Online Journal
What is Going On In The Bailey Woods?

 

 

March 2, 2010 - Dan Kriesberg

 

 

Just a week ago it was winter and now it is spring. The plants know, they do not depend on the temperature to signal the time to sprout, bud, or flower. It is the extra hours of daylight that calls them to action. That extra daylight calls us as well to go into the woods and see what signs of spring we can find.

 

The ice is gone, replaced by mud. We find raccoon and squirrel tracks – they’ve been out searching for food. Down along the stream we find our first spring flower;  it’s a skunk cabbage. Sprouting from the mud it looks like a bumpy yellowish bulb. A fleshy hood curves over it making a protective cave for this strange flower. We put our noses up close and breathe deep, learning how skunk cabbage got its name. The skunky smell attracts flies that pollinate the plant just as the sweet smell of cherry trees attracts bees and butterflies.

 

Spring is a time to explore. The children go off to look under the rotten logs among the beech trees. We were hoping for salamanders but found none. The ground was still cold and for these amphibians it wasn’t spring yet. The worms were beginning to stir, but even they were waiting for some warmer weather. There were pill bugs also known as rolypolys, sow bugs, or wood lice. Actually these armadillo looking invertebrates are a type of crustacean, related to crabs and shrimp. The children were fascinated by the way they crawled across their hands and found hiding places in the rotten logs.

 

To learn more we used our practiced using our senses. We closed our eyes and tried to identify what was put in our hands like a raccoon. We sat perfectly still and listened with our hands cupped around our ears like a deer. We smelled the skunk cabbage, the mud and the forest like a fox. We used our eyes to find what we thought was interesting like a hawk. When we use the animals as mentors we can find more of what spring is teaching.

 

A Pill Bug’s Life by John Himmelman tells the story of a pill bug’s life cycle with detailed realistic illustrations and a text full of amazing facts..

 

 

 

 

April 11, 2010 - Dan Kriesberg

 

I knew it was going to be good walk when I found a frog and a raccoon skull in the little stream next to the Children’ Habitat. There is no better way to grab children’s attention then by holding a frog in your hand. It was suppose to be a bird walk but no one told the birds. We saw some mallards and some geese, of course, but other than that the woods were quiet. That did not mean they were not full of life.

        

Turtles were basking on the logs in the pond when we tried to sneak up on them. They saw us, slid in and swam off.  We didn’t have the patience to sit still and see how long it would take for them to climb back on. In the woods we found salamanders! When I found my first salamander I thought for sure I had found a baby dinosaur. Even after my father broke the news I was still amazed by salamanders. Under a rotten log crawled a red-backed salamander.

 

There were also some really big worms. The plump earthworms we find on Long Island are not native to these forests. We have always been told how beneficial these worms are, but scientists have begun to find evidence that they are changing the forest ecology by eating the leaves so fast that there is not enough time to build up leaf litter to provide food and shelter for other invertebrates in the ecosystem.  The diversity is lessened and the community is weakened.

 

After everyone left I took a walk by myself. In the same place as last month. I heard and then saw a flock of chickadees, tufted titmice, nuthatches and a downy woodpecker. It was good to know they were there.

 

 

Birds of Forest, Yard and Thicket by John Eastman provides interesting facts and information about common birds. For each bird there is a section discussing its behavior and another that explains how the bird interrelates with its environment.

February 28, 2010 entry by Dan Kriesberg
 
The day started with bright blue sky and bright white snow, but by the afternoon it was grey and drizzling.  Despite the weather we set off for a walk in the woods.  One of the children asked, “What are we going to do?”  “The woods are going to tell us stories,” I said.
 
At the spillway we populated the woods with snow animals.  The snow was so easy to pack that we made a bear, a snapping turtle, a fox and a rabbit.  In the trees a roost of starlings and blackbirds were clattering away.   We wondered about the mysterious yellow dots on the snow – until we put two and two together.  Bird droppings.  The flock had been in the trees for many days.
 
Along the trail a witch hazel stood out among the bare branches.  Witch hazels bloom in the fall and winter with curly yellow petals and an aromatic scent.  Native Americans used to use the bark and leaves of these trees as poultices to reduce inflammation and alternative medicine experts today often recommend an extract for everything from sunburn to canker sores.  When the witch hazel flowers bloom the seeds from the previous year are ejected from the fruit and fly as far as 25 feet. Wouldn’t it be great to be in the woods just as that happens!
 
Further along the trail chickadees, nuthatches and woodpeckers were working the branches for food.  There was the soft twitter of kinglets, moving through the trees in search of tiny insects and spiders.  Scientists believe these small birds move in flocks of mixed species to find food more efficiently and be better able to spot predators.  One way to get a good look at them is to make kissing and phissing sounds.  The birds think you are one of their own and come to investigate.  Their little chirps are the way they keep track of who is where.
 
Just as we were finishing our hike we saw pieces of a paper wasp nest that had fallen to the ground.  Paper wasps make their nests from the bark that they gather, chew and spit out to form the paper that protects their young.
 
The woods are full of stories.  You can learn a lot by just looking and listening for yourself.  Walking and talking with a friend or a group can give you more ideas.   Nature in Winter by Donald Stokes is a particularly good field guide with indentification keys and interesting facts to enrich your own observations.


Welcome to our online journal of natural happenings and nature activities.  These entries are our way of sharing what is happening at the Arboretum.   We would love to have your observations, ideas and photos to make this journal an ongoing community resource.  Just send us an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

January, 2010

Dear Bailey Journal,
    Volunteers for Wildlife released a rehabilitated saw-whet owl recently at the arboretum. Saw-whets  are the smallest owl normally found in this area, and their secretive, nocturnal habits make them rather difficult to observe, to say the least. Although saw-whets (named by early settlers for a call that sounded --- to them --- like that produced when a saw was sharpened across a whetting stone) may migrate, they often do not travel very far at all. Since Bailey Arboretum, and it's surrounding environs, are a very suitable habitat for these diminutive, tuftless owls, I wanted to see if our recently released saw-whet was still around.
     Trying to locate owls during the daylight hours is a difficult proposition; when you add to that the facts that this particular owl is shy, well-camouflaged, and is no more than nine inches tall --- it then becomes apparent that an alternative method is needed. That method involves a little deception, a portable CD player, and an evening walk in the woods of Bailey Arboretum.
     Many owls are quite vocal. They produce a wide variety of sounds; many more than the well known 'hoots' that we are familiar with. If you can mimic those sounds, or play back a recording, owls in the immediate area often respond. So, off I went to Bailey two hours after sunset, equipped with my owl CD. I walked to the same area where the owl was released some weeks earlier, put the CD into the player and turned on the machine. The voice of a saw-whet is not very haunting or dynamic; it consists of a mellow whistle repeated in endless succession --- too, too, too, too, too-- you get the picture. I played it once, waited a minute, and then played it again --- no response. I waited about five minutes and repeated the process --- still nothing. As I waited the second time, I heard it --- that same too, too, too, too --- at first quite faint but increasing in volume each time. The saw-whet (or a saw-whet) was here, and coming in to check on me. Thankfully for me, by the time  the owl got close enough, my eyes had adjusted to the dim lighting. I was lucky enough to see its silhouette as it flew by and landed in a nearby tree. He (or she) was expecting another owl; I hope that this owl was not too disappointed. Our small, reclusive releasee was safe and apparently happy in its new home. I went home with a smile on my face.

    Jim Jones (president, board of Volunteers for Wildlife) 

January 10, 2010  First Family Walk of the Year: Dan Kreisberg

Yes, it was cold, 18 degrees to be exact.  But remember there is no bad weather – just bad gear.  We gathered over by the ponds and wondered about the fox that had tracked across the ice leaving a single-file line of footprints.  Where was he going?  We tried to sort out the back and forth tracks of the raccoons that walked between the pond edge and the woods.  As we moved down the path into the woods we saw scattered squirrel tracks running from tree trunk to tree trunk.  In the brushy areas mice and rabbits left their tracks woven in and out of the raspberry bushes.

Following these tracks you can begin to piece together the story of a cold night at Bailey Arboretum.  The animal’s footprints give you a window into all the different things they are doing – looking for food, finding shelter, leaving their droppings.  Just after a fresh snowfall is a wonderful time for walking in the woods;  you will be amazed at how much activity there is at Bailey during the winter months!

When we got to the spillway the trees buzzed with robins, mourning doves, black-capped chickadees, cardinals and white-breasted nuthatches.  A kingfisher circled looking for an opening in the ice where it could dive in and catch a fish.  But the pond was frozen shut.  We wondered what the kingfisher would do in order to find other food.

Winter is a special challenge for the animals that do not migrate.  Muskrats increase their number of red blood cells so they can hold more oxygen while swimming under the ice.  Wood frogs actually change their blood chemistry enabling them to freeze solid and come out alive in the spring.  Chipmunks spend the winter sleeping in their underground chambers, waking up occasionally for an acorn snack.  Chickadees huddle together in tree holes to stay warm.  Every animal has a strategy to handle the cold.

On our walk the forest was alive with children as well as birds and raccoons. They were running, jumping and staying warm with little effort.  The adults on the walk were standing, watching and shivering with cold toes. They would have been much warmer if they had followed the children in meeting the challenges I gave them:

• Pretend you are a squirrel – find 5 nuts in order to survive.
• Pretend you are an opossum – find a place to stay warm on a cold night.
• Pretend you are a kingfisher – find a place on the pond that is not frozen.
• Pretend you are a fox – find my hiding spot by following my tracks in the snow.

These are all activities you can try on your own.  If you would like to learn more about the amazing ways animal cope with winter weather, Bernd Heinrich’s book The Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival is now available in paperback.   It makes fascinating reading – particularly after you come in from a walk in the snowy woods.