Newsletter title

November 2012

In This Edition

Docent Recognition Luncheon

—Andrew Donovan-Shead

Anita Springer convened the annual Docent Recognition Luncheon in the Foreman’s House at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 20th. After lunch, Anita had some words to say, followed by Nancy Hatfield and then Harvey Payne. Watch the video in the window to the right for details — as usual, it’s hand-held unSteadyCam after a couple of cups of Anne’s cowboy coffee.

Bison Roundup

—Andrew Donovan-Shead

Katherine Hawk, at the Oklahoma City office of The Nature Conservancy, publishes a monthly email newsletter OK Nature News; this month she reported on the roundup with an article titled Inside the Stampede that included the video you can see immediately below. If you want to receive OK Nature News each month then send Katherine an email to khawk@tnc.org asking her to add your address to her distribution list.

Coon-Breeding Moon

—John Joseph Mathews

This is the true hunting moon, and during this moon all other business is secondary to hunting. The blackjacks are still shining fantastically in the sun, and the sumac are less startling in their bright scarlet now, since they have no green background and many of them have shed their bright leaves by this time. The mallards have come to linger on the prairie ponds or feed along the banks of the creeks, flying to and from the grounds where the cattle are grain-fed. The prairie chickens have begun to fly into the blackjacks from the high prairie to feed on the acorns. The whitetail buck, if still here, would be stepping high with a male musk that man himself could smell at times….

[Excerpt from Chapter XI of Mathews’ book Talking To The Moon, available at the Visitor’s Center of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve.]

Brown Creeper (Certhia Americana)

—Nicholas Del Grosso

Brown Creeper camoflage by Nicholas Del Grosso

The Brown Creeper is a small bird that spans the gamut of forest habitats. You will often find it in coniferous, mixed coniferous and deciduous forest. It prefers forested habitat in moist areas, but that being said, it can also be found in dry forests. Here in Oklahoma, I have only seen the creeper in forested areas along creeks and ponds.

The creeper is a very difficult bird to spot; its coloration makes it look like a piece of tree bark. The head, back and wings are bark brown with light spotting, while the throat, chest and stomach are white. Both sexes have similar coloration. Its size also helps to camouflage this bird; at 4.7 inches the creeper often hides in plain sight. If it is motionless and flat against its tree it takes a very good eye to spot. Fortunately for the birder the Brown Creepers foraging technique has it in perpetual motion. It will circle a tree while spiraling upward, probing with its slightly curved bill into nooks and crannies. The objects of this search are caterpillars, small beetles, ants, spiders and other bugs found on the bark or in crevices. They use this same tactic when foraging along main branches. In the winter, when insects are scarce, they supplement their diet with seeds and nuts. But even than it is rare to find a Brown Creeper on the ground, look to the trees to find this bird.

Brown Creeper by Nicholas Del Grosso

When the creeper reaches the apex of its spiraling upward search, it will fly to the base of the next tree looking like a wind borne leaf as it descends. It will then start another upward spiral. The Brown Creeper’s anatomy dictates this upward spiral. It has grasping feet centered on either side of its body and a stiff thin tail which stabilizes it as it searches the bark for insects. It hops around the tree ever upward; for the life of me, I think it looks like a monochrome frustrated woodpecker searching for food. This continual movement is the only thing which gives it away. It is estimated that all this action burns up only 4-10 calories a day, while eating a single spider gives the creeper enough energy to climb almost 200 feet vertically.

The Brown Creeper is a solitary bird and it is rare to find more than two or three in a large woodlot, in the winter you will often find the odd creeper among a mixed flock of chickadees, nuthatches, kinglets and woodpeckers, but they appear to be alone within the flock. I’m sure at such times the creeper is benefiting from the additional eyes in the leafless forest

This bird is not a long distance flier. It breeds from southern Alaska down through the west coast and into the Rockies across southern Canada and into the northeast and south into the Appalachians. During the winter these birds move into the mid section and coastal southeast United States. Some actually spend the winter on their breeding grounds. It appears that most of the creepers take a short flight to alternate between their breeding and non-breeding habitat. The following Christmas Bird Count map shows a snapshot of their winter distribution. The deep red shows a higher concentration of creepers while the lighter reds indicate a lower concentration of creepers.

Brown Creeper Distribution

When they reach the breeding grounds they prefer large loose barked trees for foraging and dead or dying balsam firs for nesting. They like dead or dying trees because the creeper usually places its nest between the detached bark and the trunk of the tree.

Within the space between the loose bark and the tree the female will fill the void with a mass of slender twigs and on this foundation she will build her nest of fine inner bark, moss, spider cocoons, hair, feathers and grass. This construction will be 2-5 inches deep and 6 inches across. It can be found from the base of the tree up to 40 feet high. The male brings the nest materials to the nest site but does none of the construction. Sometimes the creeper will use abandoned woodpecker holes or knots in the tree if dead or dying trees and loose bark are not available.

The Brown Creeper is monogamous during the breeding season. The male attracts a female through song. Like most birds song also plays a part in defending territories. Once a female is attracted, the male throws himself into a display of aerial agility. This often includes launching into the air from his tree and at top speed spiraling around it close to the bark, then darting away and twisting around neighboring trees. He reminds me of the wood sprites in Disney’s movie Brave, dashing in and around trees leading Merida ever deeper into the forest. However, the creeper ends his mad dash back on the bark motionless. Unfortunately none of this takes place in Oklahoma. The Breeding Bird Atlas does not list this bird as an Oklahoma breeder.

Once mating occurs the female will lay 4-9 eggs, they are from pure to creamy white in color and average about 15.1 by 11.8 millimeters in size. They will hatch within two weeks and the hatchlings make the short trip to the bark within 13 to 14 days of hatching. It appears that both the male and female feed the hatchlings. They are as well camouflaged as their parents and they make their whereabouts known by vocalizing a high pitched Tssssi call.

Brown Creeper nest by Nicholas Del Grosso

Creepers often fall prey to domestic cats and Northern Shrikes. Their nests are endangered by fox squirrels, flying squirrels, wood rats and deer mice. When they see or hear a predator they freeze against the tree bark, this is a significant problem if the predator spots them before they freeze. They are a brave little bird often seen chasing chipmunks and joining groups of chickadees, nuthatches and kinglets in mobbing jays and crows.

The Brown Creeper seems to have a stable or increasing population across its range. However, timber harvesting in the west, to include clear cutting and selective cutting, has removed many of the large trees in which the creeper forages. While salvage logging impacts the creeper by removing dead or dying trees they nest in. More study is needed to understand this bird, it appears to help control forest insects and may actually have an important role to play in maintaining forest health.

The Brown Creeper does not often come to a feeder, so in Oklahoma the best way to view this bird is by walking slowly through a woodlot bordering a creek or pond. Make sure your chosen path is among ice or wind damaged oaks or hickories with dead snags in the crown. Look for movement on the trunk or main branches. I have sometimes seen the creeper along wooded stretches of Sand and Hog Creeks, but as the results of the Oklahoma Christmas Tallgrass Prairie Bird Count demonstrates, it is a hard bird to see. Last year, none were cited and the 14 year average is only 4 a year. In any case walking through a woodlot on a crisp early morning, with the smell of autumn leaves in the air is its own reward and sighting the elusive creeper only makes the experience better.

Jimmy Carter once said I want to make it clear, if there is ever a conflict between environmental quality and economic growth, I will go for beauty, clean air, water, and landscape. This is something we all need to remember in this time of economic crises. Our decisions today have effect on a myriad of species in the future and the world is a poorer place without them. Places like the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve provide critical habitat for nesting, migrating and wintering birds throughout the seasons.

Bunkhouse Quilts

—Andrew Donovan-Shead

Another article this month in OK Nature News concerned the new quilts installed on the beds in the bunkhouse by the Jubilee Quilters’ Guild of Bartlesville; read all about it in the frame below or open this link to get it full-page.

Docent Coverage Of Season Days

—Andrew Donovan-Shead

Docent Coverage of Season Days

Visitor Counts

—Iris McPherson

Visitor history

In August we had a total of 293 visitors. Of that number there were 274 visitors representing 28 states and 19 international visitors representing 7 countries. Following Oklahoma (150) in number of visitors were the top 3 states of Florida (15), Louisiana (13) and Maine (12).

In September we had a total of 389 visitors. Of that number there were 370 visitors representing 28 states and 19 international visitors representing 10 countries. Following Oklahoma (236) in number of visitors were the top 3 states of Georgia, Kansas and Washington tied with 12 each.

The table to the right displays the total counts for August and September, 2012, with those months in previous years.

We are still missing visitors from Alaska, North Dakota, Rhode Island and Vermont.

I think the heat has been the main cause for the drop of number of visitors for 2012. I would encourage each of you to make sure to ask all of our visitors to sign the guest book.

I think you’ve been doing a good job. Just keep it up.

Other Places to Visit

Here we provide some links to other places worth visiting.

Tallgrass Prairie Preserve Visitor’s Center Latitude & Longitude

Here is the latitude and longitude of the Visitor’s Center that you can give to visitors for entry into their GPS navigation device.

Kiosk Maintenance

The manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning the touch-screen recommend use of a soft dry cloth only. This proved inadequate for smeared fingerprints. Soft-paper kitchen towels work well, slightly damp with a small drop of soft handsoap. Application of a dry kichen towel removes any residual moisture.

Over time, a matter of several weeks continuous operation, I have noticed that calibration of the touch-screen drifts away from the initial set-point. If you notice that the cursor isn’t under your finger when you touch the screen then restart the kiosk by unplugging it from the wall, waiting a few moments and then re-inserting the power plug. It will restart and recalibrate.

This link points to the complete Kiosk Maintenance Manual.

Back Issues

Some printed back issues of the Docent Newsletter, to February 2009, can be found in the two green and one blue-black zip-binders, stored in the Perspex rack by the file cabinet in the office of the Visitor’s Center.

All back issues are available electronically via the links shown below. All newsletters prior to December 2007 are available in Portable Document Format (PDF), which means that you will need Adobe Reader installed on your computer to read these files. All newsletters from December 2007 onwards are in HTML format that is easily read using your web-browser.

2012—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—2012
2011—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—2011
2010—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—2010
2009—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—2009
2008—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—2008
2007—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—2007
2006—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—2006
2005—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—2005
2004—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—2004
2003—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—2003
2002—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—2002
2001—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—2001
2000—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—2000
1999—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—1999
1998—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—1998
1997—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—1997
1996—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—1996
1995—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December—1995

Selected Topics Index

This persistent index of selected topics should make finding articles of interest easier. The list will grow as I move further into the past and it will grow as I add interesting topics from each new newsletter. Iris McPherson lent me the paper copies of the newsletter from the very early years of the docent program; I ran them through a scanner equipped with a document feeder, saving them as PDF files, then added them to Back Issues section above. Let me know of any dead links that you discover. Also, please lend me any paper copies of the newsletter that are missing so that I can scan and add them to the list of back issues.

Newsletter Publication

Deadline for submission of articles for inclusion in the newsletter is the 10th of each month. Publication date is on the 15th. All docents, Nature Conservancy staff, university scientists, philosophers, and historians are welcome to submit articles and pictures about the various preserves in Oklahoma, but of course the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in particular.