Sit Spot Observations – Page 3 – Trans Scend Survival

I wandered into my sit spot last Monday evening, before sun down- slightly overcast, well above freezing. Upon entering the park, significantly warmer air pockets dotted the trail- why, I don’t have the foggiest idea. This seems important, but I will leave the cause of such intense heat-bubbles of what a question to gnaw away at later.

Observations from the Wolf Pine @ Fox Park:

Firstly, the birds. I did not wait long before I heard a few White Breasted Nuthatches tooting. Soon after, I heard some call and response with some Cardinals, a first this year for me. The pileated activity has not wavered, but I wonder if the bugs are more prevalent now with the hot air floating around. I think I am seeming more medium sized woodpecker holes, particularly those from the Red Bellied Woodpecker. Downy/Hairy activity hasn’t changed much, still the odd one of those here and there.

Most interesting is the Brown Creeper activity. These birds went totally under the radar until now. They do not migrate- but all of a sudden, they are singing , swooping, and creeping like mad! I wonder if their two-tone whistle is a mating call, like the Chickadee’s (thanks for the info, Kurt!) The tell-tale, “only goes up the tree, never down” nuthatch-shaped bird is extremely well camouflaged. I wonder if that is more helpful in the winter, when they are going incognito? I mean, they are kind of obvious when they are burbling around the forest,

As for plant life, some kind of shrub that has reddish tendril tips is getting ready for show time. the previously hard and dry bud tips are now moist and are easily squished. This looks like fair game for little bugs and subsequently gleaners…. I can’t wait to see the forest unfold around me as we get deeper into spring.

Also: A fellow student recently told me quite possibly the most important pine tree-related info I have ever heard. Ready?

“White pine trees have bunches of 5 needles because the word “white” has 5 letters. So, logically, the red pine has bunches of 3 needles, because there are ONLY 3 LETTERS IN THE WORD “RED”.”

…Crazy. Food for thought.

Today and yesterday, 2.19.17 – 2.20.17, have officially kicked off my first real visits to my “sit spot” (required for all adventure ed students at PSU) and commutes around campus armed with my bird rig, ready for the warmer-weather inclined birds.

Observations from the Wolf Pine @ Fox Park:

Snowshoed into Fox Park around 2:15 on Sunday, 2.19.17.

Weather: After repeated heavy snow falls, Sunday was the first day solidly above freezing- thus a large amount of dripping and snow-condensing was happening. My wolf pine was in a bit of a freezing puddle, with ~2 feet of snow accumulation surrounding its base. High pressure day, bluish-grey skies and scattered wispy clouds. Light breeze, and fairly quiet.

Upon quieting myself and my raucous snow-hoverboards, it became apparent how few birds and squirrels were about. I could hear “whispers” and chips from passerines, but they sounded far away, likely to be lower on the hill, near the squishy earth and faux-pond. Squirrels maybe rustled a branch or two during my sit- note the trees where about half evergreen and probably not a food source for these little mammals. These trees would, however, provide good coverage from avian predators… I wonder if the squirrels have thought of that.

Perhaps the surrounding homes and intermittent (not on Sunday) construction sounds provided a safer space park wide. Owls and to a lesser extent hawks are irked to no end by these sounds and regular but unpredictable human activity. I have observed elsewhere in MA owls are not put off by circadian dog walkers at all; in fact, I would glean most of my “big bird” info from the unperturbed 2 – 3 times a day dog walkers of my neighborhood. Great horned families, bald eagles, and belted kingfisher pairs could care less about 2 dozen or more dogs pass under their homes a day, but the moment a motor boat, police cars, or loud parties occurred these unbelievable species would vanish. I make this digression because this is a college town, and the park is surrounded by active dwellings of different sorts, including development sites. THUS: there were essentially no rodents/lagomorphs/etc. (easily findable ones that is)

Speaking of which, the tracks were tough to figure out. Heavy dogs? Yes. beyond that, the melting snow and dripping was creating a fairly non-descript blanket over any crazy prints.

I noticed remarkable BIG woodpecker activity, i.e. Pileated and Red Bellied/flicker- especially on my way out of the park. Holy smokes are the pileated OCD around here!

Also Note the intersting spiraling growth pattern on this Wolf Pine limb. It is long dead, but appears and felt denser than “ye average” pine tree. ??