Newsletters

July 2013-Whip-poor-will, Deer Tick, Jack-in-the-Pulpit

WELCOME TO GREEN FUTURES !

JULY, 2013

“Hear that lonesome whip-poor-will
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
I'm so lonesome I could cry”

- Hank Williams (I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry)

Hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WXYjm74WFI

“As I wander on by the evening shade to watch the shadows play
Then I list to the sound of the whip-poor-will as he sings his evening lay”

- Stapleton Brothers (Whippoorwill)

Hear it here:

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Stapleton_Brothers/~/Call_of_the_Whip-Poor-Will

LISTENING FOR THE WHIP-POOR-WILL – Rarely seen, often heard.

Whip-poor-will by Louis Agassiz Fuertes

The formerly abundant whip-poor-will is in trouble. Known by many, but rarely seen, the whip-poor-will is a bird of mystery. Made famous in story and song, this expertly camouflaged bird is named after its distinctive haunting call.

Unlike most birds, but like owls, whip-poor-wills are nocturnal. And, also like owls, adults have soft, downy feathers that allow for silent flight.

Whip-poor-will activity is influenced by the phase of the moon. Some Indian tribes believed whip-poor-wills could travel between the moon and the earth. Whip-poor-will chicks hatch from their eggs when the moon is becoming full. How neat is that?

Development, suburban sprawl, pollution, fragmentation of forests, logging and pesticide spraying have caused a major decline in whip-poor-will numbers across the bird’s range. As ground nesters they stand little chance of surviving in small pockets of remaining habitat surrounded by housing developments replete with free-roaming cats, dogs and off-road recreational vehicles.

In Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Natural History and Endangered Species Program and Massachusetts Audubon cooperatively have organized a program, using volunteer monitors, to survey the state’s whip-poor-will population every spring.

Green Futures’ member Lynn is a volunteer with that program. For the past three years she has been checking up on these cryptic birds during the full moons of May and June when the whip-poor-wills call almost constantly and vociferously. For more on the Whip-poor-will Program go here: http://www.massaudubon.org/whippoorwill/project_description.php

Fortunately for some Massachusetts whip-poor-wills the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve (SMB) contains hundreds of acres of early successional forest habitat and the whip-poor-wills find that ideal.

If you’ve never heard the lyrical call of the whip-poor-will on a warm, spring night under a bright, full moon we are planning a whip-poor-will walk for next year as part of our 2014 Exploring the SMB series. You might want to take part.

BIORESERVE FAUNA OF THE MONTH – Black Legged Deer Tick (Ixodes scapularis)

Credits: Photo by Scott Bauer. (PD-USGov-USDA-ARS)

The black-legged tick is the most common tick species in southeastern Massachusetts known by most simply as the “deer tick.”

The black-legged tick is one of a hundred or more species of tick found in New England. All are ectoparasites and most are specific to a particular species of bird or mammal.

Besides the dreaded black-legged tick there are three others, here in southern New England, that can transmit disease to Homo sapiens. They are the American dog tick, lone star tick and the brown dog tick.

Black legged ticks have, as their name implies, black legs. Adult female ticks that haven’t fed are 4 to 5 millimeters in length. Males are slightly smaller than the females. Males are an overall blackish brown. Females are colored similarly except for their abdomen which is reddish or orangey brown.

In southeastern New England black legged ticks are active throughout the year as long as temperatures are above freezing. They will also remain out of sight, dormant in forest litter, should there be an extended period of hot, dry weather.

The range of the black legged tick includes eastern Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas and the states east of the Mississippi River.

Ticks are in the arachnid family, along with spiders, mites, scorpions and similar eight legged critters.

The black legged tick lives for two years. Once they hatch, their development takes place in three stages …larva to nymph to adult …each stage requiring one blood meal.

Their life cycle starts as the tick larvae hatch in May from egg clusters that were laid in early spring in forest debris. The larval tick begins searching for its first meal of blood so that it can grow large enough to shed its skin and become a nymph. Nymphs hibernate in leaves and forest litter their first winter.

In the larval and nymph stages the ticks are tiny, poppy seed size, and feed, in our local woodlands, mainly on the blood of white footed mice. They can also get their blood meal from a number of other mammal and bird species.

In their second spring and after shedding their skin one more time, the nymphs become adults. The adult female ticks waits patiently, often for many days, until a large mammal strolls within reach. Females then feed on the blood of the deer, coyote, fox or other mammal for 5 to 10 days and once its appetite has been sated drops from its host. Adult male lack-legged ticks do not feed. Males mate with the female tick while she is feeding and then drop off and die.

After her last protein-rich blood meal and mating the female tick overwinters in forest debris. In early spring she lays clusters of hundreds of eggs and then dies.

Our black legged tick is well known as the “deer tick” that transmits Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi. As if that isn’t bad enough, the black legged tick can also transmit babesiosis and anaplasmosis.

To poke a hole in your hide for feeding, ticks have specialized organs in their mouth and a barbed hypostoma which holds the ticks feeding apparatus firmly in place. This is what makes a fully embedded feeding tick difficult to remove.

Don’t fear the tick! Only a small percentage of ticks are disease carriers. If simple precautions are taken your chances of contracting a tick borne disease are slight. When hiking in area woodlands use DEET on exposed skin to repel ticks. Spray permethrin on the clothing you use for hiking, especially on boots, socks and pants. Permethrin kills ticks on contact. Permethrin does not work on skin, that’s what the DEET is for. According to permethrin manufacturers an application lasts for six weeks and/or through six washings.

When you return from your hike or other outdoor adventure check your clothing for ticks. When showering or before retiring for the night are ideal times to do a complete tick check. Use a hand held mirror to view all areas of your body. If your children have accompanied you on your hike, carefully check them too.

Ticks normally attach where tight clothing limits further progress or in your body’s nooks and crannies. Check sock line at ankles, underwear/pant line at thighs and at waist, behind the knees, behind the arms, inside belly button folds, behind or just inside edge of ear, in hair.

Don’t freak out if you find a tick. Infected black legged ticks need to be attached for at least 24 hours before they can give you Lyme disease. If attached for longer than that, remove the tick by grasping its head with tweezers and pulling straight up. Place it in a zip-lock bag in your refrigerator freezer.

You should monitor your health closely for a month and if you notice any changes in your health report them to your doctor. If your doctor advises having a blood test done, bring your bagged, frozen tick with you

Caught early, Lyme disease is no big deal. It is easily treated with antibiotics. Ignoring Lyme disease is a big deal and can have dire consequences.

Take a few precautions and the black legged tick just becomes another interesting bit of native fauna.

BIORESERVE FLORA OF THE MONTH – Jack-in-the-Pulpit – (Arisaema triphyllum)

Do you know Jack? Well, do you?

The Jack we know is the Jack-in-the-pulpit, a spectacular early spring wildflower, one to two feet tall found growing in moist, shady woodlands.

Our friend Jack is in the Araceae (arum) family. Another local member of this family is the skunk cabbage. It was our “Bioreserve Flora of the Month” in our March 2012 Newsletter. For more on the skunk cabbage, go here: http://www.greenfutures.org/?content=0cK4Ee3E7k4GBrqJ

Jack’s leaves are three in number unfolding from the top of a single stem arising from an underground corm (a food-storing stem). Jack-in-the-pulpits do not send up a flower stalk until 3 to 5 years old. Jack is long lived. Some Jack-in-the-pulpits have been aged at over 100 years old.

Beneath the three leaved stem is the showy “flower” stalk consisting of the spathe (pulpit), green in color with brown stripes, surrounding the spadix (Jack). The true flowers cover the spadix and are tiny and monoecious (both sexes on same plant). Although both male and female flowers are on the same plant, the Jack-in-the-pulpit is not self pollinating. To prevent inbreeding, the female flowers can only be pollinated from male flowers from a different Jack.

Most Jacks start out bearing only male flowers. In a few years, if the Jack is thriving, it will then bear both male and female flowers.

The Jack in the pulpit is found growing from Maine west to Minnesota, south to Texas and east to Florida. Locally, the Jack-in-the-pulpit blooms in late April and early May. Like the flowers of skunk cabbage the flowers of the Jack-in-the-pulpit are pollinated by small fungus flies attracted by odor. The fruits are shiny green berries turning red as they mature. Each berry contains 1 to 5 tan colored seeds.

Once again, like its relative the skunk cabbage, the Jack-in-the-pulpit contains calcium oxalic crystals in all parts and if eaten causes an intense burning sensation. Consequently, most forest critters shun this showy and succulent plant except for black bears that apparently enjoy chowing-down on Jack when the bears are first out of hibernation.

A country name for Jack-in-the-pulpit is Indian turnip. Indians would gather the fleshy corms and use them as a root vegetable, but only after months of drying which destroys the oxalic crystals.

SOMEWHAT “NEW” MA DCR COMMISSIONER – Please change the ugly “soybean” logo!

Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) Commissioner Edward Lambert has left that position and returned to academia. A “new” commissioner has been appointed by Governor Deval Patrick.

A good first action by the new commissioner, one that would endear him to us, would be to return the white pine to the DCR logo. The white pine is a fine Massachusetts native and the tallest tree species in New England. The tallest white pine in New England is the Jake Swamp Pine, right here in Massachusetts.

The soybean is not native to Massachusetts …or even to North America. How it came to be DCR’s symbol and emblem we have no idea. Perhaps the Governor or some state senator had a relative who needed a job and could only draw a soybean?

Whatever, dump the soybean …return the white pine!

Here’s the press release from the Massachusetts Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs:

For Immediate Release - June 12, 2013

Secretary Sullivan Announces Jack Murray as Commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation

BOSTON – Wednesday June 12, 2013 – Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Rick Sullivan today announced Department of Conservation and Recreation Deputy Commissioner Jack Murray as commissioner of DCR, effective June 22. Current DCR Commissioner Ed Lambert will leave the Patrick Administration for an opportunity as Vice Chancellor of Government Relations and Public Affairs at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

“Jack has proven himself a strong leader and tireless advocate for the people who use our parks and other public facilities, and I am thrilled to have him lead this important department,” said Governor Patrick. “Commissioner Lambert did a tremendous job over the past two years working to restore and better protect our resources for Massachusetts residents and tourists. I thank him for his service and wish him the best of luck in his new role.”

Murray has served as Deputy Commissioner at DCR since 2007, managing the operations of the Massachusetts State Park system and all of its divisions and bureaus with an annual operating budget of $75 million. He assists in managing the department’s 1,000 full time and 3,000 seasonal employees.

“Jack will be a tremendous asset to our team and the Patrick Administration in his new role. Jack will continue the important work DCR does to protect the Commonwealth’s many resources and offer recreational opportunities to residents and visitors,” said Secretary Sullivan. “I thank Commissioner Lambert for his tireless service over the last two years and congratulate him on his new opportunity at the University of Massachusetts Boston.”

DCR works to improve outdoor recreational opportunities by restoring and improving state-owned facilities for use by Massachusetts residents and visitors. The Department is also response for conserving the Commonwealth’s natural resources.

Murray has extensive experience in transportation and environmental management in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Prior to joining the Patrick Administration, he worked for the United States Public Health Service and e Hands On Network to coordinate recovery and relief activities in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Biloxi following Hurricane Katrina. Murray is a graduate of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the University of Massachusetts Boston.

EREGIOUS EROSION – Worse than ever!

This issue is becoming quite stale. In last month’s e-newsletter we said, …”Back in December we objected to a proposed logging operation in the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve (SMB) until a plan is in place to address logging’s beneficial or detrimental effects on species diversity. This must happen before any logging is contemplated, anywhere in the SMB. We also asked that DCR repair a severely eroded hillside and adjacent Rattlesnake Brook before any timber cutting is allowed in that negatively impacted area.”

The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation's Bureau of Forest Stewardship oversees that area of the SMB and agreed to repair the damage and make the land whole, but we have yet to see a plan.

The only thing we have seen is a ham-fisted attempt by some, no doubt well meaning, dirt bike riders to block off the damaged area. They didn’t succeed at that, but they did succeed in making the immediate landscape uglier than it already was.

We are losing patience. We are close to declaring DCR’s Bureau of Forest Stewardship a dysfunctional agency.

Stay tuned.