The Stroud Preserve, 23 January 2013

Today’s walk was cold. I’ve been trying to figure out if it was the coldest day or not and I think I have developed a test to determine this. Let’s try it out now.

On 22 January 2013 was the East Branch of the Brandywine frozen? No.

On 23 January 2013 was the East Branch of the Brandywine frozen? Yes.

There you have it. Today was more colder* than yesterday. However, I must be honest in that it didn’t feel more colder because the wind wasn’t howling like it was yesterday. Again I employed my graduate school education and checked the weather before I left the house and was dressed appropriately. It will be interesting to see if the Brandywine completely freezes over as the temps are supposed to stay subfreezing for the next four days.

Despite the low temperature, the lowest that I have experienced since moving back the east coast, the birdlife today seemed a little more robust than yesterday. I started off the day with an adult Bald Eagle, which was a first for 2013. The last one that I saw was back on 11 December. They were an almost daily occurrence through to November then they began to disappear.

Speaking of disappearing acts. I was watching the group of about 500 Canada Geese in the field on the west side of the Brandywine when I looked up at the eagle. I looked it for a minute or so then looked back at the geese. Except there were not geese! They had all slipped in the Brandywine without making a sound! Penn and Teller couldn’t have done it better. In all I had 33 species for the day and I'm up to 59 for the year. 

*More colder is a precise technical term used by field ornithologist to describe their level of discomfort at any given time.

Stat time: 9:30
End time: 12:30

Temp: 12-18!

Wind: light winds from the north
Skies: partly cloudy
Species Total: 33
 

• Great Blue Heron – 1

• Black Vulture – 6

• Turkey Vulture – approximately 15

• Canada Goose – approximately 500

• Mallard – 3

• Bald Eagle – 1, adult. Bird of the Day!

• Sharp-shinned Hawk – 1 immature, probably a male based on size.

• Red-tailed Hawk – 4, 3 adults and 1 immature

• Mourning Dove – approximately 20

• Red-bellied Woodpecker – 3

• Downy Woodpecker – 2

• Hairy Woodpecker – 1

• Northern Flicker – 1

• Blue Jay – approximately 10

• American Crow – approximately 100

• Carolina Chickadee – 1

• Tufted Titmouse – 2

• White-breasted Nuthatch – 2

• Carolina Wren – approximately 6

• Winter Wren – 1, heard only

• Eastern Bluebird – 3

• American Robin – 1

• Northern Mockingbird – 4

• European Starling – 3

• American Pipit – 1

• Eastern Towhee – 6, I’m finding that towhees are difficult to detect on a daily basis. This is by far my high winter count.

• Savannah Sparrow – 2

• Fox Sparrow – 8!

• Song Sparrow – approximately 50

• Swamp Sparrow – 1

• White-throated Sparrow – approximately 100

• Dark-eyed Junco – approximately 15

• Northern Cardinal – approximately 20

Bicycle Botany: Road Marbles, Part Two

In part one of Road Marbles we learned that humans were not the first of earth's organisms to engage in chemical warfare. Plants were probably in need of a Geneva Convention long before animals ever showed up on the scene. Osage orange also has interesting chemical properties…or not.

A common story that floats around is that placing an Osage orange under your bed or in your basement would repel spiders and insects from your house. There are even websites today that sell Osage orange touting it just for that purpose. However, there is not a lick of science to back up that claim. Plus, why would you want to drive away spiders? Spiders are a surefire way to get ride of insects in your house! Osage orange does contain a chemical, elemol, that has been shown to be as effective at repelling insects as DEET. However, the chemical has to be extracted and refined from the fruit for it to be effective. Here is a website that talks about the myth of Osage orange repellent. 

An other myth around about Osage orange is their edibility. Some say that is, some say that they are but why bother, and most (overwhelming majority, including myself) say they are not. My reasoning is that zillions of these things fall to the ground around here and remain there until they rot and turn to a putrid mush (see right). If they were edible I would think some animal would eat them. Plus, who in their right mind would eat something that could also repel and kill insects. We'll just leave it at that. 

Chemical and food issues aside, the thing that I find most interesting about Osage orange is that it is native alien. Yes, a native alien. Osage orange is a native tree of North America. However, it's natural range is fairly restricted, confined to eastern Texas, and small portions of Oklahoma and Arkansas. It's current range extends across nearly the entirety of North America. It is particularly common in the east and midwest. 

The primary reason for this distribution is cattle. Not because cows eat the orange and the distribute the seeds in cow pies (a process know as endozoochory). Nor do the seeds stick the cows fur and fall off in some distant spot later (a process know as epizoochory). Nope. Osage orange has sharp thorns on their branches and can grow in thick hedges that cows cannot pass through. Humans planted these trees far and wide to keep cows close to home. But as it turns out, metal fence post and barbed wire was cheaper and could be put into use fairly quick as there was no waiting around for that fence to grow. 

It was also planted widely as a windbreak in the Great Plains and other places. It was such a popular plant for hedges and windbreaks that FDR incorporated it into his New Deal program called the "Great Plains Shelterbelt." This WPA project set out to stop the dust bowl and change the climate. Really. They planted 220 million trees for this project, most of them Osage orange. 

Osage orange was also prized by Native Americans as the best wood to fashion bows from. It was such a valuable resource for them that wars were fought between tribes for control of lands where the tree grew. I'm thinking the Osage Tribe was pretty popular amongst Native nations. The bows sure were, as they have been found as far as 2000 miles away from native Osage orange range. 

The uses of this tree are many and I could go on and on. It is clearly a plant that humans value and admire. Except for me. I hate the darn things. These oranges are large and when they first fall off the tree they are pretty hard. When the 23 mm wide front wheel of an expensive road bike meets one of these unexpectidly, the chances that you will become a road marble are suddenly increased to a troubling level! 

Ride lots, stop often, and avoid road marbles!

Russell

The Stroud Preserve, 22 January 2013

Don’t let the photo of the sunny sky fool you. Today was a flippin cold! If I said it was cold on any other day this winter I was wrong.  I started out the day at 18 degrees and by the time I got back to the car it had climbed all the way up to 19. Oh, and the wind did blow! Fortunately I used my grad school education to check the weather and dressed appropriately...before I left home. So, I was pretty warm with the exception of my nose. The birds didn’t like it much either. It was pretty darn quite. Some regulars like Morning Dove, Eastern Bluebird, and American Goldfinch were completely absent.

What drives a person to go out on a day like this? Well, I have been reading about all the wonderful winter finches that other birders in the region have been seeing. White-winged and Red Crossbills, Northern Shrikes, Common Redpolls, Evening Grosbeaks are abound everywhere but here. Other than hundreds of Purple Finches and a single day of Pine Siskins, I have not had any of these wonderful visitors from the North. They certainly were not around today. In fact, had the lowest total species tally thus far in 2013 with a whopping 28.

Stat time: 8:50
End time: 11:15
Temp: 18-19!
Wind: Strong out of the west
Skies: Completely clear
Species Total: 28
 

• Black Vulture – 4

• Turkey Vulture – approximately 12

• Canada Goose – approximately 300

• Mallard – 2

• Common Merganser – 2

• Red-tailed Hawk – 3 adults

• Red-bellied Woodpecker – 3

• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 3

• Downy Woodpecker – 2

• Northern Flicker – 1

• Blue Jay – approximately 10

• American Crow – approximately 150

• Carolina Chickadee – approximately10

• Tufted Titmouse – 1

• White-breasted Nuthatch – 5

• Carolina Wren – 4

• American Robin – 4

• Northern Mockingbird – 2

• European Starling – 13

• Eastern Towhee – 1

• American Tree Sparrow – 3

• Chipping Sparrow – 1, Bird of the Day!

• Song Sparrow – approximately 20

• White-throated Sparrow – approximately 50

• Dark-eyed Junco – approximately 50

• Northern Cardinal – approximately 15

• Common Grackle – 1

• House Finch – 1

Westminster Palace

William finished his latest paper architecture project today, Westminster Palace, complete with Big Ben and all. William loves doing stuff like this. When he gets home from school he runs down to the basement and sits at his little stretch of bench space that I have given him and will work for hours on end cutting paper. He started this one on the day after Christmas. We didn't keep track of the total hours he spent on it but it was a lot, especially for a 12 year old. 

He goes through zillions of x-acto knife blades. So much so that it is more economical if I sharpen the them with a wet stone than to buy new ones. He is pretty particular about the blades however. If I don't get the points sharpen just right he will send them back to me. I have to do the sharpening under my microscope to make sure I get the tips of the blades just right. Other than sharpening the blades, I do nothing on these projects. William prints the plans, cuts out the pecies and then figures out how it all fits together. The projects are fairly complecated but he does the entire thing on his own. 

Its nice having him down in the basement (aka the ManCave) with me. Most evenings he will be working on his paper stuff while I work on my paintings. He has decided to give this one to Lucky Aunt Teri. If anyone else want one of his works just ask nicely and he may grant your wish. See more photos of Westninster Palace here. 

Humoreske

Chaos/Control, 2012, oil on wood, collection of Frances and Lee West, Roanoke VA.

Great News! A solo show of my paintings entitled Humoreske is up at the Patrick Henry Community College Art Gallery, in Martinsville, VA from now until Febuary 19th. Also on the 19th I will be giving a lecture on my work at 1:00 PM. 

The Stroud Preserve, 18 January 2013

Burr. Today was cold, and the north wind blew. Burr. For the most part, the bird life was pretty subdued, especially small passerines. Sparrow numbers were way down from my last visit on the 14^th.

The unusual event of the day was a steady stream of gulls that were flying over the preserve as I arrived. I estimate that I saw at least 500 flying north. I imagine many flew past before I arrived. These birds were really to far away to identify based on anything other than probability. As such, I could tell that the steam of birds was made up of about 75% small gulls and 25% larger gulls. I could tell that they were not Bonepart's  or Great Black-backed Gulls. The only two species that would be around here in numbers like these are Ring-billed Gulls and Herring Gulls. So, that is what my identification is based on.

Apart from the gulls, the day was pretty uneventful. I also had to leave a bit early as about an hour into it I realized that I forgot to give my son his medicine this morning. Sometimes you just have to stop what you are doing and do something else.

Stat time: 8:10
End time: 10:00
Temp: 28-30
Wind: brisk from the north
Skies: mostly overcast
Species Total: 33
 
 

Great Blue Heron – 1

Black Vulture – approximately 12

Turkey Vulture – approximately 20

Canada Goose – approximately 250

Mallard – 3

Red-tailed Hawk – 4, adults

Ring-billed Gull – approximately 375, co-bird of the day!

Herring Gull – approximately 125, co-bird of the day!

Mourning Dove – approximately 100

Red-bellied Woodpecker – 2

Downy Woodpecker – 5

Northern Flicker – 2

Blue Jay – 5

American Crow – approximately 600

Fish Crow – 2, I actually got to see these perched in a tree near the old barn.

Carolina Chickadee – 1

Tufted Titmouse – 2

White-breasted Nuthatch – 3

Carolina Wren – 4

Winter Wren – 1

Golden-crowned Kinglet – 3

Eastern Bluebird – approximately 15

Northern Mockingbird – 1

European Starling – approximately 12

Eastern Towhee – 2, heard only

Song Sparrow – approximately 20

White-throated Sparrow – approximately 20

Dark-eyed Junco – 2

Northern Cardinal – 5

Red-winged Blackbird – 2

Common Grackle – 1

House Finch – 3

American Goldfinch – approximately 15

Forgotten Philadelphia

The Four Humors of Tinicum, 2012, polyptych, oil on wood panels. 60.7X14 cm. 

Last fall I was part of a painting and writing exhibition called "Forgotten Philadelphia" through the organization Philadelphia Stories. The show featured 16 visual artist. Each artist proposed a location in Philadelphia that meant something to them and might be off the beaten trail, or in other words, a forgotten part of Philadelphia. The people at Philadelphia Stories then paired each visual artist with a writer, who then went out and wrote about the location. 

I proposed to make a painting about The John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge. When I live in Philly over 20 years ago I use to visit this place often as it was one of the best birding spots around. Back then it was called The Tinicum National Environmental Education Center after the creek that flows through it. The poet that I was paired with was JC Tood, who wrote absolutely wonderful poem about the refuge. 

The show in Center City was up from September 15th to November 9th. If you missed it you have another chance to see it because it is moving to Arcadia University from January 21st till February 20th. The opening reception will be on Wednesday, January 23rd at 7:00 PM. 

Along with the exhibit Philadelphia Stories published a book (right) with all the works in it. If you are interested in buying a copy they are available here ($30 hardback).