Nature Paparazzi-Blue Jay at the Feeder

I took this series of shots of one of the Blue Jays at my feeder. Every time I put out whole peanuts, I get a lot of Blue Jays. This is a common songbird at House In The Wood and is familiar to many people, with its perky crest; blue, white, and black plumage; and noisy calls. Blue Jays are known for their intelligence and complex social systems with tight family bonds.

Backyard Tip:

Blue Jays prefer tray feeders or hopper feeders on a post rather than hanging feeder, and they prefer peanuts, sunflower seeds and suet. Planting oak trees (House In The Wood is mostly oak trees) will make acorns available for Jays in the future. Blue Jays often take drinks from birdbaths.

Find This Bird:

Blue Jays are most often detected by their noisy calls--I think of it as a "rusty pump handle". You can recognize them by their steady flight, rounded wings, long tail and white underside.

Kool Fact:

The pigment in Blue Jay feathers is melanin, which is brown. The blue color is caused by scattering light through modified cells on the surface of the feather barbs. 

Another Kool Fact:

Their fondness of acorns is credited with helping spread oak trees after the last glacial period. They have an uncanny knack for picking weevil-free acorns to bury. In fact, birds in one study cached 3,000-5,000 acorns in ONE Autumn.

Information from my favorite birding website-ALL ABOUT BIRDS 
from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Blue_Jay/lifehistory
I just ordered a FREE calendar on the website!

For more information on House In The Wood please go to our website at www.houseinthewood.com

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all rights reserved 2012 Valerie J Wright

Getting Ready for Winter-Our Beavers

I was walking along the trail yesterday and  I came across this...

 And then I came across this...

The Beaver Lodge (actually it is a bank burrow)  is in the foreground
and their food branches are frozen in the lake ice.

Our beaver has added to his lodge. He put fresh mud on the top and added a few more branches to the structure. He also gathered a bunch of branches at the entrance to eat during the winter. It has only been about 5 days since the lake froze in the bay. In the fall, beavers cache (store) branches and logs in the water, near a lodge or bank burrow so it is easy to get at in the winter. Beavers will go ashore in the winter as long as they can break through the ice at the pond's edge. More information about beavers on my favorite nature site EEK!

 One of my fisherman says that he has seen a total of 6 beavers! And one is the size of a medium sized dog! He said that they are very busy on the "point" chewing down the Vicki Martinez memorial Willow tree and taking it away.

For more information on House In The Wood please go to our website at www.houseinthewood.com

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all rights reserved 2012 Valerie J Wright

Nature Stories--A Branch

We notice a scar on a person's face and, if they are willing, they tell us the fascinating story behind it. Nature cannot tell us its story. We collect and read the signs left behind and write the story ourselves. 

Picture taken in Wyalusing State Park near Prairie Du Chein, Wisconsin

I was walking the Sentinel Ridge Trail when I saw this branch. Look at it. It has had a rich life. 

Note the burned area in the upper left. I checked out the other trees nearby. There was more evidence of a fire on the base of nearby trees. This branch was part of a big fire that spread over a considerable distance. So what was the story of the fire? The fire could have started naturally with a lightning strike. Or it could have also been man-made. Was it an accidental fire started by a careless cigarette or match? Or was it started by the Parks Department as part of a forest management program? 

Most mature trees can withstand a fire on the very bottom of their trunk. This is a fire that doesn't have enough fuel on the ground to burn higher than a foot. It is natural for the forest to have fires every few years. Think of it as Nature's Housekeeper. When people moved into the area however, they put out the fires to save their homes and crops. So detritus from the trees that would normally have been burned away every few years accumulated. Eventually there was so much fuel lying on the ground, it made unplanned fires almost impossible to control once they started.

You can tell that this tree branch has fallen a long while ago as it is bare of bark. The healthy portion of bright green moss on top means it has also remained undisturbed for quite awhile as well. The wood is soft, dry and crumbles in your hand when you touch it so it is in advanced stages of decay. It has to be at least 40 years old and has probably laid in this very spot for another 10 years. 

It was home to an animal that can drill a nice round hole (see middle of the picture) probably a woodpecker. It is impossible to make a nice round hole in decaying wood so the tree was definitely alive when it hosted the animal living in the hole. As it decayed later in its life, other animals moved in like wood-eating insects or insects looking for a place to lay their eggs. This created a wonderful feast that encouraged other animals to tear into the soften wood to find eggs, grubs or insects to eat (see holes bottom center). You can tell they weren't interested in a home because the holes are very shallow and rough as though sharp claws or beaks tore into the wood. 

More information on Fires and Fire Safety from "Smokey the Bear"

For more information on House In The Wood please go to our website at www.houseinthewood.com

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all rights reserved 2012 Valerie J Wright

Cats Are Smarter Than You Think

By Terry Fowler, guest blogger

Meet #3 cat Chester

Regular blogger Valerie and I  currently live with three cats. We have always had at least one, so I feel entitled to pass on observations regarding feline intelligence. If you read scientific publications, you already know that cats are smarter than dogs. Chester, our #3 cat, says that is not saying much. Further, research has indicated that cats are up there with chimpanzees and pigs when it comes to smarts.

Need more proof? Please consider the following. Cats do not wear watches and, as far as humans can tell, cannot tell time. Why then do I face three meowing kitties looking for their dinner at exactly 6 pm every day? Add to that the fact that exactly 6 am every morning the aforementioned #3 cat, Chester, sits on my sleeping head and announces that it time to go out?

Meet #2 cat Sparky

As final proof, I offer the following evidence. Pictured is #2 cat Sparky. Normally a good kitty, Sparky is occasionally overly enthusiastic in her pursuit of moles, voles and chipmunks in our backyard. As a result, she does not come in when she should. To correct this behavior, Valerie confronts Sparky and "grounds" her for a specific amount of time.

When I first saw her do this, I laughed out loud. However, it works! After being "grounded," one of our cats will on its best behavior for the next couple of days. It even works for Chester, who is a bit of a knucklehead.

So, cats ARE smarter than you think and even Tomasina thinks so!.

Meet #1 cat Tomasina

For more information on House In The Wood please go to our website at www.houseinthewood.com

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all rights reserved 2012 Valerie J Wright

Can't Find Me!

I was looking at the lichen on this tree and then...I noticed this little fellow. 

I was amazed at how well the grasshopper blended into the tree. Look at his colors and patterns. They mimic perfectly the colors of the bark and lichen. When I looked closer, I found another one of these little insects huddled into a groove in the bark. 

It was REALLY cold that morning (I could see my breath). When it is this cold, insects can't move. This makes insects like grasshoppers a perfect breakfast food for predators on a chilly autumn morning. So, if you can't hop away; the next best thing is to hide REALLY well. The grasshopper's CAMOFLAGE is even more effective because most predators see in black and white. This makes the 'hopper virtually invisible. Camoflage means "to blend into the background." It is a very important survival mechanism for many animals including birds, mammals and reptiles.

For more information on House In The Wood please go to our website at www.houseinthewood.com

We are operated by

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all rights reserved 2012 Valerie J Wright

Year Around Position Open

We have a year around position opening for Summer Camp Coordinator. Please visit our website at www.houseinthewood.org click on "Jobs" for more information.

For more information on House In The Wood please go to our website at www.houseinthewood.com

We are operated by

www.nush.org

all rights reserved 2012 Valerie J Wright

It's Fall!

Fall here at House In The Wood is about two weeks early this year. I always think of Fall as a time to get ready for Winter. And I think of Spring as a time to get ready for Summer. I hope to have a series of getting ready for Winter pictures in the next few posts. The first is plants...

The trees change color as the days shorten and the nights get colder. So what happens when the leaves change color? The green is a pigment called chlorophyll. It is essential for producing the food for the tree from sunlight in a process called photosynthesis. The yellows, orange and brown are always there but the green is so much stronger in summer that you can't see the other colors. However, when the days are shorter, the photosynthesis slows down so there is not so much green and the other colors can show through.

The leaves fall to get the plant ready for the long cold Wisconsin winter. The plants are actually drawing all of their food back into the plant and then even further down deep into the roots so there is enough energy for next Spring. Next Spring, the plant must produce buds and then leaves before it gets to eat again! Remember that the sunlight hits the leaves and the chlorophyll helps it turn into the sugar which is the food for plants.

There is a more DETAILED explanation on my favorite nature site EEK including where the reds come from--it is a special process. http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/veg/trees/treestruecolor.htm

For more information on House In The Wood please go to our website at www.houseinthewood.com

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all rights reserved 2012 Valerie J Wright