Author: marlenecondon@aol.com

Daily News-Record, March 7, 2023

Paying attention to the outdoors by looking through windows can bring you many surprises.

One time I glanced out a window when I had gone into my pantry to get food. At first, I thought a vulture was walking down the driveway because there was certainly a big dark bird heading my way. But I couldn’t imagine a vulture doing that.

As I strained my eyes to recognize what I was seeing, I reached for my binoculars in a nearby closet. The big bird was a female wild turkey!

Although I’ve seen and heard turkeys in the woods around my house, I had never observed one just strutting along all alone out in the open. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my camera on the tripod and focused in time to get a shot before she took a turn near the house and went down into the woods.

Another rare daytime visitor to my yard is the red fox. One summer afternoon, my wonderful husband was rinsing dishes for me when he peered out of the window over the sink, having learned well the lesson to always be on the lookout. He immediately called to me that a red fox was crossing the backyard through my day lily garden. Again, it happened too quickly for me to get a photo.

Although not a rare animal in any sense of the word, voles are small rodents that aren’t often visible. They are related to mice, but voles have chunky bodies and short tails, whereas mice are more streamlined with long tails.

Voles are active day or night, but they usually stay in runways that they build beneath thick vegetation. Yet one sunny morning, as I went through my living room and perused the south side of my yard through the large windows, I was amazed to notice a meadow vole run quickly across the lawn from my deck to my little man-made pond. It was the first time that I had ever seen one of these creatures, and I only saw it because I looked out the windows on my way by them.

It’s easiest to look for wildlife during the daytime, but you should also check your yard as dusk is falling. Many animals become active at just this time of the day.

Early one evening, as it was getting dark, I peeked out my bay window before putting on a light. To my surprise, a tiny gray fox was eating sunflower chips — sunflower seeds without the shell — that had fallen onto the ground below a bird feeder. Gray foxes are smaller than their red cousins, sometimes barely larger than a big domestic cat.

So don’t let your windows go to waste. They let light in, but they also give you a view. If you don’t look out them every chance you get, you’re missing the wildlife pageant that could be unfolding before your eyes!

Marlene A. Condon is the author/photographer of The Nature-friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People (Stackpole Books; information at www.marlenecondon.com). You can read her blog at https://InDefenseofNature.blogspot.com

Daily News-Record, February 7, 2023

People ask how I get to see such a variety of critters in my yard. The main reason is the nature-friendly garden I’ve created that supports wildlife.

I’ve planted many kinds of trees, shrubs, vines, and flowers in order to provide food, nesting sites, and cover. I placed a concrete birdbath and “toad bath” (a birdbath placed on the ground so toads can sit in it and absorb water through their skin) in the front yard, and I had two small ponds put in for amphibians to live and/or breed in.

I leave areas of tall plant growth for snakes to find cover as they make their way around the yard, which, in fact, works too well—I hardly ever get to see these reptiles! And there are bird houses and shelves, and a bird feeder or two.

However, if I hardly ever looked out my windows, I would never know if all this effort had accomplished anything. Thus, the “secret” to my numerous observations: I pay attention to my surroundings.

It’s very exciting to see wild animals in your yard, whether they are there for a brief visit or because they’re planning to stay put and accept your hospitality. The one thing you must do to see wildlife is to look outside as much as possible.

One day as my husband and I were eating breakfast, I turned around to look through my office to the window that faces the front yard. At my request, my husband had recently “planted” a snag (with holes drilled into it for peanut butter) in a location that allowed me to see it from the office window. I was curious if any birds were at the snag getting their own breakfast.

To my total surprise, a big Black Bear was ambling down the driveway towards the snag. I immediately yelled “a bear!” and ran for my camera and tripod. While I do not enjoy having my breakfast interrupted, it’s always exciting to see one of

these big mammals and I was quite glad I had turned around to see what might be at the snag.

When I’m working at my computer, I turn my head every so often to see what is happening in front of my house or out back. On August 31, 2000, I was excited to see a Groundhog (aka Woodchuck) heading into my bird-feeding area from the driveway. Since I live in a forested area that is not prime Groundhog habitat, I had never seen one of these animals in my yard or even in the immediate neighborhood.

Gardeners and farmers consider Groundhogs to be pests, but I’m always thrilled to see a new animal in my yard, and truth be told, I have too many plants anyway. I figured this largest member of the squirrel family (in our region) couldn’t possibly make much of a dent in my greenery, and by accepting its presence, I’ve learned much about the life of a Groundhog.

To be continued in March.

Marlene A. Condon is the author/photographer of The Nature-friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People (Stackpole Books; information at www.marlenecondon.com). You can read her blog at https://InDefenseofNature.blogspot.com

Daily News-Record, January 3, 2023

About 20 years ago, Peggy Monks of Charlottesville, Virginia, shared an adorable “family tale” with me. She had enjoyed an article on daddy longlegs that I’d written, and she wanted to share the following story that she thought would interest me. (It did!)

Peggy wrote that “many years ago, my eight-year-old cousin, Charles, always experimenting, read somewhere that the daddy longlegs was so small-bodied because, not weaving a web—or at least not a very efficient one—he could never get enough to eat.” (I love this explanation.)

Peggy continued that “this was enough to get Charles going. He captured a daddy longlegs and placed it under a pint glass and fed it every day. Flies, ants, anything he could forage. Now comes the unbelievable part! My aunt, one day fighting to clear some of Charles’ experiments in his cluttered room, was horrified to find this enormous spider tightly wedged in the glass with three children’s encyclopedias on top to hold it down! The story goes that my aunt had to call in a veterinarian who had to administer chloroform [to render the spider unconscious] so that he could remove the spider before killing it.”

I would hope that nowadays a veterinarian wouldn’t kill the spider, but would instead simply return it to the outdoors. Of course, the daddy longlegs could not really have turned into a huge spider, but I hope that this little family story brought a smile to your face just as it did to mine.

Peggy sent me another story about Charles, this one also a true story that is rather cute. She explained she was an English/American citizen, and the following narrative took place in London.

She wrote that “Charles never lost his interest in anything that moved! He traveled the world and brought back everything from goldfish to crocodiles. Just before World War II, he opened an aquarium on the roof of Selfridges, a large store in Oxford Street. He contracted to service the many fish tanks in Buckingham Palace.”

Peggy went on to say that Charles very nearly lost this contract when a daily paper published a picture of him entering the palace with a large suitcase and the caption, “The only man in London who can take fleas into Buckingham Palace.”

She explained that “What they meant, of course, was Daphnia”, small aquatic crustaceans (a grouping of animals that have a shell or “crust” and live in water) that are also known as “water fleas”. These animals are not insects like dog/cat fleas; Daphnia are instead part of a large class of animals that includes barnacles, crabs, lobsters, and shrimps. Charles was bringing the dead “fleas” to the palace to feed to the royal fish!

I love hearing nature anecdotes as they can be informative as well as funny. I hope you will experience an interesting wildlife encounter this new year, and if you’d like to share it publicly, please e-mail me at marlenecondon@aol.com I may use it in a future column.

Marlene A. Condon is the author/photographer of The Nature-friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People (Stackpole Books; information at www.marlenecondon.com). You can read her blog at https://InDefenseofNature.blogspot.com

Daily News-Record, December 5, 2022

Even as a little girl, I was enthralled by the natural world. Therefore, I was absolutely thrilled to receive a bird feeder one Christmas. Back then, feeding birds was not at all controversial, but nowadays, it is.

For example, some ornithologists express concern about diseases spreading at crowded feeders. However, this result is only likely to happen when feeders are not kept clean of fecal droppings or wet food that has begun to mold. Feeders should not be allowed to stay soiled or to contain rotting (decaying) food.

If you are conscientious about maintaining your feeders in tip-top form and yet you still see a sick bird, should you feel guilty? No. In the real world, weak animals, whether due to injury or lack of food, become ill. Sick birds may find your feeders where it’s easier for them to obtain food without expending much energy.

Such birds may even die at your feeders. But instead of feeling guilt-ridden, throw the remaining seed onto your compost pile or into your compost bin and cover it with some soil to hide it from critters. It will safely decompose.

Then, thoroughly wash your feeder. Disinfect it by dipping the feeder for two to three minutes into a mixture composed of one part bleach and nine parts water. Let the feeder dry completely in the sunshine before refilling it.

Some researchers worry about hawks being able to more easily prey upon birds bunched together in feeding areas. To avoid making your feeder birds “sitting ducks”, be sure to place shelter about ten feet from your feeders. Thickly branched small trees or shrubs, or piles of brush are ideal. It’s best not to grow plants too close to the feeders so wandering neighborhood cats can’t hide there to catch and kill birds coming to eat.

And some scientists worry that feeders help cause window collisions. However, birds do not necessarily hit windows because they’ve been at your feeders. I’ve had Red-eyed Vireos and even a Yellow-billed Cuckoo—both birds of the woods that eat insects and are not often seen in open yards—hit my porch windows that are under cover of a roof.

I now keep most of my curtains and blinds closed unless I’m using a room. I have seen a big drop in birds flying into my windows since I began doing this, so I do believe this action has helped to minimize reflections of the trees around my house, which is what causes birds to fly into the glass. I’ve also found that full-length window-screen fabric mesh outside of windows help prevent birds from getting injured or killed.

A great resource with many suggestions on how to minimize window-caused bird deaths is available from the American Bird Conservancy at https://abcbirds.org/glass-collisions/stop-birds-hitting-windows/

So, whether you wish to treat yourself to a new bird feeder or to purchase one as a holiday gift for someone else this month, I hope you’ll do so. It’s a wonderful activity for bringing nature closer. Happy holidays!Marlene A. Condon is the author/photographer of The Nature-friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People (Stackpole Books; information at www.marlenecondon.com). You can read her blog at https://InDefenseofNature.blogspot.com

Daily News-Record, November 8, 2022

Eastern Screech Owls become active at dusk and retire by dawn. You might be able to attract them by putting up a screech owl box. It may be difficult to find a pre-made owl-nesting box for sale, but you can make your own birdhouse (or get someone else to make one for you) by looking up the dimensions in a book or online (a good site is http://www.wildbirddepot.com/nest-box-dimensions-chart/).

Place your owl box as high on a tree as you can, and no less than ten feet off the ground. Screech owls prefer boxes that are higher rather than lower.

Some books mention placing sawdust or woodchips in the bottom of owl boxes since these birds do not build a nest. Sawdust tends to hold moisture and shouldn’t be employed. I collect dried pine needles and they’ve been quite acceptable to the owls. I only cover the floor of the box, as opposed to using the two to three inches of material recommended in books.

Books typically suggest an entrance-hole of 3 inches. Although a screech owl can fit through a three-inch hole, it will only be able to peek out during the day. My three boxes each have 4½-inch diameter holes, and owls using any of these boxes have perched on the rim of the opening early in the morning, late in the afternoon, and sometimes during the day. It’s a thrill to see them in broad daylight!

Place your box on the south side of a tree, if possible. Though I do I have two boxes facing north and they have been used for nesting as well as roosting, my experience has been that the owls use a south-facing box more often. This box is undoubtedly warmer throughout the winter because it receives direct sun from late morning through the afternoon, which is also helpful when the owls are nesting because it can still be quite chilly in early spring when the eggs are laid. If you can put the nest box where leaves will shade it after the eggs have hatched, this will minimize overheating during the warmer afternoons.

Locate your box among trees rather than in the open area of your yard. Screech owls prefer to roost and nest in woods not far from a clearing, which is referred to as edge habitat.

It may take more than a year for an owl to find and use your box, so be patient. If other animals, such as insects and mammals, have used the box for nesting, they will leave debris that should be removed. Replace the pine needles by the end of each September.

One day you may look at your box and see a screech owl perched on the rim of the opening, completely filling it, and serenely watching the activities going on in your yard. On those days, it’ll be very difficult for you to do anything but stare at your visitor, who is so much more often heard than seen. It’s an exhilarating experience!

Marlene A. Condon is the author/photographer of The Nature-friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People (Stackpole Books; information at www.marlenecondon.com). You can read her blog at https://InDefenseofNature.blogspot.com

Daily News-Record, October 1, 2022

We usually think of insects as being creatures of the summer, and thus expect to see large numbers of them during warm weather and a decline in their populations as cool weather arrives. While this holds true for many species of insects, there are others that appear seemingly out of nowhere in fall. The walkingstick is one of them, which you may have noticed.

Walkingsticks mate in fall, and it’s their search for mates that brings them out into the open where we can marvel at how much they really do resemble sticks. If you watch one, you may observe it gently swaying. This motion imitates the movement of a twig in a breeze and helps to deceive birds, such as Carolina Wrens, that feed upon them.

Lizards and spiders also prey upon walkingsticks, and parasitic wasps and flies lay eggs on them that develop within their bodies. To avoid detection, walkingsticks remain almost motionless during daylight hours unless disturbed, in which case they might drop to the ground. A “twig” that walks will instantly betray its disguise!

Most folks think of walkingsticks as having slender brown bodies, but a careful observer will spot some that are completely light green, or that have brown bodies and green legs. Nevertheless, they mate with each other and are the same species.

A female lays eggs until cold weather sets in, when she will die. She ejects the tiny eggs from high up in trees, and they fall into the leaf litter below. The tough-skinned brown or black eggs remain on the ground throughout the winter and will not hatch until late spring.

The reason you don’t often see walkingsticks during spring and summer is because the nymphs (sexually immature insects that resemble the adults) are doing their best to remain inconspicuous as they feed on plants. Until midsummer they might be found on understory shrubs (those shrubs that grow in the shade of trees), but then they move up into tree crowns where they move slowly along during the night, feeding on the green leaves of their chosen host plant.

Walkingsticks feed mostly upon oak, basswood and wild cherry leaves, but may also eat apple, birch, hickory, locust and dogwood. Since these trees are common in Virginia, it’s easy to understand why walkingsticks are also common here.

As a rule, there’s only one generation per year in our area because it takes most of the season for the young insects to develop. Walkingsticks are unlikely to reach dense enough population levels to defoliate plants.

Because Walkingsticks are such perfect imitators of twigs, you would think that they would stay put on plants where they are so wonderfully camouflaged. However, at this time of year, they can be found on all sorts of surfaces. I’ve seen them mating on car doors and porch railings, and resting on sliding glass doors, carport ceilings, and trash cans. Perhaps they are much less wary now because their lives are about to end, and they may sense it.

Marlene A. Condon is the author/photographer of The Nature-friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People (Stackpole Books; information at www.marlenecondon.com). You can read her blog at https://InDefenseofNature.blogspot.com

Daily News-Record, September 9, 2022

By the end of September, White-tailed Deer in Central Virginia have changed from their beautiful summer coats of reddish brown to drab winter coats of brownish gray. By taking on the predominant colors of fall, winter, and early spring, deer are better able to blend in with their surroundings to evade detection by predators.

However, this is the best time of year for people to see male deer, which are known as bucks. Fall is the breeding season for deer, and bucks come out into the open more as they look for females (does) that are ready to breed. Although bucks are usually identified by the presence of antlers, a few does experience a hormonal imbalance that can cause the growth of small antlers.

Antlers are sometimes confused with horns, but they aren’t the same. Certain mammals, such as goats and cows, have horns that are composed of a bony core surrounded by keratin. Horns are permanently retained unless removed by humans or some other cause. Human fingernails, toenails, and hair are also composed of keratin, a substance made up of sulfur-containing fibrous proteins. There is no blood supply to keratin, and thus it is dead tissue.

Antlers, however, are completely bone and do have a blood supply while they are growing, and thus are living tissue. The blood is supplied by a network of vessels

in the skin covering the antlers. This skin is known as “velvet” because of how it looks and feels.

The lengthening hours of daylight trigger antler growth in spring and growth continues until the shorter days of fall. At this time, a hormonal imbalance occurs which causes the blood supply to the antlers to be cut off. The velvet dies and peels away. If you see dark red or black strands hanging from a buck’s head, you are looking at the velvet.

The antlers have mineralized and hardened by this time, yet bucks only keep their antlers for a few more months. They probably use them more as a sexual attractant for females than for fighting off other male deer or predators.

The size of a buck’s antlers, or rack, is influenced by heredity, nutrition, and age. Genes play a big role in determining the shape of the rack. Nutrition, and to some extent genes, govern the ultimate size of the antlers, with a well nourished deer producing a larger rack than a nutritionally deficient one of the same age.

Bucks build body mass rather than antlers the first two years of their lives, and thus their first two sets of antlers are small. From then, until the prime of their lives at about five and a half or six and a half years of age, each successive rack is larger than the previous year’s if the deer have adequate forage. If a buck lives longer than this (few live beyond four or five years), its rack will decrease in size with each succeeding year.

Bucks are beautiful animals, so keep your eyes open!

Marlene A. Condon is the author/photographer of The Nature-friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People (Stackpole Books; information at www.marlenecondon.com). You can read her blog at https://InDefenseofNature.blogspot.com

Daily News-Record, August 6, 2022

One afternoon as I was looking around my little manmade pond, a Green Frog jumped straight up out of the water right in front of me. It rose to a height of about four feet, snatched an insect that had landed on a tall water plant, and dropped back into the pond. It happened so suddenly and so fast that I almost thought I had imagined it! Because I was standing in the right place at the right time, I got to see one of the ways in which a Green Frog feeds.

Although the breeding season for these animals is coming to a close, you may still hear the males calling occasionally throughout the month. Listen for the sound of a plucked, deeply pitched, banjo string. Males and females also make a very high-pitched squeak as they jump into water if they’re startled.

A calling male can attract a female this late in the summer even though she probably mated earlier in the year. Females usually lay a clutch of eggs twice during mating season, making full use of our warmest months to reproduce.

It’s easy to tell the gender of a Green Frog. Females always have a white throat, while sexually active males have a remarkably bright-yellow throat. In spring and fall, a male’s throat is much paler.

Another way to tell the sexes apart is to compare the size of a Green Frog’s eardrum with the size of its eyes. A circular eardrum is located on either side of a frog’s head and is usually referred to as a “tympanum” (TIM-pan-um). Male Green Frogs have eardrums that are bigger than their eyes and femaleshave eardrums that are about the same size as their eyes.

A male will start calling by May to advertise his territory to any females within hearing distance. I live near a stream, and that is undoubtedly where the females come from. Females do not otherwise remain in the company of a resident breeding male.

However, many smaller males that do not have the ability yet to defend their own territories may reside within the territory of the dominant male frog. You can often see these frogs (known as “satellite” males) floating in the water with their noses and eyes protruding from the water surface.

Green Frog eggs are tiny, dark brown, and enveloped in a clear gooey film. They float on the surface of the water, but only briefly before sinking out of sight. If they don’t get eaten, the eggs will hatch within a week. The tiny tadpoles from an August mating will not transform into frogs until the following spring or early summer.

If you maintain an artificial pond with frogs and tadpoles, don’t clean out the muck that’s accumulated at the bottom of your pond by fall, as recommended by garden centers. Adults and young (as well as many other aquatic animals) hibernate in this organic material when the water temperature becomes too cold for them to remain active.

Marlene A. Condon is the author/photographer of The Nature-friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People (Stackpole Books; information at www.marlenecondon.com). You can read her blog at https://InDefenseofNature.blogspot.com

Daily News-Record, June 4, 2022

• Gardeners shouldn’t create manicured landscapes; they simply cannot support a mix of wildlife. Without a variety of organisms to keep each other’s numbers in check, your landscape is doomed to overpopulations of animals, which is always going to be problematic. This month I’m adding onto my May listing of tips for creating a nature-friendly garden, with a focus on how you must obey the natural laws that rule our natural world:
• Discard common prejudices against animals and instead recognize that all organisms perform valuable functions in the environment. In other words, ignore horticultural advice to kill such critters as slugs, snails, pillbugs, and grubs that work to create good soil — the basis of successful gardening — for the benefit of your plants.
• In nature, all organic matter is recycled. Therefore, don’t send diseased plants to the landfill; put them into your compost pile or let them rot on the ground. It’s pointless to try to eradicate plant diseases from the environment; they serve to eliminate plants that are not growing well because conditions aren’t suitable.
•  Don’t send woody trimmings to the landfill; make a brush pile for the benefit of wildlife.
• Keep leaves under trees and shrubs to serve as a natural mulch that provides habitat for many kinds of organisms.
• Practice patience with insects on your plants. For example, caterpillars typically feed on plants for 2 weeks at most. Healthy plants don’t suffer from being fed upon.
• Accept vines on trees — those high up can flower and feed insects and hummingbirds.
• Allow moss to grow; it serves as an incubator of firefly eggs and provides nesting material for birds.
• Water is vital for wildlife. Drinking and bathing water can be supplied via a small artificial pond or a shallow pan located at ground level.
• Tree work and shrub trimming is best done in winter to avoid disrupting animals nesting in spring and summer, but at any time of year, always check for animals making use of woody plants before taking action!
• Fence food plants. Mammals don’t know that the food you grow is only for you.
• Leave pulled plants on the ground to decrease your own expenditure of energy and to more rapidly improve soil.
• Don’t rototill once you have good tilth and are seeing critters in the soil. Unnecessary rototilling kills soil organisms that assist your plants to get water and oxygen via ground tunnels.
• Be patient! Mother Nature knows what she’s doing, but you must give her the time she needs. For example, ants took care of Gypsy Moth eggs in my yard, but it took 10 days for them to find the egg mass.
• Learn about wildlife. All creatures provide a service for the environment; that’s why they exist.
• Don’t apply milky spore disease all over your lawn to get rid of Japanese beetles as it also kills native grubs. It’s better to allow moles to feed on grubs; then just tamp down their tunnels.
• Avoid nighttime outdoor lighting; it disrupts circadian rhythms of plants and animals.    
• Marlene A. Condon is the author/photographer of The Nature-friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People (Stackpole Books; information at www.marlenecondon.com). You can read her blog at https://InDefenseofNature.blogspot.com

Daily News-Record, July 2, 2022

By about the third week of July, summer nights are filled with the loud “songs” of katydids, one of our most common and universally known insects. Katydids are not often seen because they usually stay among the foliage of bushes and trees where their matching green color safeguards them from predators. But if you are observant, you just might spot a katydid in an unexpected spot. I’ve found them on my carport and porch ceilings, along the roofline of my house where the gutter is located, and even clinging to window screens during daylight hours.

You can probably find several species of katydids in your yard, and you can tell them apart by the shape of their bodies and the length of their antennae. If you take photographs or draw sketches of the various ones you see, you’ll then have an idea of how many different songs you might be able to distinguish on hot summer evenings because each species has its own distinctive sound. A katydid usually will stay put long enough for you to do this, so long as you don’t move suddenly and startle it.

If you do disturb an adult male katydid, it will probably not fly far away. Even though it has four wings, the katydid uses only the back two wings for flying, making its flight rather clumsy. An adult male katydid uses its front two wings as its “voice” because it does not have vocal chords with which to sing. It rubs the stiff edge (called the “scraper”) of one front wing over a ridge (called a “file”) on the underside of the other front wing. This is what we hear at night, starting in midsummer.

Many people think that the persistent throbbing, grating noises that are referred to as songs sound like “katydid … katydid …”, so that is how katydids got their name. It’s an American word used to describe an insect that in other areas of the world is called a bush cricket.

If you find a katydid, take advantage of this uncommon opportunity to get a close look. These insects are very tolerant of eyeball-to-eyeball inspection. You may be able to see its two “ears” (called tympana—TIM-pa-na), each located on a foreleg just below the “knee.” Each hearing organ consists of a thin, tense membrane (layer of material) overlying an air sac (part of a small tubing system that most insects use to breathe). This membrane vibrates when hit by sound waves. You can tell if a katydid is listening because it will lean from side to side and raise its uppermost foreleg to make the membrane accessible to the influence of air-molecule vibrations (sound).

More than a hundred kinds of katydids inhabit the United States and more than 5,000 exist worldwide. Scientists classify them as part of the group of long-horned grasshoppers. Indeed, the antennae of katydids are often longer than their bodies.

Their songs are synonymous with summer, and their sounds, more than any other, make nights come alive.

Marlene A. Condon is the author/photographer of The Nature-friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People (Stackpole Books; information at www.marlenecondon.com). You can read her blog at https://InDefenseofNature.blogspot.com