The great morel caper

The morels have shown themselves.  Here are just some of our little beauties popping up through the leaf litter throughout the woods.  I didn't know much about morels when we first moved out here, but after chatting up some of the locals, I quickly learned that they're (1) rare, (2) fleeting, (3) expensive if you have to buy them, (4) delicious, and (5) so highly prized that people will risk life, limb and employment to nab them.

So you can imagine my euphoria when I discovered this particular mushroom, photographed alongside a full pair of scissors for scale.  He was the  granddaddy of all morels - one of the biggest I've seen in my short mushroom-hunting career.  I say "was" because Granddaddy was poached from our property not even an hour after I snapped this pic by the guy who comes to mow our pasture.

I caught him red-handed!  When confronted, he admitted to picking it, but when I demanded that he hand it over, he said, "...uh, hmmm, I don't know where it went."  Now c'mon!  Of course he knew where it went, and it was apparent that he wasn't about to give it up.  So what's a girl to do in this situation?  Summon the sheriff?  Pat him down?  Pronounce him a big fat liar and other unflattering epithets?  In the end, I resorted to a stern and hysterical lecture...something about "....only here to do the  job I pay you to do..." and "...never, ever again help yourself to the morels..." and "...the same goes for the deer or wild turkeys or anything else you find out here..." and "...hey, I had big plans for that mushroom!"

Springtime happenings

I'm going to try growing a few vegetables this year, and have started a little garden in one of the only perpetually sunny places on the property.  In "square foot gardening" style, I've got tomatoes, peppers, carrots, lettuce, spinach, strawberries, onions, parsley, rosemary, cilantro and chives crammed into this tiny but efficient space.  To keep our numerous veggie-loving critters at bay, I've crafted some wire cages that fit handily over the raised beds.
 

It seems like everywhere I look, there's a Robin nesting somewhere.  There are little blue eggs in our new (second) Wood Duck nest box, a nest in the head of our oil well (that gets an amusement park style ride every time we make some oil), and another nest on the steps of our oil tank, right out in the open.  

A couple of days ago I saw a Red-tailed Hawk flying over the pasture with a big, black snake hanging from his talons.  I've seen a lot of snakes around the property, but never one that big (probably a black rat snake).  What a breathtaking sight! 

There are tent caterpillars starting to appear on some of our trees.  In years past, I've noticed that we start seeing the Scarlet Tanagers around the same time we see the caterpillars, so I've been keeping my eye toward the treetops for these bright red tropical birds.
 

Recently, I saw a mother raccoon moving her baby to a new den site.  I've read that it's normal for raccoons to change their sites while rearing their young.

So far, I haven't seen any ducklings paddling around the pond, so I'm pretty sure that Lady is still sitting on her eggs in there.  I saw her hurriedly returning to the box yesterday morning when a pair of Canada Geese stopped by for a little rest.
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As for the photos, they're all mine, except for the Scarlet Tanager, which I copied from naturalpatriot.org.

Get out...and stay out!

Spring time is critter exclusion time.  It turns out that you have to be both ingenious and tenacious to prevent a variety of birds (and other creatures) from using your dwelling to raise their families.

Eastern Phoebes like to glue their nests of twigs, moss and mud into the various crevices and ledges of our house.  They are adorable little fellows but unwelcome at the house because they are poopy birds that leave unsightly stains and insect-attracting debris around their nest sites.  Bill's solution has been to insert temporary "fillers" into various places around the house to close off the most enticing crevices.  

Another favorite site for the Phoebes has been the high ledges of our screened porch.  Inspired by the billboard companies that add big spikes to the tops of their signs to deter pigeons and other birds from roosting and pooping, Bill has lined our ledges with rows of unwelcoming nails.

This has been our first year for Starlings.  I don't know why they've only just now shown themselves in these parts, but my hope is that we make our house and property so unattractive that they move on permanently.  Starlings are unwelcome throughout North America because they are a non-native species that displace our native ones.  They are unwelcome at our house because they build twiggy nests inside our gutters and downspouts which clog them up and are really difficult to clear out.  Bill's solution - which seems to be working so far - has been to stuff some pointy chicken wire into the gutters and downspouts.

For the past several weeks we've had wasps and ladybugs (technically, they are Asian Lady Beetles) exploring every nook and cranny of the stone foundation and chimneys, and some have even made their way inside the screened porch and house.  We don't particularly want either of these insects getting a foothold, as they can do harm to people and property. But because our stone provides so many attractive nesting spaces, I'm afraid that excluding these guys will require professional intervention and some toxic chemicals.  This has me greatly concerned over the negative impact that said chemicals may have on our bird and bat and butterfly visitors.

It can be a real struggle, this concept of co-existence.  What is the "best" way to appreciate Nature while having the smallest possible impact on it?  We humans are integral members of our ecosystem...by virtue of us living here in the woods, among the birds and bats and deer and insects, we have an impact.   So when it comes to being environmentally conscious, it is sometimes really hard to know whether our actions do more harm than good.

Ducklings on the way

The little clean-out door at the bottom of the Wood Duck nest box started to come open yesterday.  It was imperative to get it closed back up, lest the whole nest was going to slide out the bottom of the box and into the pond!  In doing this minor but urgent repair, I inadvertently sent the female (I call her Lady) scuttling out of the box.  I'm afraid she was none too happy about the intrusion and gave me a good talking to on her way out.

With the box vacated, I couldn't resist the urge to peak inside where I found about a dozen creamy white eggs nestled in a bed of wood chips and duck down.  I'm not sure when Lady started incubating, so it's hard to say when we can expect to see the ducklings, but I'll estimate her "due date" as April 26th.  Since last year's brood mysteriously disappeared (we had empty eggshells, but never saw the ducklings), I am really hopeful that we'll get to see the little ones this time around.  I'll keep you posted.

Meet my exterminator

Here's a little beauty that I caught napping in the eaves of our porch today.  Ohio has 9 species of bat:  little brown, big brown, evening, Rafinesque's big-eared, silver-haired, eastern red, hoary, eastern small-footed, and Indiana.  I'm pretty sure this is a little brown bat.  It's really hard to identify bat species while in flight, so I am delighted that this little one sat still long enough for me to snap his pic.

Little brown bats like to forage over water, so this is probably the same species of bat we see swooping over the pond at dusk each night.  An individual bat can consume up to 1,200 insects in just one hour of feeding, which is one of the reasons I am so fond of them.  

Earliest spring arrivals

Just today I noticed that the butterflies have re-appeared.  And I suppose it's no coincidence that I also noticed, just today, that many of our flowering trees and bushes are starting to bud out.  Here's a "rare to occasional" Milbert's Tortoiseshell butterfly (who is supposedly very shy) gorging himself on the yummy nectar of a willow.

Today was 80 degrees, not too humid, and the warmer temps seem to have brought everything to life.  There is at least one pair of bluebirds (maybe two) occupying the nest boxes in the wildflower meadow.  The Spring Peepers have also made their debut, as have the bats.  And of course, the Wood Ducks have been showing up, on schedule, to lay their daily egg.

It's supposed to cool off later this week, coinciding with the arrival of our first thunderstorms of the year.  And so spring begins.