Birds, Mammals, and Thoughts: Somme Woods, October 7, 2024

Many people appreciate the Somme preserves but don't walk there often. From time to time, for such folks, this blog publishes contributions to "here's what's going on."

Today, on this walk, the first notable birds were two hermit thrushes, both in a black haw tree, eating "wild raisins."  

Internet photo of Hermit Thrush eating fruits, though not wild raisins

Here's what those fruits look like. Tasty to us too, even after they dry.

And here's what the tree looks like. Would you notice it?

This seems to be Somme's only black haw that is big and healthy enough to produce fruit. When restoration started, black haw was the commonest shrub or understory tree in this woods. There's an interesting comparison with the sunnier Somme Prairie Grove, where the commonest shrubs were hazel nut, nannyberry, gray dogwood, sumach, and New Jersey tea. Small numbers of those shrubs were at Somme Woods when we first explored it. But they all dropped out, likely from too much shade, before the restoration reached them. Black haws seem to have survived the shade best, but only as few-inch-tall sprouts from spreading roots, hoping to pop up somewhere with more sun. These days they have plenty of sun, but the excessive deer population eats down all except the few that we protect with exclusion cages, as we once protected this one.  

And we always seem to pause for thoughts at our biggest tree, shown below:

Photos don't do justice to this big bur oak. The trees around it are big, but it dwarfs them. To measure its girth with our arms, it takes three or more of us. 

Hundreds of years old, this matriarch is nearing the end of her life, superficially speaking. But after the tree organism stops photosynthesizing, it will live on for decades as a home, food source, and habitat for woodpeckers, beetles, hawks, owls, fungi, and massively more. But also significant - "end-of-life-wise" - is the fact that there are no other bur oaks nearby - either old trees or seedlings. This area had been shady too long. And the restoration is not advanced enough yet for bur oak reproduction. Thus - a race against time. 

Next came a fox squirrel.

For years we've wondered if they would replace the gray squirrels, as the pre-restoration chaos of "Unassociated Woody Growth" evolved toward fox squirrel habitats of savanna and open oak woodland. Not so far. On this walk two fox squirrels were outnumbered by at least thirty gray squirrels. This subject seems to deserve its own separate post. Coming soon.

Squirrels are our only mammals fully active in daytime. That's partly why we learn more diverse habitat lessons from birds. 

Here's the list of the birds along the East Loop trail today:

Yellow-rumped warblers 5

White-throated sparrows 8

Juncos 14

Chickadee 1

Not very many birds actually. But it was the middle of the day, when birds are less active. Frequently in this area I see red-bellied woodpeckers, red-headed woodpeckers, a pileated woodpeckers or two, nuthatches, blue jays, red-tailed hawks, and others.  

Then came Fourth Pond, where there was a full-fledged Wild-life Wild-party under way. Birds here included:

Yellow-rumped warbler 11

Song sparrow 1

Juncos 7 

White-throated sparrow 14

White-breasted nuthatch 1

Red-belied woodpecker 2

Red-headed woodpecker 4 (one adult and three black-headed young)

Hairy woodpecker 1

Downy woodpecker 1

Goldfinch 5

Hermit thrush 1

Blue jay 2 

All were gloriously active, not drinking water, but finding food.  

This ephemeral pond was dark, dank, and bereft of animals and plants before the restoration began. It had been heavily used by cows for decades, and its bare perimeter sprouted massively with cottonwoods when the Forest Preserve District bought this land and sent those cows elsewhere. Cottonwoods and buckthorn irrupted and made that darkness and damp. 

After this dry summer, the pond is perhaps 5% the size it is in spring after snowmelt. But, full or dry, it's rich with life all year long. Opening this pond to sunlight has made a splendid difference. 

This post ends with credits, headed up by those for restoration.

Restoration credits

Rebeccah Hartz is the zone steward for Fourth Pond zone.

Forest Preserve staff gets credit for girdling those greedy cottonwoods.

Volunteer restoration crews have done the rest, workday by workday, over decades.

Related posts

On the girdling of the trees and this pond's one year of fish

On seeding the now-glorious nearby Fourth Pond Meadow

Photo credit

Hermit thrush: Birds of the World

Which Migrating Birds Appreciate the Flourishing Wildflowers and Grasses of Somme Woods?

When restoration began, the ground under the trees was bare. 

This post was inspired by the impressive abundance of migrating birds on September 24, 2024. (We'll touch on breeding birds later in the post.) 

Not that most people would notice them. The little insect-eating migrants were mostly obscured by vegetation or moving so fast, flitting from flower to flower and stem to stem that even with binoculars I missed most of them. But in a few minutes I identified and counted twenty migrating warblers of five species, and they carry a message.

The most abundant was the Nashville warbler with eleven individuals. Unusual for migrants, this species retains its dramatic spring plumage: yellow breast, white eye-ring, and blue-gray head. Like many warblers, they're mostly coming from Canada and heading for Central America or the Caribbean or the Amazon for the winter.

Nashville Warbler

Second most common were the black-throated green warblers (4 individuals identified) and the western palm warblers (3 individuals) - two species which typically spend their migration hunting time in very different habitats.  

Black-throated Green Warbler

In the past I mostly remember seeing the black-throated green high in mature trees. But today, hungry for insect fuel to power their long flights, they seemed to be going where the most food was. I saw none feeding up in the trees. They hovered in front of flowers or jumped from stem to stem. 

In contrast, the western palm warblers spend their summers in open bogs and their migration in prairies, fields, and dunes. Here they were in the herb understory of the woods, where I also saw one yellow-rumped warbler.

The other migrating warbler I saw today was one ovenbird. These handsome stripey-breasted characters hunt mostly on the ground in mature forest under thick shrubs. Or herbs? I've wondered if they might even return to nest here, as the habitat improves.  

Overbird

The wildflowers and grasses all these birds flitted among included elm-leaved goldenrod, Short's aster, wood reed, silky rye, and woodland thistle. 

In summer, the birds we see most commonly feeding in the wildflowers and grasses are the indigo bunting, yellowthroat, and bluebird. Actually the bluebird perches on a low tree branch and watches like a hawk, until it sees a tasty bug and plunges down into the herbs to catch it. Once I was surprised to see a pair of scarlet tanagers flitting from flower to grass to flower, feeding on insects, leaving their high-in-the-trees habitat behind. This is not a common site, but then neither is an oak woods with abundant summer flora. Even the much-commoner-than-before flycatchers - the great crested and the eastern pewee - that spend all their time in the trees may well be feeding largely on insects flying up from their food in the herbs. 

It's a pleasure for many of us to watch this ecosystem get richer and fuller of life, year by year. Somme Woods is a fine example of good work rewarded. 

For fall seed gathering and winter brush cutting with bonfires, check the schedule here. 

For a companion Somme Prairie Grove bird post, click here.

For more on Somme Woods birds, see https://vestalgrove.blogspot.com/2017/06/birds-moving-into-open-woods.html 

and 

https://woodsandprairie.blogspot.com/2018/04/breeding-bird-revival-after-habitat.html.

Acknowledgements

Mourning warbler photo from A-Z Animals

Other photo credits: All About Birds (Cornel Lab or Ornithology)

What Migrating Birds appreciate the Savanna Wildflowers and Grasses of Somme Prairie Grove?

Mourning Warbler

September 24, 2024. 

I was out in Somme Prairie Grove gathering seeds for restoration. The rare plants here surprised me with three great birds, on the same day, when I wasn't looking for them, and without binoculars: mourning warbler, black-billed cuckoo, and merlin.

The mourning warbler came first - with its gray head, black bib, and yellow breast. It jumped up, briefly, blurrily, on a stem to check me out - and then was gone. I was happy to see it. 

This bird was in an area of scattered six-foot oaks, down feeding in the dropseed grass, asters, savanna blazing star, and cream gentians. The mourning warbler nests in Wisconsin and Canada, winters in Central and South America, and need insect food to power its migration in between. It's uncommon to see them, partly because they tend to stay low, under vegetation. 

The second bird was the bigger surprise. Occasionally nesting at Somme, though not this year, the black-billed cuckoo is on the Threatened list as a breeding bird in Illinois. I would have expected to see it, if anywhere, in the same mixed-shrubs-and-herbs vegetation as the mourning warbler. 

Black-billed Cuckoo

But it flew up from an open grassland, at least fifty feet away from shrubs and trees. Little bluestem, heath aster, and rattlesnake master. I saw clearly the brown wings that distinguish it from its rusty-winged cousin, the yellow-billed cuckoo. It flew to the top of the nearest Hill's oak, and sat there for a bit. Then it flew a bit higher and dove like a peregrine into the open grassland on the other side of that tree. I waited a while, but it stayed down. Must have seen a delicious insect and chose to eat it among the flowers. 

My third bird, that late September day, was a merlin. This powerful little falcon was just migrating through, on the way from open woodlands and "parklike grasslands with scattered trees" in Canada to similar open habitats as far south as Ecuador. The Somme wildflowers and grasses provide food for it too, indirectly. Those plants provide most of the food for the large insects and small birds that the merlin eats. 

When we started restoration, Somme's open areas were poor habitat - typical former overgrazed pasture - soils worn out. Low scrawny plants like poverty oats and daisy predominated. Not attractive to many birds. 

In July, the area where the mourning warbler popped up today looked like this. 

It's been inspiring to see birds return as the soils and vegetation recovered. Now during the breeding season we share the viewscape and soundscape with orchard orioles, kingbirds, flickers, bluebirds, field and song sparrows, hummingbirds, indigo buntings, and yellow-throats - all of which depend largely on the herb vegetation. Also returning are larger predators including the Cooper's hawk and kestrel. Cooper's came back first, and then after three decades of restoration, we now have had one or two nesting pairs of kestrels every year. This recovering ecosystem has the resources that many rare or uncommon birds need. 

We of the Somme team happily work to be good neighbors to the birds, butterflies, and all biota who share this precious preserve with us.

For a companion Somme Woods bird post, click here.

Dragonflies of Somme

The 26 magical photos below, all taken by Lisa Musgrave in the Somme preserves, show 21 species - an impressive sampling of Somme's dragonfly biodiversity. Many of the tips for appreciating and photographing dragonflies are also from Lisa. 

Said to be the world’s fastest insects, dragonflies “can reach 19 to 38 mph.” They're among our most ancient animals. Fossil dragonflies, much like ours, go back 300 million years, predating the first dinosaurs by 100 million. Evolving all this time, they have become very good at what they do. 

Somme is proud to be a living home to such treasures. They owe their diversity here to the healthy habitat restored in uplands and ponds by removing invasive plants and broadcasting seed of the vegetation that supports their animal food. As both nymphs and adults, they are hunters of other insects.  

HOW TO ENJOY DRAGONFLIES

Just take a walk and look.

Binoculars that can focus close up are a great help, while they’re sitting still. On the wing, they’re so fast, you need unencumbered eyes to follow them.

It can be fun to learn their names and natural histories. But also don't hesitate to just admire and marvel. 

Green Darner

These often perch low in the grass on trail edges. Look about 10 feet ahead to see them before they fly.

Their transparent wings take on an amber tone as they grow older. Some migrate “thousands of kilometers.”

“To begin mating, a male usually just grabs a female, but the female chooses whether to actually mate.” (http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Anax_junius/)

Shown here perching on last year's bush clover (brown) and this year's prairie clover. 

Eastern amber wing - female.

Just an inch long. One of our smallest dragonflies. Said to fly in ways that make them 

appear to be wasps, thereby scaring away some possible predators. 

Shown here perching on prairie Indian plantain.

Eastern Amber Wing - male

In this species the male patrols a good egg-laying territory and waits for females to come to him. 

Shown here perching on Dudley's rush.   

Ruby Meadowhawk - male

They eat deer flies and mosquitoes. Thus – the more meadowhawks, the better. 

Ruby Meadowhawk - female (or young male) 

Meadowhawks are “sit and wait” hunters. When they see prey, they dart out and grab it; 

then they return to their perch to eat. 

See: https://www4.uwm.edu/fieldstation/naturalhistory/bugoftheweek/meadowhawks.cfm

White faced meadowhawk

They too hunt flying insects from perches – often long arching blades of grass. 

It takes a while for these dragonflies to develop their white faces, and they look like ruby meadowhawks until they do. 

I’ve often shown people that if I put my finger in front of a ruby meadowhawk, it will climb on my finger and stay put while I show other people a closer look. Or I put my finger above their perch when they fly out to hunt and find that they return and land on my finger - for as long as I'm patient to hold it there – unless another mosquito comes by. 

But “the internet” says that the white-face is the one most likely to do this. Perhaps I was giving credit to the wrong bug?

Variegated meadowhawk

According to Wikipedia, this species migrates as far south as Honduras and as far west as eastern Asia. Really? How do they get there? Do they ever come back?

Band-winged Meadowhawk

After mating, the females usually fly in tandem with males and lay their eggs, dipping the tips of their abdomens in shallow open water, usually in vegetation. The nymphs (or larvae or naiads) eat mosquito larvae, fly larvae, tadpoles, and small fish. 

Wandering Glider

Said to be the highest flying dragonfly, they have been recorded at 6,200m in the Himalayas. Also called the Globe Wanderer, it was the first species to recolonize Bikini Atol after nuclear tests there. It is the only dragonfly on Easter Island. As the insect world's greatest long-distance travellers, they are said to maintain a unified worldwide gene pool.

Four-spotted Skimmer

This "wolf" of dragonflies often catches and eats other dragonflies its size and smaller. 

Circumpolar in the northern hemisphere, found in Europe, Asia, 

and Japan (a good place to be a dragonfly, as these elegant insects are much appreciated there).

Often sits on perches with a good view and tilts head back and forth while scanning its territory for flying insects (to catch and eat) or other dragonflies (to chase out of its territory) (or catch and eat).

Halloween Pennant

Lays its eggs in ponds or marshes (like most dragonflies) – or even in holes in trees that fill with water. 

Mating males and females fly around, attached, and the female is lowered underwater to lay eggs (where she can breathe through air that is trapped by hairs on her legs). Note: Insects often breathe through parts of their bodies other than their mouths. 

Adults eat flying insects – mosquitoes, flies, gnats and sometimes other dragonflies.

The larvae live under water and are predators of, among other things, mosquito larvae. Yes!

Shown here perching on rough blazing star buds. 

Calico Pennant female

Females have yellow wing veins and males have pink.  

Common Whitetail - male

The aquatic larvae feed on smaller insect larvae, small crayfish, and tadpoles or minnows. 

Not one of those dragonflies which, when mating and laying eggs, fly around attached to each other for long periods. Whitetail mating takes about three seconds. They hunt on the wing, rather than from a perch.

Great Blue Skimmer

This big beauty likes shaded pools, where it often perches for long periods and is very tame.
More a savanna and woodland species than the others shown here - most of which seem to like our savanna but would also be at home on the open prairie.  

Red Saddlebags male

Like many dragonflies, adults can be found flying from May through early October.

Pond monitors can find the nymphs all year long. 

Black Saddlebags

Spend most of their time flying. Use their wide back wings to glide. 

Adults may congregate in swarms and may migrate. 

Lisa finds that they typically perch down low in the grasses.

Shown here perching low in rattlesnake master. 

Widow skimmer - female

Large and slow, making them easy to study. 

In many dragonfly species the male guards the female as she lays her eggs. 

In contrast, the males of this species “widow” the female after sex.

Widow skimmer - male

Also large and slow. 

The male defends a large territory and spends a lot of time chasing away other (large and slow) males.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer - male

Each wing has three dark brown spots. The mature males also have ten white spots.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer - young male 

A National Park Service website advises: 

“Approach this dragonfly slowly, but if it flies off, move closer to its vacant perch quickly, and then stop. Often the twelve-spotted will return, providing the careful stalker great views of its behavior.” 

What a gorgeous creature. What a fine photo. 

Shown here on a fresh stem of big blue-stem.
This photo was originally labelled "female." John and Jane Balaban wrote to point out that it "looks rather to be a young male. Female is heavier bodied without long claspers and without white spots on the wings." 
Lisa responds, "I would totally agree with what J&J say. They have way more experience than I do."
There's a lot to learn to be an expert. But we novices can contribute too. 

Eastern Pondhawk female

Their long leg spines help them catch and carry prey. This "athletic, swift-flying predator" often hunts damselflies, which are smaller and more dainty relatives of dragonflies. 

Eastern Pondhawk male

Its tail is "pruinose blue" - which required me to look up a new word. Pruinose turns out to mean "covered with powdery or waxy white granules." Like the surface of a blue grape or a stem of a black raspberry cane or blue-stemmed goldenrod. As so often, one answer leads to another question. Why is blue often covered with such granules? I suppose, another day for that one. His tail can look quite a bit bluer in different light. After months as voracious nymphs, the adults of this species only live for two weeks, long enough to reproduce. It's a privilege to appreciate their brief time with us.

Blue Dasher female

Sitting on a dead hawthorn branch

She's a "very aggressive predator" and will eat up to 10% of her body weight per day - mostly small flying insects. She will drop her eggs on the surface of water, where they'll then fall to the bottom. 

Blue Dasher male

As the female is laying eggs, the male will guard her from a perch nearby. This "guarding" is not to protect her from harm, but to prevent some other male from replacing the original sperm with his own, which they can do. 

Swamp Darner, laying her eggs or "ovipositing"

Notice her abdomen curved down to inject an egg into this rotting wood. 

The egg will wait until this ephemeral pond fills up again with water next spring, and then the aquatic nymph will emerge to hunt down and eat mosquito larvae.

Lance-tipped Darner

The large adults eat almost any soft-bodied flying insects 

including mosquitos, flies, butterflies, moths, and mayflies. 

Yes, beautiful dragonflies also eat beautiful butterflies. If I were a delicate butterfly, would I rather be eaten by a dragonfly, a bird, or a spider? I think my last choice would be the spider. I don’t like the injection, or being wrapped up and stored. But perhaps it would be less violent? Much of nature "passeth our understanding." But it can be appreciated anyway. And many examples demonstrate that nature works best with a balance of predators and prey. 

Healthy ecosystems are glorious and marvelous, but not "The Peaceable Kingdom.” We stewards work to maintain the ecosystems that maintain healthy, sustainable biodiversity - plants, fungi, micro-organisms, predators, and prey alike. 

Photos by Lisa Musgrave

Professionally a tennis coach, not a dragonfly expert, Lisa found and identified these treasures over the years, while she was also photographing birds, flowers, coyotes, and more - and also contributing expertise and physical work to the restoration of all three Somme preserves and functioning as co-steward of Somme Prairie. 

We who love the Somme preserves deeply appreciate her Great Dedication and Skill.

Advice for appreciating and identifying dragonflies

When asked for such advice, Lisa wrote: "My tips are always the same: 1. walk slowly.  2. go by yourself so you're not distracted  3. take pictures  4. the more time you spend, the more you'll see. It takes time to learn about dragonfly habits!  5. invest in a good guidebook, or go online."

For a "good guidebook" Lisa writes: "I use Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East by Dennis Paulson, but it's a beast. Probably the field museum's rapid field guide is the best choice. "

The info in these notes came from Lisa’s experiences and, mostly, random places on the Internet. Any corrections or additions would be appreciated. 

Lots more detailed info is at: https://wiatri.net/inventory/odonata/ 

and https://dnr.illinois.gov/education/wildaboutpages/wildaboutinvertebrates/wildaboutdragonflies.html

and, you know, the Internet, and local experts.