Shortest Day, or Longest Night?

This time of year, my walks are full of surprises.  When my people get home from their jobs, we head right out to the local parks for some exercise and fresh air.  Because we are quickly approaching the winter solstice, it gets dark out very early these days.  In fact, the sun sets at around 4:45 in the evening, and the twilight fades by 5:15.

Walking in the dark may not sound like fun to you... but that is just because you haven't really tried it!  The time around sunset, often referred to as twilight or dusk, is when many of our wild neighbors are the most active.  When I said my walks are full of surprises, I was referring to the many magical encounters we have had lately with deer, opossums, coyotes, foxes, and raccoons.  These animals are all either crepuscular, which means active at dawn and dusk, or nocturnal, meaning active at night.  If you only go out in the bright light of day, you don't have the opportunity to appreciate the sights and sounds of many of our local wildlife species.

The winter solstice will occur this year on December 22nd.  This is referred to as the "first day of winter".  It is also the day of the year when we have the least hours of daylight.  The sun remains close to the horizon, due to the fact that the north pole is tilted away from the sun by an angle of 23.5 degrees.  In fact, the word solstice is Latin for "sun stands still", as it barely appears to move across the sky. 

Some folks find that depressing.  Rather than letting the long dark evenings get them down, they should try to think of the solstice in a different way.  Instead of it being the day of the year with the least sunlight, it is the day of the year with the most nighttime!

Solstice has long been celebrated by many cultures from around the world.  Several modern groups still observe the solstice as a very special occasion.  Soltice celebrations are especially festive in northern countries that experience large swings in periods of light and dark thoughout the year.  Many Germanic cultures enjoy the custom of Yule, observed on the winter solstice.  Yule is marked by many traditions.  The most famous is the burning of a Yule log.  The Yule log is often a large piece of a long-burning wood, such as oak.  The log is lit at sunset and is tended throughout the long, dark night. 

You and your family can mark the solstice by starting a Yule tradition at your own house.  Enjoy a bonfire complete with Yule log, either in the fireplace or in an outdoor firepit.  Take a walk at sunset and enjoy the sights and sounds of dusk. 

You can enjoy beautiful sunset views in many of our city parks.  Sit under an aged oak tree and take in the view of the pond and surrounding hills at Greenwood Park.  Visit McHenry Park and watch the ice gliding by in the Des Moines River.  Take a hike through the lilac arboretum at Ewing Park, and envision the glory of the coming spring.


Think about how your wild neighbors will get through the long, dark winter ahead.  Another common solstice tradition involves sharing the wealth of the harvest season with the local fauna.  Visit the bird blind at Gray's Lake to observe the heartiest of our feathered friends as they partake of a winter's feast.  Put out some birdseed at your own home, or make and hang edible ornaments on the trees and shrubs in your yard.  To learn how, check out this website:

http://www.ehow.com/how_9849_make-christmas-ornaments.html

Remember, solstice is about more than just the long, dark nights of winter.  It also marks the beginning of the coming spring.  After all, following the solstice the days will begin to lengthen towards the long bright evenings of summer.

Get outside and start a solstice celebration of your own.  Take photos of your Yuletide festivities and send them in with your comments.  Happy solstice!

A Murder of Crows

In my downtown neighborhood of Sherman Hill, and in many areas around Des Moines, an annual phenomenon is in full swing; the roosting of the crows.

As dusk falls across the city, the sky begins to fill with streaks of black.  It starts off with just one or two birds, suddenly appearing as if by magic.  As time passes and the light begins to dim, you will notice more and more large black birds winging across the evening sky, and alighting on two or three trees in your neighborhood.

For the hour or so before dark, the crows will emit a cacophony of sound as they fly from tree to tree, squabbling amongst themselves and calling out to their neighbors as more birds join the flock.  By the time the sun is sinking below the horizon, their noise can drown out all other neighborhood sounds.  But at nightfall, as if by an unspoken signal, they settle down and gradually fall silent.

During the spring and summer months, breeding crows spread out across the countryside to raise their young.  They are fairly territorial during the breeding season, and will defend against all comers beyond their family group.  As the fledgling chicks leave the nest, and summer deepens into fall, the birds start to move in towards a centralized sleeping location, known as a roost.

There are several theories as to why crows like to roost in such large numbers during the colder months.  The most popular is the concept of "safety in numbers".  Owls love to prey on sleeping crows.  By roosting in large flocks, full of watchful eyes, they have a better chance of seeing their predators and avoiding their deadly talons.

Another idea is that there are some trees that are simply ideal for sleeping; five star bird hotels, if you will.  The crows don't mind sharing those trees with other birds if it means that they get a bed in the best tree in town.

Because crows are highly intelligent and good communicators, another theory has them sharing information at the nightly roost.  For example, a bird that has had a hard time finding food for a few days might pick out another bird that seems to be in good health, and follow them to their food sources for the next several days.

Roosts of crows are a natural and global phenomenon.  The largest recorded roost to date , located in Fort Cobb, Oklahoma, held over two million crows.  Take some time to observe and appreciate these large congregations of our wild neighbors.  Send in your photos and your observations!

Fair Weather Friends

A lot of the excitement goes out of my life at the end of each autumn.  You see, this is the time of year when the chipmunks retire to their winter dens.



Photo compliments of The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed November 17, 2011 at http://animaldiversity.org.

 During the warmer months of the year, there is nothing that gets me more worked up than the squeak and shuffle of a chipmunk navigating the edges of our yard.  They always announce that they are about to run the gauntlet from the oak tree in the front yard to the retaining wall at the back of the garden.  This noise could be interpreted as something akin to taking a deep breath before diving into a cold lake.  With a piercing "CHIP", they begin their frantic scurry along the fenceline, behind the rosebuses, and into the garden, with me hot on their heels.

Personally, I think they love the thrill of the chase.  I am not particularly dangerous to them, as I can never catch the quick little rodents.  They are just using me to add a little rush of adreneline to their days.

I will not meet the little striped rascals again until next spring.  Chipmunks are not true hibernators, but they do enter a period of winter torpor.  They stay in their dens, snug and protected from the elements, throughout the harsh winter months.  They sleep most of the time, only waking occasionally to munch on stored nuts and seeds.

Their relatives, the groundhogs (also known as woodchucks),  are true hibernators.  Woodchucks dig special wintering dens, well below the frostline, where temperatures are relatively warm and stable.  They eat frantically throughout late summer and fall, building up a layer of body fat that will sustain them throughout the upcoming winter months.  When the time comes, sometime in late fall, they snuggle into their dens and fall into a state of inactivity, characterized by lowered body temperatures, dramatically slowed breathing, and decreased metabolic activity.  They will remain "asleep" until the end of winter (which, of course, they can predict)!

Another group of amazing hibernators are the frogs, such as this tree frog.

The tree frog will overwinter in shallow mud, under bark, or hidden beneath rocks or logs.  Most of their bodily fluids will freeze solid over the cold season.  However, a special chemical produced by their livers, similar to antifreeze, keeps their internal organs from freezing and allows the frog to "thaw out" in the spring. 

So, along with the birds that fly south during our winter months, we also need to say a temporary goodbye to the animals that use techniques like hibernation and winter torpor to survive the cold.  We'll see them again in the spring.  In the meantime, I am glad I have a thick fur coat to keep me warm.  I can't wait for another season of playing in the snow!

What other Iowan animals seem to "disappear" during the winter?  Many of them are still out, enjoying the last bit of warm weather during this extended autumn.  Get out to our parks and try to get a last glimpse of chipmunks, groundhogs, skunks, bats, ground squirrels, and other animals that wait out winter in the security of their warm dens.  Send in your photos with your comments!

Overhead and Underfoot

One of my favorite things to do in the fall is to shuffle and snuffle through the great piles of leaves that have fallen to the ground.  The rich aroma of drying and decaying leaves brings to mind various autumnal associations; blustery chill winds, swirling flocks of migratory birds, the crackling of a cozy fall campfire complete with hot dogs... mmm, hot dogs!  But, I digress.

While crunching through the piles of leaves on the ground can be fun, it is the leaves that remain on the trees that offer the greatest entertainment value.  While many trees have already dropped their leaves in preparation for the cold winter ahead, our majestic native oaks are holding on to theirs, and displaying an amazing array of rich saffrons, bronzes, umbers, and mahoganies.

Few people realize that these beautiful fall colors are actually the true colors of the leaves.  The colors of fall are always present in the leaf, from the moment it erupts from its bud. 

The green color comes from chlorophyll, which the tree uses to convert solar energy into sugars to feed itself through the process known as photosynthesis.  The vibrant green color of chlorophyll covers the other pigments in the leaf throughout the summer months. 

However, as winter approaches and the days grow shorter, the tree stops the process of photosynthesis as it prepares to enters dormancy for the season.  At this time, the tree stops producing chlorophyll, and the green pigment fades away, revealing the true colors of the leaves beneath! 

Our deciduous trees, those that lose their leaves in the fall, actually do so as a means of water conservation.  Leaves are a liability throughout the dry, cold winter months.  Trees take up water through their roots, and lose water through their leaves.  In the winter, when the ground is frozen, there is no water to take up.  The trees drop their leaves in an effort to keep from withering up over the long winter months.

Just like the rest of us, our trees have to prepare themselves for the cold season ahead.  You should do the same!  Get out your winter outerwear, dust off your boots, and take an excursion out into the late autumnal woods to revel in the beauty of the oak trees.  Take some photos and send them in to the blog, along with your comments.

Winter is just around the corner, and it brings with it many new ways in which we can PLAY OUTSIDE!

Stop to Smell the Dead Flowers

Being a dog, I have some of the best views in the world.  My face, after all, is at flower level.

Summer flowers are beautiful, it is true.  But the flowers of fall have a unique, subtle, and under-appreciated beauty, as well.

Take this Queen Anne's Lace.  In the summertime, it was a wide spread of tiny white flowers, radiating from a central point into a flat lacy disc.  But now, in the autumn, the flower has dried and curled in upon itself.  The pure white of summer has transformed into a silvery beige.  It looks almost like a miniature birds nest, perched precariously atop a delicate reddish stalk.  But this seemingly fragile structure will often last throughout the winter, poking up above the drifts of snow and providing visual interest, as well as a reminder of the summer days to come.

In honor of Halloween, take some time and stop to smell the dead flowers of fall.  Many of them do have interesting fall aromas, often more herbal than floral, but lovely nonetheless.

If you are a gardener, consider letting your flowers remain intact throughout the winter months.  Native prairie plants, in particular, will last throughout the winter, acting as a natural snow fence and providing seeds and perches to hungry birds.  After all, the biological point of the flower is to act as the plant's reproductive system, and to produce seeds.  By removing or overlooking the seedhead of the plant, we are essentially missing the point!

In addition to the interesting dried seedheads of flowers, fall is also a good time to look for colorful berries that have been largely hidden by leaves throughout the growing season.  While most of these berries are not safe for you or me to eat, they do decorate the forests and prairies with bright blazes of color on a dreary winters day.  They also provide an excellent source of food for our overwintering birds.

Get out into our parks during these gorgeous days of fall and appreciate the bounty of seeds and berries that our plants have worked so hard to produce.  Send in your photos of the beautiful dead flowers of fall along with your comments!

The Not-So-Itsy-Bitsy-Spider

I was racing through the tall grass last week when I came face to face with a monster.  About three inches long from the tips of the front to the back legs, an enormous spider was bouncing up and down on its huge web, right in front of my snout.  I came to an abrupt halt and sat back on my haunches.  Was it dangerous?

As it turns out, no.  The spider was a female common garden spider, or Argiope aurantia (the arachnid's scientific, or Latin, name).  They are also commonly called "black and yellow" spiders, for perhaps obvious reasons, and "writing" spiders, because of the irregular patterns in their webs.  These spiders may have been the inspiration for Charlotte, of "Charlotte's Web" fame.

Garden spiders spin large, circular webs, often exceeding two feet in diameter!  Unless the web is irreparably damaged, the spider will maintain a single web for the duration of the season, making repairs as necessary.

The spider will hang, head down, in the center of the web and wait for its prey to become entangled in the silken strands.  When I saw this spider bouncing on her web, she may have been trying to scare me off, which she certainly did!  Or, she may have been trying to make herself harder to see, in case I was considering eating her for lunch... which I certainly was not!  The cat ate a spider once and he was sick for a whole day.  Yuck!

These spiders eat insects, and are considered harmless to both people and dogs.  In fact, they are beneficial to have around the yard, as they will eat the mosquitoes and other pesky biting insects that harass us during the summer months.

This time of year, the female spider will create and protect an egg sac, which will contain up to 1000 individual spider eggs.  She will guard it until her death, around the time of the first hard frost.  However, just like in "Charlotte's Web", her tiny young will emerge in the spring and will carry on where she left off.  They will send up a string of silk, which catch on the spring breeze and carry the young spiders into gardens around Des Moines.

Can you find a garden spider, before the first frost?  Send in your garden spider photos with your comments, and have fun!

Nuts about Fall!

Being a dog gives me a different perspective on nature than that of most people.  Some of that has to do with the fact that my face is lower to the ground.  I see what is happening on the very surface of the earth, both with my eyes and with my nose.

Over the past week or so, I've noticed one of the very first signs of fall, right in front of my sensitive snout!  Suddenly, the ground in our parks is covered with a variety of nuts.  To be honest, the real reason I noticed this phenomenon was that the squirrels, those wily little taunters of dogs, have been spending more time on the ground lately.  Had they developed a new way to tease me, or was something else going on?  When I investigated this important question, I figured out that they were harvesting the fallen nuts of trees.

Photo by Cameron Sadeghpour

You probably know that nuts are the fruit and seeds of nut-bearing trees.  The most common nut-bearing trees in our Des Moines city parks are walnuts and oak trees.  The walnut trees we have here in Iowa are black walnuts, which have a much stronger flavor than the walnuts you find in the grocery store (English walnuts). 

As you can see in the photo, the ripe walnuts are covered with a thick, lime green husk.  This husk contains tannins that have traditionally been used to make ink, hair and leather dyes, and wood stains.  If you want to harvest these walnuts for a snack, you will need to remove this husk while it is still green.  This can be a very difficult and messy process, but is worth it!  Here is a website that will tell you how to go about hulling, curing, and cracking your black walnut harvest:

http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h404blkwal.html

Acorns are the fruit and seeds of oak trees.  Our state tree is the bur oak, a member of the white oak family.  You can identify bur oak acorns by the "furry", or fringed, cap.  It takes a bur oak tree up to ten years before it produces its first acorn.  However, when the tree reaches maturity, it can produce up to 5,000 acorns in a single season! 

These nutritious nuts don't taste good to dogs or people, but they are an important source of high-calorie fall foods for squirrels, many birds, and insects.  Take it from me... if you want to see a lot of wildlife activity, sit quietly near a bur oak tree and watch the animals enjoy the acorn buffet!

Get outside sometime this week and photograph the fruits of our native tree's labors.  Send them in along with your comments on the early signs of fall you have been observing this season.  Have fun!

Photo by Cameron Sadeghpour