February Full Moon

Did you ever hear of a Harvest Moon, or “once in a Blue Moon”? Naming moons is a tradition that goes far back before Europeans settled in America. Various American Indian tribes of the Northeast would name Full Moons according to seasonal events.

February is known as the Full Snow Moon. According to the Farmers’ Almanac, usually the heaviest snows fall in February. This is true for Philadelphia this year. We have had the most snow ever on record for the month of February. Animals hide and stay in their homes making hunting very difficult. To some American Indian tribes, this was also called the Hunger Moon.

The next full moon is scheduled for February 28^th, 2010. This is Educator Ehren giving you the heads-up and asking you to keep your “heads up” to the night sky.

Katie Says: Branch out and try something new!

Everywhere I go recently, I am amazed at the number and size of tree tops, branches and even whole trees that have fallen as a result of the heavy snow we received earlier this month. If you have limbs down in your yard, what are you to do with them? How about using them to attract wildlife to your backyard?

There are all sorts of ways that we can welcome wildlife into our backyards. Most people know they can attract birds by adding bird feeders and baths, and many people plant native vegetation in their yards to attract birds, butterflies and maybe even a mammal or two. Another way to attract wildlife is to build a brush pile. By taking some of those fallen limbs and piling them up in a corner of your yard, you are creating a safe hiding place for all sorts of animals, including birds, chipmunks, rabbits, lizards and snakes. If you’re a little uneasy at the thought of snakes in your yard, just remember that snakes are a great form of pest control. Much cheaper than hiring the Orkin man to protect your property from rodents! If you really want to turn your brush pile into The Ritz, add a nice big log. As the log decomposes through the aid of insects, it turns into a feast for insect-eating animals. A hollow log is also a choice hibernation spot for small mammals, reptiles and even some butterflies that hibernate beneath bark.

Adding a brush pile to your backyard is not only a great benefit to wildlife, but also a benefit to yourself; you have the opportunity to watch wildlife, find a use for those fallen branches, and it’s less of your yard you have to mow come spring!

Have a question or a story of your own to share? Email me at kfisk[at symbol]briarbush.org!

Katie Says: Taxidermy is stuffed full of fun!

Everyone has some sort of hobby or activity that they love to do. For my Dad, it’s woodworking. For my Mom, it’s making cards. Me, I get all tingly with excitement playing with dead things. I get a thrill when I come across the skeleton of an animal in the woods and star in my own episode of “CSI: Philadelphia” to figure out what the animal is and maybe even how it might have died. At Briar Bush, I lovingly tend to a colony of dermestid beetles, a native species of beetle that can take a dead animal and clean it down to the bone in less than a week. I have also taken on a new hobby of study skin preparation.

Study skins are a kind of taxidermy, but instead of stuffing an animal and then arranging it into a life-like pose, the animal is laid flat, in order to be stored and displayed inside of a drawer. Biologists and other scientists use study skins to study anatomical features of a species when a life specimen is not available. At Briar Bush, these study skins will not only be used for display, but will provide an up-close and hands-on experience for visitors, something that the “Please do not touch” full taxidermy specimens cannot provide. The process of preparing a study skin can be meticulous and difficult, but it is always fun and educational! The animals that I prepare are ones that were found dead and were donated to Briar Bush by visitors, volunteers or staff members, who know that we possess all the required permits to keep these animals. If you come across a dead (but not decomposing) animal that you would like to donate to Briar Bush, be sure to let me know…you just may see it on display or in a program some day!

Have a question or a story of your own to share? Email me at kfisk[at symbol]briarbush.org!

Katie Says: Track down some fun in the snow!

We certainly have been receiving a lot of snow here at Briar Bush! But before you think the only fun thing to do after a heavy snow is to cozy up on the couch with a Snuggie and a cup of hot cocoa, instead consider strapping on your winter jacket and snow boots and heading out to Briar Bush! Snow provides the unique opportunity for winter animal tracking. A hike through the snow-covered woods can reveal countless stories and give you clues to animals you rarely get to see.

On Sunday, following the latest heavy snow, I headed out to a local park to do some tracking of my own. It wasn’t long after I had set out on my adventure that I found some mystery tracks. Fluffy snow makes telling what precisely made the trail a bit more difficult, but following the tracks might lead to more clues. I followed my mystery tracks up the hill and there, in the shelter of a large oak tree and a couple of logs, I found three bowl-like depressions in the snow where deer had spent the snowy night, the snow slightly melted by their body heat. I hiked a bit further and found the tiny, bounding tracks of a white-footed mouse. Every so often, the tracks would end at a perfectly spherical hole as the mouse dove under the snow, only to emerge a few inches later. Perhaps the mouse heard a predator? Certainly there are many predators in the park as my next discovery was the tracks of a red fox on a fallen log. I couldn’t make out the tracks very well, but the musky, skunk-like smell of the “yellow snow” on the log made it perfectly clear whose tracks I was looking at!

If you would like to have your own wildlife tracking adventure, be sure to stop by Briar Bush this week. You’ll be amazed at the stories told in the snow!

Have a question or a story of your own to share? Email me at kfisk[at symbol]briarbush.org!

Katie Says: Allow me to introduce myself!

Hello! And welcome to a new feature here on the Briar Blog, “Katie Says:” This will be a weekly feature where I will write about wonders of the natural world, answer commonly asked questions at Briar Bush, or share other personal nature-related experiences.

I thought that since this was my first entry, that it would only be polite to introduce myself. I am Katie Fisk, a new environmental educator who started with Briar Bush back in September of 2009. I moved here from Florida, but before you start feeling bad for me “Oh! A Floridian stuck in a Pennsylvania winter!” I will tell you that I spent the first 18 years of my life in North Dakota. Yup, winters here are far milder by comparison! Amongst my other job responsibilities, writing and teaching on and off-site programs with my colleagues, I am also launching a new program series, “Family Programs with The Nature Geek!” This monthly series features fun, interactive programs that will entertain and educate both child and adult alike. I hope to see all of you at a program sometime!

Before I sign off for this week’s entry, of course I must include a nature story! Although Punxsutawney Phil predicted yesterday that we will have six more weeks of winter, I have begun to see signs of spring! Just this weekend I noticed a group of European starlings whose beaks had changed from their dark winter coloration to the bright yellow of the breeding season. It seems these marvelous mimics are making all the preparations to strut their stuff in hopes of attracting the perfect mate. And why not? Valentine’s Day is only 11 days away!

Have a question or a story of your own to share? Email me at kfisk[at symbol]briarbush.org!

Naturalist News: Urban raptors soaring over city and suburbs

Did you know October is Raptor Month? Since 2006, Briar Bush has celebrated with “RaptorFest.” The open house event features family fun and learning, including amazing, up-close encounters with live birds of prey from local organizations and falconers alike. Sponsored by Marsha Pearson of The Avian Promise and FOBB Board Member, these live animal presentations have taught us all a great deal about these amazing birds.

Watching wild raptors doesn’t have to wait until next October! For many reasons, hawks, falcons, owls and other raptors have been showing up in the urban and suburban landscape in ever greater numbers since the 1970s. While some of the increase has been attributed to loss of previous habitat, many positive factors are involved: the banning of DDT and other pesticides in the early ‘70s was a major step along with federal protection and re-introduction projects in cities and wildlands alike.

There can be a high concentration of food for the predators where we humans abound: feeding birds is becoming one of the most popular past-times in the country and many raptors feed on smaller birds. Though some may not appreciate the feeder birds being “picked-off,” it is important to remember that hawks have to eat, too! Besides, how often do we get to see a predator in action right in our backyard?

Raptors also provide a major benefit as they prey heavily on rodent pests. Unfortunately, this can often lead to their downfall: many birds of prey are poisoned when they eat tainted rats or mice. Most rodenticides on the market contain poisons which do not kill pest animals immediately. The poisoned rodents often go outside and are eaten by hawks or other raptors, killing them. At Briar Bush we have been upgrading buildings to try to exclude rodents and we are moving to non-toxic methods of pest control in order to better protect the birds and other wildlife here.

For more information on raptors in our area, check out the websites listed, or contact our education staff and keep watching the skies in your neighborhoods!

Militia Hill Hawk Watch: http://www.wyncoteaudubon.org/mhhw.htm

Webcam (and lots of info) of Peregrine falcons in Harrisburg: http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/falcon/

Webcam of Red-tailed hawks nesting at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia:
http://www2.fi.edu/hawknest.php

Article written by Briar Bush Nature Center Senior Naturalist, Mark Fallon