Bicycle Botany: Road Marbles, Part One

In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t blogged much about cycling lately. This is due to what boils down to one reason really; I haven’t spent much time on my bike lately! Actually, that is not true, I have spent a lot of time on my bike, just not outdoors.

I’m still having some issues with keeping my hands and feet warm so the idea of heading out on my bike lately has been a difficult issue do deal with. I have been riding my trainer in the basement of our house a great deal (there is Zippy to the left). Which has been working out fine. I don’t know about anyone else, but I really do get an excellent workout on that silly thing. It’s just not a whole lot of fun.

It was about this time last year I started having issues with fatigue, numbness in my toes and various and sundry other stuff that effected my ability, or desire, to ride my bike. I had a blood test done which showed that I had extremely low levels of vitamin D. Normal is between 30 and 100. Mine was 7! My response to hearing this was that 19 years of living in the Pacific Northwest finally caught up to me! Hummmm, sink me.

So, to make up for this I took massive doses of vitamin D and things were dandy...or so I thought. Now, a year later, I just got another blood test. The results were good in that my vitamin D levels are higher, all the way up to a 15! So I’ve still got some work to do there. In addition, I also learned that my vitamin B-12 levels are low. Normal is 200-1000. Mime is 230. So, starting tomorrow, I’ll be getting shots to boost that. Hopefully, that will bring back some of the feeling in my toes. Either way, I’ll be back out on the open road soon! You’ll see.

That’s all good and fine, however, low vitamin levels are a metaphorical road marble that have kept me from riding much lately. They are not the type of road marbles I was thinking about for this blog post. I was thinking about real road marbles. The ones that can actually be a real hazard here in Pennsylvania if you are on your bike. Anyone who rides here probably knows what I am talking about.

What are these road marbles you ask? Road marbles are green and range in size between a racket ball and a soft ball. They come in two types, the smooth smaller type with a fleshy outer layer and very hard center and the nubby fleshy type that are just plain fleshy. Yeah, is said fleshy twice. These road marbles are in fact the fruiting bodies of the black walnut and osage orange trees.  And in the fall they can completely fill the shoulders of the roads around here. I have nearly hit the pavement on more than one occasion after hitting one of these little green spheres.

Black walnuts probably don’t need much explanation. It is a common native tree here in the east. I see them just about everywhere and I think they are quite beautiful (in my humble opinion) and I also think they are one of the trees that define the eastern forest (now that the American chestnut is MIA). The photo to the left is of my parent’s old barn (constructed out of American chestnut) on Fisher Branch near Mars Hill, NC with a walnut tree beside it. While I assume not everyone reading this could pick out a black walnut tree in a tree line up, I would think all most every one was familiar with black walnuts the food item. They are, in fact, yummy. I would expect fewer people to know that the black walnut tree is an important dye for both fabric and wood. Black walnut stain really comes from black walnuts!

My favorite fun fact about black walnut trees is the fact that they are allelopathic. I’m sure you haven’t use the term allelopathy in a while so let me refresh your memory. It is “a biological phenomenon by which an organism produces one or more biochemicals that influence the growth, survival, and reproduction of other.” Got that? Great.

Allelopathic properties are the reason that you plant marigolds in you garden to control nematodes. Marigolds produce a substance known as alpha-terthienyl that kills nematodes at a 100% kill rate. Who knew? Asparagus also produces compounds that control nematodes but they are not quite as showy as Marigolds. Other things like corn pollen can affect the growth rates of other plants. Being able to control the growth rate of your neighbor is a pretty cool trick when it comes to competing for valuable and limited resources.

Black walnuts trees produce a compound called juglone or more specifically 5-hydroxy-1, 4-naphtalenedione. I don’t know about you, but I’m calling it juglone. Like corn pollen, it also allows the walnut tree to inhibit the growth of their neighbors. Which may be a good reason that I see so many of them around.

The problem with so many of them around is that walnut trees are prolific producers of walnuts. They fall to the ground and become road marbles. Something cyclist must stay on their toes (petals, peddle, pedal?) for…

Bike botany, part 2, the osage orange, coming shortly. Stay tuned.

Ride lots, stop often,

Russell

Emily's New Smile

Today was a big day for Emily. As you can see, she is sporting a new smile as her braces were removed! To say she is happy would be a vast understatement. Mary and I think she is just beautiful. Just the mere fact that she let us photograph her should speak volumes. Adding to her happiness is that fact that she had a lot of wooden nickels. Each visit to the orthodontist would earn a few nickels. If they brushed and maintained their braces well, she would get more nickels. Emily saved enough nickels to earn 2 $10 gift cards to Barns and Noble, where she intends to spend the entire thing on Hobbit stuff, and a $10 gift card to Starbucks. I told her the nice thing to do would be to give the Starbucks card to me as I have suffered through this as much as she has. She dismissed my suggestion in its entirety. 

The Stroud Preserve, 14 January 2013

Today started off with thick fog. That combined with very little sleep the night before had me moving real slow today. I covered what I would guess is the least amount of ground on any of my walks in 2013. My impression was that I probably tallied the least number of species, however, when I got home and wrote things down I was surprised to see that I had the most species of any walk so far with 42 in all. By the way, my year list for the preserve is now up to 58. There was nothing to unusual to report with the exception of Killdeer, which I almost never see there. Sparrow species were good again with 7 total.

Stat time: 8:50
End time: 11:30
Temp: 51
Wind: 56
Skies: thick fog turning to clear skies.
Species Total: 42
 

• Great Blue Heron – 1

• Black Vulture – 2

• Turkey Vulture – 12

• Snow Goose – 41

• Canada Goose – approximately 400

• Mallard – 13

• Common Merganser – 1

• Sharp-shinned Hawk – 2, immatures

• Red-tailed Hawk – 4, adults

• Killdeer – 1, heard only. This is another species that I rarely see or hear at the preserve. I would think the plowed fields would attract at least a few. This is only the 5^th time that I have recorded one at the preserve.

• Herring Gull – 2

• Mourning Dove – approximately 250

• Red-bellied Woodpecker – approximately 12

• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1, heard only

• Downy Woodpecker – approximately 20

• Hairy Woodpecker – 2

• Northern Flicker – 1

• Blue Jay – approximately 15

• American Crow – approximately 400

• Carolina Chickadee – approximately 25

• Tufted Titmouse – approximately 20

• White-breasted Nuthatch – approximately 12

• Carolina Wren – approximately 10

• Winter Wren – 1, heard only

• Eastern Bluebird – approximately 30

• American Robin – 2

• Northern Mockingbird – 2

• European Starling – approximately 75

• Cedar Waxwing – 6, Bird of the Day! Last observed in October.

• American Tree Sparrow – 5

• Field Sparrow – 5

• Savannah Sparrow – 1

• Fox Sparrow – 1

• Song Sparrow – approximately 50

• Swamp Sparrow – 3

• White-throated Sparrow – approximately 100

• Dark-eyed Junco – approximately 25

• Northern Cardinal – approximately 20

• Red-winged Blackbird – approximately 200

• Common Grackle – approximately 1000

• House Finch – approximately 15

• American Goldfinch – approximately 20

The Stroud Preserve, 10 January 2013

When I arrived at the preserve today the ground near the parking lot had a large dark blanket over it! This large blanket was approximately 2500 Common Grackles. I know most birders here don’t get overly excited about a flock of grackles. I, however, was overjoyed by this sight.

For a little over 19 years I lived in Washington State. In that time, I saw exactly one (1) Common Grackle. In Washington State they are accidental and a few years ago (29 April 2007) one showed up a few miles from my home on the north Olympic Peninsula. That is it in the photo on the left. When I saw it I was reminded as to just how spectacular these birds look. When I moved back to Pennsylvania last year, I thought about how much I would forward to seeing them on a regular basis. This flock today was the first close up look that I have had of a large group since my arrival.

Now, I know most people think of them as a nuisance. Even birders think lowly of them as even a modest flock can consume $30 of cracked corn in just a few minutes. I don’t care, I think they are just awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed looking at their glistening iridescent plumage as they worked their way through the grass in the early morning sunshine.

I also enjoyed observing their flock dynamics. They would move across the ground without any individual bird getting to far way from their neighbor. Every 30 seconds or so, something would spook them and they would all fly up into a nearby tree, but for only a few seconds, then, like a cascading waterfall they would spill out the tree back to the spot the flew from and start foraging again. After about 10 minutes of this routine, they all of the sudden lifted off, not to the tree, but to the open sky and headed off to the south as if this was the predetermined plan all along.

If you haven’t stopped and looked at a flock of grackles in a while, you should do it. They are worth it!

As the flock flew up and down from the ground to the trees I noticed a flash of white in and amongst them. My first thought was that there might be a Yellow-headed Blackbird in with them. That would be a pretty good bird to add to the preserve list. However, scanning the flock I found the source of the flash of white. It was a Common Grackle with a completely white head. It actually looked more like a White-headed Woodpecker than it did a Common Grackle!

The rest of today’s walk had many good birds, including a flock of pipits and a repeat of yesterdays Common Mergansers and Black Duck. I had the best day yet for sparrow species with a total of 8! There were approximately 1200 Canada Geese in the field on the west side of the Brandywine, the largest number of Canada’s that I’ve had so far. I scanned the flock as best I could for the two Cackling Geese that I had yesterday but with no luck. The total species count for the day was 41.

Stat time: 8:50
End time: 12:00
Temp: 32-46
Wind: none to slight from the north
Skies: mostly sunny
Species Total: 41
 

• Great Blue Heron – 5
• Black Vulture – approximately 25
• Turkey Vulture – approximately 20
• Canada Goose – approximately 1200
• American Black Duck – 1
• Mallard – 21
• Common Merganser – 6
• Cooper's Hawk – 2, 1 adult, 1 immature
• Red-tailed Hawk – 5, 3 adults, 2 immatures
• Rock Dove – 6
• Mourning Dove – approximately 75
• Red-bellied Woodpecker – approximately 12
• Downy Woodpecker – approximately 25
• Hairy Woodpecker – 2, heard only
• Blue Jay – approximately 15
• American Crow – approximately 250
• Fish Crow – 1
• Carolina Chickadee – approximately 15
• Tufted Titmouse – approximately 25
• White-breasted Nuthatch – approximately 15
• Carolina Wren – approximately 10
• Eastern Bluebird – approximately 35
• American Robin – 3
• Northern Mockingbird – 2
• European Starling – approximately 50
• American Pipit – 15
• Eastern Towhee – 2
• American Tree Sparrow – 3
• Chipping Sparrow – 1
• Field Sparrow – 2
• Savannah Sparrow – 1
• Fox Sparrow – 1
• Song Sparrow – approximately 75
• Swamp Sparrow – 2
• White-throated Sparrow – approximately 100
• Dark-eyed Junco – approximately 25
• Northern Cardinal – approximately 30
• Red-winged Blackbird – 3
• Common Grackle – 2500, Bird(s) of the day!
• House Finch – approximately 20
• American Goldfinch – approximately 20

The Stroud Preserve, 9 January 2013

A few days ago, when I was talking to the preserve manager Fred Gender, I complained that I have not seen very much in the way of waterfowl either in Brandywine or overhead. I had hoped to at least add a few species of ducks to my preserve list as migratory flyovers. I did add Cackling Goose and Green-winged Teal to the list, but that is it. I carefully check the Brandywine in both directions for mergansers or other ducks and check the skies overhead but almost always come up empty in terms of waterfowl.

Today when I started my walk, I looked downstream and saw nothing, then looked up stream and saw nothing. Then I stood and listened for what might be calling. Then I looked downstream again. This time I saw something swimming in the water just before the rapids. Finally! Common Mergansers, five of them, 4 males and a female, a new bird for my preserve list! I then turned and walked a short way to get a better view of the field to the north were several hundred Canada Geese were gathered.

As I was standing there Smaller groups of geese were flying in, mostly from the south. One group of five geese had two individuals that were notably smaller with short necks, making them Cackling Geese! Then two groups of about twenty Mallards flew past. The second group had a very dark bird amongst them. I got a pretty good look at it and could see that it had no white in the wings making it a Black Duck! Also a new bird for my preserve list!

I’m at the point now where new birds are becoming few and far between. To get two in one day just moments apart is pretty cool. I’m going with Black Duck as my bird of the day because it was totally unexpected. Later in my walk I near the south end of the preserve, I had a flock of 33 Snow Geese fly over, rounding out my waterfowl species count at 6. My previous high was four; Canada Goose, Snow Goose, Cackling Goose and Green-winged Teal on 25 October 2012.

Stat time: 8:50
End time: 11:30
Temp: 32-45
Wind: none
Skies: high overcast clouds clearing to partly cloudy
Species Total: 36
 

• Great Blue Heron – 1
• Black Vulture – 1, where did the vultures go? I picked up both species in the last 10 minutes of my walk!
• Turkey Vulture – 2
• Snow Goose – 33, Always a nice sight to see.
• Canada Goose – approximately 700
• Cackling Goose – 2
• American Black Duck – 1, Bird of the Day!
• Mallard – approximately 75
• Common Merganser – 8, 5 at the beginning of my walk and three more over head as I finished up my walk.
• Cooper's Hawk – 1 immature
• Red-tailed Hawk – 6, 4 adults and 2 immatures
• Mourning Dove – approximately 100
• Belted Kingfisher – 1
• Red-bellied Woodpecker – approximately 10
• Downy Woodpecker – approximately 10
• Hairy Woodpecker – 2
• Northern Flicker – 1, heard only
• Blue Jay – approximately 20
• American Crow – approximately 400
• Carolina Chickadee – approximately 25
• Tufted Titmouse – approximately 20
• Red-breasted Nuthatch – 1
• White-breasted Nuthatch – 5
• Brown Creeper – 1
• Carolina Wren – approximately 12
• Winter Wren – 2, first time that I’ve seen two together in one spot.
• Golden-crowned Kinglet – approximately 10
• Eastern Bluebird – 2, lowest count in quite a while.
• American Robin – 10
• Northern Mockingbird – 2
• European Starling – approximately 100
• Song Sparrow – approximately 50
• White-throated Sparrow – approximately 100
• Dark-eyed Junco – approximately 12
• Northern Cardinal – approximately 15
• American Goldfinch – 3

The Stroud Preserve, 7 January 2013

This was a banner day for woodpeckers! I start off most days by ticking off Downy and Red-bellied as soon as I start walking. Today was no different, as I noted them standing in the parking lot as I checked the start time and temperature. I took the “Red Trail” into the woods that go along the south boarder of the preserve. As soon as I entered the woods I heard the rattling call of a Pileated Woodpecker! In short order I found a male in the top of a yellow poplar tree. I have been surprised at how uncommon this species is in our area (this is only my 4th observation for the preserve). I almost never see them anywhere else in Chester County. When I first decided to make the preserve my regular birding spot I predicted I would see them in the wooded areas along the Brandywine and on the west end of the preserve as the stands of trees there seemed like appropriate habitat. In fact, I did see Pileated there on my first visit in March and again in April and none since.

As I was looking at the Pileated, I thought “well what are the chances I will see the remaining three species of woodpeckers?” These three species being Northern Flicker, Hairy Woodpecker and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. None of these three are a “given” on any given day. I see flickers on about 60% of my visits, Hairy on about 48% of my visits and sapsuckers are down right rare at about 14%. I figured the chances that I would see one of these as pretty good, but all three would be highly unlikely.

I did my usual look around the preserve with out seeing anything other than Downy and Red-bellied. By the time I rounded the curve and had the parking lot in view I had pretty much dismissed the notion that I would get another woodpecker. I paused to spish for a swamp sparrow at their usual spot when I hear a woodpecker tapping in the trees beyond. Shortly there after, I heard the familiar call of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker! With the sapsucker still tapping away, I noticed a bird perched in the top of a tree to my right. A quick look confirmed it to be a Northern Flicker!

Alright. Now I’m on a mission to find a Hairy Woodpecker. Fortunately I didn’t have to work at this to hard. As I approached the bridge to the parking lot I heard a Hairy calling from the big box elder that towers over the bridge and river!

Oddly enough, this is the second time that I have had a six woodpecker day at the preserve. The last one was on 6 April 2012, which was the last record that I have for a Pileated and the first that I have for a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

Stat time: 8:50
End time: 11:40
Temp: 37-41
Wind: light to gusty from the west
Skies: Overcast
Species Total: 32
 

• Great Blue Heron – 3

• Black Vulture – approximately 20

• Turkey Vulture – approximately 30

• Canada Goose – approximately 700, all congregated in the Brandywine on the north end of the preserve.

• Mallard – 17

• Northern Harrier – 2, males. To the best of my memory, these were the first harriers that I have observed that were actively hunting in the preserve. All others that I have seen were migrants flying high overhead. They were working the No Hang Glider Hill where the preserve manager says that he sees them most often. This was only my 6^th observation in the preserve.

• Red-tailed Hawk – 5, 3 adults and 2 immatures

• Mourning Dove – approximately 25

• Red-bellied Woodpecker – approximately 10

• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1, heard only

• Downy Woodpecker – approximately 25!

• Hairy Woodpecker – 1

• Northern Flicker – 1

• Pileated Woodpecker – 1, Bird of the Day!

• Blue Jay – approximately 20

• American Crow – approximately 400. Many birds spread through the preserve today.

• Carolina Chickadee – approximately 40

• Tufted Titmouse – approximately 20

• White-breasted Nuthatch – approximately 10

• Carolina Wren – approximately 10

• Golden-crowned Kinglet – 1

• Eastern Bluebird – approximately 25

• American Robin – 5

• Northern Mockingbird – 3

• European Starling – approximately 40

• Song Sparrow – approximately 150

• Swamp Sparrow – 1

• White-throated Sparrow – approximately 150

• Dark-eyed Junco – approximately 75

• Northern Cardinal – approximately 30

• House Finch – 2

• American Goldfinch – approximately 20

The Stroud Preserve, 6 January 2013

It may seem backwards to many, but I don’t seem to be able to get out to do much birding on the weekend. I was determined to change that today. I set the alarm for early, got up and looked out the window to see a fresh blanket of snow on the ground. Then just decided to crawl back into bed and let it melt off a little. I still made it down to the preserve, but not until 11:15 AM, which is when I’m usually finishing things up!

The day did warm nicely and despite my late start I saw 35 species, which is just above average for this time of year. The highlight of the day was a single Chipping Sparrow. For some reason, this is a species that I don’t see very often at the preserve. I would think the area would be prime habitat for it. In contrast, I did not see any American Tree Sparrows at all (down from 24 just two day before).

Stat time: 11:15
End time: 2:15
Temp: 34-46
Wind: lite breeze from the west
Skies: mostly clear
Species Total: 35
 
Great Blue Heron – 1, I saw this one snap up and swallow a small rodent in one gulp in the bed of the old farm pond.
Black Vulture – approximately 25
Turkey Vulture – approximately 40
Canada Goose – approximately 375
Mallard – 2, male and female
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 1, adult
Cooper's Hawk – 1, immature
Red-tailed Hawk – 6, 5 adults, 1 immature
Rock Dove – 3
Mourning Dove – approximately 150
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 4
Downy Woodpecker – 3
Hairy Woodpecker – 2
Blue Jay – approximately 10
American Crow – approximately 200
Fish Crow – 1, maybe as many as three. I heard a text book call on the west side of the preserve. I think I heard a couple of others in the large flock of crows down by the Brandywine, but could be sure exactly.
Carolina Chickadee – approximately 15
Tufted Titmouse – approximately 15
Red-breasted Nuthatch – 1
White-breasted Nuthatch – 5
Carolina Wren – approximately 10
Golden-crowned Kinglet – 4
Eastern Bluebird – approximately 25
American Robin – 6
Northern Mockingbird – 2
European Starling – 7
Eastern Towhee – 2, heard only
Chipping Sparrow – 1, Bird of the Day!
Fox Sparrow – 1
Song Sparrow – approximately 25, numbers seemed very low compared to previous days.
Swamp Sparrow – 2
White-throated Sparrow – approximately 35
Dark-eyed Junco – approximately15
Northern Cardinal – approximately15
House Finch – approximately 10
American Goldfinch – approximately 10