Fall is officially a season now

Officially summer is at an end, and fall has begun. Meteorological fall starts on September first in the Northern Hemisphere and March first in the Southern Hemisphere. The birds already knew that, because they have been on the move since late August. The fall equinox officially announcing another fall arrived on September 22 when the sun as perpendicular to the equator.

The predominate focus of fall is maturity and not death. Autumn is a time of summing up; it brings sweetness to the apple and ripeness to grain. Autumn is a time of harvest; this is time of maturity toward which the spring bed, leaf, and blossom reached.

Hickory nuts and acorns are ripe to the delight of squirrels, bears, blue jays, and other mammals storing food for winter.

Late September is important to bears, and especially the pregnant females. Research shows that a pregnant female black bear can consume as many as 200,000 berries in a 24 hour period, and as much as 60-70 pounds of food daily. If she hasn’t gained enough weight by mid-November, her pregnancy will terminate, and she will not be able to contribute to the continuation of her species. So the bear feeding frenzy continues through late fall when food becomes scarce, and bears are forced to den.

The fall fogs are a unique bled of mood and weather. You feel the fall fogs on your face and in your hair, and in your mind. It creeps in softly and silently and blows away much like smoke. The birds are serious about their fall migration now. They are restless and gregarious. Although they are always busy, they are no longer full of song.

Hawks are moving through the Valley, riding the thermals above the ridges. If you watch, you will catch them putting on an aerial show that you won’t soon forget.

Most songbirds are through with the fall molt, and have their winter feathers now. Swallows are congregating in large numbers prior to migrating south, and the monarch butterfly migration peaked around mid-September, but there are still a few flitting through the Valley.

Most of the male hummingbirds have already left for the season. The females with this year’s offspring are beginning their journey now. Keep out the feeders for awhile longer so migrating hummers can sip and rest as they pass through.

Flickers are more easily spotted now with their undulating flight pattern.

Now is the time to tempt wrens and bluebirds, and others to the feeders with a treat of mealworms. Mealworms are the larvae of a beetle. The larvae stage of the beetle typically lasts for about 10 weeks, and is a real treat for the insect eaters.

Late September with the chill of its nights lingering into the daytime hours brings new vigor to the season. The fires in the insect world burn low now. Bugs and beetles are nearing the end of their time. However, black field crickets are everywhere. Grasshoppers still leap at you as walk through a field. They are out to warm themselves in the warmest part of the day.

The change in the insect world is most noticeable in the evening. A month ago the tree crickets and katydids made the night vibrate with they sounds. They still rasp, but at a much slower rate. The slowdown will continue as the chill of the season deepens. The first serious frost will silence most of the insects for the season. Then will come the long, deep quiet until another spring. The quiet will become so intense that you can hear a snowflake falling in the night. Listen.

Keep out plenty of fresh water for drinking and bathing.

Owl photographs are by Tony Dills

Meteorological fall vs. astronomical fall

Meteorological fall started on September first, but the astronomical fall begins next week on September 22. The birds and animals know when fall is starting, and don't have to have a calendar to tell them.

Temperatures in the mountains generally being to moderate around the first of September, and summer lessen its grip. Temperatures during the day may reach 80, but the nights cool into the upper 50s. Next week, the first cold snap of the season is forecast.

Birds have molted, and have all new feathers now. They are congregating in large groups in staging areas, getting ready to make their annual fall migrations. Hawks ride the thermals daily heading south. Mother Nature is a bit moody this time of the year, and furnishes the mountaintop residents with splendid views of the Valley. Bill Altorp, nature photographer, caught one of Mother Nature's change of season moods.

Fall is knocking at the seasonal change gate

September in the mountains brings gorgeous butterflies to sip nectar from the flowers. The swallow tails seem to be the predominant flying jewel on the mountaintop. The oppressive late afternoon heat seems to not bother them. They puddle a lot.

You will find butterflies gathered on moist spots in your garden, or around the earth close to a birdbath that has just been filled. Butterflies sip the moisture and minerals from the moist earth that they need. It is predominately males that puddle, seeking salt and minerals which they pass to the females during breeding.

If you want to watch butterflies puddle on a regular bases make your own puddle. Fill a medium size plastic flower pot saucer with sand and add water until the mixture become soggy. Select a spot where you can easily watch the butterflies.

Dig the bowl into the ground to a level that is flush with the surrounding dirt. Add about a tablespoon of composted manure or other compost to the sand. You can add a pinch of salt to attract the male butterflies. Include a few rock or clam shells for the butterflies to sun bathe on.

Butterflies also like bits of over ripe fruit such as bananas, apples or pear slices. Leave the fruit supply at least a day so it will ferment. Butterflies enjoy sipping fermented fruit. Do they get a bit tipsy, maybe. Birds do when they eat too much past it prime fruits.

Butterflies puddle from a few seconds to an hour or more.

Contrary to what you may thing, butterflies do not puddle to cool off. They enjoy shady places for resting and cooling. Butterflies, especially males, like to congregate at a favorite puddling site. Maybe they catch up on the latest male butterfly gossip. Keep your puddling spot soggy to attract the most butterflies.

Notice that you rarely see butterflies on cloudy days. Insects are cold-blooded and can’t regulate their body temperatures like humans can. They also need protection from wind, weather and predators. They seek out shady places like shrubs or vines where they sit to keep warm or to cool. There are butterfly feeders that can be purchased to provide nectar. I don’t recommend them for mountain butterfly lovers. The bears enjoy the nectar also, and destroy the feeders, just as they do hummingbird feeders.

The leaves that are turning and falling are due to heat stress. Fall will arrive on time as it has for eons. The stressed leaves and trees do not signal an early fall. The early defoliation that some trees are undergoing now is common when they are under stress, and summer season of intense heat has been challenging for young and old trees. The recent intense heat and humidity has made it difficult for plants to keep up with water and cooling requirements.

Watch for flocks of nighthawks flying around street lights. Waterfowl migration is beginning, and Monarch butterflies will begin their annual migration starting in late August. Early warblers are winging their way through the Valley. Broad wing hawks start moving south in late August to wintering grounds in the tropics. They are easy to spot with their thick bodies and rounded tails. They ride the air thermals conserving energy to sustain them during their long journey south. The hawks start flying between 9 and 10 a.m. when the air is warm.

Keep out plenty of fresh water for drinking and bathing. This is a time of molt for songbirds, so there is a lot of bathing.

May you always hear the whisper of wings.

Photo by: Tony Dills

September brings out hungry bears on the prowl

The bears in the Swannanoa Valley are on the move looking for food anywhere they can find it. Their natural foods are in short supply this year.

About 75-85 percent of bear diet is vegetable matter. They feed on clover, dandelions, chokeberries, pin cherries, wild plums, blueberries, hazelnuts, acorns and whatever else is available in nature. They also enjoy the larvae of ants, bees and hornets. When natural food becomes scarce, bears seek human food scraps and pet foods.

This year many of the oak trees stressed by prolonged heat dropped immature acorns early, meaning in some spots the mainstay of the bear’s fall diet will be in short supply. Also, the wild blueberries were also few and far between this year. Mid-August is the time when bears enjoy the high sugar content of wild berries. The berries make up the soft mast for wild creatures.

Hungry bears are beginning to search from dusk to dawn for food, and any food will do.

Pick up pet food dishes, do not put out bird feeders, and don’t throw left overs and scraps out for wildlife. Bears associate people with food, and will hang out around humans as long as they find food.

Goldfinches are beginning to molt, and the beautiful yellow and black colors are giving way to the more drab ones of fall. As soon as fledglings leave the nest, goldfinches begin to undergo a complete molt which requires a lot of energy and nutrition. They have an insatiable appetite for sunflower seeds.

The goldfinch is often referred to as a wild canary. It isn’t a canary at all. It is a finch. It is the latest nesting songbird in the Valley. It isn’t until the thistle provides down to line the nest, and seeds to eat that the goldfinches nest. Their favorite seed is black oiled sunflower.

The male goldfinch loses his bright yellow summer feathers, and grows winter ones which turn his color into an olive color. The female is a dull yellow and brown all year long. Her feathers become brighter in the summer months.

Sunrise comes later now, and dusk creeps over the mountains earlier in the evening. Since the summer solstice on June 21, we have lost an hour and a half of sunlight already. It is only about a month now until the fall equinox arrives on September 23. On that day, night and day are equal in length. The year has turned noticeably.

Summer steals away as dusk settles in the valley earlier each day. Step outside at dark and listen to the night criers. September nights continue to be noisy, with insects playing their tunes.

Keep out plenty of clean drinking and bathing water for the birds.

May you always hear the whisper of wings.

Photos by Bill Altork

Late July belongs to new birds

From mid-July to August is a time in nature when new birds are everywhere.

Young starlings just out of the nest hop awkwardly from limb to limb getting their bearings as fledglings. Speckled robins and brownish redwings are plentiful too. It is only a few short weeks from the nest to the first migration.

This is kindergarten for the fledglings. They have to learn their lessons quickly, and be adapt at applying what they learn, if they are to survive. The first year of a bird’s life is the most dangerous.

Temperatures in the Valley climb into the low 90s, bringing record setting humidity levels. Plants love such conditions, and the birds don’t seem to mind. Summer time in the mountains brings almost daily thunder storms. Sometimes on the mountaintop it is just high hot winds whipping the tree limbs into frenzy, but no rain. Mother Nature will invariably dump the rain into the Valley.

Now is hummingbird time. As the heat mounts, there is suddenly an airy swish and a ruby-throated hummingbird has arrived to inspect the butterfly bush blossoms, and the summer phlox is another favorite. The trumpet vine that persists in spreading is another attractor.

Scientists have determined that when a hummingbird hovers, its wings beat some 55 times a second. When it moves backward, they beat 61 times a second. When the tiny jewel of the air is cruising at top-speed, the wings beat 75 times a second. It is hard to believe that the tiny bird flies over 500 miles over open water when it crosses the Gulf of Mexico during migration. It is a non-stop flight. The tiny hummingbird is one of the gifts of summer that never cease to fascinate bird lovers.

Female hummingbirds select the nest site, build the nest, tend the eggs, and care for the babies. She will not allow the male near the nest. Occasionally a female will return to last year’s nest. Rather than use the old one, she will build a new nest on top of the old one. She feeds the babies, usually two, regurgitated insects, and not the nectar that she eats.

Black bears are winding down from their mating season by the end of July, and then attention is turned to food. They begin to feed heavily to put on fat for winter. It is a record setting year for ticks. Check your pets, and yourself, especially when you have been outside for any length of time. They can carry diseases, cause anemia or even paralysis.

Ticks are parasitic arthropods that feed on the blood of their hosts. They are attracted to warmth and motion. Once the tick is attached, it will not let go until its blood meal is finished. Remember, by no means to all ticks carry disease.

Remove a tick from your skin or that of your pets as quickly as possible. Using fine-tipped tweezers, grab the tick as close to its mouth which will be the part that is stuck in your skin. The body of the tick will be above your skin. Don’t grab the tick around its bloated belly. You could push infected fluid from the tick into your body if you squeezeit. Gently pull the tick straight out until its mouth lets go of your skin or pet’s skin. Do not twist or try to unscrew the tick from your skin. You do not wish to separate the tick’s head from its body, and leave parts of its mouth in your skin. After the tick has been dislodged, wash the area of the tick bite with a lot of warm water and soap. Antibacterial soap will help.

Symptoms of infection from a tick bite should be taken seriously. See your doctor if anyof the following symptoms appear: pain, swelling, redness or heat around the area, red streaks leading from the area, infection draining from the area, swollen lymph nodes in the neck, armpit or groin, and fever or chills. Take a tick bite on you or your pet seriously.

Keep out plenty of water for drinking and bathing. During the hottest days of summer, change your bird water at least daily, and clean out bird baths.

May you always hear the whisper of wings.

The sounds of insects are beginning to define summer

Notice how summer mornings are beginning to become quieter? Many birds are finished nesting, with some completing their second clutches.

Now the sounds of nature are becoming more noisy than musical. It is the sounds ofsummer insects. In the heat of the day cicadas will being to drone on endlessly. Often you will hear large numbers of cicadas sometimes singing in synchrony. They literally pulse from soft to loud and than recede back to soft again. They can lull you into an afternoon nap.

The dog day cicada and the dog days of summer are named for the time of year -- July and August. The star Sirius of the constellation Canis Major –the big dog—is bright in the summer night sky.

The best time to hear summer insects is after dark. It is then that katydids take center stage. Katydids are large green grasshoppers. They are drawn to porch lights. Their green wings are textured, giving them the appearance of leaves. They also have extremely long antennae that arch backward over the length of their bodies. Males sing from early evening well into the night. Their song is non-musical at best...

The voice of the black field cricket is heard from now until frost. Sometimes it is no farther than a corner in the house. In the middle of the night, a cricket in the bedroom can drive a sane person off the rails.

Katydids, crickets and grasshoppers produce their sounds by a mechanical process called stridulating—literally rubbing one body part against another.

Fall webworms are becoming more visible daily. Silk tents are showing up in a variety of shade trees. Caterpillars live inside. As the caterpillars feed and grow, they make the web larger to cover more foliage. When full grown, they drop to the ground to pupate.

The eastern tent caterpillar is sometimes confused with the fall web worm. The tent caterpillar is out in the early spring. Likewise, don’t confuse fall webworms with gypsy moths, which do not make tent-like webs in trees.

Honey bees are busy traipsing from flower to flower. They ensure the food crops and flowers are pollinated. If you step on a honeybee it will sting you. So slip your feet into some shoes before walking through the grass.

Fireflies are becoming more plentiful each evening. They produce light by a chemical reaction. The Blue Ghost fireflies are different from the more ordinary ones that flash their signals back and forth throughout the summer. The blue ghosts glow continuously.

They are mysterious because most people have never seen any and don’t know they exist. The center of their distribution is in the Southern Appalachians, ranging from eastern North Carolina to northern Florida and into Virginia. The DuPont Forest has a good population for viewing. The best place locally to see them is in Transylvania County.

They require high humidity, and dense tree coverage. If you go out in your own back yard in a wooded area, you may see them.

The blue ghosts are about the size of a grain of rice, making them smaller than the more ordinary fireflies. The mysterious nature of the creatures is fascinating.

The praying mantis can be startling to look at, until you examine it closer and find out what a unique creature it is. They eat other insects, which can make them beneficial to most gardens. For an insect, they tend to make fairly good pets. They can live up to three years in captivity.

These are only a few of the most common summer insects. There is a litany of bugs in your yard.

Enjoy the world of insects in the summer heat. They will be gone at the first frost. Keep out plenty of water for drinking and bathing.

May you always hear the whisper of wings.

Springs here-ready or not

Backyards across the Swannanoa Valley will soon be even more crowded with the birds of spring and summer. They are much like receiving old friends come to stay for awhile.

The tiny bits of fluff and feather have usually flown thousands of miles to reach local back yards, after spending the winter in Mexico, Central America, or South America, where days are warm and food is plentiful.

Many of the birds that nature lovers consider their birds spend less than half of their lives locally. They move north as the snow melts and raise their young on an endless supply of insects that are abundant only during the spring and summer months. Spring migration has a hint of urgency to it, where fall migration can be a drawn out affair with flocks of birds stopping to rest and eat.

Research shows that a surprising number of bird species are arriving earlier, and are shifting farther to the north. Scientist believes that climate change caused by greenhouse gases building up has disrupted the timing of migration, and sends some species farther north for insects.

Winter has officially passed regardless of sudden snow flurries, cold winds, and whatever else a tantrum from Mother Nature may produce. Spring seems to be a delicate season, but the frenzy of choosing nest sites, mates and producing a couple of broods of babies in a few short months prove that image wrong.

Bird houses should be clean and ready to be chosen as this season’s home for a pair of nesting songbirds? New bird houses should already be up.

Spring is a season that is all dressed up in colorful finery and definitely has places to go. Birds become more easily to recognize as individuals dressed in their spring plumage. There are so many tasks confronting spring time birds that it is a wonder that they don’t suffer exhaustion. They have to decide how often and what to sing, whom to mate with, nest site selection, and when to start nest-building. The female lays eggs and incubates them, producing hr first brood in a couple of weeks after incubation starts. The babies stay in the nest and fledge after about a month, and then the process starts over again for the second brood.

Egg laying is intense and energy demanding. The female needs to be in peak condition, and must have more than an adequate source of daily food. That can be an “iffy” situation in March, since natural food sources are still scarce in the Valley. Generous handouts from bird lovers can make a big difference in the survival rate of the adult birds as well as the babies. Keep the bird feeders full of high quality seeds, and plenty of water for bathing. Feathers must stay in good condition until the molt starts in August.

If you have a chance to watch a pair of birds build their nest, consider yourself fortunate. It is quite a production. Usually sunny mornings are the best viewing time.

It is time to anchor the free roaming felines for another baby season. Collared cats with bells jingling are not a warning to baby birds in the nest. They don’t know what the bell is, and they can’t fly, so they are an easy mark for a cat. Adult birds are busy building nests, and looking for food, and sometimes get surprised by a stalking feline. Do the birds a favor, and keep the cats inside until breeding and baby season is over.

Daylight saving time has arrived to optimize the daylight hours in the Valley. Theoretically it results in use of less energy and electricity. People are able to take advantage of more daylight hours and sunlight rather than burn electricity.

How does daylight saving time affect nature? It is not biological, but rather political, so it does not affect the wild creatures.

Bears are up and about, fat and sassy, having obviously not suffered a hard winter. Wood ducks are already nesting. Screech owls are beginning to nest. Mourning doves are nesting, and some early migrating hawks can been seen. Male red wing black birds are beginning to retune to area pond sites. Flocks of robins are showing up through the Valley, bathing in puddles and looking for worms.

May you always hear the whisper of wings.

March is still winter with a touch of spring in the mountains.

March in the mountains is usually a time of tumultuous wind, and erratic weather patterns, producing spring like days with lots of sunshine, followed by days, dropping into the pits of winter with snow. Branches flop together like the slapping of ropes on ancient sailing vessels. March winds make a wide variety of sounds from hissing to booming in a stand of maples.

The wisteria seeds have already popped. They explode like a cap pistol and then something like a small rock hits a window or a thump against the side of the house. The annual barrage of the wisteria seeds propagates the mountaintop’s ancient wisteria vine.

The seed pods are about half a foot long, brown, stiff, velvety on the outside and hold from four to eight seeds. Each seed I somewhat round, about half an inch in diameter, flat on one side and curved slightly, like an airplane wing on the other. They are hurled a good distance from the mother vine. What triggers the wisteria seed cannonading involves age, humidity and temperature.

The trees and mini-pools created by recent downpours are playing host to flocks of the harbinger of spring-male robins by the dozens. The females will follow in a couple of weeks. The early robins feast on left over fruit still clinging to the trees. Along with visiting cedar waxwings, the fruit will be gone soon.

Sap is beginning to rise, regardless of what the thermometer says. When sap starts up, it means spring is close. That moves man closer to the spring equinox, the buds and the leaves of spring itself. It also means winter has a definite end.

Each day the sun rises a little earlier and sets a little later signifying that earth is turning as usual, on its axis and in its orbit.

Twilight is one of my favorite times of the day. It has the glow of the departing day, giving it a special beauty all its own. It is neither sunlight nor star shine, nor moonlight. It borrows from all of them. The air of twilight is brittle this time of the year. But the light itself is soft and elusive.

Listen for the voice of the red fox with its sharp staccato notes in the darkness. The jays and crows of daylight are silent, ending their day at dusk. The great horned owl has a mournful wail, which is less ominous at dusk than it is at midnight. This prelude time to night is a special interval, enjoy it.

More and more birds join the pre-dawn chorus just at the break of day. There is nothing happier than an early morning wren and a tiny chickadee. They greet the sunrise with exuberance.

Male raccoons are courting females from now through March. Fox kits are born now. Screech owls are beginning to nest, and spring waterfowl migration is in progress. The northern migration of hawks is also in progress. Bluebirds are still scouting nest sites, and some have begun to build nests. Have you cleaned your boxes? It is time. Listen for the spring peppers to begin calling, Bear cubs are making humming sounds as they nurse in the dens. Watch for the reappearance of chipmunks on warm days. Male black bears will be and about by the end of the month. All herald a new season beginning to start.

Keep out plenty of fresh water for songbird bathing and drinking.

May you always hear the whisper of wings.

Photo: Tony Dills