Written by Gwyn Loud for the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust. She welcomes your sightings and questions at 781-259-8690 or gwynloud555@gmail.com
Most of Massachusetts is now in a major drought, with the Northeast region, as of November 7, in “critical drought”. The dry conditions began in August, and since then there has been little significant precipitation. Sprinkles and occasional showers such as those here in Lincoln November 10-11, made no real impact. Many stream beds are dry, ponds low, and hidden from sight, the groundwater is declining. We must all conserve water indoors as best we can. Fish are stressed by low water and birds and mammals have to travel farther to find water. My birdbath is very busy. Wildfires are also occurring in the northeast, including near Boston, due to the tinder-dry and often windy conditions. Temperatures over recent weeks have broken records for warmth, giving us summer-like days, and it reached 80℉ here on November 6. As for frost, the first hard frost hit my garden the night of November 3, though light frosts came earlier. A few feet in elevation can make a difference as to when we get frost on our properties.
The bright colors of fall foliage were stunning right through early November, but now we can appreciate the soft shades of brown and gray in the landscape from bare branches and fallen leaves. We have learned a lot about the ecological benefits of “leaving the leaves” and this also applies to leaving plenty of standing stems in flower beds. Seed heads provide meals for birds, as do various insects which over-winter in stems. I enjoy watching birds such as sparrows and juncos busily searching for food in my “messy” flower bed.
An interesting plant blooming at this season is witch hazel, with crinkly yellow flowers still visible after the shrub’s leaves have fallen. Quoting from a publication of the Marblehead Conservancy, “The ‘witch’ in witch hazel comes from the old English word ‘wice’, meaning ‘pliant’ or ‘bendable’. Witch hazel branches were used in early times to douse for water because of this flexibility. Native Americans and early settlers used witch hazel bark to help heal gastrointestinal illnesses, colds, tuberculosis, and inflammation. None of these uses have been clinically proven and are not recommended, as witch hazel taken internally can be toxic. Settlers also made a water extraction of witch hazel leaves and bark to help sooth and heal diaper rash, scraped skin, poison ivy, sunburn, and insect bites. Witch Hazel Water is still used today and is available through pharmacies.”
The autumn bird migration is essentially over, although we may hear honking high overhead and see a skein of Canada geese heading south from their breeding grounds in the Arctic. There is also a population of Canada geese which stays here year-round. Notable recent avian sightings include a yellow-breasted chat, a fox sparrow, and rusty blackbirds, and a walker near Beaver Pond spotted several Virginia rails and swamp sparrows. These individuals will probably move slightly farther south for the winter. Great blue herons are still here and may linger through the winter if ponds are open and they can find fish. The same applies to belted kingfishers. Many people are surprised to see American robins and Eastern bluebirds in the winter, but there have always been some which over-winter here, as proven repeatedly on the Christmas Bird Count. Small numbers of birds such as gray catbirds, hermit thrushes, and Eastern towhees may also linger; it’s all about food availability.
November is when various ducks turn up on our ponds, including ruddy ducks, common mergansers, ring-necked ducks, and bufflehead. A snow goose was spotted in north Lincoln near Elm Brook, and swans, numbering from two to eight at this point, are to be seen on Farrar Pond. Wild turkeys usually segregate by sex in the winter, hens in large flocks, toms in smaller flocks, and jakes (young males) either in their own flocks or associating with the hens.
Every autumn, birders await the Winter Finch Forecast from biologist Tyler Hoar and his team in Ontario to learn what boreal species may turn up at our feeders. It’s all about food. Hoar examines the plentitude of foods such as spruce cones and mountain ash berries in the forests of Canada and if the supply is low, various finch species are likely to move south in “irruptions” in their hunt for sustenance. This year pine siskins and evening grosbeaks may turn up at our feeders, and a small irruption of a non-finch species, the red-breasted nuthatch, is also probable. I have had one at my feeder for several weeks. Birders at Drumlin Farm have spotted pine siskins and purple finches. Project Feeder Watch (PFW) is a citizen science project to compile nation-wide data on birds which come to our feeders. I have been participating for twenty-two years and it has sharpened my observations of the species and numbers of birds coming to my feeding area. I was distressed to read a blog from PFW entitled “Lowest Bird Abundance at FeederWatch Sites in Ten Years”. See the link below to read more about the data.
Thanks to a variety of habitats kept wild, Drumlin Farm is always “birdy” and this month was no exception. Raptors seen were red-shouldered hawk, bald eagle, northern harrier, turkey vulture, barred owl, sharp-shinned hawk, Cooper’s. Hawk, merlin, and American kestrel. Late migrants included several species of warblers (yellow-rumped, orange- crowned, blackpoll, palms, Nashville, and pine) and on November 7 forty American pipits and an Eastern phoebe were observed. At the end of October a lapland longspur and Baltimore oriole joined the list.
Most of our common mammals, including rabbits, mice, beavers, red and gray squirrels, deer, fishers and coyotes are active throughout the winter. They have various adaptations to make it through the season, such as changing diet or growing a thicker fur coat. Chipmunks head down into their tunnels and take long naps, waking now and then to eat from the food they have stored and sometimes they emerge briefly during a January thaw. Raccoons are generally dormant, and may hole up in tree cavities, emerging to find food during milder spells. Woodchucks put on a lot of body fat in late summer and this will sustain them in their winter burrows. They are true hibernators; their metabolism slows, their heart rate drops from 100 to 15 beats per minute, and body temperature goes from 97°F to 47°F. Beavers have been busy in the fall felling trees, collecting the branches, then cutting the branches into smaller lengths to store in a large pile on the bottom of the pond near their lodge. The pile will serve as the winter food supply. An observer, walking dogs about 11PM, saw an opossum, and at another time, a red fox trotting across the road by Codman Farm towards the police station.
Mammals establish regular routes and this is true of a large 8 point buck, seen often crossing Rt. 117 from Mass. Audubon headquarters to the Drumlin Farm side. The mating season for white-tailed deer, triggered by shortening daylight, goes from October to December, with the does going into heat between November 6-20; fawns will be born in May or June, after 200 days of gestation. Behavior during the breeding season (the “rut”) involves much chasing, with both bucks and deer leaving a lot of scent markings through urine, and rubbing scent glands against trees. Bucks rub off the soft velvet coverings on their antlers, and you might come across a “rub” on a tree, where the buck has scraped off bark. According to naturalist Susan Morse, the rub serves as the buck’s “‘personals column’- scent messages conveyed by forehead glands and pre-orbital glands (found in the lower corners of the eyes), and other possible odorous communications created when the buck rubs his nose, or chews and links the surface of the rub.” An arborist visiting a property on Weston Rd., near Browning Field, found what he thought was a bear rub on a tree. Carol Roede’s trail cam gives us insights to sightings and wildlife behavior such as a flying squirrel gathering acorns, and beavers grooming or sometimes hauling branches or vegetation. Other mammals on recent film included a weasel, opossum, bobcat, coyote, otter, and raccoons.
The unusual warmth early this month meant that crickets were still singing, bees visiting late flowers, and garter snakes were spotted basking in the sun. One showery evening I saw many frogs crossing the roads, but when cold weather really arrives they will go into their winter resting places. Depending on the species, they will either go down to the mud at the bottom of a pond or nestle in the protective leaf litter.
Looking skyward, on November 17 just before dawn, look for the Leonids, one of the most active meteor showers. As explained in Mass Audubon’s Outdoor Almanac, “This shower is known for fireballs (larger explosions of light and color) and Earth-grazers (meteors that streak close to the horizon and have long, colorful tails).”
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