On a Fallen Log

A quaking aspen seedling began growing in an abandoned pasture sometime during the Great Depression of the 1930s. We can tell it had been a pasture from the barbed wire protruding from some of the large old beech trees growing along the property line and by the other trees in this woodland: white ash, white birch, some other large old aspen and a few scraggly wild apple trees, those species are pioneers on open ground. Now younger sugar and red maples and some beech are waiting for those old pioneers to die so they can take their places in the forest canopy.

The aspen was 80-90 years old when it died, about the maximum age for quaking aspen. It stood for several more years as fungi fed on its cells before the decay caused by the fungi weakened the dead tree and it snapped and fell where it's lain for a while.

Like most fallen logs, the old aspen has become a bit of a highway for wildlife. Critters use fallen logs for a number of reasons: logs provide an elevated walkway which gives them a better view of potential prey or predators; running on a log is quieter than running through dried leaves; there might be something to eat on the log, seeds, insects or a mouse.

Speaking of mice, a white-footed mouse (perhaps more than one) is the star of this video showing the wildlife that used the fallen aspen log over a period of six weeks –

Every time the mouse dashed down the log it put its life at risk because this woodland is home to short-tailed weasels, fishers, barred owls, red fox, eastern coyotes – and other species that would gladly have a mouse for dinner.

But then white footed mice have lots of offspring because mice are destined to become a meal for some predator.

Back to Harrier Hill

Twas a very windy morning, with the temperature at 18°F when I returned to what I’ve come to call “Harrier Hill” (see this post). I parked along the road and waited for the birds to begin hunting.

Since I was there to photograph birds and automobile windows aren’t optical glass, plus heat from the car would create distorting heat waves as warm air escaped, the engine was off and the windows open.  There’s no such thing as bad weather to be outdoors, with proper clothing I was perfectly comfortable sitting there waiting.

For the first half hour there were no birds to be seen. Then, in the distance, near the hilltop, came the familiar form and gray color of a male harrier hunting –

He swooped and hovered, never coming close enough for a decent photo. After a couple of minutes he hovered near the ground, apparently having seen something of interest –

He never did drop to the ground and soon went up and over the ridge.

Before too long a distant raptor came into view, the camera revealed it to be a bald eagle –

And then there were two –

As the eagles circled, three common ravens that had been on the far side of the ridge rose to meet them. One of the eagles went into a long steep glide and was rapidly lost from view. Two of the ravens soon broke off contact and left, the third raven soared with the eagle for a while longer –

As the birds drew closer the raven dropped away and the eagle came even closer –

The light feathers beneath the wings and the dark feathers in the tail marked this bald eagle as late in its fourth year but the completely white head indicates that it is virtually an adult.

Still the ravens flew, but no more harriers, no owls and no more eagles.

Harriers in the Afternoon

About a half hour’s drive from the house there’s a hill on which most of the cropland on three adjoining farms has been retired. Now the acreage that had been in row crops is growing grass and forbs like goldenrod and milkweed. Some of the grassland is mowed for hay, some is well managed as pasture for beef cattle and some is left as grassland. That grassland covers about 500 acres, including a few acres of corn stubble.

One very warm winter afternoon with some light drizzle and mist in the air we drove out to see if there were any short-eared owls spending the winter in the grassland. Those uncommon owls often hunt their prey in daylight on days such as this. For the last few years both short-eared owls and harriers have spent the winter at these grasslands where they feed on small rodents. The mice and voles are pursued day and night by the owls and hawks, ravens, red fox and eastern coyotes – the little rodents get no rest. 

The fields that the birds frequent straddle a ridge that's crossed by a sparse fencerow as can be seen in aerial photos – 

On the side of the hill is a road that has a wide spot where we park to photograph the owls. We’d not been there long before a male harrier appeared, his light gray standing out against the shaded hillside across the valley –

He made a couple of passes over the fields but now much closer to the ground –

It wasn’t long before he vanished over the hill, not to reappear.

After a long wait a brown female or immature harrier made an appearance, slowly making a few passes over the field, occasionally swooping down, but never coming up with a meal –

Then another female/immature flew right over us to join the first in flying low over the field –

When they too went over the hill and didn’t return we left to head for home and supper. But we'll be back to what I've come to call "Harrier Hill".

Wetland Restoration/Enlargement

The importance of wetlands is finally being acknowledged, unfortunately not by everyone. Wetlands improve water quality by filtering overland flow and capturing pollutants, help reduce flooding by temporarily storing water, recharge groundwater and provide vitally needed habitat for wildlife.

Pennsylvania is estimated to have lost 28,000 acres of wetland between 1956 and 1979 a period when the U. S. Department of Agriculture actively encouraged drainage. The state now has a policy of “no net loss” of wetlands and there is funding available to restore and create wetlands.

In 2000 my office obtained funding to restore wetlands in a small drainage where there had been beaver ponds over a hundred years before. Here’s the process in scans of old slides (unfortunately some are not good) –

Closer to home, along the river there’s a large wetland that has developed over hundreds of years in an old river channel. That large wetland had a number of smaller outlying ephemeral wetlands which had been drained, plowed and planted to agricultural crops over the last several hundred years.

The large wetland and adjacent fields are now in public ownership; most of the old fields were planted in grasses and forbs to recreate the meadows that had once occupied much of the river’s floodplain.

In 2024 funding was obtained to restore and enlarge some of the smaller wetlands that had been destroyed by agricultural use –

Heavy equipment was brought in and work began –

The bottoms of what would become wetland were left “lumpy/bumpy” to create microhabitats –

Finally, those big piles of soil that had been removed were smoothed and seeded –

In the midst of an otherwise very dry summer several inches of rain fell and the new wetlands began to fill –

It was only a matter of days until wetland vegetation had begun to regrow and wetland dependent species were using the area –

Now Pennsylvania has a few more acres of wetland, downstream communities will see a bit less flooding, wildlife will have more space to live and we naturalists have another place to wander and see mammals, birds, dragonflies and other wetland wildlife. 

Day by Day Throughout the Year - 4th Quarter

October is the middle of fall, a season of green turning to bright yellows, oranges and reds with a few pinks and purples mixed in and then gradually fading to drab grays and browns in November. The year’s fourth quarter can begin with summer-like temperatures and end with deep snow in December. It’s one of many things we like about living in northeastern North America – as has been said, variety is the spice of life.

The photographs from the first three quarters of the year can be seen here, here  and here. The year’s fourth quarter doesn’t correlate to a particular season since fall begins on September 1 and winter begins with December, before the fourth quarter ends. This series, as the other photo-a-day-for-a-year series that preceded it, was inspired by a similar project undertaken by a well-known nature photographer.

Here are the day-by-day photos from each day of the year’s fourth quarter, hopefully you’ll enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoyed taking them –

                                            

 

In northcentral Pennsylvania it used to be unheard of for there to be active butterflies and salamanders in November, but on the 5th I saw three different species of butterflies in the air, on the 6th, under a short piece of a log, five active red-backed salamanders and on the 21st an eastern garter snake basking in the sun. The first snow flakes fell at the house on November 22, a month later than was normal 50 years ago. If you don't believe in human-caused climate change I have a bridge to sell you.

So here we are at the end of one year and the beginning of another, what will the new year bring? The weather is becoming more erratic, bird populations are in decline, more and more invasive introduced species are becoming established, the sixth great extinction is underway – things are not good in the natural world.

However, there are still beautiful things and processes to see, study and photograph. I’ll be out in the natural world, camera in hand and still be here posting weekly. Hopefully you've enjoyed viewing these photographs, and that they've piqued your interest in what's out there in forest and field.

Take a look at the wide natural world around you, the flowers and trees, the birds and bugs, the wind and rain and sunny days, it's worth protecting and will be if we each do whatever we can to save what's left.