Around the Pond By Mary Beers, Education Director

  October 2010

October in the Briar Patch is just spectacular.  In early October you can smell the sweet scent of ripe wild Concord Grapes hanging from vine covered trees above the bird feeders.  Come stand on the big boat dock and look out at the Smiling Pool in all its glory.  High bush blueberry, chokeberry, red (swamp) maple and poison sumac put on a spectacular showing with various shades of orange and red leaves.  The Briar Patch woods along the pond perimeter show off golden hickory leaves and a pallet of autumn shades on the tupelo trees. 
 
Watch for huge flocks of Grackles and Red-Wings in the oak trees along Quaker Meetinghouse Road.  One such flock made a late day pass into the Briar Patch and it was a sight to see as hundreds of these black birds squawked and squeaked their way past.  Birds are moving from their "reproductive phase" into their "winter feeding phase."  For many birds this means a trip to warmer climates where bugs and flowers are plentiful.  Changes in the day/night rhythm and even hormonal changes in the bird body trigger this seasonal migration.  Pat Gonser has taken her ladies walking group out to the dune lands at Sandy Neck where they were greeted with thousands of swallows forming ranks for their journey.  One of the saddest aspects of fall concerns our Canada Geese.  Phil Kyle once told us these birds are descendents of live decoys used to attract wild flocks for the hunter.  Every new generation has the urge to migrate but not the natural GPS coordinates of where to go.  They form their classic flying "V" and just circle around to become the golf course or school yard pest with their droppings.
 
Watch for this year's hatchling turtles making their way across the yard and garden heading toward a pond they have never been to.  Fifth grade students from the Quashnet School in Mashpee will be on campus next week exploring the pond.  It seems every year one of these young scientists finds a small turtle making its way through the grass or bush.  The pond edge is teeming with frog tadpoles.  Bullfrog and green frog larva overwinter as tadpoles.  Next summer most green frogs with morph but the larger bullfrog tadpoles may go another winter before changing into adults.
 
This year's Plymouth Redbelly Cooters have arrived at Green Briar.  They will be moved into the large tank as soon as we are done with the October crunch of programs.  Check out the new children's clubs starting NOW.  The Energy Club, led by retired Bourne teacher Andy Morse, is free for children in grades 4 - 6.  Book club continues through December.  Be sure to call and have your child's name added to the list for these and other programs this fall and winter.  Girl Scout leaders should check out the badge workshops and overnights we have scheduled.  Enjoy the month.

  Around the Pond By Mary Beers, Education Director

   July 2010

The Smiling Pool is buzzing now that warm days and nights have arrived.  Green frogs are gung-gunging like old banjos and Grandfather Frog has finally added his voice to the chorus.  Some days it seems like dueling frogs with so many voices calling out love notes.  Although gray tree frogs have been calling around Sandwich there have been no singers noted at the Smiling Pool swamp.     

Do you know how to tell Grandfather Frog from Mrs. Grandfather Frog? This works for both bullfrogs and green frogs.  Look at the circular external eardrum, called the tympanum, located behind each eye.  If the circle is larger than the eye you have a male.  If you can catch the frog (moist hands only please) check out the throat color.  Males of both species have bright yellow throats. 

Bull frogs have a ridge of folded skin that extends around the top of their tympanum.  Green frogs have the ridge starting at the tympanum but continuing down each side to the groin. 

Look at the pictures.  Can you tell which the green frog is and which is the bull frog?  Which one is a male and which is a female?  The male green frog is on the left and the female bull frog is on the right. I love to catch "frog poles."  That is a young frog with a tail.  As the frog pole matures it absorbs its own tale.     

The Canada Lilies are blooming in the garden in early July.  These very tall magnificent lilies have multiple blooms of pale orange-yellow flowers hanging down like candelabra.  The butterfly weeds and butterfly bushes start their blooms in early July.  Look for Ruby-throated Hummingbirds scoping out the nectar-rich flowers.     

Our observation hive is thriving in the large gallery of the Green Briar building.  The hive swarmed in late June and the beekeepers were able to capture the swarm in a baited box placed in the Japanese Maple across from the exit shoot.  Claire and Paul Desilets were excited to capture the swarm and bring the bees safely to a new hive.     

Check out the great family opportunities this summer in our program schedule.  We hope to see you at Green Briar this summer.

Spring beginnings in March were nothing to celebrate but April brings the promise of warmer days and nights filled with the calls of breeding amphibians.  The Mute Swans have already started their family.  Mrs. Swan is sitting on eggs back in the Smiling Pool while Mister patrols the pond with wings up looking for any Canada Goose who dares land.  He doesn't seem to mind the Mallards.
 
     Our resident mammals in the Briar Patch have all started or finished their courtships.  Mrs. Jimmy Skunk, Mrs. Bobby Raccoon, Mrs. Happy Jack Squirrel, Mrs. Reddy Fox and even Mrs. Jerry Muskrat are all awaiting the arrival of little ones.  Late April finds the Briar Patch population greatly increased with many mammals having their first litters.  

   With this flurry of activity comes the opportunity for viewing signs of animals.  Animal droppings are great ways to know who is about.  Although we never handle droppings, SCAT, there is a story to be told.  Reddy Fox has been frequenting the Upper Briar Patch Trail or so says his scat.  Peter Rabbit has been very active along the top of Fairy Hill according to his "Cocoa Puff" droppings.  Bobby Raccoon has been exploring up on White Pine Hill.
 
     A great book to check out is Tracking & the Art of Seeing by Paul Rezendes and published by Camden House Publishing Inc.  I was lucky enough to take a workshop with Paul one late April in Rowe MA.  We were able to find the thawing scat of Black Bear filled with the husks of beech nuts devoured the previous fall.  The beech trees were all scarred with the five clawed paws of bears climbing up and down.  His book has great photos of animal signs, track patterns, even close up views of feet.
 
    Wood Frogs and Spring Peepers have just started calling in the vernal pools.  Check out the April vacation week activities for adults, families and children.  I hope to see some of you on the afternoon of Saturday April 25th for my Amphibian Romp Program.

February in the Briar Patch

Mallards at Green Briar

    The month of February is the last leg of our hike up and over "Winter Mountain'.  Once March comes we find ourselves hiking quickly down the back side into spring.  How can we make it through these 28 cold days ahead? Why, by watching nature of course.  Those of us who do not migrate south have the opportunity to become one with the great natural adventure which is the full 4 seasons.  
    There are already signs that spring is not far away.  Everyday gifts us with a bit more sun light.  Watch for open water along the Smiling Pool edge.  We have groups of mallards, already paired up, swimming about. Birds out in the Briar Patch are already sending out their signals of LOVE into the air.  Male woodpeckers have started drumming on prime dead branches which enhance the quality of their love notes resounding through the Briar Patch.  Maybe that is why Valentines Day is right in the middle of February.
    The female holly trees and winterberry holly bushes have all lost their berries thanks to wintering birds.  A bold robin has single handedly eaten every holly berry from the display in the wooden barrels in front of the Education Building.  Spring should find little hollies growing where seeds have been dropped with their own little packages of fertilizer. Most of the rose hips on the multitude of Multiflora Rose bushes are gone.  Peter Rabbit has managed to eat hips off the branches flattened down by the heavy snow with birds munching the rest.  The River Otters have been very busy coming out of the Smiling Pool and crossing Discovery Hill Road to enter the little pond by Mr. Beaton's bog.  Look for their scat at the drainage culvert.  The scat looks like small long pine cones with rows of fish scales running along the edges.
 
   Need a break from drab days?  Check out the exhibits in the Green Briar galleries.  Come for a Wednesday or Saturday jam class, Friday critter capers or weekend story time.  Be of good cheer for Spring is near.

January in the Briar Patch

    January in the Briar Patch can be winter bliss or arctic misery.  I find January the Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde month.  Daytime temps range from warm (40's) to bitter (single digits).  We usually start the month off cold and end cold with a few blissful days of the typical January thaw somewhere in the middle.  

      One of my favorite things to do in the Briar Patch is to head out as soon after a snow storm as I can to look for tracks.  In the early days of Mr. Burgess's writings everyone thought most mammals hibernated for the winter.  In a newspaper story from the 1920's called "The Seven Sleepers" Mr. Burgess has Peter Rabbit discover seven animals that sleep all winter long.  We now know that only Nimbleheels the Jumping Mouse, Johnny the Woodchuck and Little Brown Bat are true hibernators in Massachusetts.  Buster Bear, who does not reside here on Cape Cod, sleeps and wakes all winter long.  Mrs. Buster Bear has her young during the winter months.  

   With the advent of miniature cameras scientists have had the opportunity to look down into dens and tunnels and see mammals during the winter.  Striped Chipmunk has quite the apartment under ground with a kitchen area, a bedroom and a bathroom.  He does not venture out above ground until the spring thaw.  Look for Mr. Burgess's book, The Dear Old Briar Patch and find the story called "The Unsuspected Neighbor." In the story Peter and Mrs. Peter find someone hibernating in an old woodchuck burrow.    

    Whose tracks can we find then in the snow this month?  Look for the single lined tracks of Reddy Fox and Old Man Coyote.  Jimmy Skunk, Old Mr. Possum and Bobby Raccoon waddle along the trails over each others tracks so you have to look closely to see individual feet to tell the difference.  Both Peter, Chatterer and Happy Jack hop but Peter's tracks would never end at a tree.  Watch both sides of the trail for tunnel entrance where Whitefoot the Woodmouse or Danny the Meadow Vole dive into after running across the open trail.  Peter Rabbit's Cocoa Puff shaped scats are often found along the Briar Patch Trail. 

  Our feeder station is very active so stop by for a great close view of wintering birds.  Have a Happy and Healthy New Year!

To view the 2009 articles:      Around the Pond 2009

The Thornton Burgess Society
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Thornton W. Burgess Society
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East Sandwich, MA 02537
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