Summer Blues

 Summer Blues

 

Male Eastern Bluebird

Early summer is time for baby birds.  And the baby birds you are very likely to see at Warner Parks are Eastern Bluebirds.  Thanks to a very special group of volunteers and staff, Warner Parks have a special relationship with bluebirds and their babies.

 

 

 

Eastern Bluebird Box

Eastern Bluebirds are cavity nesters.  A cavity nester is a bird that builds is nest inside a hole, usually of a tree.  Because of habitat loss, competing species, and the fact that bluebirds cannot make their own cavities, the Bluebird population was declining.  Bluebird nest boxes provided an effective solution.  These boxes give bluebirds a place to nest and scientist a way to study the birds.  When several of the boxes are installed within a particular area, they are considered to be a bluebird nest box trail, and Warner Parks is home to one of the oldest.

 

 

 Amelia R Laskey

According to Sandy Bivens, Warner Park Nature Center’s BIRD Program founder, The Eastern Bluebird Nest Box Project in the Warner Parks is the oldest continually monitored nest box program in the United States.  Started in 1936 by Amelia Laskey, it was supported by the Nashville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society, Peabody University faculty and students, Boy Scouts, Works Progress Administration, and the Nashville Parks & Recreation Department.  Mrs. Laskey monitored fifty nest boxes regularly for 40 years, kept detailed records, and published results in journals. Later, Mrs. Virginia Price, one of Laskey’s volunteers and helpers, managed the boxes and passed the project on to the "new nature center" in 1973 - when the nature center opened.

 

 

 

Bluebird Box Coordinator Diana McLusky

 

 

Now, fifty years later, a team of dedicated nature center volunteers and staff monitor the boxes and assist with this ongoing project. Volunteer BIRD Team member Diana McLusky has coordinated the nest box project for over 20 years and has maintained the partnership with volunteers, scouts, and Metro Parks.  Through this important bird research project, we have learned a bit about Eastern Bluebird mating habits and their young.

 

 

Male Bl

uebird on a box

 

The mating ritual starts in the early spring when the male establishes his territory.  Once his territory is established, he performs a nest-building display which involves bringing some nesting material into the box, which lures a female to his site.

 

 

 

 

 

Male (right) and Female (Left) Bluebirds on a Box

 

Bluebirds do not share the nesting activities.  Despite his early nesting displays, the male drops out and the nest is built by the female. She completes her task in about 5 days.   Nests in our area and generally grass with finer grass inside with an occasional 1 feather. If there are pine trees around (like Percy Warner golf courses) they like pine needles. Usually a very neat nest. If they are nesting at the steeplechase, they will add horse hair.

 

 

Bluebird box with feeder

 

Courting, nest building and egg laying take a lot of energy.  Bluebirds eat a lot of insects in the spring, summer, and fall.  Meal worms are a favorite.  In the winter they eat wild berries and fruit.  The male will feed the female while she is sitting on the eggs.  Both parents feed the babies.

 

 

Baby bluebirds and an egg

 

Once the nest is completed the female begins to lay eggs.  She usually lays four or five eggs.  She usually lays one blue egg a day.  The incubation period is 12 – 18 days. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baby Bluebirds in the nest.

The eggs hatch in the order in which they were laid.  They fledge in 17 – 20 days.  Once they have fledged the parents will feed the babies for 3 or 4 more weeks.

 

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Baby Birds waiting to be banded

The Warner Parks BIRD Team monitors the bluebird boxes and when the babies are 10 – 12 days old they are banded.  By banding these birds, we learn how long they live, if and to where they migrate, and whether they return to the same box each year.

 

Here at Warner Parks, year-round bird banding is one of the many research projects conducted by the BIRD Program.  Banding sessions are open to the public and dates and times are published in our seasonal program schedule and on the Friends of Warner Parks events calendar

Lions and Tigers and Zebras - Oh My!

 Lions and Tigers and Zebras – Oh My

Field of Lyre Leaf Sage

May is an amazing time at Warner Park.  The park, with its fresh spring colors, is magical.  There are interesting sites around each corner.  In fact, if you look close enough, you will find exotic creatures in everyday things.

 Dandelion

This pretty yellow dandelion can be found everywhere in the Warner Parks.  Although this may look common, it is an amazing botanical specimen.  There is some debate as to where the name comes from.  Examine the leaves, they are jagged and remind some people of lion’s teeth. The belief is that the dandelion’s name could be derived it from the French term 'dent de lion' meaning 'tooth of the lion'. Or it could be the yellow color of the flower reminds many people of a lion mane.  No matter how the flower got its name, there is more to this plant than beautiful yellow flowers.  This plant provides food, drink, medicine, and entertainment.  The root has been used as an ingredient in medicines for problems such as dyspepsia, constipation, gallstones, insomnia, dropsy, and jaundice.  Wine is produced from the flowers, they young leaves are wonderful in salads, and the root has been used as a substitute for coffee.

Dandelion Seeds

Of course, nothing can compare to the joy of blowing dandelion seeds.  Many children spend happy hours blowing and chasing these seeds. Is there is no greater accomplishment than blowing all the seeds off the head of a dandelion?

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail – Picture by Bob Allen

It is always a delight when you encounter this beautiful yellow and black swallowtail.  Look for these beautiful large butterflies in the fields on the lawns and in the gardens of the park.   This swallowtail is found all over the Eastern United States and some states in Mexico.

             

       Dark Morph of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail       

   Pipevine Swallowtail

Males are always yellow with black stripes.  The females can be yellow and black but have a dark morph, that resembles the poisonous pipevine swallowtail butterfly.  The adults can be found nectaring at many flowers but the host plants are Black Cherry and Tulip Popular.

       Young Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar                              Older Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar

When the caterpillars are hatched from a small green egg, they are brown and white and resemble bird poop.  Later as they mature, they become bright green.  The caterpillar has big eyes that make it look like a snake. If the snake eyes do not repel the predator, the caterpillar can also emit an unpleasant odor.  

Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly

May is a wonderful time to spot a zebra butterfly. Found in the eastern US, they are more prevalent in the south. A small swallowtail with black and white stripes, this is the state butterfly of Tennessee.  Look for them around pawpaw tress, where they lay their eggs.  Or look for in the dappled sunlight along the trail.  Because of their short probiscis the butterfly is found nectaring on zinnias, button bush, fleabane, and other flowers without long tube blossoms. 

Zebra swallowtail caterpillar

The female zebra swallowtail lays a pale green egg on the underside of a pawpaw leaf.  The caterpillars are hard to find because they eat at night and hide during the day.  Once hatched, the caterpillars are voracious eaters, some will even eat their siblings.  Before building a chrysalis, the caterpillar goes through three instars.  (An instar is a stage of growth for a caterpillar.)  When attacked they emit a stinky odor or move to another leaf.  It takes about a month for the butterfly to develop from an egg to a butterfly. An adult butterfly can live up to 6 months.

Moss on the forest floor

Take some time to go out on the trails in May.  Go with open eyes and an inquisitive heart and you will never know what you will find.  If you do find lions, tigers, or zebras, please let us know.

By Melissa Donahue

April Flowers Among the Showers

 

April Flowers among the Showers

This is the time of year when nature wears me out.  The weather is a little warmer, the earth smells a little cleaner, and the spring ephemerals start to pop.  Because a spring ephemeral is a native wildflower with a short life cycle and because it is important to see every flower, by the end of spring I am worn out.

Spring Beauty - Photo credit Rebecca Dandekar

One of the first spring ephemerals is a Spring Beauty.  This tiny flower starts out slow in the late winter, but by the time spring is in full swing there are spring beauty everywhere.  With five petals this flower blooms white to pink.  The pink veins and a hint of yellow on the flower ensure no pollinator will have trouble following the “nectar guides” to the center of the flower.  A spring beauty provides nectar for over 23 species of bees and flies.  

Virginia Bluebells – Photo Credit Deb Beazley

As you are walking on the closed roadways of Warner look up the slope for bright pink buds.  These buds bloom to beautiful pale blue, occasionally pink or white tubular flowers.  Although the flowers bloom for a brief period of time, they form large colonies.  These large colonies cover the hillside in bright pink and a heavenly blue.  After the blooms are spent, the leaves die back, and the plant disappears until the next spring.  Bluebells are capable of self-pollination.  But they are also pollinated by butterflies, bumblebees and other long-tongued bees, skippers, hummingbird moths, flower flies (syrphids), bee flies, and hummingbirds.

Trillium

Three is a magic number.  If you find a flower that has three leaves, three petals, and three stamens you have a trillium.  In the park, the most common trillium are Sessile and Sweet Betsy.  A sessile trillium is a smaller plant than the Sweet Betsy, with conspicuous projections at the tips of the stamens.  That can be hard to judge so the best way to tell these two flowers apart is to bend down and smell them.  Sweet Betsy lives up to its name with a very sweet smell.  Sessile lives up to its nickname, Stinking Willie, with a smell that resembles rotting garbage.  The smell attracts flies and beetles which pollinate the plant.  Sweet Betsy trillium is also known as Purple Toadshade.  This could be because of its mottled leaves that look like toad skin or the arrangement of the leaves that welcome a toad to rest in the shade.

Forest floor covered in Spring Beauty – Photo credit Deb Beazley

On a personal note:

About 35 years ago I stood with my then three-year-old son in the snow.  In front of us was a naturalist talking about a winter bush.  My thought was she must have the best job in the world.  For the past 15 years I have had the job of a naturalist and it is the best job in the world. 

I am now changing my status from professional naturalist to volunteer naturalist.  There are so many people who have taught, encouraged, and supported me along the way.  I am thankful for each and every person.  I want to especially thank Vera Roberts for giving me this wonderful opportunity.  I want to thank Kim Bailey for being my mentor, teacher, and very good friend. Without her I would have never realized how amazing nature really is, or have had as much fun.  And as always, I am thankful for Ed Donahue, who listened, volunteered, and patiently waited while I examined whatever flower, rock or critter caught my interest.  I will miss being at the Nature Center every day, but look forward to new adventures.

Melissa Donahue

Can You Balance An Egg?

Spring Equinox

Egg balanced on a day other than March 20

The spring equinox is on Mon, Mar 20, 2023, 4:24 PM.  Legend has it you can balance an egg on its end on the spring equinox.  This legend is true, although it seems you can balance an egg on its end all year long.

What Is the Spring Equinox?

Here in Tennessee, the spring equinox occurs when the Sun crosses the celestial equator going south to north. The “celestial” equator is an imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator. 

After the spring equinox, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted more toward the Sun, with the result of longer days! (It is the fall equinox in the Southern Hemisphere, and they are experiencing shorter days.)  The hours of day light increase until the summer solstice, which is the longest day of the year. All over the world, the spring and fall equinox are the only time the sun rises due east and sets due west.

Naturalist celebrating Spring

How will you celebrate spring?

Spring Garden at the Nature Center.

• The March full moon is called the worm moon.  That is because worms and grubs are reappearing.  This means the ground is getting warmer.  The reappearance of worms is a sign to farmers that it is time to plant their spring crop.  It is a sign to Robins, who have been waiting all winter for a tasty meal, that it is time to eat.

Kentucky Warbler in the hands of a birder

• Watch as the Sun as it travels along its arch in the sky. Birds are migrating northward, along the path of the Sun.  Get your binoculars ready because the neo-tropical migrants will be passing through middle Tennessee on the way to their summer breeding areas.  Warblers, vireos, tanagers, flycatchers, swallows, hummingbirds, and many other species are there for the viewing if you take the time.  Early in the morning, between 6 am and 10 am is typically best because many of these species’ travel at night and are settling down in the mornings to feed and rest. 

Bluebirds at a nesting box 

• As the days get longer the increasing sunlight inspires the birds to sing. Many birds are starting their mating rituals and building nests.  Watch around bluebird boxes, the male and female birds are busy.  If you sit quietly, you will hear birds singing different calls.  Watch closely and you might start to notice birds flying with nesting material.

 Toad singing in the pond

• Toads mate each spring at the Nature Center Pond, and it is a highlight of the year for the park naturalist. Toads come down from the hills to gather at the pond for the yearly mating ritual.  For a few days in the spring the pond is alive with toad trills and couples mating.  Please be respectful of the toads as engage in this yearly ritual.

Trout Lily

• Early spring wildflowers are my favorite part of spring.  From early March into April, it seems like a new species appears almost daily.  On each outing the hiker is trekking through a riot of white, yellow, pink, and blue flowers.  

Monarch in the plum tree

On March 20, take a pause to consider the spring equinox.  Take some time to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of a new season.  Please let me know if you have success balancing an egg.

Melissa Donahue 

Frogs in February?

 Frogs In February

It is time for the first Frog logging session of the year.  Although the ground was covered in ice last week, today the temperature is 68 degrees. I’m hoping to hear some frogs calling this evening.  It doesn’t seem possible, but there are frogs in Middle Tennessee who start calling in the winter.

Upland Chorus Frog Pseudacris feriarum

A welcome sound, and one of the first frogs you hear calling in the spring is a chorus frog.  This tiny frog, only .07 to 1.4 inches in length, is usually light brown to tan with three dark stripes down its back, with often a dark triangle between the eyes. Upland chorus Frogs are found almost everywhere in Warner Park.  They thrive in swampy areas, heavily vegetated ponds, and moist woodlands.  In this habitat they find their diet of small insects and invertebrates.

Chorus Frog Eggs

This frog is earliest breeding frog in Tennessee.  They prefer breeding in shallow temporary pools.  Females can deposit up to 1000 eggs that attach to vegetation in the water.  Eggs hatch in 3 to 4 days and the tadpole stage lasts about 2 months.

Chorus Frog Call

The call is short, raspy, and rises in pitch. It sounds like someone dragging their thumbnail over the teeth of a comb.

Spring Peeper Pseudacris crucifer

No night sound announces spring like the calling of the spring pepper.  For such a small size, 0.7 to 1.2 inches in length, this frog has a big voice.  Spring peepers are easily recognizable by the dark brown “X” shape on the back of its brown or gray body.  They can be found in brushy or wooded areas close to water, and, as they are considered tree frogs, they are also good climbers and primarily eat small insects.

Spring Peeper Eggs - https://www.amphibianfact.com

Spring Peepers breed in freshwater ponds or pools, especially those without fish. They often use pools that dry up shortly after the tadpoles mature into adult frogs, also known as vernal pools. Females lay from 800 to 1,000 eggs singly or in clusters of 2 to 3. Eggs are attached to submerged vegetation and hatch in 2 to 3 days. Metamorphosis of tadpoles can take up to 3 months.

 Frog Call

Listen for a distinct high-pitched whistle that sounds like peep, peep, peep.

Southern Leopard Frog Lithobates sphenocephala

Calling as early as the end of January, these frogs are 2.5 to 3 inches long, have green and brown coloration and are also identifiable by their dark round spots, a light line on the lip, a light spot in the center of the tympanum (eardrum), and a long-pointed snout.  Southern Leopard frogs are most often found at the edges of ponds, creeks, and swamps.  They are primarily invertivores, feeding on terrestrial arthropods such as insects and spiders.

Leopard Frog Eggs

Females may produce 3,000 to 5,000 eggs laid in a globular mass and attached to stems of vegetation. Eggs hatch in 7 to12 days. Southern Leopard frog tadpoles complete metamorphosis in about 2 to 3 months.

Southern Leopard Frog Call

To identify this frog, listen for series of clucks mixed with groans sounding much like a hand-rubbed over a balloon. Listen for them from January through the fall, with peek calling time in February and March.

American Toad Anaxyrus americanus

The American toad is a favorite around the Nature Center.  It has short legs, a stout body, warty skin, and is 2 to 3.5 inches long.  The color of this toad can be brown, olive, red or gray, and can also change depending on temperature, humidity, or stress.  Males are smaller than females.  Found in a variety of habitats, look for them along the closed roadway in Edwin Warner in June.  Adult toads are carnivores; they eat worms, insects, spiders, and even small mammals or birds. Toad tadpoles are herbivores, and eat aquatic plants and algae.  They absorb water through their skin.

Toad Eggs

Because they are terrestrial, in order to breed American toads must have access to water.  Breeding may start as early as late February and may continue as into July, but typically occurs in March and April.  Females lay strands of eggs, about 4,000 – 8,000.  The eggs hatch within a week and the toads emerge from the pond in about 2 months.  

Toad Call

If you have ever been around the Nature Center in the spring, you have heard this call.  Listen for a long trill. During mating season, the male’s call is loud and insistent and can even be heard inside nearby buildings!

Burch Reserve

At Warner Park we frog log four times a year.  We are following TAMP (Tennessee Amphibian Monitoring Project) protocol. https://leaps.ms/TAMP%20Protocol%20Page%20022019.htm    To follow the protocol we begin our research 30 minutes after sunset.  We visit eight sites in the park and listen for frogs.  If you are interested in learning more about Frog Logging please email me at melissa.donahue@nashville.gov. 

 Pondering Winter Trees

Beech Trees in Winter

To see a tree in Winter is to see it for what it really is.  

“A Winter tree is an object so intricate and so perplexing that if it hadn’t already been decided that Winter trees were plain and boring, we would be spending hours pondering them, staring at them in astonishment.” – Author: Vivian Swift   

My favorite time in the woods is in the winter and one thing that is fascinating me this winter is tree bark.  It all seems the same, until you start looking closer.  I’m spending time learning a little about trees and bark this winter, I hope you will too.

American Beech – Fagus grandifolia

An easily identifiable winter tree is the American Beech tree.  Growing in rich woods, this slow-growing beauty can reach a height of 60 – 80 feet, a diameter of 3 feet and can live up to 400 years. Beech tree bark is smooth, light to bluish grey, is lighter when younger and gets darker with age.  The bark is so smooth it is often used as a canvas for carving names, although this is harmful to the tree.  As seen above, mature trees can be hollow, providing a great place for hide-and-seek.  

A distinct feature of this tree is its ability for young trees to retain leaves throughout the winter.  These leaves are called marcescent leaves.  Scientists are not sure why the trees retain their leaves but think it may have to do with nutrition recycling, water conservation or protection against animal browsing.  The European Settlers used these retained leaves in mattress because they lasted longer and felt softer than straw.  

I think the best thing about these marcescent leaves is the sound of the leaves blowing in the winter wind. 

American Beech nuts – Photo by Ashley Adamant 

The uses of this tree are many - the wood is used for furniture, tool handles, fuel, and barrels to age beer.  Beech nuts, the seeds of the tree, are eaten by wild turkey, bobwhite, raccoon, whitetail deer, Eastern cottontail rabbit, red and grey fox, many squirrels, and opossums. 

              

   

Eastern Sycamore – Platanus occidentalis  

With stunning white under bark glowing brightly in the winter sun, the Eastern Sycamore is a large lowland tree that is easy to identify.  The bark is a distinctive mottled brown that flakes off, exposing a whitish under-bark.  Considered the most massive tree in the Eastern United States, this tree can grow to a height of 130 feet and a diameter of 8 feet. Fast-growing, this tree tolerates pollution, resists pests, and can live up to 400 years. The twigs are eaten by deer and muskrats.  The wood is used for boxes, barrels, butcher blocks, cabinets, and furniture.  Native Americans used the tree for dugout canoes.  Cavities of the tree are used for nest and shelter by wood duck, opossum, and raccoon.  Some of these cavities are so large they were used as barns or even homes by early North American Settlers.

                             

Honey Locust – Gleditsia triacanthos

You will know a Honey Locust when you see it.  Huge thorns cover the branches and trunks, hiding bark that is dark and somewhat scaley, although smoother on young trees.   These thorns are several inches long and frequently branched.  Because of their size and shape they have been used as pins, spear points and animal traps. Honey Locust seeds are eaten by squirrels, cattle, deer, and rabbits. There is even a beer made from the honey locust pod. The wood is strong and was used for fence posts and railroad ties. The Native Americans used the wood for bowls and bows.   Tree extracts have been used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and cancer.  The honey locust tree, in the pea family, is often found in limestone soil on flood plains, old fields and along streambanks.  These trees can be 80 feet tall and 3 feet in diameter, tolerate drought, and can survive up to 150 years. Today planted as windbreaks and hedges, they provide excellent cover for a wide variety of birds.  

Flowering Dogwood – Cornus florida

Recognized for its spring flower, the bark of the flowering dogwood is checkered like an alligator hide.  Reaching a height of 40 feet with a diameter of 18 inches, this understory tree grows on well-drained upland soils and deep mesic soils along streams and lower slopes throughout the Southeast.    It lives about 80 years.  The wood is one of the hardest and heaviest in North America. 

Red berries of a Flowering Dogwood

This is a very adaptable tree.  The bark has been used to make toothpaste, black ink, and quinine. The roots and bark yield a scarlet dye and the wood is used for shuttles, bobbins, tool handles, mallets, sled runners, hay forks and heads of golf clubs.  The bright red seeds are food for song and game birds, skunks, deer, rabbits, and squirrels. Almost all parts of dogwood trees can be used for medicinal purposes: the bark, roots, berries, twigs, leaves and flowers. Native Americans used the root of dogwood trees to treat malaria. The inner bark of the roots contains the alkaloid known as cornin, used to treat ailments such as insomnia, asthma, fevers, muscular problems, whooping cough, toothache, and even canine mange.

White Ash – Fraxinus americana

Growing to heights of 80 feet with a diameter of 3 feet, a white ash is an easily recognizable upland tree.  The trunk bark often displays an interwoven pattern of shallow diamond-shaped ridges and furrows on the long straight trunk.  The name comes from the ash grey color of the bark.  A fast grower, with a life span of 200 – 300 years the ash is a very sustainable tree.  A white ash is the most valuable of the three most common ash species, provides hard, strong timber for furniture, interior millwork, agricultural implements, tool handles, baseball bats, snowshoes, electric guitars, skis, and campfire fuel.  Finches, cardinals, and Grosbeak eat their seeds in early winter.  Beaver will eat bark.  Sadly, the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis), also commonly known by the acronym EAB, a green beetle native to Asia is decimating the Ash trees.  In North America, the EAB is an invasive species that is highly destructive to ash trees in its introduced range. The damage of this insect rivals that of chestnut blight and Dutch elm disease.          

Young American Beech trees in the forest 

The more I learn, the more I find the stories of Winter Trees fascinating! Somewhat like the spring ephemerals, I look forward to the return of the winter and the bare trees.  

Take some time to get outside and see if you can find these trees in the forest of Warner Park.  We will be conducting Hill Hikes this winter, it’s a great time to learn about winter trees.  Click here for our winter schedule.  https://www.nashville.gov/sites/default/files/2022-11/2023_Winter_Program_Schedule_Graphics.pdf?ct=1669734531