Emails reach me each week and send me on a search for information I can share as the topic of my column for the coming week. The photograph I received recently was one of a very messy nest in an island tree. The nest was not the tent caterpillar’s nest that most of us are familiar with but was even messier. It turned out to be that of a fall webworm. There are some nice photos and much more information about them on the computer.
A new generation emerges each year about this time in late summer and early fall. The nest is not attractive at all. The tent caterpillar’s web nests have much more structure by comparison.
The fall webworms emerge in the fall each year and the pupae stage starts a new generation in bark and leaf litter. The adult moth is largely white. It’s these tiny eggs and such that birds are constantly searching for as they peck the bark on trees and shrubs. Death of one creature is life for another.
If you drive the roads and highways first thing in the morning, you often get to see various forms of wildlife feasting on road kills. Larger birds like eagles, ravens and crows are attracted to the feast and many mammals, birds and insects come to eat as well.
On a beach when a dead seal washes up, you’ll find all sorts of wildlife coming to the feast. I came upon such a sight and noticed eagles, crows, ravens, gulls, mice, rats and many smaller birds and insects coming to the feast. Nothing went to waste.
Both the northern-crowned kinglet and the ruby-crowned kinglet live on Mount Desert Island. They are now busy eating caterpillars. In the summer, these tiny birds feed on flying insects, many of which they catch on the wing. When winter really comes, these birds seek out the eggs and scale insects of tree pests such as small grasshoppers, locusts, caterpillars, leaf hoppers, weevils and plant lice.
I never realized how small kinglets were until I held one in my hand! That was a quite special experience. From beak to tail, they measure only 3 1/2 inches long. The male golden-crowned kinglet has a conspicuous yellow-orange crown; the female has a yellow crown. Both have a white stripe over the eye. Even though these birds live here through the year, it is in the winter that they are most often noticed.
Kinglets have plumage that is long and thick so it can stand a Maine winter. They move about during the day stuffing themselves with insect food found in all sorts of hiding places Not all kinglets, however, stay north in the winter. Some go as far south as Guatemala.
I once went on a birding trip in the tropics at migration time and was in Belize when the migrants were arriving at bird feeders there. It was a grand reunion to watch as the northern arrivals came in with a flourish and joined the “regulars” already there. Those just arrived from the north were tired and hungry and looked delighted to be back in their winter home. I was delighted to be there watching it all!
On that trip, I got to see a flock of scarlet ibis – large, beautiful all-red heron-type birds landing in their resting trees for the night at the edge of a lagoon. It was an unforgettable sight as I sat in the flat-bottomed boat and watched the scene that tropical evening.
A friend of mine saw a winter wren scurrying around the wood pile one morning this week. Probably most of these birds have left by now but a few winter wrens may linger through December and even into January!
These little birds are small but pretty tough even though so tiny. This wren makes me think of a tiny brown feathered ping-pong ball hopping about. Its tail sticks straight up in the air and makes you laugh. This bird is mouselike in its movements, being able to appear and disappear quickly. Keep an eye on your wood piles! These wrens usually have two broods before migrating again.
Watch for witch hazel blooming this month – the last of the flowers to do so. This is an unusual shrub in that it does not bloom until the leaves are ready to fall off. It’s a rather tall shrub with big green leaves and yellow flowers. There are some growing along the trails near the Wild Gardens of Acadia. The seed capsules seem to explode, sending seeds far and wide – no exaggeration! Get someone to show you this. The name witch hazel brings quickly to my mind the welcome relief from insect bites when I was a child and my mother applied witch hazel liquid from the drug store.
The natural world is preparing for cold weather and another Maine winter. We should all do the same.
Please let me know what you are seeing and ask any questions you may have at fiddlerruth@yahoo.com.
