Newsletter title

February 2014

In This Edition

Docent Reorientation

—Anita Springer

It’s time to think about opening the Visitor’s Center for 2014. Reorientation sessions are scheduled for February 22 and March 8. As in the past, we will serve refreshments beginning at 9:30 am with the session beginning at 10:00 am. Bob Hamilton will be our guest on February 22 and Harvey Payne will be with us on March 8.

Spring Work Days in the Tallgrass

—Dennis Bires

All Tallgrass Prairie Docents and friends who have experienced cabin fever during this cold winter will want to come out this spring for our optional outdoor work days. There is no need to bring along bottled water and granola snack bars, as those will be provided.

American Kestrel, (Falco sparverius)

—Nicholas DelGrosso

Kestrel Dimorphism by Nicholas DelGrosso

The American Kestrel is North America’s smallest and most beautiful falcon. The male has a stunning slate-blue head and wings which sharply contrast against its rusty-red back and tail. It also has two distinct black lines fore and aft of its eyes. As you drive past a male Kestrel perched on a distant power line his color shouts out here I am. The female has the same warm reddish color on its wings and tail but lacks the pronounced slate-blue wings. The American Kestrel is sexually dimorphic, males and females have distinct color differences with the female tending to be a bit larger than the male.

This Blue Jay sized bird packs a lot of power in its pint sized body. I was first introduced to this hawk while I was attending school at the University of Miami. A fraternity brother was taking an orthnitology class and was rearing a captive Kestrel as a research project. He had the proper permits and had built a mew at the fraternity house in which to keep the Kestrel. At the time I knew this bird as a Sparrow Hawk and I was impressed by its intelligence, loyalty and beauty. As we watched television in the common area it would sit on the back of the sofa ever alert for the stray anole scampering across the room, and rarely did that anole escape. That year I learned that the Kestrel was an opportunistic perch hunter. In fact, Kestrels prefer to sit and wait on an elevated perch with good visibility; this is their primary hunting tactic. However, when perches are not available it will hover hunt. Like my Florida Kestrel, birds in the wild catch most prey on the ground with their feet. The prey is than dispatched with the Kestrel’s sharp hooked beak with a quick killing bite to the back of the head. Smaller prey items are eaten on the spot on the ground. Kestrels can also catch small insects in the air and typically they will eat that prey item while flying. The larger prey is taken back to a perch to be consumed.

Kestrel Perched via Wikimedia Commons

The American Kestrel is widely distributed across both North and South America. One of the reasons for this wide distribution is the broad scope of its diet. Kestrels consume a wide variety of small insects, as well as small rodents, birds, reptiles and amphibians. In addition to perch and hover hunting, Kestrels do a little Miami CSI. They are able to see in the ultraviolet spectrum. This gives them the ability to track mice and voles which leave urine markings on the trails they travel. These urine marked paths are like neon dinner signs highlighting the Kestrel’s next meal.

Kestrels are year round residents of Oklahoma. As you drive along country roads in the winter you can often spot Kestrels perched on roadside power lines or telephone poles. In fact this past January twelve Kestrels were seen at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve Christmas Bird Count. Kestrels appear to be more abundant during the winter months in southern states because northern birds migrate south at this time of the year augmenting resident bird populations. Most southern Kestrels do not migrate. During the winter female and male Kestrels use different habitats. Females tend to concentrate in open habitats while males prefer areas with more trees.

Kestrel via Wikimedia Commons

Speaking of trees, the American Kestrel is a secondary cavity nester. This means they rely upon old woodpecker holes. In a pinch they will also use natural tree hollows, rock crevices, and nooks in buildings and other human-built structures, the male searches for possible nest sites but it is the female who makes the final decision. Much like human real-estate, location is everything. Typically the final nest selection is in trees along wood edges or in the middle of open ground. Human activity does not disturb Kestrels and Kestrels will even readily use nest boxes.

Breeding in Oklahoma begins in April or May. The male uses an aerial display to advertise his territory. The display is breath-taking. It consists of several climbs and dives with three or four klee calls at the climbs apex just before it descends into its dive. Once a mate is selected the bond is strengthened by food transfers for four or five weeks prior to egg laying. Once pair bonds are formed they are often permanent and the pair will use previous nesting sites in consecutive years. This gives the breeding pair an advantage in that they are familiar with the benefits and dangers of their breeding territory.

The female will lay between three to seven eggs and she will be the primary incubator. The male will continue to feed her as she incubates the clutch. The eggs will hatch within twenty-nine to thirty days at which time both parents will care for the young. The nest cavity tends to get very dirty, nestlings simply lift up their tails and squirt feces on the walls of the nest cavity to dry. Between the feces and the uneaten parts of small animals on the floor the nest cavity can get smelly. The chicks will fledge within thirty days of hatching. The fledged birds will be sexually mature within a year of hatching. In fact after three weeks of being hatched it is possible to sex hatchlings from their plumage.

Kestrels are very intelligent birds, some of their actions appear to exhibit foresight. Kestrels cache food in times of plenty in anticipation of lean times. They also hide food they can’t eat to prevent it from being stolen. These caches are kept in grass clumps, tree roots and tree cavities.

Kestrel via Wikimedia Commons

Being North America’s smallest bird of prey means the Kestrel is on the menu of larger raptors such as Red-tailed Hawks, Barn Owls, American Crows and Cooper and Sharp-shinned hawks. Even reptiles like the rat snake and corn snake will invade the Kestrels nest cavity in search of fledglings.

The North American population has been estimated at 1.2 million pairs. However with changes in agricultural practices and increased deforestation the number of nest sites have declined. This in conjunction with pesticides has made the Kestrel increasingly vulnerable to population declines. Pesticides harm Kestrels because of their heavy reliance on insects during the summer months. Remember, the time to protect a species is while it is still common.

Prairie Watching: Monarch Butterflies

—Dwight Thomas, Ph.D.

On January 30, 2014, the Tulsa World and many other newspapers and Television stations reported that the Monarch Butterfly’s (Danaus plexippus L.) wintering grounds in Mexico had a record low count of the butterflies, significantly lower than last year’s count (and last year was also a record low count). The article stated that there were several potential causes for the population decline including the severe drought in the migration path over several of the last few years and the destruction of the wintering areas in Mexico. But it also stated that the main cause appears to the decline in the number of Milkweed plants (Asclepias spp.) in the migration path and the summer range. The article further stated that the migration might cease, which seems to mean that Monarchs would disappear from most of the United States.

Monarch in flight by Dwight Thomas

The article brought to mind several memories of my having watched Monarchs flitting through my yard in Tulsa, landing on wildflowers along the Tulsa River Trails, and flying around in large numbers in the Fall at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. One memory that I captured in a photograph was a single Monarch in early June climbing about slowly on some vegetation; its wings were tattered; it was probably near the end of its life. It probably had laid its eggs and would not fly any farther. But its offspring would continue the journey in a few weeks.

Monarch feeding on Liatris, Fall. by Dwight Thomas

A second memory that stands out is a day in late September: the Rough Blazing Star (Liatris aspera Michx.) was in bloom, and a patch of it was teeming with Monarchs flitting from plant to plant taking nectar from one flower and then moving to another. They were also visiting Blue Sage (Salvia azurea Michx.) flowers in the same area. The scene was chaotic with hundreds of Monarchs flying in all directions. This was a refueling stop on the Fall migration to Mexico.

Monarch feeding on Blue Sage, Fall. by Dwight Thomas

The Monarch adult feeds on nectar from a variety of plants, but the larvae feed only on Milkweed plants. Milkweed has always been an abundant native plant throughout most of the United States. Monarchs use all of the several species of Milkweed. The reason given in the Tulsa World article for the Milkweed decline was that more and more herbicides are being used in farming, especially in the ever-expanding cultivation of corn and the use of genetically-modified corn strains that can withstand the most effective herbicides.

Green Milkweed by Dwight Thomas

The Monarch’s life cycle revolves around migration. In March, the population begins moving northward from its Mexican winter habitat. The butterflies follow the range of the milkweed plants to as far north as there are milkweeds (Southern Canada). As they migrate, they will stop and lay eggs which hatch into larvae, pupate, and emerge as adults. I do not have any photographs of the boldly striped larvae or the pupae, but I plan to look for them at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve this Spring. The adults live only two to five weeks, but before they reproduce and die, they will have moved farther north from where they hatched. The fourth generation, which would hatch in late Summer, will not reproduce, but will begin the southward migration when the triggering mechanism tells them to. This generation can live up to nine months, dying after reproducing during the Spring migration (remember the Monarch with the tattered wings that we saw above). They will fly 25-50 miles per day eventually completing the 3000 mile trip to the very spot where their great great grandparents began the migration in the Spring. Their navigation mechanism is not known, but they always reach the wintering grounds in Mexico. Those wintering grounds are in the volcanic mountains of central Mexico, east of Mexico City. They winter on Oyamel Fir Trees (Abies religiosa (Kunth) Schltdl. & Cham) forming colonies that cover these trees. I don’t have any photographs of the wintering Monarchs, but you can easily find photographs of them on the Internet.

Common Milkweed by Dwight Thomas

We see Monarchs at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve throughout the warm seasons, but there is a marked increase in the Fall when they are migrating to Mexico. The Preserve hosts seven species of Milkweeds (Palmer, Michael W., CASTANEA 72(4): 235-246. DECEMBER 2007), which means that there is plenty of food for the Monarch larvae. There are many places in the Preserve where Milkweeds grow in abundance. A good example is the area around the trailhead. Three milkweed species can be found there in large numbers (Green Milkweed, Asclepias viridis Walt.; Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca L. and Butterfly Milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa L.). This means that while the Monarchs are having difficulty in finding Milkweed plants in other parts of the migration path and the Summer range, the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve has an abundance and is likely becoming more and more important to those migrating insects. If the habitat destruction trend continues, the Preserve may become essential for the survival of the species.

Butterfly Milkweed by Dwight Thomas

Thus, protecting the prairie is more than just restoring grass and Bison; it is protecting an entire ecosystem with corresponding widespread effect. Providing much-needed food and shelter for the Monarch Butterfly on their annual migration is just one example. Look with me for the Monarch’s return this Spring and Fall.

The Coyote — Our Adaptable Genius

—Caryl Pearson

Caryl made the mistake of telephoning the Visitor’s Center when I was on duty. As usual, when I encounter a knowledgeable and interested person, I ask if they would like me to add them to the distribution of The Docent News. Seeing her email address as wolfcoyotedeerelk, and since she had expressed interest in participating, I asked her to draw on her experience and write for the newsletter — I’m always on the lookout for new talent. This is the result, an addendum to Dr. Dwight Thomas’ Prairie Watching article in March 2013 on Coyotes. Read on.... [Editor.]

Teamwork

There are several eyewitness accounts of coyotes teaming up with badgers to hunt ground squirrels and other rodents. For example, a coyote and badger may approach a prairie dog town together, and as they come close, the coyote, with his keen eyesight and great speed, may rush forward causing the prairie dogs to run for cover down their holes. The badger, being the more accomplished digger, then proceeds to excavate a burrow of his choosing. Meanwhile the coyote is closely watching the exit holes. The badger may catch a prairie dog underground and eat it; and it also may cause one to run up an exit ramp to escape, thereby becoming prey for the waiting coyote. This is known as a symbiotic relationship, when both hunters can derive benefit, and neither incurs risk.

Coyote by Matt Knoth via Wikimedia Commons

Dine In or Carry Out

A coyote was observed trying to pick up nine voles it had caught and killed. It was thought by the observer that this coyote may have had a den with pups nearby. He tried several times to get all the voles in his mouth, but each time one or more would fall out. Finally the coyote dropped them all on the ground and stood there looking at them for several seconds. Then he suddenly seemed to know what to do — he proceeded to eat four of the voles, then picked up the remaining five and went on his way.

The Railroader

A coyote in Oregon was known locally as the railroader. He would position himself very close to the tracks just as a train approached, and he would stay still as it roared past, ruffling the fur on his neck and back. The moment the last car passed, he would leap up and onto the tracks and dash full speed after the train. At a certain point he would veer off — right into the middle of a ground squirrel colony. When the ground squirrels would make their last-minute dash for cover from the train, some, in their haste, would find themselves in neighbors’ burrows. As soon as the train went past, these interlopers were ousted by the burrows’ rightful owners — right into the waiting jaws of the coyote.

Tastes Just Like Chicken

A captive coyote was kept in an enclosure with wire mesh that was big enough for him to get his snout through but not his whole head. There were chickens on the property that would occasionally stroll past the coyote’s pen. One day the coyote took some of the kibble from his food bowl, and, making several trips, dropped a few pieces of it along the fence line. He then crouched in the shadows, watching and waiting. Sure enough, a chicken eventually ambled over to peck at a piece of kibble, whereupon the coyote made a lightning-fast lunge and grabbed the chicken through the wire. He kept his grip on the chicken until it stopped struggling, then with his muzzle through the mesh, proceeded to pluck and dine at his leisure. This incident involves foresight, planning, and tool-using. The coyote used his own food to catch what he really wanted to eat.

The Human Tool

Coyotes sometimes seem to use the proximity of humans to enhance their safety and that of their young. Linda Saunders, the Director of Conservation at Wolf Haven, witnessed a mother coyote in Yellowstone National Park hiding her young in a cavity at the base of a downed tree. She then went off, perhaps to hunt. At first it seemed odd that the mother coyote would choose a hiding place so close to a rather busy road. But when Linda realized that this was an area between the territories of two of the Yellowstone wolf packs, she began to see the wisdom of the mother coyote’s choice.

Wolves view coyotes as competitors, and will sometimes chase and even kill them. Wolves almost never will approach humans. The ever-adaptable and intelligent coyotes either instinctively know this, or perhaps have learned it by observation. In any case, coyotes have also been seen passing somewhat close to human wolf-watchers that often line the road in Lamar Valley. They have apparently figured out that this is the safest way to travel through an area occupied by wolves.

Risky Business

Coyotes, like wolves, are capable of working together to secure their prey. Their purpose isn’t always to kill, however — sometimes they will lure dogs into ambush, only to play with them. But it is impossible to predict their intentions ahead of time. It also depends on the size, strength, and personality of the dog.

When I was a volunteer tour guide, leading horseback rides in the mountains of Colorado on my horse, Joe, my dog Tedward, a lab-shepherd mix, would accompany me and sometimes interact with coyotes. Once I was sitting on Joe and noticed Tedward running hard as if chasing something. Looking ahead of Tedward, I saw a coyote, also running fast yet seeming to slow down now and then, casting a look over its shoulder at Tedward. It appeared as if the coyote almost wanted to be caught — or was leading Tedward on. Looking farther ahead, I saw two more coyotes, waiting in a stand of Ponderosa pines, keenly watching the chase. It then seemed even more obvious that these three coyotes had a plan for the unsuspecting Tedward; knowing that they might be intending harm, I began to whistle for Tedward’s return. Too absorbed in the pursuit, Tedward ignored my calls, so I urged Joe into a gallop down the slope to Tedward’s rescue. Catching sight of me and Joe bearing down on them, the three coyotes departed in a hurry. Tedward turned towards me, panting hard, with a reproachful look in his eyes as if his fun had been spoiled; the coyotes may have been planning more fun than Tedward expected. These particular coyotes were from the Keystone area. In another area of Colorado known as Grouse Creek, I saw Tedward actually playing with coyotes on several occasions. However, I strongly recommend preventing your dogs from interacting with coyotes, because you can never know what they intend.

References

  1. Grady, Wayne. The World of the Coyote, Sierra Club Books, 1995.
  2. Dobie, Frank J. The Voice of the Coyote, University of Nebraska, 1947.
  3. Ryden, Hope. God’s Dog—The North American Coyote, New York: Lyons and Burford, 1975.
  4. Hyde, Dayton O. Don Coyote. New York: Ballantine Books, 1986.
  5. Rogers and Kaplan. Spirit of the Wild Dog. Allen and Unwin, 2003.
  6. Way, Jonathan. Suburban Howls. Indianapolis: Dog Ear Publishing, 2007.
  7. Leydet, Francois. The Coyote-Defiant Songdog of the West. University of Oklahoma Press, 1988.
  8. Behme, Robert L. Shasta and Rogue. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974.
  9. Meinzer, Wyman. Coyote. Texas Tech University Press, 1995.
  10. Murie, Adolph. Ecology of the Coyote in the Yellowstone. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1940.
  11. Clark, Tim; Curlee, Peyton; Minta, Steven; Kareiva, Peter. Carnivores in Ecosystems, The Yellowstone Experience. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1999.

Biography

Since the age of four years when a snapping turtle walked into her parents’ garage, Caryl Pearson has always been fascinated by wild animals and their habitats, especially when different species interact — wild and domestic included. She finds that sharing this fascination with others is very rewarding, not to mention fun.

Caryl Pearson Biograph

 

Docent Coverage Of Season Days

—Andrew Donovan-Shead

Docent Coverage of Season Days Docent Coverage of Season Days Summary

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.

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.

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2013January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December2013
2012January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December2012
2011January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December2011
2010January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December2010
2009January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December2009
2008January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December2008
2007January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December2007
2006—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December2006
2005January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December2005
2004—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December2004
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  December2002
2001January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December2001
2000January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December2000
1999January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December1999
1998January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December1998
1997January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December1997
1996—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December1996
1995—January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December1995

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.