WHAT'S NEW IN NATURE?

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This Month:

Picture by Nan Schwartz

Arin said that this week was “Leaf out”! Maybe you are wondering what that means.
In late winter, leaf buds, which house tiny new leaves, begin to swell. In spring they break out, revealing perfectly formed miniature leaves that grow in a matter of days to their full size.
The cycle of rebirth in plants is linked to the way they produce energy. Like most other organisms, plants need energy to grow. Unlike other organisms, they can make their own food using energy from the sun. This process is called photosynthesis, a word derived from the Greek photo (light), and synthesis (to put together). A plant’s energy factory is located in its leaves and other green tissues. Chlorophyll, the same compound that makes leaves green, allows plants to harness energy from sunlight to make energy-rich sugars, by combining carbon dioxide and water found in air. These sugars can be used immediately, or stored as starches to be used another time.
In winter, when days are short and sunlight is weak, it is too energetically “expensive” for trees to produce chlorophyll and maintain their leaves, so they discard them, and hunker down, living off of stored energy. In spring, deciduous trees use their stored energy to produce new leaves and restart their energy factories. The energy that plants make is vital for their growth and reproduction. Oxygen is a byproduct from this process that is necessary for life on Earth.
Plants wait for just the right conditions to unfurl their leaves. If they do so too early, new leaves could be lost in a late frost. Too late, and they lose precious time to make energy. The timing of buds “bursting” can also vary based on climatic conditions, and scientists all over the world are studying the effects of changing climate on leaf emergence.
This information found at Pittsburgh Botanical Garden

This Month:

Picture found at Flickr - Fyn Kynd

There are unmistakable signs that spring has finally sprung—flowers blooming, the return of the robins, and the unique sound of spring peepers. If you live anywhere east of the Mississippi River, you’re probably very familiar with the sleigh bell-like sound of hundreds of these chirping frogs around swampy areas. But why do peepers peep? Here are some interesting facts about this tiny frog with the big sound.
That nightly chorus that you hear on warm spring nights is actually a spring peeper mating ritual. The males of this species are calling out to the females, who are drawn to their chirping suitors. After the frogs mate, the females will lay eggs underwater and those eggs hatch in approximately 12 days.
You’ll find spring peepers in predominately marshy areas and vernal pools. Peepers especially love wooded wetlands or swampy areas near forested areas because they like to hibernate under tree bark or fallen logs.
Most chorus frogs are quite small — spring peepers will grow to a maximum of 1.5 inches. Because of their minute size, these frogs feed on small bugs like ants or small beetles.
When it comes to looks, spring peepers are easily identified by a dark X-shaped marking across their backs. Other chorus frogs have spotted or striped markings.
Warm weather is almost here! If you have the chance, spend an evening outside listening to the sounds of spring. Among them, you’ll hear the chirps of these amazing little frogs.
This information found at Farmer's Almanac

This Month:

Picture found at Wikipedia

It’s maple sugaring time again! This wonderful gift from nature comes only once a year and now is the time to enjoy it. The maple trees are tapped and sap is boiling in the sugarhouses. Maple sugaring time in New Hampshire runs from mid-February to mid-April. Maple syrup is made in the Northeastern United States and Southeastern Canada, and the maple season usually lasts 4-6 weeks. The days and length of the sap runs depend entirely on the weather.
As the frozen sap in the maple tree thaws, it begins to move and build up pressure within the tree. When the internal pressure reaches a certain point, sap will flow from any fresh wound in the tree. Freezing nights and warm sunny days create the pressure needed for a good sap harvest.
In late February, New Hampshire maple producers tap their sugar maples by drilling a small hole in the trunk and inserting a spout. A bucket or plastic tubing is fastened to the spout and the crystal clear sap drips from the tree. It is then collected and transported to the sugar house where it is boiled down in an evaporator over a blazing hot fire. As the steam rises from the evaporator pans, the sap becomes more concentrated until it finally reaches the proper density to be classified as syrup. It is then drawn from the evaporator, filtered, graded and bottled. It takes approximately forty gallons of sap to make one gallon of pure maple syrup.
We hope you will visit a sugar house during the maple season and learn for yourself just how this ancient tradition is carried on. New Hampshire's maple producers take great pride in the high quality of their maple products.
Maple Weekend is happening on March 18 & 19 this year. Washington has several local sugarhouses to visit including:

Fletcher & Family Sugar House Ed & Jane Thayer at 2528 E. Washington Rd. in East Washington

Atkins Family Sugar House Shawn & Kathy Atkins at 504 South Main St. (Rte 31), in Washington

Crane Farm Bobby Crane on South Main Street (Rte.31), just over the Windsor townline

Go watch the action and get your supply of fresh maple syrup!
This information found at NH Maple Producers

February:



Pictures by Nan Schwartz

What’s going on under the snow? Nan had pictures from an earlier thaw that showed lots of tunnels under the snow. There is an amazing and secret world that we can’t see.
When snow falls, it creates a blanket on the ground that traps the little bit of heat that rises out of the earth. The heat melts just the bottom layer of snow, and this creates a pocket of air that is exactly the right size for tiny creatures to burrow and build tunnels underneath it. Scientists call this the SUBNIVEAN ZONE.
Just like the blankets on a bed, layers of snow keep the subnivean zone warm. Even when the air outside drops below 0°F, the layer beneath the snow stays right around 32°F. Many animals—like red squirrels, mice, moles, voles, and shrews—depend on this special habitat to survive the cold, harsh winter.
Sometimes you’ll see little “mouse holes” in the surface of the snow. These are actually air vents that provide fresh air to the animals living below in their tunnels. Sometimes you will see a hole in the snow bank, which could be an entryway for the vast tunnel network. Watch this hole for a while and you may see something pop out of it!
Mice and herbivorous voles dig mazes of tunnels through the snow to find the foods they like to eat. And there’s usually plenty to be found: Mosses, lichen, grasses, roots, and other plants are there, along with plant seeds and nuts. These industrious rodents dig chambers for food storage and resting places and punch small holes to the surface, probably to draw down fresh air. It’s likely that a little light from the sun also penetrates, giving them some visibility. Tiny carnivorous shrews use tunnels to look for mites, spiders, beetles, mice, and other voles. 
Foxes and owls have excellent hearing, and can sometimes hear the little animals moving around under the snow. You may even see a fox dive face-first into the snow, trying to catch a mouse or shrew by surprise.
This information found at Mass Audubon and Welcome Wildlife

January:

Picture by Kathy Litzinger/Great Backyard Bird Count

Jed has had a group of starlings this winter at the bird feeder and he hadn’t seen them here in winter before.
First brought to North America by Shakespeare enthusiasts in the nineteenth century, European Starlings are now among the continent’s most numerous songbirds. They are stocky black birds with short tails, triangular wings, and long, pointed bills. Though they’re sometimes resented for their abundance and aggressiveness, they’re still dazzling birds when you get a good look. Covered in white spots during winter, they turn dark and glossy in summer. For much of the year, they wheel through the sky and mob lawns in big, noisy flocks.
Starlings are common around cities and towns found on lawns, in city parks and squares and fields. They’ll be working their way across the grass, often moving in a slight zig-zag line and seeming to hurry as they stab their bills into the ground every step or two. In the countryside you’re more likely to see starlings perched in groups at the tops of trees or flying over fields or roads in tight flocks. Starlings are strong fliers that can get up to speeds of 48 mph. If you have ever seen them fly in a murmuration, a swirling and dazzling cloud of flying birds, you may have been impressed at how they move so gracefully.
Starlings turn from spotted and white to glossy and dark each year without shedding their feathers. The new feathers they grow in fall have bold white tips – that’s what gives them their spots. By spring, these tips have worn away, and the rest of the feather is dark and iridescent brown. It’s an unusual changing act that scientists term “wear molt.”
A female European Starling may try to lay an egg in the nest of another female. A female that tries this parasitic tactic often is one that could not get a mate early in the breeding season. The best females find mates and start laying early. The longer it takes to get started, the lower the probability of a nest's success. Those parasitic females may be trying to enhance their own breeding efforts during the time that they cannot breed on their own.
Starlings can be resident to short-distance migrants. Adult birds north of 40 degrees (the latitude of New York City) and many juveniles move south in winter, traveling down river valleys or along the coastal plains. Some birds spend the winter in northern Mexico and the Lesser Antilles, but most remain in continental North America. Probably our mild winter so far has kept them here.
This information found at All About Birds

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