Environmental Almanac

People wonder, what do crows think? [from the archives] Listen to the commentary: MP3 download At about this point in the fall a few years back, I noticed a curious phenomenon as I drove along Florida Avenue on the U of I campus. Dozens of crows—a “murder” if you will—were returning day after day to a row of majestic trees, for what looked to me like a great big crow party. This wasn’t a roost, where crows gather at night for safety in numbers (and create misery for the unfortunate humans who live below.) It was a raucous, daytime affair, with lots of loud calling and hopping and flapping from branch to branch. [Photos by author: Row of pecan trees stretching south from Florida Avenue toward the round barn on St. Mary's Road; crow with pecan.] What was the attraction of those trees? I stopped one morning to investigate. On the ground below the crow party were scattered the husks and shells of pecans, a nut I didn’t even know grew in Illinois. So that little mystery was solved, and now I watch each November for the crows to congregate and feast on the pecans as they mature. (As a bonus, I now also know of a place where I can pick up one of my favorite foods from the ground.) As I had spent time figuring out what crows were up to, I had inadvertently joined what turns out to be a very large and cosmopolitan group—people who are curious about crows. If you’ve seen the episode of the PBS series, “Nature,” called “A Murder of Crows,” you know that scientific research on crows is illuminating new aspects of their intelligence and sociability on an ongoing basis. For example, one group featured in the show, from the University of Washington at Seattle, designed a study to ascertain whether adult crows pass along specific knowledge about the world to their offspring. The scientists knew from earlier work that crows recognize and remember masks worn by researchers who catch them, and that the crows’ dislike for people wearing those masks is communicated among adult birds. The question was whether such knowledge would be passed on from one generation to the next. It was. A young crow that had learned from its parents to associate a particular mask with danger picked out a person wearing the same mask months later, in an entirely different setting, and gave the same alarm call. Another area of research featured in “A Murder of Crows” is tool use among crows of New Caledonia, which appear to be the smartest of crows worldwide. In the experiment, a New Caledonian crow is presented with a piece of food in a narrow box, which it can obtain only by reaching in with a long stick. But the long stick is inside a cage. To retrieve it, the crow has to reach in with a smaller stick, which is suspended from a nearby branch on a piece of string. In essence, it has to think up a three-step plan to achieve its goal. You can almost hear the wheels turn as you watch the crow contemplate its options and then spring into action. New Caledonian crows are also famous for the fact that they modify the tools available to them. In an earlier experiment, which you can view online, a New Caledonian crow named Betty crafts a hook from a straight piece of wire in order to pull food from an upright cylinder. I don’t know whether the American crows we see in Illinois are as smart as all that. But having a better sense of what’s going on in their heads sure makes me want to watch them more closely in the future.

Appreciating bats before white-nose syndrome Listen to the commentary MP3 download Back in 2007, my children came into the studio with me to record a segment on bats as a way of celebrating Halloween. Hearing their young voices in that is an enjoyable trip down memory lane for me. But I want you to hear it today for another reason. At the time we recorded this segment, we were entirely unaware that a pathogen capable of killing bats on a massive scale had arrived in the U.S. So think of this as a happy, “before” piece. Next week, then, I’ll tell you about the “after.”    As Halloween approaches I like to make time to appreciate the creatures of the night. The biggest fans of such creatures at my house, my children, Jane and Will, have joined me today to celebrate bats. I suspect most young people of the present have grown up without being exposed to the kinds of myths about bats that previous generations grew up on. After all, these are kids who have read books with positive bat characters like Stellaluna and Silverwing. But it can still be fun to bring up old myths, if only to contradict them. Rob: Guys, are bats blind? Jane and Will: Nooo. Rob: Do bats like to get tangled in people’s hair? Jane and Will: Oh, Please. Rob: Are bats flying mice? Jane and Will: Daaad. Okay, okay. Scientists classify bats in their very own order, chiroptera. Worldwide there are around 1,000 species of bats, and they constitute a quarter of all mammal species alive today. What’s so cool about bats? Will: Bats are the only mammals that can truly fly. Other mammals, like so-called flying squirrels, can jump from a perch and glide. But bats can propel themselves through the air, and stay up for a long time. The wings of bats are made of very thin skin stretched over very long fingers. [Photo of little brown bat courtesy the Illinois Natural History Survey.] Jane: Another thing that’s really cool about bats is how they use echolocation to find prey and avoid obstacles as they fly. This built-in sonar allows them to detect insects the size of gnats and objects as fine as human hair. Will, I know you’re interested in those vicious vampire bats, the ones that suck people’s blood. What can you tell us about them? Will: Well, vampire bats do drink blood and they can only go a couple of days without eating. But they try to feed on humans only as a last resort. Vampires, which live in Central and South America, prefer to feed on cattle or other wild animals. Jane: Aside from vampire bats, there are bats that eat lizards, bats that eat birds, and bats that eat other bats. Even more bats feed on fruits and their juices. But 70% of all bats, including all of the species from North America, are insectivores. Will: And bats can eat a lot of bugs. A male little brown bat eats about half of his body weight in mosquitoes and other insects per night. Jane: And a female little brown bat that is nursing a pup eats more than her own weight nightly. By eating so many bugs bats perform an important service for people. Dad: So, since you guys like bats so much, if you found one would you pick it up? Will: No way--bats are wild animals, and we know they can bite. Jane: Besides, although very few people in the U.S. get rabies anymore, those who do usually get it from the bite of an infected bat. Dad: It’s best to consult with the state department of public health or a local animal control agency if you’re faced with the task of getting a bat out your house. Will: In reality, bats have more to fear from people than people have to fear from bats. Rob: About half of all bat species worldwide are threatened or endangered, including 4 of the 12 species that occur in Illinois. Jane: To learn more about bats and what you can do to help protect them, check out the links at the Environmental Almanac website. Homepage of Bat Conservation International http://www.batcon.org/home/default.asp Articles from Illinois Natural History Survey Reports online: Indiana Bats in Illinois http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/chf/pub/surveyreports/mar-apr96/bats.html Species Spotlight: Little Brown Bat http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/inhsreports/nov-dec99/lbbat.html

Fall brings sandhill crane spectacle to northwest Indiana [Originally posted 11/21/2013] Listen to the commentary Real Audio | MP3 download The calls of sandhill cranes carry on the wind by some magic. Whether they are flying, and your view of them is obscured by a tree line, or they’re feeding in a harvested cornfield, where their rust-stained gray feathers make them difficult to pick out, you typically hear cranes before you see them. And hearing sandhill cranes is a great pleasure. They talk quietly among themselves in family units, which include mother, father and one or two young of the year, which are called “colts.” (Colts stand as tall as their parents by Fall, but their plain gray “caps” are distinct from the bright red ones on adults.) What’s more dramatic, though, is the way cranes call to one another as they collect in larger groups, either in flight or on the ground. To me these calls resonate in a mix that brings together something of pigeons cooing, something of geese honking and something less birdy, too—a stick rattled along serrated ridges on a wood block. You may know by one means or another that sandhill cranes gather by the hundreds of thousands along the Platte River in western Nebraska during their migration north in the Spring. But did you know there’s scaled down version of that spectacle in western Indiana each Fall, one that’s much more accessible to us? It takes place at Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area, which is just 60 miles north of Lafayette. Sandhill cranes that breed in the upper Midwest and central Canada begin gathering at Jasper-Pulaski near the end of September, and their numbers grow until mid- to late November, when they peak at about 20,000. Imagine that—20,000 of these majestic birds together in the same place less than half a day’s drive from where you are now. During their stopover in Indiana, the cranes keep a very regular schedule. At night, they roost in marshes at the reserve, where they’re safe from predators such as coyotes. In the morning, for about a half hour either side of sunrise, they come together to socialize in Goose Pasture, a vast field that’s overlooked by an observation platform. The cranes then head out into nearby agricultural fields where they spend the day feeding. There they take advantage of corn that was lost in the harvest, as well as a wide range of other foods—everything from plant materials to worms, insects, mice and snakes. Your best bet for seeing cranes up close is to cruise the gravel roads south of Jasper-Pulaski (carefully, of course, with respect for the people who live there) and pull over quietly to watch them feed. The real crane spectacle at Jasper-Pulaski takes place in the hour around sunset, as they congregate again at Goose Pasture before heading back to the marshes for the night. At that time flocks pour in from every direction, and the calls of birds already on the ground blend with the calls of birds in the air to create music like none you’ll hear elsewhere. This gathering also affords great opportunities to see the cranes “dance”; they bow, they jump into the air, they flap their enormous wings and generally wind each other up, then settle down again, sometimes in a wave of activity that ripples across the field. If you go to see the sandhill cranes at Jasper-Pulaski you’ll definitely want to have binoculars, and if you have access to a spotting scope bring it along, too. And take extra warm clothes. You wouldn’t to be driven from the observation platform by cold before the twilight show is over.

An appreciation for U of I artist Deke Weaver's BEAR Listen to the commentary Real Audio | MP3 download So much of conservation is about the concrete. Stop a pipeline here, plant milkweed for monarchs there, try to move the levers of political power with an email or a protest. Even when we turn our attention to climate change, with its remote effects, we’re on to wind turbines and solar power before very long.  But I think it’s healthy for individual people and for cultures more broadly to have access to spaces where thought and communication are liberated from these usual channels, spaces that enable us to inhabit other realities for a time. This is why I found participating in the fall chapter of U of I artist Deke Weaver’s performance “Bear” at Meadowbrook Park recently so powerful.  The other reality in which “Bear” is set resembles ones we’ve seen in other stories. It’s a future where, according to “Field Guide to the Bears,” which participants received along with their tickets: “Greenland slides into the Atlantic. The power grid collapses. The Totten Glacier crumbles, West Antarctica tumbles into the sea. Sea levels rise twelve feet, and now, 2020, we’ve got forty percent of the world’s human population leaving the coasts and heading inland.” In the common fictions of our culture, such circumstances require action by a hero or team of heroes with mad quantitative skills and technical ingenuity, ones who apply the same human traits that produce the problems to fix them. In the world of “Bear,” however, heroes are replaced with participants, and technical fixes are out, as well. “To put the genie back in the bottle,” the guide explains, “we need to bring back the bears. We’re going to do this through outreach, education, and walking meditation. . . we will bring back the bears by telling and retelling a story, by walking a path for hours and hours. Our hope is that the bears will be able to sense our sincere intent.” What kind of thinking is that?  The setup for “Bear” required participants to hold off on such questions. “Rangers” who never broke character greeted us on our arrival and led us on the hour-plus meditative walk. In addition, before setting out we were asked to power off phones and not to speak among ourselves. The fact that our walk took place in the dark on a muddy trail hemmed in by head-high prairie plants, and that a light rain was falling most of the time we were out also helped create an atmosphere that encouraged people to let go a little. I won’t recount all of our stops, but say they included stories and folklore, as well as nuggets of information about bears, which were especially pleasing to the literal-minded among us.  The fall installment of “Bear” concluded in the Urbana Park District’s barn at Meadowbrook, which had become a den for the purpose. There, unspeaking, costumed bear dancers performed and then invited participants to join them. Following that, we became bears by crawling farther into the den and putting on plastic masks. As bears, we listened to Deke Weaver tell a story in which the bodily boundaries between human, bear, and even tree at points dissolved.   I admit I’m still not entirely sure what to make of that, but I’ll never knowingly pass up a chance to hear Weaver tell a story again. I also encourage you to check out the Winter and Spring chapters of “Bear,” and the rest of the larger project of which it’s a component, Weaver’s “Unreliable Bestiary.” 

Ancient oaks a living link to Big Grove Listen to the commentary Real Audio | MP3 download When people think about the landscape of central Illinois prior to European settlement they tend to think “prairie,” vast expanses of flat land covered in tall grass and tall flowers. And for the most part, that image is pretty accurate. But groves of trees intruded on the grasslands here and there, especially on the eastern edges of rivers and streams, which created natural breaks to prairie fires driven by winds from the west. Such groves were dominated by fire-resistant species of oak, and interspersed with hickory, ash, walnut, sugar maple and linden trees as well.  [Photo by L. Brody Dunn. The bicentennial oak on the lot of the Quaker Meetinghouse in Urbana, IL.] Prairie groves were quite hospitable to humans compared to the prairie itself, offering game and shelter, as well as respite from some of the discomforts of life in the open. They were preferred sites for American Indian villages, and the first places to be settled by Americans of European descent coming from the east. One of the largest of these timbered areas in our region was named by settlers of the early nineteenth century the Big Grove. As it was mapped in the original survey of the area in 1821, the Big Grove covered about 10 square miles. Its western edge roughly paralleled the Saline Branch, the stream that drops into Urbana from the north and runs through Busey Woods and Crystal Lake Park before turning east toward St. Joseph. Along its southern edge the Big Grove extended to about where Urbana’s Main Street runs today. If you’re familiar with Urbana and the locales just north and east of the City, you know there’s no forest left that would merit the name, “Big Grove,” most of the wood from those trees having gone into houses, fences, farm implements and fires long ago. But here’s something really cool. Some trees that began life in the Big Grove still stand today. You can touch them. Heck, you can hug them. They’re the kind of trees that elicit that response from people. Near the corner of East Main and Maple Streets, a bur oak that predates the Declaration of Independence rises to a height of more than 80 feet from the yard outside Long’s Garage. Farther from the center of town on East Main, a still larger bur oak can be seen on the eastern edge of the site of the Friends Meetinghouse. We can take this tree to be roughly 240 years old now, based on calculations made in 1976, when the International Society of Arboriculture recognized it as a “bicentennial tree.”  At Leal Park, which is on University Avenue near the Carle complex, there’s yet another bicentennial oak marked with a plaque. Greater numbers of oaks that predate European settlement can be seen—and hugged—at some other Urbana Park District sites. Some of the largest trees in Crystal Lake Park and Busey Woods are relics of the Big Grove, as are 10 or so of the trees at Weaver Park on East Main Street. If you’re interested to do a little more reading before you head out on your treehugging adventure, check out the Website “Children of Giants” recently established by UI professor of entomology Stewart Berlocher at http://www.life.illinois.edu/berlocher/biggrove.

Entomology student publishes update of 1927 ant survey Listen to the commentary Real Audio | MP3 download Andrea Belcher came to the University of Illinois five years ago as a graduate student to study ants with entomology professor Andrew Suarez. In her own words, she was “always interested in small things,” and the research opportunities she took advantage of as an undergraduate in her native Texas led her to focus on ants. [Photo: Two carpenter ants of different species locked in combat. Credit, Selina Ruzi.] In contrast to many other young biologists, who are drawn to genetic studies and lab work, Belcher was especially interested in the study of her subjects in the field. That made her an ideal candidate for a project department head May Berenbaum had been hoping to have someone take on, which was to replicate a study of ants in and around homes in Urbana done by a U of I PhD student in the 1920s. Belcher’s article describing that project is published in the Fall 2016 issue of American Entomologist, under the title “Urbana House Ants 2.0: Revisiting M.R. Smith’s 1926 Survey of House-Infesting Ants in Central Illinois After 87 Years.” Belcher’s survey had three goals: To identify ant species that infest houses now, to analyze the methods people use to control pest ants, and to compare her results with those found by Smith. Following in Smith’s footsteps, literally, Belcher focused her study on two intersecting streets that form a cross in central Urbana, an area that encompassed about 300 single-family homes, as well as 40 multi-unit buildings. Like Smith before her, Belcher relied on the cooperation of residents in the study area. First, she asked them to become “citizen scientists” and collect any ants found within their homes. This was done by capturing the ants on sticky tape and recording some basic information about them: where they were found, how many there were, if and what they were eating and what, if any, measures were used to control them. In addition, Belcher sought permission from residents for herself and an assistant to walk around their yards once and collect any active ants they found to help determine the total diversity of ants in Urbana. Beyond that, Belcher sampled ants from three nearby fragments of forest, to allow for some comparisons between them and the urban setting. What changed for ants in Urbana over the 87 years between Smith’s and Belcher’s studies? Fewer species seem to be inhabiting human residences. Belcher turned up only eight, whereas Smith had 11. An exotic species, pavement ants, seem to have spread into or increased in abundance in Urbana. They were the fourth most commonly collected species in residences in 2012-2013; Smith had found none of them. People have adopted safer, more selective methods for chemical control of insects indoors. Survey respondents in the 1920s used broadly toxic chemical controls including compounds containing arsenic and mercury. Respondents from 2012-2013 reported using targeted, “least toxic” compounds, frequently baits that workers carry back to the nest. Some decline in the total number of local ant species may have taken place. Despite sampling more habitats using a greater variety of methods, Belcher found only 44 species whereas Smith had 47. For the present, Andrea Belcher’s work no longer focuses on ants. With a spouse in the military, she has landed in Santa Cruz, California, where she works primarily as an interpreter and tour leader at Natural Bridges State Beach. Insects are still part of the picture for her though, as she also assists researchers studying the monarch butterflies that overwinter there. She, Berenbaum and Suarez all hope her study inspires other entomologists to examine the archives at their own institutions for studies from the past that might be replicated to help us understand how the insect world has changed over time.

Appreciating nature near at hand Listen to the commentary Real Audio : MP3 download Even though there’s time on the calendar before Autumn begins officially, we’ve passed some important marks on the cultural calendar. Labor Day is a memory, the new school year is in full swing, and the season of traveling to outdoor destinations is over. For me, that means it’s a great time to renew appreciation for the undramatic nature that surrounds us every day. Birds are on the move. The peregrine falcon that has spent the past four winters on the U of I campus arrived ahead of the students this year. If you’re on campus, you can sometimes spot him perched high on side of the tall buildings near Fourth Street. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are migrating, too, and you can attract them to your own backyard by hanging out a nectar feeder. Some hummingbirds linger into late October, and fall occasionally offers the opportunity to see species that don’t typically inhabit the Midwest. [Photos by author: a ruby-throated hummingbird in the garden; male widow skimmer at the Boneyard; emerging cicada on a backyard tent.] Birders who really want to take advantage of the season can come out for Sunday morning bird walks led by members of the Champaign County Audubon Society. These walks, which continue through October, depart from the Race Street parking lot at 7:30. Birders of all skill levels are welcome. At our latitude, the peak abundance of migrating monarch butterflies typically occurs during the second or third week of September, so keep an eye out for them. When you catch sight of one, call to mind this mystery. The monarchs we see heading south in the fall are generations removed from the ones that started north from Mexico in the spring. Yet they’ll somehow navigate to the very same stands of mountain forest where their great great great grandparents overwintered last year. And we think GPS is cool. Humbler insects also abound now. It’s astonishing to me to think about how many crickets must inhabit the yards in just my own neighborhood. My dog snaps at every one we encounter on the sidewalk, which means our walks take longer as their population booms late in the summer. Over the prairie at Meadowbrook Park and other natural grasslands, hordes of dragonflies rule the air. But you can also see dragonflies near the margins of just about any pond or creek, even the Boneyard where it flows through town and campus. Learn to identify the male widow skimmer, with his powdery blue body and distinctively marked wings and you may find you’re interested in identifying some of the other dragonflies you see, too. If you’re near the Boneyard Creek, or any other creek, pluck a berry from a nearby bush and toss it into a deep spot. You might be surprised by the number of fish that bolt out to investigate. Even the derided Boneyard now hosts more than 20 species of fish, thanks to the Clean Water Act. Late in the day Cicada song still fills the air. Most of this year’s adults have already come and gone, but now and again you can still find one just emerging from the exoskeleton that it wore while living underground. If you’re so lucky, make time to watch the process. As evening gives way to night and cicadas rest from their singing, bats take wing to feast on the insects that fill the air. You can see the first act of that nightly drama by sitting quietly and training your gaze on a single patch of evening sky.

An ecological look at acorns [originally posted 9/25/2014] Listen to the commentary Real Audio | MP3 download Last week I found a walnut on my windowsill, a big fat one with an unblemished bright green husk. Soon after, another appeared stuck in the wheel of my car. Now they’re cached everywhere around the outside of our house, from the shelf on the grill to the flowerpots on the deck. Acorns are everywhere now, too, as anyone who bicycles where there are oaks can attest. A person’s got to keep both hands on the handlebars to avoid having them wrenched sideways.    While these seeds may be present me with minor annoyances, they’re much more interesting and important from an ecological perspective. Scientists group walnuts and acorns together with hickory nuts and beechnuts in the category of hard mast. This they distinguish from soft mast, which generally refers to fruits like crabapples and blueberries but can also apply to other parts of plants that serve as food for wildlife. [Photo by author. Gray squirrel eating an acorn in a Chinkapin oak.] According to Ed Heske, a mammal ecologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey at the U of I Prairie Research Institute, “The most important thing about hard mast from the perspective of wild animals is that it’s storable. Without hard mast many mammals that don’t hibernate in winter would have little to eat.” Of course, while it’s a good thing for squirrels that acorns can be stored for eating over the winter, it is not in the interest of oak trees to expend all of the resources needed to produce such wonderful seeds if all of them wind up as squirrel food. Evolution has provided oaks with a clever reproductive strategy to avert that outcome, referred to as masting cycles.  In most years, oaks produce a sort of baseline quantity of acorns, and populations of animals that depend on them become calibrated to that. But every few years or so, depending on weather and other factors, the oaks of a local area synchronize their energy and produce a bumper crop—up to a hundred times the baseline quantity of seeds in some species. With populations of acorn eaters limited by the leaner years, chances are that some portion of acorns from the bumper crop will go uneaten and grow into the next generation of oaks. There is another wrinkle to this story, though. Some years back Heske and a colleague conducted a study that found acorns would result in new oak seedlings only if some of them were buried by squirrels and then never recovered, a situation expected primarily when acorns are superabundant in mast years. Otherwise something—whether it was a deer, turkey, mouse or weevil—always ate them up from the soil surface before they had a chance to germinate. In addition to promoting new generations of oaks, Heske explained to me, bumper crops of acorns initiate a cascade of other ecosystem effects. Extra acorns, for example, enable forest-dwelling mice to reproduce especially well; during mast years they can add an extra litter or two, and add to the size of their litters as well. Good for the mice, right? But what’s good for mice is, in turn, good for great horned owls and the other predators that eat mice. They generally experience a bump in reproductive success in the year following a mast year.

Great strides for home solar thanks to Solar Urbana-Champaign program Listen to the commentary Real Audio | MP3 download You may or may not remember it, but in a commentary last December spoke about my family’s plan to have solar panels installed on our Champaign home in 2016. I’m happy to report we followed through on that, and since late July have had 25 Hanwha Q-Cells up on our south facing, second-floor roof. The system includes an online monitoring program, so I am able to say that up until now, our best day for energy production was August 6, when it generated 28.17 kilowatt hours of electricity. Our worst was August 15, with only 2.9 kWh generated—that was a gloomy day! Although these numbers are meaningful to me now, they probably don’t do much to help you get a sense of how much electricity our system produces. Better, perhaps, to say that it’s expected to generate more than 80 percent of our total electricity use over the course of a year. What’s more important than the fact that my family now has a solar array is that ours is one of 81 arrays that were (or are to be) installed at homes and businesses in Champaign County thanks to the Solar Urbana-Champaign Program. Solar U-C, you might remember, was initiated by the Urbana Sustainability Advisory Commission, and intended to move the city forward on its Climate Action Plan, the ultimate goal of which is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the community by 80 percent. The program secured a discount in the price for rooftop solar by bringing consumers together to buy as a group from a company selected through a competitive bidding process, St. Louis-based StraightUp Solar. StraightUp also partnered with local firm, New Prairie Construction, on some of the installations, including the one at our house. On the subject of price, there are a few things you might be interested to know. The systems installed with the program averaged around $3.50/kw, which translates to $24,500 for an average size system. A federal tax credit returns 30 percent of that, though, and a state-sponsored program of renewable energy credits returns another 25 percent over five years, so the net present cost would be about $11,000. Depending on electric use, assumptions about whether and how much electric rates will change in the coming years, etc., photovoltaic systems installed through the program are expected to pay for themselves in savings well within their lifespan. Ultimately, of course, my family’s decision to go with solar power has more to do with our commitment to helping make renewable energy the norm in Illinois than saving money on our electric bill (although I’m not complaining about that, either). I also like the fact that much of the money we spent to bring electricity to our house in the coming years went to support good, local jobs. If you participated in the Solar C-U Program, please know that the Illinois Solar Energy Association (ISEA) is looking for host sites for its annual Illinois Solar Tour, coming up on October 1. If you missed the Solar C-U Program but you’re still interested to explore home solar as an option, your best bet is to start with the vendors listed on the ISEA website at http://www.illinoissolar.org/iseabusinessmembers.

Annual cicadas enliven dog days with love song Listen to the commentary Real Audio&nbsp;|&nbsp;MP3 download Never in many years of fishing have I heard a better report than this, which came from an enthusiastic young man at the counter of St. Peter’s Fly shop in Fort Collins, Colorado: “Everybody’s catching fish everywhere,” he said. “Everywhere,” in this case, meant the 40-some miles of the Cache la Poudre River above Ft. Collins. And within 24 hours, “everyone” included me. I caught brown trout, rainbow trout and brook trout all within walking distance of our campsite, and I fished only in the time between dinner and sunset. Don’t worry, though—this isn’t a commentary about fishing. It’s about the wildlife highlights of a camping trip my wife, Karen, and I took in July. Most of our time in the Poudre Canyon was spent hiking with a good friend from graduate school who’s now a faculty member at Colorado State University. And the most interesting stream creature we encountered was not a fish at all, but an American dipper, North America’s only truly aquatic songbird. It’s easy enough to picture a dipper, since it looks much like an American robin without the orange-red breast. But it’s difficult to imagine a dipper in action until you’ve seen it. One moment, it’s perched on a rock in the middle of a swift mountain, stream and the next it dives into the torrent headfirst, disappearing from sight. Surely it will be carried away, was my thought upon seeing this for the first time. Not so, though--up it pops moments later with a prize gleaned from the streambed. Dippers eat aquatic insects and just about any other kind of small creature found in the streams where they live, including worms, small fish, and fish eggs. Dippers nest near streams, too, either on natural structures, such as cliffs, or up under bridges. Once we understood their affinity for bridges, we made a point of pausing at each one to see whether there were dippers using it, and often there were. Our most dramatic encounter with wildlife took place in Rocky Mountain National Park. On a day-hike up to an alpine lake there, our trail ascended through excellent elk habitat, and before long we heard from hikers who were on their way down that, indeed, a herd of cows and calves lay ahead. We may be flatlanders, but we had to laugh when one man assured us we needn’t be concerned about them, saying, “It’s only moms and babies.” Elk cows protect their young fiercely, and, weighing in at 500 pounds, they are formidable mothers. As bad luck would have it, we passed one of the babies grazing in a thicket without seeing it, and so came between it and its mother, who was with the rest of the herd, a little farther up the trail. Baby squealed. Mama raised her head in alarm, fixed her eyes on us and gave a series of sharp barks. We scrambled twenty feet up the steep, smooth rock face on our left—our only real option, since the thick growth of trees on our right formed an impassable barrier. Perched atop the slope, we waited until the calf passed below and rejoined the herd, and then we waited a little longer until the entire group moved away from the trail ahead. From that point forward, waiting for the elk to move away from the trail became a regular part of hiking that day. I hope your summer included some time outside, whether it was far afield or here in Illinois. 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Annual cicadas enliven dog days with love song Listen to the commentary Real Audio&nbsp;|&nbsp;MP3 download Even if the heat and humidity of recent weeks have limited your time outdoors, I bet you’ve been hearing a familiar insect song. It’s the mating call of dog day cicadas, loud enough to rise above the drone of air conditioners and so persistent and widespread that people who hear can hardly miss it. I say, “dog day cicada” I mean the insect (pictured right) that goes by the two-part scientific name, “Tibicen canicularis,” which is the most common species of forest dwelling cicada that occurs in the eastern U.S. and Canada, one that has also adapted well to life in urban and suburban settings where enough trees grow to support it. These cicadas have bulky, bodies about an inch and a half long that are dark on top with green and white markings, and entirely white below. At rest their clear, heavily veined wings close over the back like a pitched roof and add another half inch to their length. Some people call these and other cicadas locusts, a name that was first applied to them by settlers of European extraction for whom the emergence of large broods called to mind the plagues of the Bible. But the name locust is more properly applied to certain grasshoppers. Other people know cicadas by the name “harvestfly,” which derives from the fact that they emerge as adults at the same time crops are maturing. The singing of dog day cicadas is one of the loudest insect noises on earth, sometimes exceeding 110 decibels up close. This means the song of a cicada perched your shoulder would be plenty loud to damage your hearing. The song is often compared to the whirring of a circular saw, although I think that comparison ought to be reversed, since cicadas have been around far longer than power tools. The earliest fossil record of a cicada dates back 65 million years. [Photos by author: above, cicada "singing" on a tree trunk; below, newly captured and paralyzed cicada in the grip of a cicada killer wasp.] The fact that dog day cicadas are also called annual cicadas sometimes generates confusion about their life cycle, but do they live for more than a year. They start out as tiny nymphs, which hatch from eggs laid in tree branches. These nymphs drop to the ground and burrow down to find a root they can latch onto for nourishment, and there they remain, probably for something like two to five years. (Scientists aren’t sure exactly how long, and the span probably varies according to conditions affecting the cicada’s development.) Some annual cicadas emerge as adults each year because their generations are staggered, which sets them apart from periodical cicadas, generations of which mature in synch, on 13- and 17-year cycles. It is a common misperception that adult cicadas do not feed, but the fact is they have all the mouthparts needed to extract liquid from plants, and they’re not afraid to use them. Dog day cicadas do no damage to trees as they feed, and no measures to control them are warranted. The only warm-blooded predators that pose a significant threat to cicadas are birds, but there’s another insect that specializes in them, the cicada killer wasp. A female cicada killer stings a cicada to paralyze it, then carries it back to her burrow still alive. There she seals the unlucky creature in a chamber with one of her eggs, to become nourishment for the grub that hatches. But that’s not where I want to leave you. Let’s get back to cicadas singing their love song in trees, and appreciate how that enriches our summer.

Freshwater mussels: overlooked, under appreciated residents of Illinois streams Listen to the commentary Real Audio&nbsp;|&nbsp;MP3 download If you’ve spent time canoeing or kayaking on rivers in the Midwest, you’ve probably come across the shells of freshwater mussels from time to time. On the outside, mussel shells are seldom pretty, but the pearly shine of the interior surfaces often prompts people to pick them up. Scientists distinguish among different species of mussels by focusing on the shape of certain parts of the shell. Here, for example, is how the&nbsp;Field Guide to Freshwater Mussels of the Midwest&nbsp;(Illinois Natural History Survey:&nbsp;click here&nbsp;to see free online version) describes the appearance of a species that goes by the scientific name&nbsp;Quadrula quadrula: “Shell quadrate to rounded, and somewhat inflated. Anterior end rounded, posterior end squared or truncated.” Now, if that doesn’t bring to mind a very clear picture for you, try the common name for the same species: it’s “mapleleaf.” [Photo of Quadrula quadrula by Kevin Cummings, from the field guide. It reminds&nbsp;me&nbsp;of a maple leaf, anyway.] Other Illinois mussels carry similarly evocative common names, which tell both what the creatures look like and what objects were familiar to the people who named them. Among them some of my favorites are washboard, pistolgrip, wartyback, heelsplitter, deertoe, spectaclecase, and pocketbook. According to Kevin Cummings, a mussel expert at the Illinois Natural History Survey on the U of I campus, North America is home to a greater diversity of freshwater mussels than any other continent, with nearly three hundred species and subspecies. Some eighty of these are or were once found in Illinois. Many mussels have become locally extinct in former habitats, and only about forty species are regularly found in the state now. Freshwater mussels live a low-key life for the most part. They pass their days hunkered down in the sand or gravel, usually in flowing water. They feed on microscopic plant and animal life, as well as other tiny bits of organic matter, which they filter from water they take in through one siphon and eject from another. Mussels are fed upon by a variety of fish and birds, as well as muskrats, otters, and minks. Minks leave the cleaned shells of mussels they’ve eaten in a pile near the water’s edge called a midden, which can be a great place to find and identify shells. The early development of mussels is a bit more complex and dramatic. Mussel eggs are fertilized within the female, with sperm that has been released into the water by nearby males. Inside the female, the fertilized eggs develop into larvae, which scientists call “glochidia.” To grow further, these glochidia must be expelled and attach themselves to the gills or fins of a fish for some weeks, where they will take on their adult form, in miniature, before dropping off to live at the bottom of the stream again. By sending forth their young attached to fish, mussels are able to disperse much farther than they would under their own power. Over time, freshwater mussels have served a variety of human purposes. Native Americans ate their flesh and used their shells for utensils, tools, and jewelry. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries—before the advent of plastics—mussel shells were used on an industrial scale to make buttons. Since the 1950s, mussel shells have been exploited commercially for use in the production of cultured pearls in Japan. It is unfortunate for mussels that they are not more cute and cuddly, because as a group they are among our most endangered animals, suffering from overexploitation, the pollution and physical degradation of waterways, and the introduction of exotic species to their habitats. Perhaps our best hope for preserving them comes from the growing awareness that the health of our rivers and streams is really a component of our own health.

Thirteen-lined ground squirrels (not chipmunks, not gophers) Listen to the commentary Real Audio&nbsp;|&nbsp;MP3 download My encounters with ground squirrels in the west this summer reminded there’s a common, yet fascinating animal closer to home I’ve been meaning to profile, the thirteen-lined ground squirrel. Do you know the one I mean? If you’ve had a small squirrel dash in front of you as you drove on a country road bordered by crops, or you’ve seen a chipmunk-looking critter darting about in a cemetery, you’ve probably encountered a thirteen-lined ground squirrel. Some people call thirteen-liners gophers because they live in the ground, but in scientific terms, they’re members of the squirrel family. Thirteen-lined ground squirrels are among those animals that have benefited from human development because they thrive in the close-cropped landscapes we create, from roadsides and pastures, to cemeteries, golf courses, parks and other lawns. Their geographic range, which encompasses much of the central U.S. and Canada, has actually expanded over the past two centuries. If you were to draw a thirteen-lined ground squirrel based on its name, you would produce a picture that left out a notable characteristic of the original. Yes, they are marked by about thirteen alternating stripes of dark brown and light tan fur that run from neck to tail. But what’s equally striking is that the wider, dark lines are decorated along their entire length with evenly spaced light dots, giving them a star-spangled appearance. There’s a golden tinge to some of the lighter fur on thirteen-liners, and they’re the creature on which the University of Minnesota’s Golden Gopher mascot is based. Thirteen-lined ground squirrels eat just about anything they can get their little paws on, from insects of all sorts to the occasional small vertebrate (including carrion), to grasses, flowers, seeds and crops. They have pouches in their cheeks that they use to transport food to their burrows for eating later. (If you have trouble with thirteen-lined ground squirrels eating from your garden, University of Illinois Extension’s “Living with Wildlife” Website provides suggestions for dealing with them:&nbsp;http://web.extension.illinois.edu/wildlife/directory_show.cfm?species=groundsquirrel.) Thirteen-lined ground squirrels are, in turn, food for a wide range of other animals, including coyotes, foxes, weasels, dogs, cats, hawks, owls and snakes. One way thirteen-liners avoid being eaten is by excavating short, shallow escape burrows throughout their territories, so they’re never far from a hole to dive into. They also create deeper, longer burrows for nesting and hibernating. And thirteen-lined ground squirrels hibernate like champions. After fattening up in the Fall, they retreat to a chamber that’s below the frost line, plug the entrance with soil, and curl up for about four months. During hibernation—which begins in late October or early November and lasts until late March or April—their body temperature nearly matches the temperature of the burrow, dropping as low as 37 degrees F. By the time thirteen-liners awaken, they have lost up to half of their body mass. During the months thirteen-lined ground squirrels are active, you need not get up early to see them, nor do you need to brave inclement weather. They are most active on warm, sunny days, and they don’t even bother coming out of their burrows in the rain. To learn more about thirteen-lined ground squirrels, or any of the other mammals you might see when you’re out and about in the Prairie State, let me refer you to the source for much of the information in today’s commentary, the&nbsp;Field Manual of Illinois Mammals&nbsp;by Joyce E. Hofmann. It’s published by and available through the Illinois Natural History Survey, which is a division of the Prairie Research Institute at the U of I in Champaign.

Coexisting with cottontails Listen to the commentary Real Audio&nbsp;|&nbsp;MP3 download Some people love rabbits. “Soooo cute!!! More bunnies please,” was the response from one friend when I posted a rabbit picture online recently. More people, perhaps, have mixed feelings about them. “Love bunnies, but baby just ate a large butterfly milkweed I bought a few days ago,” added another friend. There are also among us plenty of people who look at rabbits pretty much the same way Elmer Fudd looks at Bugs Bunny; some 60,000 Illinois residents hunt rabbits. Whether you value them as food, objects of affection, or something in between, rabbits are fascinating creatures, and they’re among the wild mammals most of us are likely to encounter on a regular basis. &nbsp;That’s because they thrive in the sorts of habitat we create for ourselves—lawns of any sort, old fields, roadsides, railroad embankments, forest edges, etc. When I say rabbits here, I’m referring to eastern cottontails, which occur statewide in Illinois; some southern counties where suitable habitat remains also support populations of swamp rabbits, which are a separate species. Eastern cottontails are full size and sexually mature at just six months of age, and they really do breed like . . . well, you know. Female cottontails give birth to litters of four to six young as often as three times in a year. It’s a good thing for them, too, because the average lifespan of cottontails is only about a year. [An eastern cottontail stands up to assess the threat posed by a photographer, i.e., the author.] In the words of the Field Manual of Illinois Mammals, “A rabbit’s life is full of danger.” The list of other animals that eats them includes coyotes, foxes, weasels, dogs and cats, as well as hawks, owls, crows and snakes. In addition, many rabbits are killed by cars, mowing and other human activity. Some children, as well as adults of a certain sensibility, may be interested to learn that rabbits eat their own poop. That’s right, after consuming your beloved garden plants they scamper off to a sheltered spot where they excrete lightly digested fecal pellets, which they then re-ingest for more thorough processing the second time around. A fact about rabbits that everyone should know is that mothers leave their young alone in the nest on purpose, so as to not attract the attention of predators. That means if you happen to find unattended baby rabbits it is important to leave them where they are and resist the urge to rescue them. How does a person prevent rabbits from damaging plants? There are no easy, surefire answers to the question, but a website maintained by University of Illinois Extension called “Living with Wildlife” offers a number of possibilities. You can cut down on the amount of cover in your yard to make rabbits less comfortable there. And you can favor plants they don’t normally eat, although in tough circumstances they will eat just about anything. Or you can protect special plants with commercial repellents or wire mesh. Most of the time wire mesh does the trick for me; I haven’t lost a butterfly milkweed since I started putting fence up on the same day I install new plants. But even fencing isn’t foolproof. Last summer, an enterprising mother rabbit in our yard leapt up to where she could wriggle through the wire and gave birth to a litter on the inside of the fence around our vegetable garden. So that struggle continues.

Appreciating turkey vultures Listen to the commentary Real Audio&nbsp;|&nbsp;MP3 download If you watch the sky as you travel by car in warm weather, you’re likely to see soaring birds from time to time, even if you don’t count yourself a birder.In our part of the country, most of the large soaring birds you’ll see are turkey vultures, which you can recognize from a long way off without binoculars or a field guide. Turkey vultures in flight are identified by their large size—they have a six-foot wingspan—their blackish color above and below, and their manner of flight. Turkey vultures hold their wings in a shallow dihedral, or “v” shape, and constantly tilt back and forth. They are so skilled at using rising currents of warm air for lift that you’ll rarely see a turkey vulture flap its wings, even if you watch and wait for it to do so. A group of turkey vultures circling together is called a kettle. A kettle may form as vultures come together to take advantage of an updraft for gaining altitude, or as they scan the countryside looking for food. It is not, by any means, a sure sign that something below has died. Turkey vultures are very well equipped to search for food on the wing. They have excellent vision, which is not uncommon in birds, as well as an extraordinary sense of smell, which is. A turkey vulture’s sense of smell allows it to locate carrion even when it is concealed from above by a forest canopy. Turkey vultures are not at all picky about which animals they eat, as long as they are dead. A turkey vulture’s diet may include anything from dead domestic livestock to roadkilled animals like skunks, raccoons and deer, or even turtles and snakes. This is not to say that turkey vultures have no preferences, as they have been shown to select recently dead animals over more decayed food when given a choice. Turkey vultures also eat varying amounts plant material, presumably more when carrion is scarce. If you happen to see a turkey vulture close up, you’re likely to notice its red, featherless head. In this feature, as well as its bulky, brownish-black profile, the turkey vulture resembles the wild turkey, which is where it gets its name. Being bald allows the turkey vulture to poke its head right into a carcass and not wind up capturing little bits of its meal in hard-to-clean feathers. Couple the turkey vulture’s bald head with its cast-iron digestive system, and you’ve got a very effective processor of carrion. Now, I realize that you might be inclined to leave off contemplating turkey vultures as they soar in the sky, half a mile away. But I think looking at them more closely really can foster a deeper appreciation for the diversity and complexity of life. After all, without turkey vultures and other decomposers, life as we know it simply wouldn’t be possible.

Mystery of the tiny bouncing spheres Listen to the commentary Real Audio&nbsp;|&nbsp;MP3 download What’s shaped like a ball and white, less than a millimeter in diameter, and bounces like a Mexican jumping bean? This odd question occurred to my wife, Karen, last week as she locked her bicycle to the rack near her office on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana. She’s not the sort of person who conjures up such questions hypothetically. It occurred to her because the concrete at her feet was alive with such spheres—thousands upon thousands of them—and she had never seen anything of the sort. Initially, she speculated the bouncing spheres were associated with the many ants that were also present—eggs, maybe, or larvae, and that their movement was caused by the adult ants shifting them from one place to another. Needing to get on with her day, she snapped a photo to share later with others who might&nbsp;be able to shed light on the question. As it turned out, however, the photo didn’t contain enough evidence to produce a good answer, so she and I returned to the scene for further investigation together a few days later at lunch. And what a scene it was—thousands of white balls bouncing around on the concrete, tiny enough to go unnoticed by most people walking by, but large enough to be seen with the naked eye by anyone curious enough to stop for a look. We noticed almost immediately that the spheres moved without any help from ants. And by shielding them with our hands, we ascertained they weren’t being propelled by breezes, or just bouncing up from the ground after falling. But they did originate from above. The leaves of the massive bur oak tree standing over the bike lot were covered in them, and they popped off the leaves at a touch. Thanks to internet access, the solution to our mystery was just a few keystrokes away. We searched “oak tiny white Mexican jumping beans” and that took us to—drumroll—jumping oak galls! Jumping oak galls form around the larvae of tiny, stingless wasps as they feed on the leaves of certain species of trees in the white oak group. As the larvae mature, the galls fall to the ground, where they overwinter and then emerge as adults the following spring. Although jumping oak galls have been observed in the U.S. since at least the 1870s, the questions of why and how they jump have yet to be investigated very fully. In a&nbsp;paper published just last summer, researchers from the University of California at Santa Cruz suggest that the jumping behavior protects the gall-wasp larvae from getting too hot and drying out, which can kill them. By jumping repeatedly, they settle down into the leaf litter, where conditions are cooler and moister than above. That’s the “why.” As for “how,” the researchers observed that the larvae are packed into their galls so tightly it’s impossible for them to cause movement by thrashing around. As an alternative, they propose the larvae move by means of snap-like abdominal contractions, which transfer momentum to the gall shell through the fluid that surrounds them. As far as the researchers know, this mechanism for producing motion is unique to jumping oak gall wasps. Whatever conclusions scientists eventually come to about how jumping oak galls jump, I am delighted to have found something so new to me and so weird in a spot that’s been part of my everyday experience for nearly 30 years (thanks to my observant spouse, of course). Who knows what we have yet to learn about the 1300 or so&nbsp;other&nbsp;species of gall wasps that occur around the world?

Appreciating common snapping turtles Listen to the commentary Real Audio&nbsp;|&nbsp;MP3 download Two kinds of snapping turtles occur in North America, and both of them can be found in Illinois. Alligator snappers, which most people will never see, are listed as endangered, and they inhabit only larger rivers and streams in the southern part of the state, the Mississippi, Ohio and Wabash Rivers, and tributaries directly connected to them. In fact, no wild alligator snapping turtle was documented in Illinois for the thirty years between 1984 and 2014, when scientists from the Illinois Natural History Survey discovered one. (Ironically, as I reported in a commentary last year, they discovered a wild alligator snapper as they sought to relocate individuals they had translocated from other states as part of a multi-year program to reestablish alligator snapping turtles in Illinois. More on that project here in future.) It’s only common snapping turtles, scientific name&nbsp;Chelydra serpentina, that residents of Illinois are likely to see, and it’s them I’d like to call attention to here. Common snappers can be found throughout the state, and their overall range includes the entire eastern two-thirds of the U.S. and corresponding parts of southern Canada. The “common” part of Chelydra serpentina’s name is entirely appropriate. They can be numerous in suitable habitat, and suitable habitat for them includes lakes, ponds, and marshes, as well as rivers and smaller streams—just about any permanent body of water. And while we’re on the topic of names, “serpentina” fits well, too, given the common snapping turtle’s long, snake-like neck and it’s ability to strike in a flash. [Photos of common snapping turtles by author.] Humans who wade or swim in waters where snapping turtles live have little reason to fear being bitten by them, because they strongly prefer to avoid us and they move with ease in water. What do common snapping turtles really want to bite? Fish, of course. Or frogs, or snakes, or crayfish, or snails, or small mammals and waterfowl—really, they’re not picky, and they eat carrion as well as prey they dispatch themselves. Snapping turtles even include a fair amount of plant material in their diet. On land, snapping turtles respond to humans and other threats more aggressively, since they possess neither speed to escape nor the ability to retreat fully into their shell. But their strength to bite through objects people provoke them with is greater in stories than in reality. You’re most likely to see snapping turtles on land in June, when females leave the water to find a site with loose soil or sand in which to lay eggs, up to 30 of them. Digging a hole and covering their eggs with soil is the extent of care female snappers provide, so few nests escape predation, and even hatchlings from successful nests face long odds of surviving. When I see other kinds of turtles on a road I stop to pick them up and move them across in the direction they are headed, but it’s not a good idea to do that with large snappers. Better to give them space and just direct oncoming traffic around them, as long as it’s safe to do so. Given the right vantage point, it’s also possible during summer to observe snapping turtles as they bask, usually by floating near the surface of the water with just their snout sticking out. In Champaign we’ve got a perfect spot for that, the overlook on the east side of the Second Street Basin. There are no guarantees in wildlife watching, but if you approach the railing there slowly and quietly on a sunny afternoon, you’ve got a good chance of spotting a basking snapper for yourself.

Cultivating an appreciation for toads in Illinois Listen to the commentary&nbsp;MP3 download Two species of toads inhabit Illinois, and neither one of them is threatened or endangered. It seems the factors that are contributing to the decline of other amphibians in the state and around the world—habitat loss, fungal infection, chemical contamination, etc.—pose no insurmountable obstacles to the continued health of toad populations here. So, why give toads a second thought? They are common and approachable. [Pictured is a Fowler's toad I came across on a gravel bar along the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River.] For me, encounters with such creatures hold their own pleasures, and they reinforce the natural inclination to value other forms of life, even animals I’ll probably never see for myself. At a glance, most people would not notice a difference between adult American toads and Fowler’s toads. Both are about two to three inches long, and they are similarly marked. Their skin is a light shade of gray or brown, dotted with darker spots. One way to distinguish between the two toad species found in Illinois is to observe the number of warts per dark spot on the back: the dark spots on American toads contain only one or two large warts, while the dark spots on Fowler’s toads have three or more smaller warts. Toads have thicker skin than frogs, which enables them to inhabit drier environments. They thrive in forests, prairies, and wetlands, along the margins of lakes and streams, and even at the edges of highways. Toads can live in the midst agricultural fields and in urban settings, too, as long as they have access to bodies of water for reproduction. Even when it comes to the choice of where to breed, toads are not very discriminating. If the nearby body of water is a pristine vernal pool, toads will get together there. If it’s a ditch or a flooded field, toads will use that as well (although toad offspring will survive only if the water persists for at least the 40 days it takes them to develop from tadpoles into terrestrial creatures). My family once received a gift of toad tadpoles from the water that had collected on top of a friend’s swimming pool cover. You might well recognize the mating call of American toads even if you don’t realize you have heard it before. It is a sustained, high pitched trill that carries a very long way. Near ponds and other places where they breed, it is the background sound of evening in April and May. Do I need to say people don’t get warts from handling toads? People don’t get warts from handling toads. Under extreme stress toads secrete a toxin from the oblong glands behind their eyes, which irritates the mucous membranes of other animals that would eat them. (For this reason it’s a good idea to wash your hands thoroughly after handling a toad.) This defense works well in many cases, as you know if you’ve ever seen the reaction of a dog that picked up a toad in its mouth, but not all. Some snakes are not bothered by the toxins toads release, and other animals, including skunks and raccoons, get around the problem by eating them from the underside. If you’re interested in a wildlife experience close to home this summer, you might start by looking for toads in nearby window wells, since they have a knack for falling into them. You can then increase the odds of survival for toads you find in window wells by releasing them a little ways off.

A walk on the wild side with three U of I students Real Audio | MP3 download For the next couple of weeks of Environmental Almanacs, Rob Kanter will be joined by students from the School of Earth, Society, and Environment who are developing their skills to communicate about environmental topics. Most residents of central Illinois are familiar with Busey Woods in Urbana, but for some U of I students, it’s new territory. Hi I’m Chloe, I’m Katie, and I’m Christina. Christina Lopez Chloe: &nbsp;On the first Sunday in March, the three of us went our very first bird walk which also happened to be the first bird walk of the season in Busey Woods coordinated by members of the Champaign County Audubon Society at Busey Woods in Urbana. Christina: When we pulled into the parking lot on that brisk 32-degree morning and asked ourselves . . . Katie: what do three college students know about birding? Chloe: As it turns out not much, but we were up for the challenge to learn more. That began with learning about Busey Woods itself, a 59-acre forest fragment in Urbana. Christina: Back in the 1960s, Busey Woods was under development to be grounds for commercial dumping with the hopes of being turned into an industrial park. But through citizen action, people fought back and ultimately succeeded in preserving these woods for recreational use, where they now stand today as the site for our Sunday morning bird walk program with Greg Lambeth. Katie: Lambeth has been leading the bird walks with the nature center for about the last 15 years, since the death of friend and fellow birder Bob Chapel. Lambeth takes birders of all levels under his wing, pointing out different species and bird calls along the walk for fellow birders to photograph, listen to, and enjoy. Chloe: Lambeth said that although it’s been a mild winter that the start of the birding season is a sign of spring for him. This time of the year you’re not going to see a lot, its just to fun to be out and walking around. It was even fun last year . . .&nbsp;to me, and I don’t know how other people describe it, it’s just like, it may be really cold but its still kinda symbolically mean spring is on its way and we’ll have our first 60-65 degree walk, you know on our third or fourth walk. It’s just . . .&nbsp;this was not a long winter but in&nbsp;long winters it helps&nbsp;show spring is on its way. Christina: And I think the three of us really agreed with Lambeth’s connection to the bird walk and spring. Katie:Despite the chill in the air the walk really made us all feel refreshed, and we were genuinely excited to see the different bird species that live in our own neighborhood. Chloe: Something I though was cool was that we got to see Winter Wrens. Which Lambeth told us are usually really uncooperative for walks because they’re so small and hide in the brush. So the next Sunday you find yourself looking for something new to experience, we suggest heading over to the nature center in Urbana and joining the birders at 7:30 a.m. for a bird walk.

Prescribed burn enables prairie to thrive Listen to the commentary Real Audio | MP3 download If you’ve taken advantage of the recent weather to visit local natural areas, you’ve probably come across patches of land blackened by fire. These are places where you expect to see tallgrass prairie, but where, for the moment, there’s nothing to block your view of a robin on the ground 50 yards away. What you’ve encountered is evidence of land managers using the most powerful tool at their disposal, fire. I’ve hear people wonder aloud whether it’s necessary to do all of this burning, whether it wouldn’t be better to just leave nature alone. The short answer to that question is, no—not if our aim is to preserve or reconstruct landscapes that resemble tallgrass prairie as it existed in central Illinois at the time of European colonization. That’s because without fire, prairie would have given way to forest here over the past 5,000 years. Prairie fires, which were set regularly by American Indians, and sometimes caused by lightning, are estimated to have scoured any given bit of land here once every one to five years. Prairie fires usually moved quickly, so their heat did not penetrate deep into the soil. Thus they killed the saplings of encroaching trees—such as walnut, ash and sugar maple—and favored instead the growth of herbaceous perennials, grasses and flowers that die back and store their energy below ground in winter. [Photos by author: fire engulfs an encroaching sapling; Mike Davis patrols the line with a flapper; "The Marker" looks over the burned area at Meadowbrook Park.] By removing thatch and speeding the return of nutrients to the soil in the form of ash, prairie fires enabled dormant seeds to germinate, and the spring and summer that followed on were marked by a profusion of flowers and reinvigorated forage. Similar effects are now achieved through the use of prescribed burns. In addition to thwarting the advance of local trees, prescribed burns also now perform the important service of knocking back invasive plants imported from other continents, chief among them bush honeysuckle and autumn olive. Without fire as a tool, says Mike Davis, who’s a natural areas technician with the Urbana Park District, the task of keeping such plants in check would be far more difficult than it already is. Most prescribed burns operate like the one I participated in recently at Meadowbrook Park in Urbana. It was organized by Davis, and carried out with help from other park district personnel, as well as volunteers from Grand Prairie Friends and the East Central Illinois Master Naturalist Program. Some volunteers manned barricades to keep park users from wandering into the designated areas. The rest divided into two burn crews. Working on opposite sides of the burn unit, and beginning at the downwind end of it, one person from each crew used a kerosene drip torch to light fire along the mowed paths that served as breaks. Others who were armed with backpack sprayers, flappers and heavy rakes then spread out along the lines to make sure no fire crossed them. By design, the fires we lit on the sides of the burn unit moved slowly, since we were advancing into the wind. Not so the headfire we created as the two burn crews converged along the upwind edge of the unit. It snapped and crackled briefly, then roared to life and swept back across the field, exactly according to plan. If you have the opportunity, keep an eye on the blackened patches at Meadowbrook Park and other preserves as spring progresses, and enjoy the tallgrass prairie plant show made possible by fire.

Return of the American woodcock--another March madness Listen to the commentary Real Audio | MP3 download One of the early season highlights of birding in central Illinois is the widespread return in March of a bird called the American woodcock. Indeed, for some birders this phenomenon holds just as much interest as that other one more commonly known as March madness. [A woodcock struts his stuff at Meadowbrook Park in Urbana, IL. By Greg Lambeth&nbsp;greglambethbirdphotos.smugmug.com] The woodcock belongs to the shorebird family, whose more familiar members include sandpipers and plovers. But unlike its cousins, the woodcock prefers habitat composed of moist woods, open fields, and brushy swamps. You won’t see a woodcock poking along beaches or mud flats the way other shorebirds do. Most of the time the woodcock is so secretive and so well camouflaged that unless you witness its courtship display, you’re likely to see one only if you come close to stepping on in it, and it flushes. Then you are startled by an explosion of wings at your feet, after which you’ll have five to ten seconds to watch the bird fly before it lands and takes cover again.On the ground, the woodcock’s appearance suggests that it was constructed by a birdmaker who didn’t pay strict attention to the shorebird blueprint. It’s a plump bird, about eleven inches long altogether, although its bill accounts for three of those inches. This bill is highly sensitive, which enables woodcocks detect the vibrations made by earthworms underground. And it features a flexible tip that can be opened to grasp worms even while the rest of the bill remains closed. A woodcock’s eyes bulge out like black, stick-on doll-eyes that are attached in the wrong spot—just a little too high up, and too far back on its head. Odd as it may look, this arrangement allows the woodcock a super wide field of vision—nearly three hundred sixty degrees. This is quite a useful adaptation for a bird that spends so much time with its nose to the ground.Appearances aside, what endears the woodcock to birders is the strange and elaborate courtship ritual that the males perform at dusk and dawn in the spring. Many people have written to describe this behavior, although none so eloquently as Aldo Leopold, whose book,&nbsp;A Sand County Almanac, has done so much to inspire the modern conservation movement.This is how Leopold describes the male woodcock’s “sky dance”: He flies in low from some neighboring thicket, alights on the bare moss, and at once begins the overture: a series of queer throaty peents spaced about two seconds apart, and sounding much like the summer call of the nighthawk. Suddenly the peenting ceases and the bird flutters skyward in a series of wide spirals, emitting a musical twitter. Up and up he goes, the spirals steeper and smaller, the twittering louder and louder, until the performer is only a speck in the sky. Then, without warning, he tumbles like a crippled plane, giving voice in a soft liquid warble that a March bluebird might envy. At a few feet from the ground he levels off and returns to his peenting ground, usually to the exact spot where the performance began and there resumes peenting. Depending on conditions, the male woodcock may repeat this performance for a half hour or more.If you would like to see the sky dance for yourself but don’t know where to look, check out one of the upcoming “Woodcock Walks” conducted by the Champaign County Forest Preserve District. There’s one tomorrow evening and another next Friday. Further details are available through the website of the Champaign County Forest Preserve District. [A woodcock struts his stuff at Meadowbrook Park in Urbana, IL. By Greg Lambeth&nbsp;greglambethbirdphotos.smugmug.com]

Bird reports from friends signal arrival of spring Listen to the commentary Real Audio | MP3 download One way you can tell spring has arrived is to listen to the conviction with which cardinals are now singing, including this one, which I stopped to record while I was out for a run last week. Another is to hear the reports friends bring me about what they’ve been observing. A friend I’ll call “Anna” recently stopped by my office to talk about what she had seen with her son, a second-grader, on their walk to Bottenfield School in Champaign. She said, “There was a huge, dark bird with two-toned wings and a wingspan like this [arms wide] soaring overhead. Would that be a turkey vulture?” It would. And many other people I’ve talked with recently have noticed them soaring over town. Turkey vulture populations in North America have increased substantially in recent decades, and in Illinois some of them don’t go very far south in winter anymore, thanks to the increasing availability of roadkill, as well as the food they can scrounge at landfills. Another friend I’ll call “Lisa” texted to say she had seen and heard a large flock of large birds flying over Urbana at night. “I’ve never heard this kind of call before,” she said, “but they flew in a V.” This would have been one of the large flocks of geese that are not Canada geese that have been moving north since mid-February: snow geese or greater white-fronted geese. By listening to both calls on the Web, Lisa determined that hers had been white-fronts. Here’s what that sounds like. Back on February 18, my friend “Eric” asked whether I had seen my first red-winged blackbird of the year yet. &nbsp;(Unlike robins, which now remain in central Illinois through the winter, red-winged blackbirds are generally absent in here for some part of winter.) I had not, but we both agreed (in the way mature people sometimes do) that it “seemed about time” for some to show up. That very evening, my spouse called my attention to a facebook post by our mutual friend, “Lucy.” She wrote, “I saw my FOY [birder-speak for “First of Year”] red-winged blackbird this morning. My favorite harbinger of spring. Turns out it is the same day I saw him last year and a day earlier than two years ago.” It was with more mixed feelings that our friend “Sue” reported last week the return to her yard of a very different pair of birds, the Cooper’s hawks that began nesting there two years ago. Sue prefers to have songbirds around, but since songbirds are on the menu for Cooper’s hawks, they’re scarce in her yard during the hawk breeding season. The end of February also saw the return of American woodcocks to central Illinois, as reported by my friend “Roger” on the Birdnotes listserv. He walks with his spouse at Meadowbrook Park in Urbana early on most mornings, and they’re among the first people to notice such things. If you’re interested to get out looking birds and other wildlife, there are some really nice opportunities to do so locally with company in March, including the Sunday morning walks at Busey Woods and Crystal Lake Park in Urbana, which are led by members of the Champaign County Audubon Society. Sunday Morning Bird Walks at Busey Woods (usually led by my friend "Greg") Busey Woods &amp; Crystal Lake Park Sundays, March 6 - May 29, 2016 7:30am - 9am http://www.champaigncountyaudubon.org/busey_birdwalk_report.htm Woodcock Walks Friday, March 18, 7:00-8pm Buffalo Trace Prairie, Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve (CCFPD) Saturday, March 19, 7:00-8pm Interpretive Center, Homer Lake Forest Preserve (CCFPD) Wednesday, March 23, 7:00-8pm Meadowbrook Interpretive Center (UPD) Contact CCFPD (896-2455) / UPD (384-4062) for more info and to register.

Appreciating Illinois amphibians and habitats that support them Listen to the commentary Real Audio | MP3 download It may be too early in the year to contemplate April showers bringing May flowers. But in much of Illinois heavy rains in late February and early March trigger an astonishing and ancient natural phenomenon—the annual congregation of amphibians in the waters where they breed. The participants in the initial phase of this aquatic love fest, which begins in water cold enough to stun people, include frogs that are known by their vocalizations—spring peepers [pictured], whose once-per-second ascending peeps [IDNR audio] can be heard day and night, and western chorus frogs, whose call is often compared to the sound produced by running a stick over the teeth of a comb [IDNR audio]. These vocal frogs are joined in the frigid water by other more secretive amphibians. To me, the most fascinating of these are the eight species of salamanders that are known collectively as mole salamanders. In central Illinois the most common member of this family is the six-inch-long smallmouth salamander [pictured], a blackish creature with blue and grey markings that give it a marbled appearance.&nbsp;The eastern tiger salamander can be found here, too, although I have to admit I’ve never seen one. A tiger salamander may grow to more that a foot in length, and it is marked by yellow spots that cover more and more of its body as it ages. You may or may not remember it, but the tiger salamander was elected the official state amphibian of Illinois in a 2004 contest sponsored by then Lieutenant Governor, Pat Quinn. As their group name suggests, mole salamanders spend most of the year underground. There they move about in natural gaps, and the tunnels and burrows created by small mammals. They feed on a variety of invertebrates, including earthworms, slugs, and insects. In the spring, though, as the earth thaws and the ice recedes, rainy nights bring mole salamanders above ground, and they trundle overland seeking the ephemeral pools where they were born. Ephemeral pools are wetlands that hold water far enough into the summer for amphibian larvae to mature, but which dry up at some point in most years. This characteristic prevents fish from becoming established there, and that’s important because fish eat amphibian eggs and young. [Pictured is an ephemeral pool at the Urbana Park District's Busey Woods.] If you were to shine a light into such a pool on a spring night you would be amazed at how many salamanders you can see, and surprised at how gracefully they swim. You might also be interested to see how many other forms of life are active in such cold water—delicate, inch-long fairy shrimp, ferocious diving beetles, and more. Looking into an ephemeral pool during the day you might see amphibian eggs, held together in a mass with a jelly-like substance, and attached to twigs or other underwater structure. While it is still possible to find ephemeral pools where you can witness the springtime congregation of amphibians in Illinois, it’s not easy. More than 90 percent of the wetland acres that once existed in the state have been lost to agriculture and urbanization, and only a tiny fraction (0.05%) of the state’s historic wetlands persist in relatively undisturbed condition. Whether future generations have the opportunity to experience the springtime awakening of life in ephemeral pools depends on whether our generation acts to preserve and restore them.

Exploding insects top bill at this year’s Insect Fear Film Festival Listen to the commentary Real Audio | MP3 download In anticipation of the 33rd Annual Insect Fear Film Festival, which they will host Saturday on the U of I campus, this week’s commentary comes from three members of the Entomology Graduate Student Association : Josh Gibson, Todd Johnson, and Tanya Josek. Believe it or not, they’re here to talk real-life insects that explode. Bombardier beetles (Todd) One day Charles Darwin was returning from a collecting trip when he spotted an interesting beetle. His hands were full so he decided to transport it in his mouth. There, the beetle released an explosive chemical reaction causing Darwin to drop all of the insects he collected that day. We now know these insects as bombardier beetles, which get their name from a unique ability to direct a hot spray of chemicals from their posterior end. Recently, researchers found that these beetles open and close a valve inside their body while spraying, causing the spray to come out in a series of pulses. The pulses probably help protect the beetles from damaging themselves by limiting their exposure to the reactive chemicals. For bombardier beetles this is a very effective defense against predators looking for a quick meal. Exploding ants (Josh) In the forests of southeast Asia, it’s an ant-eat-ant world. Tree-dwelling ant communities are often dominated by species with large, aggressive colonies, which can make it difficult for others to establish nests. To do so requires a good defense . . . but sometimes a good defense is a good offense. Exploding carpenter ants have evolved a unique way of defending their nests from attack. When threatened, the workers of this species can compress their abdomens and cause dangerous chemicals to burst from their heads. This often kills nest intruders at the cost of the workers’ own lives. The ruptured ants stop scouts of more aggressive ant species from informing the rest of their colony of this valuable nest location, preventing a large-scale invasion. By sacrificing their own lives for the good of the colony, exploding carpenter ant workers allow their colonies to stand tarsus-to-tarsus with more aggressive ants and live to tell the tale – even if some of the workers themselves do not. Parasitoid wasps (Tanya) The science fiction hit Alien terrified audiences with the idea of aliens bursting out of astronauts. While most of the movie is fiction, some of the biology is not. Right here on earth, many arthropods are susceptible to attack by parasitoids, insects that develop while attached to or inside them. For example, there’s a certain tiny wasp female that seeks out tobacco hornworm caterpillars. When she finds one, she uses her stinger to inject eggs inside it. The caterpillar continues to eat and grow, unaware that wasp larvae are growing inside its body. Once the larvae fully develop, they chew their way out of the caterpillar’s body and spin cocoons, eventually emerging as adults. Shockingly, the caterpillar is alive throughout this entire process and only dies after the wasps have completed development. Of course, if you think this stuff sounds wild, wait till you see the mutant cockroaches and gigantic, lava breathing &nbsp;tarantulas in this year’s films. Doors to Foellinger Auditorium open at 6pm with an insect petting zoo, face-painting and balloon insects, insect-related artwork, and our first ever “talking cockroach.” Find further details http://www.life.illinois.edu/entomology/egsa/ifff.html

Birding abroad: Part 2 Listen to the commentary Real Audio | MP3 download Although the other members of my family enjoy a range of outdoor activities when we travel together, I like to spend more time birding than they do. I especially enjoy staking out a spot where I can spend some quality time with my camera early in the morning.&nbsp; On the second stop of our tour in Senegal, this was just across the road from our lodging which was located on a narrow spit between the Senegal River and the Atlantic Ocean. The tidal flat there, featuring a newly established strip of mangroves, offered great opportunities to photograph a variety of herons and other waders, as well as shorebirds, gulls and terns. Most of the birds I saw at this spot were new to me, but many of them were recognizable as counterparts to birds I’ve seen in North America: A large heron nearly undistinguishable from our great blue heron, a smaller egret like our snowy egret, and so on. Others were different from anything I’ve seen, including the most numerous and noisiest birds on the scene, spur-winged lapwings. These are medium-sized shorebirds with striking black and white markings that call to one another loudly throughout the day. On the way back from this spot one day, I had stopped to watch birds in the trees around our hotel’s parking lot when I came upon the most colorful birds of our trip, little bee eaters. They were bright green above with a black mask, a vibrant yellow throat and various shades of orange below. They were flying out from a low branch to catch insects--everything from small wasps to dragonflies--and then perching again to eat. In addition to the birding I did on my own, my family and I enjoyed some memorable excursions dedicated to wildlife watching. One day we traveled to the Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary in a van, along with a family of four from France, a local guide and a driver. The highlight of that trip was a boat ride to see the sanctuary’s enormous nesting colony of great white pelicans, but we saw many other birds along the way, as well as some interesting non-bird animals—west African crocodiles and warthogs among them. Because I was interested in getting pictures, our guide insisted I ride in the front of the van on the way back, and our driver even stopped for me to get out for shots of some animals. (I don’t remember anyone from our party complaining about this, although I wouldn’t have been listening closely for that, either.) Along the same lines, I benfited from the help of the guide who drove a boat we rode in during our time in the Saloum River delta, which is south of Dakar on the Atlantic. He would orient the boat just right, give the engine some gas and then cut it, which enabled us to drift in quietly for photos of birds among the mangroves. 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Colorful Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Like many other travelers, I can talk about a trip for much longer than anyone might reasonably be expected to stay tuned. To avoid that here, let me invite you to look at photographs online here:&nbsp;https://flic.kr/s/aHskr4TGsM