Spring's Sprung!

After the amazing day yesterday, I feel like it's safe to say that it really is spring! The evidence is all here--wildflowers coming up in the woods, lots of folks in sandals and shorts, the last snow piles have finally melted (even at my house), spring peepers are peeping, and the migratory birds are coming back. Hooray for the change in seasons!

The return of the birds is what I've really been noticing lately, especially in the morning as I hear more and more songs outside my windows. In the next week or so, many of the warblers should be returning, and by mid- to late-May cedar waxwings, one of my favorites, should be back as well. There's a certain area near my house where you can often see cedar waxwings; as I've stood there watching them in the past, I've confused a lot of drivers who pass me, obviously wondering what it is I'm looking at.

If you're interested in the return of the birds, too, you should check out the website that I just learned of. It's got a list of estimated arrival times of Vermont's birds, and is really great! Check it out at madbirders.org/2009/03/25/vermont-spring-bird-arrival-schedule/

Don't forget to report on the returning birds that you see, or on any other South Burlington wildlife! Simply comment on this posting to tell me about what you've seen in South Burlington, and where. I want to hear about warblers or frogs or mice...whatever you've seen! Check out my first post, called "Let the Fun Begin" for more info!

A Change in Perspective

I just came in from a walk in the woods, and yes, where I live there is still plenty of snow in the woods. The good part about still having snow is that it's easy to find animal tracks. In fact, while I was out there I found some really great moose tracks, and some deer tracks just a few yards away. The deer tracks looked so dainty and small next to the gigantic moose tracks! It's amazing how perspectives can change so easily.

My perspective on this project has changed pretty quickly and easily, too. At the start, I really wasn't sure whether this would work. Would people log onto their computers and share what they had seen? Would anyone care? But as word has slowly gotten out about this site, I've been getting more and more comments--it's so exciting to check the blog and see new ones waiting for me! Here are some the sightings reported so far:

• I saw two coyotes in my yard on Birchcliff Parkway on Wednesday night... First sighting in my 20 years in Burlington!


• Yesterday at Red Rocks Park I saw a red squirrel. He was chastising us for walking through his woods. I wonder what red squirrels do in the winter?


• On February 28th we tracked a bobcat from the head waters of Muddy Brook across agriculture fields north toward the Leduc parcel. We also saw weasel, squirrel, rabbit, grouse and coyote tracks.


• I have seen small red foxes on three occasions at Stonehedge Townhouses off Spear Street in South Burlington during the last month. The last encounter was a fox on my deck! It reluctantly left only after I repeatedly tapped on my sliding glass door.


• While searching for vernal pools in clayplain forest of the Leduc Farm yesterday, I had a magical encounter amidst the rain and the trees. While standing up after probing through a promising pool, I caught the movement of a large object overhead, about 20 meters away. By the size and the bulk (and silence!) of the bird in flight, it was clearly an owl. Though it flew off out of sight, I found about twenty pellets at the base of the hemlock where it had been roosting. The sheer size (3 x 1.5 inches) of the pellets indicated it was a great horned owl.
• My next door neighbor saw a groundhog crossing my deck last weekend!

I feel really privileged to be hearing everyone's stories, and am amazed at the variety of wildlife that has been reported already. So, keep those South Burlington wildlife stories coming! Just comment on this posting to tell me about what you've seen in South Burlington, and where. I want to hear about chickadees, or mice, or salamanders...whatever you've seen! Check out my first post, called "Let the Fun Begin" for more info! Thanks again to all of you who have posted something already. Keep posting, and tell your friends about it, too!

A Childhood Dream....

I was talking to my 7-year old neighbor last week, and he said that he wished he could have a pet squirrel. Boy oh boy, did I know what he was talking about! As a kid I always wanted a pet squirrel (or a pet lamb, to be honest) and couldn't understand why I couldn't have one. Our family had dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, the ubiquitous, short-lived goldfish; why not a squirrel?

As an adult I realize why I can't have a grey squirrel as a pet and I also realize that it's illegal to have one--but I still find them fascinating, and undeniably cute! I decided to indulge this fascination with some quick research while waiting to go to a meeting the other day. Here's what I found about Eastern Grey Squirrels:

• The grey squirrel's front teeth continue to grow throughout it's life, so they can never be worn away by the animal's continual gnawing.


• Grey squirrles will often share their nests in winter in order to stay warmer, but don't share nests during the warmer summer months.


• Grey squirrles generally don't cache nuts where they are found. Instead, the squirrel carries the food to a new spot and buries it in a hole. It digs the hole with its front feet, then tamps down the earth with front and back feet, as well ast with the nose sometimes!


• About 85 percent of the cached nuts may be recovered. Scientists conducting an experiment buried nuts and found that those were recovered by the squirrels at about the same rate as nuts the squirrels buried themselves. From this, the scientists concluded that memory is not involved in nut recovery.


• The grey squirrel's tail is used primarily for balance in trees, but also serves as a sunshade, an umbrella, a blanket, and a rudder when swimming. Additionally, it provides lift when the squirrel leaps from branch to branch within a tree and acts like a parachute to slow descent if the squirrel falls.


• This squirrel can smell nuts buried under a foot of snow. When the snow is deep squirrels will tunnel under it to get closer to the scent.


• The Eastern Gray Squirrel eats a lot of nuts, but also feeds on feeds maple buds, bark, and samaras (the 'helicopter' seeds), apples, fungi, and even the occasional insect.


• There are albino colonies in Olney, Illinois; Trenton, New Jersey; and Greenwood, South Carolina.

Have you seen grey squirrels or any other wildlife in South Burlington lately? If so, I'd love to hear about it! Simply comment on this posting to tell me about what you've seen in South Burlington, and where. I want to hear about squirrels, or warblers, or toads...whatever you've seen! Check out my first post, called "Let the Fun Begin" for more info! And thanks to all of you who have posted information in the past--keep it coming!!

Presentation #1 was a Success!

I started this blog in response to a class requirement and Monday was a big day for that class. There are 11 UVM grad students in the class, and we're all working on projects within the city of South Burlington. Yesterday we gave a presentation to a group of South Burlington residents and officials, as well as representatives from many local groups and organizations. The presentation was the culmination of weeks of planning and preparing, and went off really well (in my opinion). Audience members gave me a lot of feedback about this project, making me even more excited about getting out and finding wildlife. So today, when I got home from classes I headed outside with my dog (even though I live pretty far from South Burlington and can't add anything that I see at home to the South Burlington wildlife list).

While we were out in the woods we saw a lot of fresh tracks in the snow that fell last night and today. There were squirrel tracks, hare tracks, and grouse tracks. I also saw some itty-bitty small mammal tracks that I'm not confident about--maybe mouse or shrew or vole. It was great to get one more session outside, tracking in the snow.....but I have to admit that I'm ready for the snow to be gone, even if it does mean tracking will be a lot harder in the next 6 months!

Unlike where I live, South Burlington has been snow-less for a while now so you probably haven't seen any tracks in the snow lately. Have you seen any other wildlife sign in South Burlington lately? Or any actual wildlife sightings there? If so, I'd love to hear about it! Simply comment on this posting to tell me about what you've seen in South Burlington, and where. I want to hear about sparrows, or raccoons, or salamanders...whatever you've seen! Check out my first post, called "Let the Fun Begin" for more info!

As Vermonters say: Jeezum crow!

The other day I was walking outside with a friend when she stopped to look at the bird flying overhead. As I looked up to see an American crow, she started walking again with a disgusted mutter: "trash bird". What??

When I asked her about it she said that she calls crows trash birds becaus they're common and uninteresting; therefore not worth the time to really look at. What?? How can anyone think that crows are uninteresting?

• Most young crows stay with their parents (for up to 5 years) and help to raise their younger "siblings".


• American crows sleep in communal roosts during winter; the roosts may be a few hundred or even a few thousand crows!


• Even though we often see crows eating road kill, they are not 'designed' to be scavengers. Their bills are too weak to break through the skin of other animals, so they must wait for something else (a true scavenger, or a car for example) to open a carcass before they can eat.


• Baby crows are like baby pigeons: it seems that you never see them! In fact, you do see them, but don't realilze it. Young crows are about the same size as adults, but have blue eyes and pink inside their mouths. The eyes and mouth get darker as the bird ages.


• Crows are really smart; this is a problem for researchers because it makes crows hard for them to trap!


• The "caw-caw" that we're used to hearing from crows is an alert call, warning family members that there is an intruder.


• Crows can open nuts by striking them with their bill while holding the nut under one foot. If it's a really heavy-shelled nut, or a clam, the crow will fly up into the air and drop the food on a hard surface to open it.

Have you seen crows or any other wildlife in South Burlington lately? If so, I'd love to hear about it! Simply comment on this posting to tell me about what you've seen in South Burlington, and where. I want to hear about crows, or rabbits, or coyotes...whatever you've seen! Check out my first post, called "Let the Fun Begin" for more info!

Porcupines

Almost a year ago exactly, my dog had her first, and so far only, encounter with a porcupine. After carrying her out of the forest, on snowshoes, for about a mile, we took a trip to the vet’s to have all of the quills pulled out of her face, chest and legs. It seems like almost every Vermonter has had the same experience with their own dog, or knows someone whose dog has met up with a porcupine. That goes to show how common porcupines are throughout the state, but how much do most of us actually know about porcupines? For instance, did you know that:

• Porcupine babies (called porcupettes) are born with soft, bendable quills that harden in the first days of life.
• Adult porcupines average 10-28 pounds and are 18-28 inches long.
• Contrary to popular belief, porcupines cannot throw their quills.
• Fishers (aka fishercats) were re-introduced to Vermont in the 1960’s to try to control the state’s huge porcupine population.
• In summer, porcupines eat leaves and fruit. In the winter they eat tree bark, conifer needles, and the cambium, or layer of living cells just beneath the tree’s bark.
• Porcupine quills are actually modified, hollow hairs with a barbed end. When threatened, the porcupine can contract muscles to make the quills stand upright.
• Porcupines love salt—they’ve been known to eat the wooden handles of tools left outside. They are attracted to the handles because of the salty residue left behind by human sweat!
• Adult porcupines have over 30,000 quills, and it takes 2-8 months for lost quills to re-grow.
• Porcupines are nocturnal and have long, curved claws for climbing trees.

Have you seen any porcupines (or has your dog met any) in South Burlington? I'd love to know about it or about any other wildlife sightings there. Simply comment on this posting to tell me about what you've seen in South Burlington, and where. I want to hear about porcupines, or robins, or squirrels...whatever you've seen! Check out my first post, called "Let the Fun Begin" for more info!

Let the Fun Begin!

Today marks the start of a new, indoor-outdoor adventure!

The indoor part of this new undertaking is what you're looking at right now. The outdoor part involves looking for wildlife in South Burlington, VT, whether that means following a bobcat or rabbit track for awhile, looking at birds at the backyard feeder, or getting a quick glimpse of a deer springing away from you in the woods. The impetus for this comes from a class I'm taking in which I'm trying to get an idea of what animals live in or are moving through South Burlington.

But, I need some help in order to get a really good idea of what animals are there. I don't actually live in (or very near) the city so I only spend a little bit of time there each week. Here's where you can help: If you see any wild animals, or signs of them while you're in South Burlington, please let me know! I'd really appreciate your help!

To let me know what you saw, simply post a comment to my most recent posting on this blog describing what you saw and where you saw it. Those are the only "essentials", but if you have the time (and desire) to share more about what you saw, I'd love to hear about it!

Also, check back to this site every once in awhile to get information about some of the animals that call South Burlington home for at least part of the year, if not the whole year. And feel free to send along suggestions about what animals I should highlight!