Around the Pond 2009 By Mary Beers, Education Director

December in the Briar Patch

For anyone who seeks solitude and peace during this hectic holiday season the Briar Patch can be your balm.  There are still birds out and about but their activity is often accomplished quietly.  Our feeder station is a great place to view these feathered friends.  You can sit in the classroom and peer out the large windows or brave the elements and stand quite close before they flee into the brush.  Along the trails you can hear the calls of Sammy Blue Jay and Welcome Robin.  Others use soft single notes to announce their presence.  The Snowbirds, or Slaty as Burgess called the Juncos, are back along with Whitethroat the Sparrow.  Peter Rabbit says of Whitethroat that he always seems to be saying, "I live happ-i-ly, happ-i-ly, happ-i-ly." We say it is more like "Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody."  When White-throat is up north he sings, "Oh Canada, Canada, Canada."  Come and listen for yourself.  

 Along the paths there are areas where the oak leaves have been raked by the wind into piles. 

 Look for the blues and greens of the Shield Lichens clinging to the bark of trees especially Oaks.  "Freddy Fungus and Alice Algae took a-lichen to one another."  This reminds us that these interesting plants are a combined relationship between fungi and single cell algae.  They are an indicator of air that is pollution free.

I like to look for moss along the trails.  They are also evergreen and cheery among the many shades of brown.  These carpets of Mother Nature's woods offer shelter to the little ones still out and about.  Watch for them along the path edges and be gentle with your feet for they have no roots to hold them in place.  Look for the Christmas Fern which is a winter-hardy species.  Its leathery leaves have little "thumb-like" lobes protruding along the leaf margin.    Look in the Wild Flower Garden for this and other evergreen species of ferns.  The winter rosettes of Shasta Daisy, Golden Ragwort, Forget Me Not, Foxglove and Mullein and others offer a green among the brown cheeriness. 

On the Winter Solstice, December 21st    bring a pocket of seeds to scatter along the trails for the woods folk.  I like to whisper "Happy Solstice" as I scatter my seed.  May this Blessed Season bring joy and peace to you and yours. 

November in the Briar Patch

Witch Hazel

Early November finds our native oaks in their glory.  The muted tones of multi shades of orange and red are spectacular against clear blue skies and seem to pop out even under overcast conditions.  Gone are the showy maple and tupelo leaves. In the wildflower garden the Autumn Crocus is blooming as is the Witch Hazel bush over by the hedgerow.   Toward the month's end hikers on the hillside above the Sandwich Water District's pump houses are treated to spectacular unobstructed views of the smile within the Smiling Pool Pond.  Resident arachnids (wood and deer ticks) are still found on warmer days when the temperatures hover above 40 degrees.
 
The Green Forest is quiet except for the occasional shrieks of Sammy Blue Jay (Town Crier of the wood folk) and the single quiet call notes of Tommy Tit the Chickadee, Glory the Cardinal, and Hairy and Downy the Woodpeckers.  Mrs. Red-tail Hawk has been scouting the pond and garden in search of tasty morsels.  Listen for her loud shriek of KEY-EAR as she soars over head.   Happy Jack Squirrel, Timmy the Flying Squirrel and White-foot the Woodmouse have left the remnants of October picnics along the trails for us to discover.  Happy Jack leaves discarded acorn cups with a side bit off, shredded acorn husks and cracked sections of hickory nuts along the paths.  White-foot's small jagged holes in nut or acorn and Timmy's smoothly-edged chews are evidence of midnight snacks carefully and cautiously eaten.  Striped Chipmunk retires by month's end to his underground abode with his winter store of acorns, nuts, and our sunflower seeds tucked into his pantry.

Families who have left us their email will be receiving a survey to complete which will help us and other museums better serve our visitors.  Thank you in advance for completing this important survey.  If you do not receive a survey by November 11th and would like to participate please contact me at mary.beers@thorntonburgess.org.

September in the Briar Patch

Katydid

Ragweed

Purple Martin

September is for me the month for crickets and katydids.  These insect's sounds dominate the Briar Patch day and night.  Katydids belong to the grasshopper and cricket family being more closely related to crickets.  There are several species in Massachusetts. The True Katydid is calling right now.  Males and females answer one another in the Copper Beech tree at Green Briar: "Katydid - She didn't - She did - She didn't."  These green katydid's rub their front wings together to make that sound.  They can hear each other through "ears" on their front legs.  They are very hard to spot in the trees and bushes.  I have more stumbled upon them than actually hunted them down.  They resemble green leaves.  The female has a huge ovipositor at the end of her abdomen.  She uses this structure to insert eggs in tree bark.  Female crickets also have an ovipositor located between their two "tail" spines at the end of their abdomen. 

Did you know you can make a good estimate of temperature by listening and counting cricket chirps or katydid calls?  The easiest method is to count the chirps in 15 seconds and add 40 to get the approximate temperature in Fahrenheit degrees.  The web site for the University of Nebraska Lincoln has the original formula developed in 1897 by A. E. Dolbear from Tufts University.  The web site lists the following formulas if you want to fine tune your observations.  entomology.unl.edu/k12/crickets/temperature.htm 

• Field Cricket - Temperature = 50 plus number of chirps minus 40 divided by 4.

• True Katydid - Temperature = 60 plus number of chirps minus 19 divided by 3

There are several new additions to the Wildflower Garden.  A new bridge was installed to replace the old "Troll" bridge which finally succumbed to years of wet feet.  A beautiful arbor now graces the end of the hedgerow.  We are trying to convince the autumn clematis to grow up and over the arch.  Just this week a beautiful purple martin house was added to a center bed.  These newest additions to our lovely campus were gifted through a monetary donation by a wonderful and dedicated volunteer.  I am not sure he wishes to be named.  

There has been some controversy regarding this bird house.  I have researched the issue and have made a decision.  We will try to attract the beautiful purple martin by maintaining the house and keeping it free from the non-native, invasive and destructive house or english sparrow.  According to Ray Marr, "the New England Martin Ambassador", there are several active sites in Mashpee as well as martin's nesting in Cedarville.  Being close to both locations and since martin's select nests spots along the coast we will keep the house up.  This is a big commitment since choosing to attract martins means we have to keep vigilant and be ready to evict any house sparrows who love to nest in communal sites.    

Come take a stroll through the garden.  You must see the huge pink rose mallow flowers.  I especially enjoy looking at the white, red and pink turtlehead flowers.  The vivid red cardinal flowers and the striking blue cardinal flowers are still going strong.  Enjoy the goldenrods and know they are not causing your itchy nose and sneezing.  Goldenrod flowers do not send pollen into the wind, rather insects collect the pollen along with the nectar.  Get to know the real brute of the late summer - ragweed. It is not too late to come by on Monday mornings and help out with weeding.

August in the Briar Patch

Dragonfly

The August air around the Smiling Pool is filled with wonderful sights.  This is the season of dragonflies and damselflies.  These wonderful winged creatures add rich hues of blue, green, brown, tan, purple even red to the edge bushes and water surface. Busy going about egg laying, females in tandem with males or alone gently touch their abdomen tips to the water's surface, silently releasing eggs to fate and fish.  The male has special claspers on the very tip of his abdomen which grasp the female in grooves on the back of her head.  Each specie has its own unique groove and clasper configuration.  Mating places them into a heart-shaped pose.  The male may then carry the female down to the water's surface where she extends her abdomen just below the water.  Occasionally the male overshoots his target and plunges them both into the water where hungry pickerel or pumpkinseed sunfish gobble them both up.  Many underwater creatures survive on this rich deposit of eggs.  Eggs that survive the gauntlet hatch and extremely small nymphs emerge within a few days or the following spring to live and hunt below the surface until their terrestrial lives begin. 

Dragonflies remind me of helicopters hovering over the pond.  They rest with their wings outstretched while the more slender damselfly rests with wings folded on the back.  Both groups of insects belong to the insect order Odonata which is Greek for "toothed".  These insects have tooth-like structures on their mandibles or jaws.  These creatures are often portrayed in art, especially in Japan.  European folk lore has them often portrayed as "horse-stingers" or "devil's darning needles".   These creatures do not sew up the lips of liars or sting horses.  They are not harmful at all rather they are extremely beneficial insects who consume large quantities of mosquitoes.  A great diversity of species around a pond serves as an indicator of good water quality.  A visit to the Smiling Pool will yield many different species do to the great water quality and numerous sub-habitats found here. 

There are a couple of great resources for further information on these incredible predators around the pond and salt marsh:  A fold out guide to Northeastern Dragonflies and Damselflies from the Mass Audubon Society and Wild Guide Dragonflies by Cynthia Berger. 

July in the Briar Patch

We are entering the season of pond exploration summa cum laude.  Grandfather Frog is starting to have amorous thoughts.  His Chug-O-Rum call is offered half heartedly right now on these cool cloudy days. Once the sun comes out and the temperature rises so will his enthusiasm.  A sunset visit to the Smiling Pool by mid-July should offer a boisterous chorus of Bull Frog ballads. 
 
As you walk around the pond edge be sure to look closely at the branches of the sweet gale and sweet pepper bushes, and the leaves of the cut grass and rushes for the empty nymphal exoskeletons left by emerging dragonfly and damselfly adults.  The old boat dock supports are another great source of these almost transparent remnants of metamorphosis.  July finds the catfish pair moving in and out of their nest on the pond bottom alongside the old dock   Where ever you walk, be it woods or shore, be sure to look for the shiny green leaves of poison ivy.  Remember "Leaves of three - Let them be".
 
The wildflower garden at Green Briar and the Tussy Mussy garden at the Burgess Museum are great places to observe insects.  Butterflies and moths are attracted to specie- specific host plants.  Baltimore butterfly caterpillars feed on turtle head.  Monarch caterpillars munch on various species of milkweed. Sulphur and white species of butterfly choose members of the mustard family.  One of my favorite insects to discover in the garden is the spittlebug.  Look for foamy white blobs on plant stems.  I can remember calling this snake spit as a child.  Inside these bubbly blobs hide the nymphs or immature spittlebugs.  The foam is created from sticky fluid secretions.  Gently remove the blob and wipe away the foam to find the green or brown nymph inside.  Be sure to replace the bug on the same plant. 
 
Did you know that there are no poisonous snakes on Cape Cod? We have 10 species of snakes sharing this land with all of us.  Can you name all 10?  Email me your list.  If you are the first person to email me with the correct list of Cape Cod Snakes I will include the list and your name in the August Newsletter.  Mary.beers@thorntonburgess.org

June in the Briar Patch

Pumpkinseed Sunfish

 The Briar Patch is just bursting with every shade of green imaginable.  Reflected in the Smiling Pool these colors shimmer with vitality.  The swan family pushes through this palette as they cruise around for choice morsels of submerged vegetation.  Below the surface the male pumpkinseed sunfish is completing his morning housekeeping by pushing away small pieces of elodea that have drifted into his nest.  Called a Redd, this depression is swept clean of any errant vegetation as his awaits the arrival of his mate.  She will be his dance partner for their sideways tango, lay her eggs and leave him to do the rearing of any young that survive the pond predators.  Look for the male with his blue edged fins.  The female, if you can catch a glimpse of her,  has a soft brown edging. 

 The cherry trees around the pond are coming into their glory.  Branches droop with the weight of their white clusters of flowers.  The Briar Patch is home to Wild Black and Choke Cherry.  Scrape a small portion of bark off the gray branch of a choke cherry and the pungent sour smell will tell you why it has received this name.   The Black Locusts come into bloom mid June.  The morning air is suddenly filled with the overpoweringly sweet smell of the pea-blossom shaped white flowers are fragrance filled and a great source of nectar for our resident honey bees. 

The indoor observation hide should be up shortly for viewing.  The outside hive mates are busily working the many and varied flowers in the wildflower garden.  Spring azure butterflies are fluttering by the edges of the Briar Patch where I spotted my first tiger swallowtail of the season.  The front porch at the Green Briar building is hosting a phoebe and an hour sparrow couple.  Babies are peeping in food orders from both nests.  We are amazed by the persistence of the phoebe parents who endured the parade of passerby's during the Herb Festival to bring their eggs to hatching.  The mud dauber nest plops on the beams and upper wall of that porch await a bit warmer weather before the beautiful blue-black slender-waist wasps to emerge.   

Set aside an hour or two to come and be enveloped in the sights and smells of nature bursting for with spring beauty.  For me the Briar Patch continues to be my Balm in Gilead.  

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

MAY  IN  THE  BRIAR  PATCH

    The air is filled with sounds of spring.  The very warm days that ended April seem to have accelerated blooms and birds alike.  A couple of days ago I stood underneath a black locust tree just about 10 feet down the Crooked Little Path listening to the persistent tap, tap, tapping of Mrs. Red-bellied Woodpecker excavating her nest hole.  The sound carried down the tree and try as I might I could not see where the entrance hole was.  Mister seemed trying to look busy on the hunt for insects along a topmost branch.  Was he avoiding housework or was he told to get out from underneath her feet?  I continued on the path and turned right to go up Fairy Hill.  When I got to the top of the hill and looked back at the tree I spied the entrance hole.  The tree top appeared to be rabbit-ear-like dividing into two trunks at the top.  There on the right "ear" was the hole.  Every time I walk by now I put my ear to the tree wondering if the sound of little woodpeckers would carry down with the same force as her tapping.  Red-bellied woodpeckers are very interesting.  Both sexes have bright red on their heads.  The female has the red down low on the back of her head while the male has a red crown and back of the neck.  They are smaller than a common flicker and larger than a hairy.  The Briar Patch hosts many pairs of red-bellied woodpeckers so a hike is sure to yield a sighting.

I heard my first Pickerel Frog of the season the last week of April.  Their snoring-like extended "room" may remind you of Grandfather Frog with a really bad sore throat.  The beginning of May is a great time to listen from the boat docks for the call of this handsomely svelte frog.  The skin color ranges from light brown to green with rows of rectangular brown spots.  Underneath the rear legs hides a surprise for any predator.  Bright yellow or orange skin may startle a predator and allow an escape.  Pickerel frog embryos in the egg cluster are yellow or gold colored unlike other any other frog's eggs.  Pickerel frog adults are often discovered deep in the Briar Patch away from the Smiling Pool.    

May is a great time to explore the wildflower garden.  The color palette is exquisite.  Yellow, pink, baby blue, even purple flowers spill out from the beds.  A recent hike through the garden also yielded Jerry Muskrat - shush do not tell the gardeners - and a slender garter snake.  The family of Little Joe Otter is quite busy around the spillway into Mr. Beaton's bog pond.  Look for their fish scale-filled scat on the sides of Discovery Hill Road.  Poison Ivy has started to leaf out.  The shiny reddish green leaves in the classic three leaflet shape mask the itchy rash many who touch will suffer.  Remember "Leaves of 3, Let Them Be." 

May is Strawberry Month in the kitchen classes.  Check the schedule for the many offerings this month.

APRIL  IN  THE  BRIAR  PATCH

 
   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.

The Thornton Burgess Society
appreciates the support of the
Massachusetts Cultural Council

info@thorntonburgess.org

Thornton W. Burgess Society
6 Discovery Hill Road
East Sandwich, MA 02537
508-888-6870