Summer at a Fallen Pine

The pine seedling began growing in an old field nearly 100 years ago. It wasn’t more than eight feet tall when the growing tip was damaged, perhaps by a feeding white pine weevil or a bird using it for a perch. Side branches took its place and the tree continued growing, this time with three or four trunks instead of the single trunk it would have had if that one tip hadn’t been damaged.

And so it became a more or less typical old field white pine with multiple trunks. Now, many years later one of those trunks has snapped off under a heavy load of snow or ice or perhaps from a strong wind. The fallen pine trunk has been lying on the ground for a number of years, serving as a highway for predator and prey and providing a source of food for many other species.

Here are the videos from the summer just past taken by a camera trap that has a view down the fallen pine –

It will be many years until the fallen pine is but an  indistinguishable hump on the forest floor, even then it will continue providing for the creatures of the forest.

Feeding the Kids

On a chestnut snag in the yard is a nest box that’s been the subject of a couple of posts on In Forest and Field. This year it was July before birds, a pair of house wrens, began using the box – surprisingly late.

The male often sang from the top of the snag or from a nearby fence that protects wildflowers from browsing deer.

Of course the male stuffed the box with twigs and the female took in fine material for the nest lining. Eventually eggs were laid and after the typical two week incubation they hatched.

The parents’ days of relative leisure were over as they made repeated trips to catch insects and spiders for their offspring. Sometimes the prey could be identified –

Sometimes not –

Each time the adult carried off a fecal sack voided by the young –

Eventually it was time for the young bird to look out at the wider world and prepare to leave “home” as the adults tried to lure it out –

Even though house wrens normally lay four eggs, it appears that only one young wren fledged from the box on the snag.

Our resident pair of cardinals also appeared to fledge only one young bird from each of their two nestings in 2026. And the pair of tufted titmice that frequents our yard only fledged two young this summer.

Young birds need protein to develop properly, protein that’s primarily derived from insects caught by their parents. Around the house it’s obvious that there are far fewer insects than there were years ago. The insect population in much of North America and in Europe appears to have plummeted in recent years and songbird numbers are said to be down by about one-third. What does the future hold?

Each and Every Day of Summer …

… my camera is used to make photographs of the natural world. I’m one of the many naturalists who are trying to document the natural world as it gradually disappears at the hands of the greedy and callous. I treasure what we’re losing while, at the same time, trying to portray the world around us.

These are photos taken on each and every day of my least favorite season – summer. Although I’d much rather shovel snow than mow grass, summer has its own beauty: butterflies and thunderstorms, young birds and mammals, beavers in the sunset, the infinite variety of beetles and moths to be found in forest and field. Join me on my journey through summer – 

 

Yet another one of my projects to take and post a good photo each and every day of an entire year comes to a close. It’s the type of project that almost everyone can do, it doesn’t have to be nature and wildlife photos, it could be anything you enjoy: interesting buildings, fences, vehicles – whatever interests you.

Will there be another similar project in the future – we’ll see.