Thursday, February 12, 2009

On the brink of bat-astrophe?

One of my favorite summertime activities is to sit down by the pond as the sun goes down and watch the bats come out to feed on all those tasty insects. They put on quite a show, swooping high and low, consuming as much as their own body weight in any given night.

We've never had an insect "problem". Even through the wettest, steamiest summers we rarely have to use insect repellent, and I've always believed it's because we have such a healthy bat population in our woods. Indeed, bats provide a very beneficial and free insect extermination service.

I'm afraid that's all about to change. I recently learned about a mysterious ailment afflicting entire bat populations throughout the Northeastern U.S. It's officially known as White Nose Syndrome (WNS), named for the strange white fungus that is found growing around the nose of the dead bats. Entire bat colonies - hundreds of animals - have been found dead and the cause is still unknown.

The syndrome was only just discovered in 2007 and this malady has already decimated dozens of colonies throughout New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and most recently West Virginia. At the rate it's spreading (which is very, very fast), White Nose Syndrome could reach our bat populations in Ohio before the end of this year! Research is being done, but the explanations and solutions aren't coming fast enough. It is possible that many - perhaps all - bat species could go extinct in a matter of years, even before we have a chance to figure out why. I can't imagine what our woods would be like without our bats, not to mention the impact such a loss would have on our neighbors' crops and agriculture.

Not one to sit idly by when presented with a crisis, I'm spreading the word and donating money for research. Bat Conservation International will accept designated WNS donations and they seem to be the best bat conservation organization out there. If you'd like more information about White Nose Syndrome, click here.

(By the way, I can't take credit for the photo. I found it on flickr and it's by Norm Walsh.)

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Name that poo

We're having a little warm spell so I had to get out before all the snow melts to see what's been traveling about our trails over the past week.

I've always enjoyed tracking. In fact, I think finding tracks and other signs of wildlife is almost as exciting as getting to see the actual animals. Tracking is a CSI-type of activity, where you get to piece together a myriad of clues to figure out what the animals have been doing and thinking.

Tracks are the most prevalent and informative clues about what's been going on in the neighborhood. From just a couple of footprints you can surmise the species, the direction it was traveling, whether it was walking or running, and whether it was solitary or with its buddies. But unless the soil is very sandy or muddy, or unless there has been a fresh snow, tracks aren't always easy to come by.

Another great clue for solving Nature's mysteries is scat, my favorite of all the tracking signs. It's amazing what you can learn from a little bit of poo. Through a simple examination of the shape, size, quanitity and contents, you can usually get a good idea of which species the poo belongs to, where it was traveling from and to, how long ago it was squatting at that very spot, what it has been eating, and where it likes to hang out.

So you can imagine my delight when I came across this particular clue today. The hair in it tells me that it is from a carnivore or omnivore. The size tells me that it is from one of our larger mammals (larger than a raccoon). The shape tells me that it is not a domestic dog or cat. So that leaves coyote, fox, bobcat or bear. Unfortunately, we don't have bobcat or bear in our part of the country, so I've narrowed it down to coyote or fox.

The tracking books all say that it can be very difficult to distinguish between coyote and fox scat. The coyote (20 to 35 lbs) is larger than the red fox (6 to 15 lbs), but since they both have the same diet, their poops are of similar size and composition. We've heard coyotes yip-howling and we've snagged some pictures of red fox on our camera trap, so I know we have both in our woods. But since there were no other clues nearby (the tracks in the snow around this little gem had all melted), this mystery remains unsolved for now.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The war of the roses

I'm always surprised by what a little bit of sunshine does for my disposition. Although still extremely cold, it has been a sunny day and I'm in a great mood! I'm starting to think about spring. I'm looking forward to spending more time outside, doing some spring cleaning and re-engaging in my mission to eradicate the multiflora rose from every square inch of our 120 acres.

About the multiflora rose...it's a non-native, invasive species of rose that was brought to the United States from Asia to be used along property lines as a sort of living fence. The thinking at the time was that it would be an inexpensive and beautiful alternative to conventional fencing. But as you might expect with anything deemed "invasive", it has gone berserk.

Bushes with long, gangly, thorny canes blanket our forest floor, especially in areas that have been disturbed by Nature or man. Single bushes easily grow to be 8 to 10 feet tall, and if growing next to a tree, individual canes can reach 20 to 30 feet into the tree canopy. The bushes make great wildlife habitat (for birds and small mammals) but displace the native vegetation and make the forest impassable by deer and humans alike. I hate that there are many places on the property where I physically cannot venture lest I'm geared up in long heavy jeans, goggles, leather gloves and machete.

Having spent hundreds of hours tangled in its canes and wrestling it into submission, I am a self-professed expert on my nemesis. I can spot it a mile away, even when it's hiding amid other similar-looking vegetation (like blackberries) and even in the winter when it is leafless. I know how it grows and spreads and can sense its presence even before I actually see it.

There are a variety of ways to kill it, none of which are inexpensive or easy work. My preferred method depends on the situation. In the spring and summer in areas where the multiflora is dense and there's no other vegetation nearby, I spray the foliage with glyphosate (a systemic herbicide that works its way down to the rhizome through the leaves of the plant), wait until the bushes die, then cut down the brittle canes a few weeks later. If the multiflora is interspersed amid other desirable trees and plants, I cut each multiflora bush at its base using clippers or a gas-powered Stihl brush cutter (the best gift I ever got), remove the canes to a brush-burning pile, and return a few weeks later to spray the budding foliage.

In the fall and winter, when all the "good" vegetation has died back and there is no foliage on the multiflora, the rose bushes really stand out. With nowhere to hide, my enemy is easy to spot and easy to get to. So from October to March, I blissfully mow the suckers down with my trusty Stihl, leave the canes where they lay to rot over the winter, then go back in spring and spray the budding foliage with the glyphosate.

Over the past couple of years, I have destroyed about 10 acres-worth of the stuff. At that rate, I've only got 22 more years to go! Hey, it's a goal.