes are areas on the ground, usually a few feet in diameter, where a buck clears the ground and urinates to leave his scent.  Bucks often thrash the vegetation overhead and may use low hanging twigs to deposit scent from their pre-orbital glands in the corner of their eyes.  Does visit scrapes and urinate in them to let bucks know that they are ready to mate.  Both rubs and scrapes are often found along a well-used trail and are checked frequently by the attending buck.

I next stopped by the Beaver Pond which was originally an irrigation pond created by damming Johnson’s Branch.  I was greeted by a loud tail slap, possibly a way to warn other beavers and animals of my approach.  The beaver then proceeded to swim toward me in a repeating crossing pattern punctuated by more tail slaps.  Beavers are often regarded as nocturnal or crepuscular (active around dawn and dusk), but where human contact is uncommon, they may be diurnal.

 

I followed the edge of the pond and came to a River Otter “haul-out” site. These are areas that otters frequent, usually along an open bank, to deposit scat, make scent mounds, and roll around.  This area has shown steady use for the few years that I’ve visited the site.

 

We’ll continue to maintain the Isaacs-Greene Preserve as a private conservation area, but we will begin offering forays by foot and canoe to the public starting in the spring.  However, we have already added the site into the Abbott’s Mill Nature Center Weekly Walk rotation.  We meet at the center parking lot every Thursday at 8am and hope you can join us.

By John Harrod, Manager, DuPont Environmental Education Center

Over the summer and last weekend at WildFest, Blue Crabs were caught in the DuPont Environmental Education Center’s freshwater tidal pond. Most visitors were surprised to find crabs here since they are usually associated with brackish (slightly salty) and salt water along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

  Blue crabs can live in fresh water. To find out the salinity content of our pond, I borrowed a refractometer from the Delaware Nature Society’s technical monitoring program. The pond registered a salinity reading of 0 parts per million (ocean water is 32+ ppm).

 Growing up to 9 inches, this crustacean is an opportunistic bottom-dwelling predator that feeds on anything it can find including live and dead fish, clams, snails, and detritus (decayed organic matter).

 This predator is also prey of wildlife including eel, striped bass, other blue crabs and catfish. As its scientific name – Callinectes sapidus - indicates, people enjoy them too. It translates, “beautiful swimmer that is savory.”

 To learn more about DNS technical monitoring program visit here.

By Derek Stoner, Conservation Project Coordinator

Not many people keep mammal life lists.  Plenty of folks keep careful records of all the birds, butterflies, dragonflies, or reptiles and amphibians that they observe.  But I suspect that the mammal family gets short shrift from the ”listers” out there.   A lot of that reason is because of how difficult it can be to observe mammals well in the wild.  Sure you see deer, squirrels, and groundhogs, but have you ever seen a Least Shrew?

Up until a couple weeks ago, the answer for me was “No!”  I’ve been fortunate to have brief glimpses of small rodents thorugh the years, mostly scampering Meadow Voles and skittering White-footed Deer Mice. I find small mammals to be fascinating since they form the prey base for the big critters we know well, like Red Foxes, Red-tailed Hawks, and Great-horned Owls.  Most small mammals spend their time underground or otherwise hiding very well from these predators, and are exceptionally difficult to observe in their natural habitats.   Photographing them alive(and in the open) is nearly impossible! 

While working in the tree planting field at Middle Run Natural Area recently, Steve Johnas and I spotted a tiny brown mammal scampering through the grass.  I ran over and managed to capture the little guy.  It turned out to be a Least Shrew– at last!  I’d seen a few dead specimens of this species, but now I was holding a real live one.  And it felt like holding nothing!  Soft, lustrous brown fur cloaked the body, and the incredibly-long snout looked comical.  This appendage helps these insectivores sniff out their prey while hunting in fields and brushy meadows.  The shrew seemed to grow comfortable with being handled, but I would not say that this was a case of the “Taming of the Shrew.”  We let him go to see how he would go about his normal business. 

We watched this diminutive mammal ramble along through the dried grass, its long snout guiding its exploration.  Pausing to poke its nose into crevices, the shrew kept a frenetic pace as it searched for food.  Lots of crickets and grasshoppers lurk in this field, and Least Shrews are known to open up the abdomens of these orthopterans and eat the internal organs.  Sounds delicious!

The Least Shrew has a fast-burning metabolism and lives a very brief life.  The oldest in captivity lived to the ripe age of 21 months, but most never make it to the 12-month mark.  Mostly these creatures eat and reproduce during their short lifespan, so there’s little need to sleep and rest.  Our smallest local mammal weighs in at around 5 grams(as much as a nickel) and attains a length of 3 inches, including the tiny tail.   

We count ourselves lucky to have spent a bit of time with the amazing Least Shrew, an incredible native mammal.   Maybe you’ll see one some day!

Middle Run Natural Area, north of Newark, is an 850-acre county-owned park.  A reforestation project coordinated by the Delaware Nature Society over the past 20 years has helped to plant nearly 40,000 trees that provide over 50 acres of excellent early-successional habitat.  A great diversity of wildlife benefits from this major conservation project, with Least Shrews just one of the amazing species that lives here.

This Sunday, November 14, we will be planting 1,500 trees at Middle Run as part of this volunteer-driven effort.  If you’d like to help out, please click on this link for more information:

November 14 2010 Middle Run Tree Planting flyer

RED-SHOULDERED HAWK
There’s nothing quite like a kettle of Red-shouldered Hawks circling above on a bright November day. When the sun touches on their soaring wings, these birds shine like stained glass in the heavens. Two crescent-shaped portals and a bright banded tail make this hawk one of the most beautiful of the November migrants. Even more, this year brings the excitement of a possible record high, with our current count just a few shy of the past total of 331.  

NORTHERN GOSHAWK
This powerful hunter surely takes the prize for both the most sought after and most elusive bird of the Ashland Watch. This fierce accipiter (close relative of the more common accipiters, the Cooper’s and the Sharp-shinned Hawk) is a bird of the Northern woods, and we sit at the southernmost fringe of its range. Still, we’re blessed with a few incredible sightings each and every year at the watch, already having tallied 3! We’ve got a slight head-start on last year’s Goshawk numbers, with this year’s first sighting coming nearly two week early. With this, and a stronger than usual northern push, we should be really upping our chances at catching a glimpse of one of these incredible raptors!

Come to the Ashland Hawk Watch anytime before the end of November to enjoy the great late season raptor flights– and maybe catch a rarity like a Golden or Goshawk!   After this Sunday’s daylight savings time change, hawk watch hours will run from approximately 8:00am to 3:30pm. 

On Sunday, November 28, we will celebrate the end of the season at the Ashland Hawk Watch with a party!  Gather on the hill from 2:00pm until dusk and enjoy good company, snacks, and beverages.  After dark, we’ll head into the lodge for a great dinner featuring seasonal favorites.   Come join us to toast another successful season of hawk watching!