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American Goldfinch - Carduelis tristis. This small, 4 ½ - 6 inch bird, is found throughout the state year round but is most commonly seen in winter.

The nest is built, by the female, usually within 15 feet of the ground. The nest itself consists of strips of bark, grasses, and other plant fibers and is then lined with down from cattails or thistles. These birds are so dependent upon thistle, for both food and nesting material, that they rarely build their nests prior to the maturation of thistles beginning in late June.

Four to six unmarked bluish-white eggs are incubated for 12 - 14 days by the female, who is fed by the male during this period. Both parents feed the young for the 11 - 15 days they remain in the nest. Only one brood is raised by each pair, with some late breeding pairs incubating eggs well into September.

The male, in breeding plumage, is easily recognized by the brilliant yellow body and the black and white wings and tail. The females, and males in winter plumage are a nondescript yellow-green but all have the black and white pattern on their wings and tails.

The undulating flight pattern of these birds is very distinctive and can aid in identification of the birds when in flight.
August 2003

Bobcat - Felis rufus These wild cats are somewhat larger than house cats and weigh, on average, between 16 and 24 pounds with males generally being larger than the females.

Solitary hunters, Bobcats feed primarily on small mammals with rabbits and various rodents comprising the larger portion of their diets. As is the case with most cats, these animals rely on a stealthy approach and then a sudden, fast leap or dash to catch their prey. Their small skulls, shortened jaws, and long canine teeth provide for an extremely strong bite and the prey animal is often killed with one bite.

At one year of age they become sexually mature and breed in late winter and early spring. Gestation takes about 62 days and the young are blind and virtually helpless at birth. Their eyes open at 10 days, and at 4 weeks they begin to explore their surroundings. The kittens are weaned in 7 to 8 weeks.
February 2004

Bloodroot is a member of the Poppy family, and the only member of the genus in the world. The flower produces no nectar, relying on the beautiful white petals and yellow style and stamen to attract pollinators. The flower is extremely fragile and is often destroyed by strong winds or heavy rains. Extracts from the root have been included in many natural toothpastes, and Cherokees believed that painting their face with the juice would keep evil spirits away.
April 2002

Broad-winged Hawk - Buteo platypterus
These are common summer residents here in the mountains of North Carolina, but are much more rare as you near the coastal plain. Their migration takes them into tropical South America for the winter.

During late September into October the Broad-wings migrate southwards in large groups known collectively as "kettles". Over 19,000 were reported in a single day at Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania. Their mode of travel is one I think I would like, if I could fly.

These birds locate uprisings of air caused either by the upward deflection of wind against the face of a mountain, or by the upward movement of hot air, a thermal. In either case the birds circle upwards, rarely flapping their wings, until they run out of lift. At this point they leave the thermal, gliding southwards and looking for another thermal or deflective upwelling to repeat the process. They can cover hundreds of miles in a single day, and by "surfing" the air can do it with hardly any effort.
October 2002

Cleistogamous flowers
Due to the limited amount of insect activity in late winter and early spring, many species of early blooming wildflowers are not always pollinated. Chickweed and violets, among others, have evolved a strategy to compensate for this reproductive disadvantage. Both of these flowers produce two types of flowers. The first is the one which we all see and appreciate, and which will attract any pollinators. The second is usually low to the ground and not noticeable due to the fact that the flower never opens. By remaining closed, the flower ensures that its pollen will find the stamen and fertilization will occur. This type of flower is said to be "cleistogamous."
March 2002

Great Horned Owl - Bubo virginianus
This is the most widely distributed owl in North America. Being very adaptable in terms of diet has enabled them to get along in nearly every imaginable situation. Small rodents and birds make up a large part of their diet, but these birds are capable of, and have been known, to take house cats.

Eggs are laid as early as December and require approximately one month of incubation. The main reason for having young so early in the year is that the parental pair bonding will have completely broken down by the end of June and the young owls must be capable of fending for themselves by then.

Owls have unusually soft leading edges to their wings. In fact, the feathers lack barblets (which in most species work like velcro to connect the wings). This allows wind to pass over the wing surface silently so that at night the owl's movement is nearly undetectable. This silent flight is the last sound many small animals never hear.

As is the case with most owl species, Great Horned Owls eat much of their prey whole. The indigestible portions, usually bone and hair, are then regurgitated in what we refer to as "owl pellets". These can be soaked in water and then taken apart in order to study the diet of these
birds.
February 2003

Jack-in-the-Pulpit - Arisaema triphyllum is a member of the Arum family and has an unusual flower consisting of a "spathe" which is the flaplike covering over the "spadex" which is the long upright element, or Jack, in the pulpit. The plant's rootstock is full of Calcium Oxalate crystals which are microscopically small and unbelievably sharp! If eaten raw they cut and irritate the mucous membranes to a painful and potentially painful degree. If however, the root is roasted or aged for about six months it can be sliced and eaten like a potato chip, or ground up and added to flour for baking.

This plant has the ability to change its sex depending upon environmental conditions. If a female plant has experienced a severe drought or other event which has weakened it to the point that next year's seed will likely not be viable the plant will emerge in the spring as a male. I don't begin to understand the biochemistry of this, but it certainly underlines the variation and diversity that has evolved in these mountains.
April 2004

The Leonind Meteors are debris left by the comet Tempel-Tuttle in its various trips through the sun's gravitational and heat fields.This year's shower is projected to be a "storm" with up to 2000 per hour visible at the peak. If you saw last year's event I know you'll want to see this years - and if you didn't get out last year you really should make a point of it this year. In roughly an hour last year I saw over 100 meteors, easily the most I've ever seen at one viewing. The next storm is not projected to happen until early in the next century.

The Earth will be passing through two belts of debris left by Tempel-Tuttle in 1866. The first will be visible in Europe at about 11:00 PM on November 18th. The second belt will be visible to us at around 5:00 AM on the morning of the 19th. The moon will be nearly full and will probably prevent some of the more faint meteors from being seen, but should be setting at just about the peak time. If you can get up into the mountains away from urban light pollution you should get quite a show.

The debris we see being incinerated is tiny - ranging from the size of a grain of sand to that of a grain of table salt. Their great speed when they hit the atmosphere, roughly 70 kilometers per second (about 42 miles per second), accounts for their extended visibility.
November 2002

Monarch Butterflies
There are two populations of Monarch butterflies in North America. The eastern populations migrate to overwintering sites in Mexico while the western populations overwinter at various sites along the California coast. The first overwintering site in Mexico was not discovered until 1975 and had been actively sought for forty years. This last winter was hard on the Monarchs in Mexico. An unusually wet storm was followed by a hard freeze and some estimates range as high as a 70% mortality rate there. Reports were made of dead Monarchs being four inches deep on the ground.

In the spring of each year the population of butterflies leave Mexico and head north to the United States and Canada. Reaching the Texas/Louisiana gulf coast they stop to rest, feed, and mate. The female lays her eggs and both parents die. These eggs hatch, become adults, and travel further north where they, in turn mate and die. Their offspring repeat the process, which is then repeated by their grandkids and so on for up to seven or eight generations. The generation that is produced in early autumn diverges from this system and will delay sexual maturity, fly to the overwintering site in Mexico, from as far away as Canada, which none have been to (their great, great, great, great, great, great, great - you get the idea - grandparents came from there), spend the winter and the next spring begin the cycle anew. How they know where to go and how the one generation lives six months insted of weeks is one of the most amazing mysteries I can imagine.

Losses of this severity make it essential that the population be given an opportunity to rebound. Knowing a little about their wonderfully intricate life cycle will hopefully help you to appreciate what amazing creatures they are.

Their mating is an involved process of displays and responses which is easily interrupted by wind or predators. If this happens the process starts over. The male is slightly larger and has thinner black markings along the wing veins than the female, as well as two scent pouches which resemble black spots, one on each hind wing.

After mating the female will lay eggs only on Milkweed plants (so plant a few!!). She detects the plant via scent from the air, and taste from receptors on her "feet" when she lands. Each female may lay up to 500 eggs before dying.

The eggs hatch in 3 - 5 days depending upon the temperature. Warmer temperatures speed up the process. Each larvae emerges at 2mm or .08 inch in length and eats voraciously, growing at an amazing rate. In three weeks it will increase its length 25 times and its weight 3000 times. Each larvae consumes approximately 10 grams of milkweed in all. Fifty million larvae equals some 500 tons of milkweed consumed per year.

Three weeks after hatching, the larva stops eating and spins its chrysalis where it remains for one week, transforming into the adult Monarch.
June 2002

Myrmechochory
Some of our spring wildflowers have seeds covered in small nodules that contain oils and sometimes sugars, which attract ants. The ants will carry the seeds as far as 70 yards to their nest. These nodules are consumed, but the shell of the seed is too hard for the ants to eat. The seed is discarded, often in an unused tunnel in the nest, which frequently proves to be an excellent environment for germination of the seed. This is called "myrmechochory," which literally means "ant farming." A few of the species assisted by ants are wild ginger, violets, bloodroot, anemones, hepaticas and trillium.
March 2002

Newts
North Carolina has more species of salamanders than the rest of the world combined, and one of the most interesting is Notophthalmus viridescens , the Eastern newt or Red-spotted newt which is common throughout the state.

Newts have a complex life cycle that varies geographically, in most populations there is an aquatic larval stage that lasts 3 - 4 months. The larvae then transform into a terrestrial stage termed the "red eft" that lives in forests, hiding under leaf litter and staying in damper areas. The terrestrial stage lasts for up to 8 years at which point the eft returns to water and transforms into an aquatic adult. From late winter through early summer the females lay individual eggs on the leaves of submerged plants, sometimes folding the leaf to hide the egg. Adults are dark green, retain the red spots, and have distinct tail fins. A variety of insects, crustaceans, mollusks, and salamander and frog eggs make up the diet of these adults. In some populations in the coastal plain the eft stage does not occur, the larvae go straight into the adult form.

The red eft is brightly colored with red spots encircled by black on the dorsum. As is often the case with bright colors this is a warning that the eft is toxic. The technical term for this warning pattern is aposematic coloration. After trying to eat one or two of these guys, most predators associate the color with the bad taste and toxic effect and leave them alone!
May 2002

Peregrine Falcon - Falco peregrinus is the poster child for speed. In hunting dives (stoops) it has been estimated to reach speeds of 165 miles per hour or more! Its diet consists almost entirely of other birds which it hunts by soaring high above a flock and then diving down and striking its prey at extremely high speed.

The peregrine population was severely reduced, and the species was threatened, by the use of DDTs and other powerful pesticides which this bird took into its system from the flesh of its prey.

Major reintroduction efforts in North Carolina have led to occasional sightings and a very few nesting pairs in the state.

During the winter months I have periodically seen one in downtown Asheville where it frequently dines on pigeon!

The bird is perhaps best identified by the pointed wings and short tail. When in flight the underwing is evenly patterned.
June 2004

Ruby Throated Hummingbirds are tiny birds which, at maturity, are only 3.5 inches long. Despite their size, or lack of it, they make one of the great annual migrations of the natural world. These little guys leave our area in October/November, overwintering in Mexico. They gather in groups on the Louisiana/Texas gulf coast, feeding and gathering strength. At some unknown signal, they depart in large groups flying nonstop across the Gulf of Mexico during the course of one night. This flight can be up to 600 miles long, and depending on the prevailing winds can take a terrible toll on the birds. When winds blow opposite their direction of travel, hundreds of the birds have been reported landing on boats to rest while those not lucky enough to find a resting place die.
April 2002

The Virginia Opossum, Didelphis virginiana is the only marsupial mammal native to North America. After a gestation period of only thirteen days, the larvalike embryo which is about the size of a raisin must travel about two inches to the mother's pouch. Once safely in the pouch the young attach to a nipple and remain there for several weeks. As the babies develop, they release the nipple but remain in the pouch for about three months. This allows the mother to forage at will with no need to return to a den to feed the young.

An old wives' tale says that the "Possum" hangs from its tail in order to feed. While the naked tail is prehensile, and is used to help steady the animal, it is not strong enough for the animal to hang from it. The animal does have a neat adaptation for hanging from branches - four of the toes on each hind foot have a sharp claw useful for digging into a branch, while the fifth toe lacks a claw but is opposable like our thumbs. This allows the Possum to hang securely from its hind feet while gathering food with its front paws.

When threatened possums will generally hiss and show their teeth, climb a tree when possible, or play possum. Playing possum is actually a genetically programed response to a threat, the possum doesn't decide to play dead - its system simply shuts down, apparently in the hope that the threat will ignore a dead animal. If you ever see one in this state the "rictus" or grin as it is called will stay in your mind for a long time.For its size the Possum has an unusually short life span, generally only two years or less in the wild. Captives rarely live to be three years old.
June 2003

White-tailed Deer, Odocoileus virginianus, bred last November and December and are now delivering their young after a gestation period of just over six months. At this time of year it is not uncommon to walk up on one of the young nestled in tall grass and leaves.

Despite our tendency to assume the young animal is in trouble and needs our help, the young deer is able to move very soon after being born. The mother will be browsing somewhere in the immediate vicinity and the young will remain motionless in her absence. This stillness, combined with the wonderfully effective camouflage provided by the spots on its coat (which it will outgrow in a few months) and the fact that the young have very little scent, ensures that very few predators find the young deer.

The young are weaned at about eight months of age but often remain with the mother for over a year, and may breed within their first year
July 2003.

Wood Frogs, Rana sylvatica are among the earliest breeders of any amphibians native to this region. Normally the first warm rains in February signal the males to leave the leaf litter, where they typically spend the winter, and move to ponds and seeps. Unusually warm weather can trigger this movement earlier in the year, my photograph of a mating pair was taken on January 31, 2002 and the mating activity was nearly over. That is nearly an entire month early.

A good sized population of these frogs can result in the males nearly covering the entire surface of the water, floating literally inches from one another and calling loudly to attract females to the breeding site. The call has been compared to the twang of an (out of tune) banjo!

Shortly after the males have begun calling the females emerge from the forest and enter the water, often at their own peril. The biological imperative is so strong in the males that several may try to mount the female. Females have actually been drowned by the overly amorous males.

The smaller male will grasp the female and ride on her back in "amplexus". The male's presence triggers the release of eggs which are fertilized externally as the female releases them.

All of the egg laying is accomplished in a very short period of time, and as soon as the breeding cycle is over the frogs return to the litter of the forest floor and are rarely seen until the following winter.
March 2003