Color on wing(s)

A wide variety of brightly colored birds are visiting Hennen Conservation Area these days, and it appears that at least some of them have decided to call the park home for the time being!

On a daily basis at the birdfeeder, we are seeing at least three pairs of goldfinches, an indigo bunting (pictured at left), at least one pair of rose-breasted grosbeaks, a pair of cardinals, many house finches and three varieties of woodpecker: hairy, downy and red-bellied.

And, one cannot walk back by the pond without hearing the Belted Kingfisher that has been resident for about two months now. It's very sharp "squawk" seems to be a warning, but perhaps is just a greeting. As far as we can tell, it is a single bird, not a pair, so he (or she) might be lonely.

The Kingfisher is a large, blue bird with very striking markings (pictured at right), so is hard to mistake for anything else. The fact that he or she is staying by the pond leads me to believe that the pond must have fish in it.

So, if you stop by Hennen, be sure to look & listen for the Kingfisher as you walk by the pond. And keep an eye open for the other colorful birds that call this place home.

Oaky D'Oak, we're planting Oaks!

For Earth Day (April 22) and Arbor Day (April 30), TLC is planting oaks with people throughout McHenry County. These little trees will be Mighty Oaks one day, but it could be 20 years before we're sitting under their shade!

So, what's up with that? What's the point of planting a tree if it is going to take that long to turn into a "real" tree?

Well, for those readers who have been checking out this blog for the last couple of years, you already know the answer, but let's review - for old time's sake!

McHenry County was once 40% covered in oak-hickory woods and savannas. Today, nearly 90% of those woods have been lost. Many were cleared in the earliest days of settlement for farming or building homes, barns & fences, or even to provide fuel to heat homes. In fact, during the first 40 years following settlement, 50% of the oaks were cut down. Over the following 130 years, another 38% were sacrificed - primarily for development.

So, isn't one tree as good as another?

No, Oaks are better. They really are in many ways.

Oaks have acorns. Acorns are a valuable food source for a diversity of wildlife ranging from deer to blue jays. Native people would make biscuits from acorn flour because they were potent sources of energy.

Insects love oaks, and more insects use oaks for at least some part of their lifecycles than any other type of tree. And a diversity of insects translates directly into a diversity of birds! So, even if one doesn't appreciate insects, most folks do like birds.

Oaks are McHenry County's heritage. Not maples, not willows, not cottonwoods. Oaks. Quercus. Macrocarpa (bur), Rubra (red), Bicolor (swamp white), Alba (white). And if we play our cards right -- if we all do what we can to restore, protect and regenerate our local oaks -- oaks will be our future too!

Remember, the Greeks said: A society grows great when old men & women plant [oaks] whose shade they know they shall never sit in. Let's make McHenry County a great society!!

A Valentine's Day Fable

This morning I heard a Cardinal singing as I took seed out for the birds. This brought to mind a story I was once told about the origins of Valentine's Day, and the day's connection with the red bird Cardinalis caradinalis.

But, first, a little history. While Saint Valentine's Day appears to have been recognized by the Catholic church dating back to the early days of Christianity, with no fewer than three Saints named Valentine linked to the date of February 14th. While the greeting card industry has attempted to link at least one of the Saints to something of a tragic-romantic story that would establish him as the source of this day of eternal love, there is no basis in fact for these claims.

Historians tend to connect the celebration to a Roman pagan holiday of fertility that occurred in mid-February. But, it wasn't until 1382 that Geoffrey Chaucer became first person to link the feast of Saint Valentine's Day with romantic love, when he penned these lines (adapted from the old English):

For this was on Saint Valentine's Day

When every bird come there to choose his mate

A few years ago, a local man told me the story that he had always been told of Valentine's Day, and while I cannot find any support for it on the Internet, it does make sense when I put Chaucer together with the Cardinal's song.

The story is that February 14th was the typical day that male cardinals were heard singing to establish their territories and attract a mate for the season. The bright red of the bird and the cardinal's quest for a mate were translated by some romantic soul into the image of a red heart which stays with us to this day.

Each year since I first heard that story, I have noticed a male cardinal's song in mid-February. I wonder if Chaucer was inspired by that same song some 700+ years ago?

Help those Migratory Birds

That's an Indigo Bunting, one of the showy Spring Migratory Birds that one might see in McHenry County these days. The shock of blue looks out of place in most any location!

Numerous warblers are travelling through the area this time of year, on the way from their winter homes to their summer places up north. I have to confess, that unless a warbler stops at the bird feeder long enough for me to get a good look at all of its markings, I cannot tell them apart (most are just small, yellowish birds to me...) Some of the names I hear others call out include: Palm Warbler, Pine Warbler, and Yellow-throated warbler. [Note: They are not bright yellow like the goldfinch.]

Keeping water and birdseed available at least through May will help the migrants (and will keep the resident birds happy as well!)

Spring Ephemerals are Up!

Dutchman's Britches (Dicentra cucullaria) is one of my favorite spring flowers! The blooms look like tiny pantaloons (thus the name - which is also spelled Breeches).

This picture was taken April 9, 2010 at Wonder Lake Sedge Meadow - a TLC easement in, you guessed it, Wonder Lake! In addition to the sedge meadow on the 28 acre site, there is also an oak savanna in the upland buffer - that's where the Britches were growing!

This plant is one of the first native flowers to bloom each spring. Typically, we might expect to see them around April 24th, but this year everything is early! VERY early!

Bloodroot, another early Spring flower, has already come and gone in some local woodlands. Normally, it is still around in early May! The bluebells - which can almost always be counted on to brighten Mother's Day - are coming up already, and will probably have already passed by the time Mom's Day comes along a month from today (May 9th!).

Chorus frogs have been calling since late March, and the Spring Peepers (another species of frog) are already busy.

Bluebirds are nesting - I had one report of someone seeing a bluebird egg laid in one of their bluebird boxes on March 31st -- that's early! Very early!!

Even the bad guys like buckthorn and honeysuckle are going strong. In previous years, the earliest I noticed buckthorn in our local woods was April 12th. This year it was clearly greening up on April 1st (a really cruel April Fool's Joke!).

I'm having a hard time not thinking that this is another sign of Global Warming/Climate Change at work. The experts say that we will see more extremes in weather as the Global Warming process accelerates.

It's kind of a big deal when things start sprouting and blooming out of sync from their usual time of year. Insects pollinate flowers, but if the flower blooms before the insects emerge -- or if the insects come and go before their flowers bloom -- the flowers don't get pollinated. No pollination, no flowers in the future.

One oddball year here or there is okay, but if it becomes a trend, it could spell trouble!

T.S. Eliot may have said that April is the cruelest month, but if you were a bird, you would surely say that February ranked first on that list.

February is "Bird Feeding Month," promoted by the National Bird-Feeding Society (birdfeeding.org). February was selected because it is the hardest month for most wild birds, particularly in northern climates like ours. The weather is typically harsh, and food is scarce.

Project FeederWatch has nearly 16,000 participants across North America monitoring the activity at their backyard bird feeders. The data collected by these “citizen scientists” is used by ornithologists (bird specialists) and wildlife ecologists to monitor trends in bird populations. For instance, their data helps scientists spot when a species might be in trouble.

About 250 Illinois residents participate in Project FeederWatch, and the data they have collected over the past two decades revealed some interesting trends.

For example, the number of crows seen at feeders dropped dramatically between 2002 and 2003, and numbers have remained near 2003 levels since that time. The drop coincides with the arrival of West Nile virus in the region. Crows are particularly susceptible to this infection which is spread by mosquito bites (yep, birds are bitten by those pests too).

Another trend has been a steady increase in sightings of Cooper’s hawks at birdfeeders. As residential development expanded into previously rural areas throughout the 1990s and the 2000’s, the hawks found themselves having to adapt to suburban surroundings. The backyard birdfeeders proved a very attractive addition to the landscape for these hunters even though they do not eat the seed. Rather, the hawks eat small seed-eating birds that are found in large numbers at bird feeders. (Think: hawk buffet table.)

Anyone who feeds the birds can participate in Project FeederWatch which is run through the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology at Cornell University in New York. For more information on the program, and to find out how to sign-up, please visit: www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/. Participants are sent a kit with instructions on how to collect and submit data. New participants are accepted through the month of February.

Join TLC on February 6th at Hennen Conservation area at 1pm to learn how to make your own pinecone birdfeeder. There is no charge for the event, and materials will be provided. Please call the TLC office at 815-337-9502 to register.

Update from Yonder Prairie

Thanks to site steward Scott Kuykendall for sending along a couple of photos from Sunday's Work Party at Yonder Prairie.

To the left is a Sandhill crane that he noticed at the site while he was taking photos as a baseline to help document the changes that we are going to see over the coming years. He noticed something move, looked up from the camera, and there he was - a male sandhill, probably looking for a mate!

Scott also saw a lot of marsh marigold blooming. These plants are such a happy member of our local wet natural areas. They come and go before most other wetland plants reveal their identities. They are a sure sign that there are more intersting species to be found at the site!

In addition to the singing of chorus frogs, Scott also heard the "descending whinny" of the Sora - a bird also known as the Sora Crake or the Sora Rail. This is a hard bird to spot, but I found a picture on the Net to give folks an idea of what they look like. These birds are found in wet areas, and research indicates that they prefer natural wetlands to restored (recreated) habitat. We'll be sure to keep an eye (and ear) out for them at Yonder to see if they are breeding there!

Low Impact Development

Recently, I listened to a webinar (a seminar on the Internet) about Low Impact Development (LID for short). It was put on by JFNew and the Delta Institute. JFNew is a native landscaping company, and the Delta Institute is a group that works towards creating a sustainable Great Lakes Region.

So, what is LID? It is all about working with the natural features and qualities of the land to manage stormwater in a non-structural way.

The stormwater management paradigm has long been to build systems to collect and transport away all of the rainwater that falls in a given area. Storm sewers, concrete lined swales, even traditional lawns, are essentially ways to keep water moving away from wherever it fell.

LID means capturing and using or infitrating water closer to where it lands through green infrastructure systems that are actually disconnected.

Try to picture this yard:

1. Rain hits the home's roof, and runs into the gutters, then through the downspout. At the end of the downspout is a rain barrel that collects the first 60 gallons of water for later use watering plants in the garden.

2. Once the rain barrel is full, water then flows out into the yard, where it encounters native plants that absorb some of the water, and slow the flow of the water (unlike a turf lawn that tends to move water quickly).

3. Eventually, some of the water reaches a rain garden - an area of native plants whose deep roots help absorb the water into the ground, and whose leaves help transpire water back into the atmosphere.

4. The yard also has several large trees whose leaves and branches intercept hundreds of gallons of water each time it rains, keeping that water from becoming run-off.

In this scenario, no water ever needs to reach the street and the public stormsewer system.

LID means doing this on a larger scale, and even though it saves money (today and in the future), it is still a very misunderstood, and little used method of handling rain water.

Why? A couple of reasons:

1. It isn't what most public works or consulting engineers learned in school. It is new, and perhaps seen as untested. Let's face it, stormsewers have been around for a long, long time. Builders, engineers, even the average person on the street, have a pretty good idea of how they work.

2. LID involves green stuff, not concrete. How can living things perform as well as -- or better than -- the concrete things we build? I think there is a suspicion of natural systems, because they are harder to quantify and predict. Fortunately, that is changing!

3. Our culture likes control. LID means turning over control of the rainwater to natural systems - to trees and rain gardens. LID means trusting living, growing green things to do their jobs. Yep, they will do what they are made to do whether we tell them to or not!

4. Local ordinances make it harder. Since LID is newer, many local governments do not yet have standards in place to facilitate these systems. Developers often have to fight for the right to use less -- or no -- stormwater piping!

It is time to embrace our natural systems, and to help them do what they are meant to do! It is a peculiar hubris that leads people to believe that they can design something that will operate better than the systems that Mother Earth provided! Call me a savage, but that seems very naive!

February is bird-feeding month!

I knew that February was African-American History Month, but only just learned that it is also "Bird Feeding Month," promoted by the National Bird-Feeding Society! (birdfeeding.org) The designation was made by Illinois Congressman John Porter in 1994, and has grown in popularity ever since.

February was selected because it is the hardest month for most wild birds, particularly in northern climates like ours. The weather is typically harsh, and food is scarce. The point of having a month devoted to raising awareness of the importance - and enjoyment - of bird feeding.

So, why feed birds?

Keep in mind that a typical backyard bird doesn't weigh as much as two nickels. They spend most of their waking hours searching for food - without the help of "hands" and "fingers". They may consume 20% of their body weight overnight just keeping warm enough to survive. Providing them with an easy to access source of nutritious food makes a big difference to these little guys!

Providing wild birds with food, water and shelter supplements their natural diet and helps them survive. A Wisconsin study showed that chickadees with access to feeders made it through a severe winter better than those without.

And feeding backyard birds is fun. It is exciting to look out and see a dozen or more birds - of different sizes and colors - hopping from bush to feeder and back again.

Here is a collection of advice and tid-bits I pulled off the Internet:

- Keep feeders full, so the birds have a dependable supply of food during cold weather.

- Keep feeders free of snow and ice.

- Offer suet, which is pure fat, a great source of energy for those backyard birds whose summer diet was mostly insects, like woodpeckers, as well as chickadees and nuthatches.

- Stamp down the snow underneath the feeders to help the ground feeding birds, such as juncos, cardinals, blue jays and doves.

- People shouldn't be discouraged if they put up a new feeder and the birds don't flock to it immediately. Because birds find food by sight, it can take a while for them to locate a fresh source. Try putting a piece of aluminum foil on the ground near the feeder, where sunlight can be reflected and catch their eye.

And bird feeding is good for one's health!

Watching wild birds relieves stress and helps one start the day on a positive note. Bringing birds into the backyard, particularly during gloomy northern winters, adds a welcome flash of color, dash of motion and splash of sound. Wild bird feeding is the principal connection many people have with wildlife, considering the continued trend toward moving out of rural and into urban areas.

So, if you aren't already a bird-feeder, now is the time to start! Advice from the experts is to start with a tube feeder, as pictured here. It will attract a diversity of birds. The Cornell University website has a wealth of information about birds and bird-feeding.