Words on Birds and Wildlife

By Todd Burras

 

If the Arctic weather system settling into the region is an indication of what’s to come now that winter is here, then look for the birds in your neighborhood to start showing up at feeders more regularly.

Until the blustery temperatures Mid-Iowans experienced yesterday – coincidentally the official start of winter — it had been an extraordinarily mild, even warm, autumn. With no snow cover and access to plenty of natural food sources, the majority of backyard birds have had an easy time finding enough seeds, nuts and even some insects to keep them well fed without the help of humans.

That’s true nearly all the time. As well-intentioned as many of us are in putting out all sorts of bird food, most birds don’t need the help. Studies show birds that frequent backyard feeders still forage and find the majority of the food they consume in nature. No doubt in severe or prolonged weather events birds that can access feeders have a better chance of survival, but, let’s face it, humans aren’t saving many birds by feeding them. The primary reason we feed birds is for the enjoyment they bring us. It’s just plain fun and makes us feel good.

That said, birds are opportunists, and if they can limit the amount of energy they expend by taking advantage of the generous offerings of humans, they’ll do it, particularly in colder and inclement weather. Why travel long distances in the cold to go hunting for something to eat when dinner has already been delivered to the doorstep of your cozy home?

Besides filling your feeders now that winter weather is setting in, a perhaps more important thing you can provide your backyard birds with to help them get through the next few months is water. As mentioned, under normal conditions backyard birds don’t have too much trouble finding natural food throughout the year. Water, on the hand, can be more difficult.

During a prolonged dry stretch like we’re currently experiencing or in the throes of a cold winter, finding water can be very challenging for backyard birds that have small ranges. But birds need water to survive, not only for drinking purposes by also in order to clean themselves as a way of keeping their feathers in tip-top shape.

When it comes to birds, and wildlife in general, one of the most overlooked and underrated features to any backyard landscape is a consistent water source. If you want more birds, bees and butterflies, offer them water. This time of year, consider a heated birdbath or a get a small electric heater to add to an existing water tray or small fountain. Your existing birds will love it, and you’ll attract even more birds to your backyard in the process.

One of the best things we did for the birds when we moved to our present home some nine years ago wasn’t intentionally done for them. Instead, we put up a 4-foot wooden fence around our backyard to give our Siberian husky at the time some freedom to run. There already was a hedge around the yard so we had the fence installed on the perimeter of the bushes. Unwittingly in doing so, we added an extra measure of protection from the wind for any feathered backyard visitor. In particular, cardinals and juncos, both natural ground feeders, seem to value the combination of fence and shrubs, both as protection from potential predators and as a place to hunker down when the winter wind blows.

You don’t need to put up an expensive fence or even plant an entire hedge around your yard in order to help protect the birds, though. One simple and inexpensive feature you can add to your yard — provided you have larger trees nearby that drop twigs and small limbs – is a brush pile. Start with denser chunks of wood at the bottom and then add longer and thinner limbs as you go. You can even mix leaves, raspberry canes, garden plant stems and just about any other woody material you find laying around the yard. Such piles provide birds – and other small creatures – with shelter from wind, cold temperatures and even predators.

While it’s too late now to do any planting this season, winter is a good time to start researching what trees, shrubs or berries you might want to add to your landscape this coming spring that will provide natural food and shelter for future generations of birds and other wildlife.

The unseasonably nice autumn weather in late-November, for example, allowed me the chance to plant a pair of winterberry shrubs in a sunny protected spot of our backyard. Assuming the spindly and fragile-looking bushes survive, it will be several years before they grow into the ornamental beauties they promise to be. In the meantime, I’ll just keep dreaming of the cold wintery day sometime in the future that a wandering flock of cedar waxwings shows up in our yard in order to dine on huge clusters of bright red berries.

When that day occurs, it will be a different take on backyard bird feeding that I’ll be certain to write about, and, hopefully, share with you.

 

Todd Burras can be reached at ou****************@gm***.com.

By Todd Burras

 

In August 2011, I sat down with a pen and legal pad for what I hoped would be a short interview with Roger Hill for a story I wanted to write about his membership in the Grand Slam Club, an exclusive group of hunters who have killed all of North America’s four major sheep species. What ensued was a more than 3-hour conversation in which Roger discussed how he had started out his quest with a gun in one hand but ended it with a camera in the other.

The interview was punctuated by a long slideshow on a laptop computer that included a sampling of the tens of thousands of photos Hill had shot of wild sheep on trips to Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and southwestern United States.

My head was spinning with details and facts and stories and stunning images by the time he left The Tribune office, and it left me wondering how I would ever sift through it all and come up with a story of suitable length for a newspaper.

Roger Hill, I realized that day, was a man who had been living the sort of adventurous life that most outdoors-loving people only dream about. Or read about. Or write books about.

It was a week later at The Tribune when I got a call from the front desk that there was someone there who wanted to see me. A couple minutes later I walked out front
to see Roger – all 6 feet, 6 inches of him — standing just inside the front door holding up two giant grocery sacks.

“I dug up some hills today and had too many for my wife and me to eat so I put a bunch in the sack along with a few onions and cucumbers and summer squash if you would like. Sorry I didn’t have time to clean the dirt off them.”

Thus began my relation- ship with Roger Hill, which would see him calling or stopping by the Tribune office or my house sporadically for the next six years, sometimes just to talk about something he’d seen or photographed while at other times to drop off fresh produce or discs full of his incomprehensibly spectacular wildlife photos that he thought I might just enjoy looking at, which of course I did.

While I knew Roger from a short distance, many others, such as Ed Rood, an exceptional photographer in his own right, knew him intimately, having spent countless hours and miles together traveling back roads, slogging across rough terrain and taking photo- graphs throughout Story County, Mid-Iowa, the Midwest and beyond.

When Ed sent me a copy of a column he wrote about Roger shortly after his unexpected death on Nov. 28, I asked if I could reprint it in The Tribune. Where six years earlier I had struggled mightily to condense a 3-hour inter- view into a coherent news story, Ed had quickly and gracefully compressed four decades worth of friendship into a beautiful eulogy that captures the spirit of Roger Hill’s life and legacy.

With Ed’s permission on this sad occasion, I gladly share his tribute to his long- time friend.

 

Farewell to one of conservation’s ‘tall trees’

 

By Ed Rood
Special to The Tribune

 

On a warm September morning a couple of years ago I was enjoying coffee with friends when my cell phone rang. Noticing who was calling I switched to speaker and set it on the table.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“I’m getting a little bored so I thought I’d give you a call,” the caller replied, “I’m about 30 feet from a sow grizzly and her two cubs. They’re just napping. Not much to photograph. Oops, I think they’re starting to stir . . . better go.”

My coffee companions rolled their eyes. One of them even laughed and added, “Yah, right.”

It was clear they didn’t know who had been on the phone. If they did they would have realized he had no need to embellish. It was just another morning in Roger Hill’s life.

I’m sorry to report that Roger left this world Nov. 28. No more will I receive such phone calls because no one I know will be calling while they are within a few feet of grizzly bears. There was only one Roger Hill.

Roger became a big part of my life back in the mid-1980s. He contacted me and asked if I might give him some advice on photographing sporting events. He added that he already did some outdoor photography. That came as no surprise. I knew of Roger and his brother Jerry and their outstanding wildlife photography. Truth was, I learned much more from Roger than he ever did from me.

From that time on Roger and I photographed together hundreds if not thousands of times. He was the ultimate wildlife photographer because he seemed to know what animals were going to do before they did.

During his early years Roger had been a hunter. He had harvested many animals ranging from squirrels to coyotes to moose to sheep to bears.

By the time I met Roger he had hung up his guns and purchased high-end cameras and lenses. He once told me that he no longer had the desire to hunt – except with a camera.

That hunting and tracking expertise is what made him the great photographer he became. His photographs have appeared in all the major outdoor magazines. His donated photographs have meant untold income for such organizations as the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Pheasant Forever, Ducks Unlimited and many other groups.

Following Roger was no easy job. He went where the animals were and he rarely slowed down. If you wanted to get similar photos you’d better be in shape. Many were the times I tried to keep up with him as he climbed mountainsides in pursuit of wild sheep and goats. I still remember watching his long legs ever climbing like a daddy longlegs.

Although Roger had countless photos of huge whitetail bucks, eye-popping rooster pheasants, strutting wild turkeys and cute fox, his true love was the beasts that inhabit such places as Wyoming, Montana, Alaska and the Yukon. After retirement Roger would visit them at least once a year. There he would live with the creatures and capture them with his camera. It is with that in mind that I will share one more story.

Without a firearm Roger relied on pepper spray for protection from the more powerful animals. One recent fall he came across a monster bull elk that had Roger in his sights. He made a pass at him with his huge antlers. Roger realized that if he sprayed the charging animal in the eyes he would be blinded and then would wonder off into the woods to die. So he sprayed him in the chest and let the pepper drift up to his nostrils. It worked. The elk quickly departed.

Yes, that was Roger Hill. Who else would be so concerned over the welfare of a charging animal, hell bent on gauging him, than Roger? As recently retired Iowa Department of Natural Resources technician Pat Schlarbaum put it: “Roger Hill is a very tall and broad burr oak tree in conservation matters. His passing is a great, great loss, yet his inspiration is greater.”

• ••

Ed Rood is the former publisher of the Tri-County Times and an award-winning outdoors photographer and columnist. His work has appeared in local newspapers for more than five decades.

 

 

 

It felt like a race against time standing among the swirling oak, sycamore and maple leaves that would blow toward Minnesota one moment and Missouri the next.

This was Monday afternoon and the temperature was still unseasonably warm with the thermometer pushing the mercury toward the upper 60s. But with dark foreboding storm clouds massing in the southwest and northeast and the constantly shifting wind increasing in intensity, the fast-approaching front promised dramatically different temperatures in tow.

If I wanted to get this year’s yard work done while still wearing shorts and a T-shirt, I’d better hurry. Mother Nature wasn’t going to wait for me. Autumn was trying to make a quick getaway and winter was in hot, nay cold, pursuit.

The two main objectives on this rare day at home was to mulch as many of the omnipresent leaves as possible and to spread a huge pile of wood chips left in the yard by arborists who had several days earlier pruned the two venerable pin oak trees that dominate our front and back yards. No doubt the shovel, rake and lawnmower would be up to the task; the pressing question was whether my arms and back could meet the challenge with equal determination.

When it comes to yard work, my muscles are dreadfully out of shape, and Father Time isn’t the sole reason and excuse for the lack of inactivity. As many of you know, I recently returned from northern Minnesota where I had spent the past two years, including three autumns, living in our cabin in the Superior National Forest. Raking leaves in the forest is akin to shoveling snow in the Arctic. People just don’t do it.

Despite lingering symptoms from a cold and a sore hand from recent carpal tunnel surgery, I jumped into the project with all the zeal I could muster. Wood chips flew and a small corner of the pile shrunk as the tools attacked the mountain of chips, spreading them over the hosta and bleeding heart garden that encircles the base of one of the oaks.

Within a few minutes, I was gassed.

Bent over and gasping for breath I realized I needed a change of strategy if I wasn’t going to end up as a cardio patient in the emergency room at Mary Greeley Medical Center. The new plan: switch back and forth between spreading the chips and mulching the leaves in our yard with the lawnmower.

The latter job sounded relatively easy on the surface. Take off the grass catcher bag and the side discharge cover of the mower and speed across the lawn chopping the leaves as I went. Simple.

I’ve never been one who feels compelled to rake and bag leaves. Romantic and nostalgic images captured on canvas with paint by the late outdoors master artist Terry Redlin aside, I’ve always been more utilitarian in my approach to dealing with leaves. I view them as an asset rather than a liability, something to appreciate rather than to curse and view as a bane at the top of the annual autumn chore list.

Each year some of the leaves end up in each of our three compost bins where they eventually break down into rich organic matter that’s added to the flower and vegetable gardens. The rest get shredded by the lawnmower blade and left on the lawn where the mulched leaf litter adds nutrients to the soil, supports the grass by helping the ground retain moisture and by providing food for microbes and worms, which help aerate the soil.

It all seemed good in theory. That is until pausing to take in the scene I had to come to terms with the fact that the wind was increasing even more and the leaves were refusing to stay in one spot for more than an instant.

I started the mower with the intent of making nice neat strips around our yard but quickly abandoned the idea in favor of zigzagging back and forth in hot pursuit of the seemingly wanton leaves as they migrated from our yard to one of our neighbors’ and then back again.

What normally would take 15 to 20 minutes to mow our front and back yards turned into an hour and then more as the old leaves were joined by new ones falling from the trees overhead. To onlookers, I must have looked like a deranged squirrel trying to remember where it had cached a storehouse of acorns — here, there, everywhere.

In the end, though, I finally got the wood chips spread and a majority of the leaves mulched with only back, neck, shoulder and arm aches to suffer for my trouble. Whether any of the neighbors or anyone driving by saw me and thought I had gone completely off the deep end is a verdict that has yet to be rendered and perhaps another story for a different day.

 

With temperatures in central Iowa projected to be in the 50s to go along with a little sunshine, who wouldn’t be happy to be outdoors this weekend?

Waterfowl and pheasant hunters? Yes.

Anglers? Definitely.

Hikers, bikers and paddlers? Absolutely.

The only hardcore outdoors people maybe not thrilled about this weekend’s weather forecast are deer hunters.

The first of Iowa’s two shotgun deer seasons opens Saturday with some 60,000 hunters expected to be pushing and chasing whitetails through timber, and dry conditions without any snow on the ground will make tracking deer a challenge. The warm weather is expected to stick around until the middle of next week when temperatures start to drop.

The first shotgun season runs through Wednesday, Dec. 6, with the second shotgun season to follow from Dec. 9 to 17. Another 60,000 hunters will take part in that season. Some 40,000 tags also are expected to be purchased for the late muzzleloader season that is Dec. 18 to Jan. 10.

Last year, hunters killed more than 101,000 whitetails during all the regular and special seasons, and officials from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources expect a similar harvest this year.

If you’re carrying a gun in the woods this weekend, be careful. For those who aren’t but plan to be outside recreating, take precautions all the same. It can be dangerous time of year to be outdoors.

“Owl Be Home for Christmas” … The holiday season is fast approaching and you can get in a festive mood a little early with “OWL Be Home for Christmas,” a Shop for a Cause Fundraising Event Friday to Sunday, Dec. 8 to 10, at Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop, 213 Duff Ave., in Ames.

The eighth-annual event will benefit the Iowa Wildlife Center, a local nonprofit organization that provides professional rehabilitation services for native wildlife. Cash or check donations of any amount can be dropped off at the store throughout December.  At designated donation levels, donors will receive WBU gift certificates in return for their generosity.

Marlene Ehresman, IWC executive director, will present a pair of programs at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9, at the store, that will feature live owls, which attendees will be able to see up close. Seating is limited and space fills up quickly for these programs, so please call ahead to reserve yours.

Here’s a chance to give a hoot about a good cause.

For more information, visit www.wbu.com/ames or contact Linda Thomas at (515) 956-3145.

Ikes offer helping hand to Wounded Warriors … Earlier last month the Ames Izaak Walton League teamed up with sponsors from the Wounded Warriors Project to host five soldiers for a series of trap and skeet shooting instruction as well as an upland pheasant hunt and afield hunt for geese.

The Wounded Warriors Project serves veterans and service members who incurred a physical or mental injury, illness, or wound, co-incident to their military service on or after Sept. 11, 2001.

William Davidson, Nicholas Ellis, Cory Buchenholz, Lorenzo Bello and Cory Weeks, the five soldiers who arrived in Ames on Nov. 9, are from Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Texas. All five are stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C.. They were assisted by Ames Ikes Mark Robson, Bill Scott, Taylor Scott and Steve Olson and Wounded Warrior sponsors Bernie Becher, Jason Becker, Duane Booth, Brad Pottorff, Nichlas Holland, and Lee Kiewiet.

Kudos to the Ames Ikes and volunteers with the Wounded Warriors Project. Most of all, thanks to the soldiers for their service and sacrifice. Godspeed to all.

 

Todd Burras can be reached at ou****************@gm***.com.

 

It occurred to me while lying in the recovery room at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minn., (carpal tunnel surgery — too much keyboarding through the years) two weeks ago Thursday and several hours after the Tribune’s deadline for the outdoors page that week (‘Oh, no!’ or something along that line) that in writing about backyard birds, I had used a term not necessarily familiar to all readers, especially those with limited interest in birding.

The word was “irruptive” and I failed to define it while describing a couple different species birders might see this fall and winter. The term “irruptive” describes various species of northern-wintering birds that don’t always show up this far south, or, if they do, they do so in relatively small numbers.

During an irruption, which is caused primarily by low food availability, the population density of one or more species of birds changes suddenly and sometimes dramatically.

For example, pine siskins, a small member of the finch family, routinely show up in central Iowa in small numbers, but on years when there is a shortage of their primary food source — conifer seeds — larger than normal numbers of pine siskins will “irrupt” and travel outside their regular northern wintering range in search of food.

“They’re an annual winter bird that show up here in small numbers,” said Steve Dinsmore, an avian ecologist in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Iowa State University. “But every few winters, there is a major irruption.”

Dinsmore said when pine siskins that can’t find enough conifer seeds show up in places such as Iowa, they shift their focus to birdfeeders where they feast on Nyger and sunflower seeds, the favored food choices of goldfinches, as well.

Doug Harr, president and chief operating officer of Iowa Audubon, said pine siskins are showing up in good numbers all across Iowa this fall.

“I’ve had a flock of eight at our Ogden feeders, more than we’ve ever had in this little prairie town,” he said.

Another member of the finch family that’s an annual “regular” irruptive species is the purple finch, which, because of similarities in its appearance, is sometimes confused with the house finch, a species that’s a year-round resident of Iowa. Dinsmore said purple finches always show up in the state in at least small numbers.

“Their numbers are less variable from year to year than most other irruptive species,” he said.

Purple finches prefer conifer seeds and mountain ash berries, but when they travel south into Iowa, Dinsmore said, they are most attracted to sunflower seeds at feeders.

Another regular irruptive species familiar to many birders is the red-breasted nuthatch, a smaller cousin of the common white-breasted nuthatch, a year-round resident of Iowa.

In their boreal homes in the north, these perky little birds prefer conifer seeds, especially from small-coned species. But if one shows up at your feeder here this fall and winter, it will be after sunflower seeds, peanuts and suet.

“Red-breasted nuthatches have been seen in good numbers this fall, although some are just passing through on their way further south,” Harr said. “But many are also still being reported at feeders and in evergreen trees, so we will likely see quite a few this winter.”

One regular irruptive species not likely to visit your yard this time of year unless you live in the country is the rough-legged hawk, a raptor that prefers to nest on cliffs in the tundra during the summer before traveling afar during the winter in search of ample food supplies.

“There are always a few, but they can be fairly common some winters,” Dinsmore said.

Rough-legged hawks feed primarily on small rodents in the winter, such as mice and voles.

Another occasional visitor from the far north that prefers open spaces where it can hunt is the snowy owl, a raptor Dinsmore describes as a “rare irruptive species.”

“We get at least a few most winters, but a major irruption occurs less than once per decade,” Dinsmore said.

Fortunately for avid birders, Dinsmore and Harr both said this winter may be an exceptionally good one for seeing snowy owls.

“National Audubon just posted an article … about snowy owls and the fact that this could be a really big winter for them in the states,” Harr said. “Several have already been seen in Iowa, but while Audubon’s story relates to a large population (of snowy owls this year), they fail to mention possible tundra food shortages, which could also be a partial cause (for the irruption).

“Some of the owls seen in Iowa so far are in poor shape or have even died.”

Like the rough-legged hawk, snowy owls feed on rodents, probably mostly meadow voles in Iowa, Dinsmore said.

Three other rare irruptive species to Iowa worth mentioning are the Bohemian waxwing, red crossbill and white-winged crossbill.

The Bohemian waxwing, not to be confused with its more common cousin the cedar waxwing, is “very rare to absent most years, and during an ‘invasion,’ there may be 105 reports statewide,” Dinsmore said.

Bohemian waxwings feed on fruit, mostly ornamental trees, such as highbush cranberry, in towns in Iowa, he said.

When it comes to the crossbills, which are members of the finch family and feed on a wide range of conifer seeds, Dinsmore said there is typically “at least one sighting every winter of each species, but occasionally there are major irruptions. Irruptions are usually one or the other species and not both at the same time.”

This fall has been an “excellent” one for red crossbills and “mediocre” for white-winged crossbills, Dinsmore said.

One more finch that’s showing up this fall in places not accustomed to hosting it is the common redpoll. This light-colored bird has brown stripes, a yellow beak and splashes of raspberry coloring, including its namesake red stripe or “poll” on the crown of its head.

“They are being reported in more places than normal — usually just in northern Iowa but now in several central-Iowa locations,” Harr said. “Overall, this is likely to be a good winter for northern invasions.”

 

Todd Burras can be reached at ou****************@gm***.com.

 

Enhanced by a seemingly rare instance of full bright sunlight, the distinctive field markings of numerous small birds flitting about under shadowy trees, in the hedge and on some open areas of the yard made their identification an easy undertaking: white-crowned and yellow-throated sparrows, dark-eyed juncos, black-capped chickadees and house finches.

 

These were the sorts of birds one would expect to be seen in central Iowa at this time of year, but it’s always interesting and fun for those who enjoy backyard birding to confirm their suspicions or what they’re hearing from other birders. In this case, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

 

Sparrows and finches are among the last and most lingering of small songbirds to make their way south in large flocks from breeding territories farther north during the latter stages of the fall migration. Many will hang around as long as they can find adequate food sources with some even spending the duration of the winter here.

Others, such as white-throated and white-crowned sparrows, will continue farther south in search of suitable habitat and food sources that will get them through the coming months before they make their return journey north to summer breeding grounds.

 

Finches, whether they be purple, gold or house, and pine siskins, another member of the finch family, are common migrators to the region that overwinter here and assimilate into the Mid-Iowa landscape, joining existing flocks of local finches, primarily gold and house, that are their cousins and year-round residents.

 

Juncos, a member of the sparrow family, mix with other non-migrating local birds, such as chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, and downy, hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers, as they hunker down and scratch out an existence, waiting out the cold and dark of winter. These are the birds most casual backyard birders are seeing at their feeders now, and they’re the same ones they’ll be watching for the next five to six months.

 

However, there could be other late migrators to mix in with the regular assortment of wintering backyard birds, and sharp-eyed birders who spot these irregular visitors will be happy and amused to see them. Brown creepers are small unassuming birds that are well camouflaged and often go unnoticed amid the flash and panache offered by other more vivacious visitors to backyard feeding stations.

 

Brown creepers are recognizable by their habit of slowly spiraling up a tree in search of invertebrates and, after reaching the upper branches, flying back to the tree’s base and starting its search all over. Brown creepers will repeat the process over and over until they satiate themselves or until they decide to move on to a different tree, where they continue their foraging.

Another occasional backyard visitor that is similar in size to the brown creeper is the red-breasted nuthatch, a small relative of the white-breasted nuthatch and a real acrobat when it comes to its feeding antics. While brown creepers climb from the base of the tree upward, red-breasted nuthatches scurry down trees headfirst in their search for invertebrates. They’ll also visit feeders and, like most backyard feeders, enjoy black-oil sunflower seeds and will cache the ones they don’t immediately consume in crevices of tree bark. But their real entertainment value for viewers is in watching them race down trees.

 

Other irruptive species that are already being reported in various places across the state this fall include large numbers of pine siskins and red crossbills (another member of the finch family), as well as smaller numbers of common redpolls and white-winged crossbills (two more members of the finch family.)

 

The crossbills, according to Doug Harr, president and chief operating officer of Iowa Audubon and the former coordinator of the Iowa Department of Natural Resource Wildlife Diversity Program, “are probably from the Rocky Mountains, where pine cone crops are low and forest fires have destroyed so much food habitat this year.”

Harr, who lives in Ogden, said this may be the biggest year for red crossbills Iowa has seen in decades.

 

Both crossbill species “might be seen at almost any big cemetery with lots of pines and spruces,” he said.

 

The Nevada Cemetery, for one, has been a popular destination for central Iowa birders wanting a glimpse at these rare visitors.

 

Once one gets out of a suburban or urban backyard setting, the possibilities to see a number of other winter visitors that might not show up in your backyard increases significantly. Northern saw-whet, short-eared and even snowy owls have made their way into Iowa already, as have rough-legged hawks and migrating bald eagles.

 

A few Lapland longspurs and snow buntings have been reported, as well, said Eric Ollie, president of the local Big Bluestem Audubon Society group, but large numbers of those open-field birds, which breed in the Arctic, have yet to make their main push into the state.

 

Other visitors that could show up in your backyard include American tree and Harris’s sparrows.

 

While ducks, geese, loons and swans are only just now moving across the continent in large numbers, the bulk of the songbird migration is over. It’s time, therefore, for those backyard birders among us to load up on birdseed and settle into a comfortable seat with a good field guide, a set of binoculars and an earnest desire to be warmed by some of winter’s most colorful and talented entertainers.

 

Todd Burras can be reached at ou****************@gm***.com.

 

I have a new-found appreciation for Asian lady beetles.

Yes, you read that correctly. After a two-hour drive across a portion of the eastern half of the state with a few of these gypsy hitchhikers early last month, I have a growing interest and respect for the frequently annoying creatures.

You know the ones I’m talking about. Those hard-shelled little bugs that come in various shades of orange with black spots that you see climbing around your window sills, door frames and walls – both inside and outside. In fact, you might have just set down your vacuum cleaner, or perhaps you’re already reaching for it again, in an effort to suck up a few more of the seemingly omnipresent little buggers.

As the name indicates, multi-colored Asian lady beetles are non-native to North America. Instead, they originate from eastern Asia and were imported to California about a century ago to help control aphids — sap-sucking pests — that were damaging pecan and citrus trees. A half century later, they were reintroduced in California, and then, in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, several more states followed suit, importing them for biological pest control. However, it wasn’t until some showed up in Louisiana in 1988, possibly from a shipping container, that they got a solid foothold in the United States. By the mid-1990s, they had begun spreading into the Midwest, much of the rest of the country and parts of Canada, displacing many native ladybugs in the process.

Asian lady beetles are very similar in appearance to other lady beetles, but they are generally larger, at about one-third of an inch long. Like other beetles, they are predatory insects that can be beneficial in controlling many common garden pests, as well as soybean aphids, a serious pest of soybeans in agricultural states, such as Iowa.

While they offer benefits in the way of their innate pest-controlling capabilities, Asian lady beetles can make themselves a nuisance in September and October when their survival instincts lead them to start seeking out warm, sunny places to hibernate ahead of winter. For countless legions that means trying to get inside buildings, especially human homes.

The good news is Asian lady beetles don’t feed or reproduce indoors. They don’t damage furniture or clothes or wood or the siding of your home. They don’t carry diseases and while they might pinch your skin they don’t bite or sting. The worst they do is emit a distinct odor if they are intentionally or inadvertently smashed.

But back to the car ride I shared with one in early October. Actually, the story began with a couple dozen of the small saucer-shaped beetles milling about on top of our vehicle while we dined at a pub in the German colony of Amana. Upon leaving the establishment, I noticed numerous beetles clinging to the hood and windshield as we pulled out of town to drive back to Ames. It was a bit curious to me as I gradually increased speed that only a few of the beetles peeled off and vanished in the wake of the speeding vehicle.

Perhaps I should have been paying more attention to my driving, but in the late afternoon light I found myself captivated by the tenacity of these miniscule mites to stand their ground and be unmoved by the natural forces all about them. Mile after mile ticked off our two-hour journey and only on rare occasions did a previously ensconced beetle disappear. At a stop sign some 20 miles into the drive, most took the occasion to fly off to find shelter in a foreign environment that by scale must have been as far away from their homes as the moon is to us.

Still, three unflappable beetles held their ground as we eventually reached even greater speeds once we jumped onto the westbound lanes of U.S. Highway 30. Somewhere on a sweeping curve near Tama I glanced down and noticed one beetle had disappeared, yet the other two remained, fastidiously holding their posts on the car’s hood in defiance to the massive draft generated by a couple of passing semis.

Farther down the road near Marshalltown, with my wife and daughter sleeping and the sun beginning to set in earnest, one beetle either had had enough or could no longer exert the strength needed to hang on. He, or she, had slipped away into the darkness. Now, all that remained was one lone beetle, and I suddenly began actively rooting for it. Could it make it to State Center or even Colo? What about Nevada? Was Ames a possibility or only a pipedream? Thirty miles to go, and I could barely take my eyes off the tenacious creature that had lost all color and now appeared only as a dark spot in the sun’s fast-fading afterglow.

Stress began mounting as I raced toward home. Breathe, I had to remind myself. Ames lights in the distance. We can do this. We can do this.

Crap! Onramp to Interstate 35. Will the change in speed, wind direction and increased traffic disrupt “our” concentration? We have to do this. Just a little farther.

Thirteenth Street. Slow down. We’re almost home. Don’t fly off. Not now. We’ve come too far.

Northwestern Avenue. Hang on. Almost there.

McKinley Street. Just a few more blocks. It’s dark. Are you there?

Van Buren Avenue. Street light. Yes! Still there.

Five more driveways. Four. Three. Two. One. We’re here. We made it!

I jumped out of the truck to inspect the beetle, which was still very much alive. Incredible. Simply amazing. Into the house I went to give it a chance to lap up a little water, which it did, and then back outdoors to a plant container holding several geraniums. If I were an Asian lady beetle, I think I’d be happy there.

No, if I were an Asian lady beetle, I’d be attempting to get into your house, or at least trying to hitch a ride with you, wherever that might lead.

 

Todd Burras can be reached at ou****************@gm***.com.

 

Upland hunters may have to contend with standing corn, some mud and possibly a little snow cover in their search for their favorite gamebirds this weekend.

Iowa’s annual ring-necked pheasant opener is Saturday, and some 50,000 hunters are expected to fan out across the state’s private and public lands.

“Hunters can expect to find similar bird numbers to last year, but the October rain has our harvest running behind schedule so opening weekend may not be as successful as years past,” said Todd Bogenschutz, upland wildlife research biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “However, a late harvest could lead to success later in the season.”

Last season hunters shot an estimated 250,000 roosters, and Bogenschutz said he expects a similar harvest this fall despite an August Roadside Survey that indicated numbers were down around the state.

Bogenschutz said the lack of dew in and ditches and fields during the survey timeframe was likely a major factor in skewing this year’s survey results. He said landowners have consistently reported seeing good numbers of birds this fall.

According to the survey, the statewide pheasant population dropped 30 percent from 2016. The numbers are derived from a total of 189 30-mile routes driven around the state. On average, the routes averaged 14.9 pheasants in 2017 compared to 21.4 in 2016.

In Iowa’s central zone, which includes, among others, Story, Boone and Hamilton counties, the survey showed pheasant counts dropped by 24 percent over last year from 31.6 birds per route to 24 this year. None of the nine zones saw an increase in pheasant numbers this year with the central zone second only to the northwest zone, which saw 26.3 pheasants counted per route.

Bogenschutz said the summer drought is also likely responsible for fewer bobwhite quail counted during the August survey. Quail numbers declined 23 percent from last year’s count, but, again, anecdotally, Bogenschutz said landowners are reporting seeing quail in areas that they had not seen them in years. The majority of the quail population is in the state’s southern three tiers of counties.

Shooting hours for ringnecks, quail and gray partridge are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. The partridge season opened Oct. 14. The ringneck season runs through Jan. 10, while the quail and partridge seasons are open until Jan. 31.

 

Todd Burras can be reached at ou****************@gm***.com.

 

 

 

 

Iowa is experiencing a gradual change in its upland habitat. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, between 1990 and 2016, Iowa lost nearly 3,000 square miles of small grains, hay land and land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) – all potential pheasant habitat.

“That’s equivalent to a strip of habitat 10 miles wide stretching from Omaha to Davenport. With the loss of small grains and hay lands to corn and soybean production, CRP is critical for Iowa pheasants,” said Bogenschutz.

CRP is a federal farm program. Congress is scheduled to begin discussion on the 2018 Farm Bill this fall.

 

 

 

A dozen local youngsters got a jump on Iowa’s ring-necked pheasant season thanks to Story County Pheasants Forever, which hosted its annual youth hunt last Saturday at Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt in Polk County.

Twelve boys and girls, all of whom were required to either have completed the state’s mandatory hunter education course or have participated in one season on a school-sponsored trap-shooting team or club, took part in the hunt. The event started with an introduction to outdoor ethics and gun handling safety, and, after lunch, proceeded to the field where the youngsters were accompanied by hunting dogs and several adult mentors.

“Even a rainy day did not stop 12 young adults from having fun,” said Patrick O’Connor, an officer for the chapter. “All the hunters had a great time harvesting a pheasant and learning more about conservation.”

This Saturday and Sunday marks the annual statewide residents-only youth season that gives boys and girls age 15 and younger the chance to hunt rooster pheasants without purchasing a license, habitat fee or taking hunter education. However, participants must hunt under direct supervision of an adult age 18 or older who has a valid hunting license and habitat stamp. Only the youth are allowed to shoot pheasants and they can bag one rooster per day.

The state’s regular ringneck season starts Saturday, Oct. 28, and runs through Sunday, Jan. 10, 2018. The gray partridge season opened Oct. 14, while the bobwhite quail season also opens Oct. 28.

“Let’s Go Hunting” … Youth hunts are one recruitment tool supported by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources as a way to try and grow the number of hunters across the state. Another is a new campaign orchestrated by the DNR with the backing of numerous outdoors organizations.

Launched this past Monday, “Let’s Go Hunting” is geared at encouraging more people to “either try hunting, to get back into hunting, or for passionate hunters to share their favorite pastime with a beginner.”

Dale Garner, division administrator of the DNR’s Conservation and Recreation Division, says the main reason someone tries hunting for the first time is because “they received an invitation from an experienced hunter — often a parent, family member or adult mentor.”

The campaign promotes hunter education, the apprentice license, a website with new videos of why people hunt and a social media photo contest, among other features.

Check it out at www.iowadnr.gov/letsgohunting.

HUSH … Iowa’s early muzzleloader season closes this Sunday, and several other deer hunting seasons are either underway or already in the books. Others are yet to come.

No matter, the Food Bank of Iowa’s Help Us Stop Hunger (HUSH) program is once again working with whitetail hunters and the DNR to provide high-quality protein to Iowans struggling with hunger. Last year, hunters donated more than 3,000 deer, providing more than 600,000 meals for Iowans in need. Here’s how it works.

When a participating hunter wants to make a donation, he or she takes a legally harvested deer to a participating meat locker where the deer is dressed and converted into ground venison. Two-pound tubes of frozen ground venison are distributed through Iowa food banks to food pantries, soup kitchens and other emergency food providers.

For more information, visit www.foodbankiowa.org or contact Alicia Kuiken at al***********@dn*.gov or (515) 725-8263.

Deer hunters, here’s your chance to not only fill your own freezers but to help some of your fellow Iowans, as well.

Award nominees sought … Know someone who is perhaps unheralded but does a lot of good for the outdoors, specifically as it relates to the conservation of natural resources through the person’s actions, advocacy or both?

If so, the Story County Conservation Board and the Ames Chapter of the Izaak Walton League is accepting nominees for the 2017 Olav Smedal Conservation Award. The award was initiated in 1988 by The Tribune to honor Olav Smedal, who spent 22 years as an outdoor writer and 17 years as the outdoor editor for the paper.

The award seeks to honor those who, by their actions or communications, have done the most to accurately present to the public of central Iowa excellence in the conservation of natural resources and outdoor pursuits representing the highest standards of ethics and sportsmanship. Preference will be given to candidates who, as volunteers, exhibit excellence in providing public information, leadership and/or involvement.

For more information, contact Mike Meetz at (515) 291-5218.

Parting shot … Story County Pheasants Forever will host its 32nd-annual banquet this weekend. The event that raises money for local habitat projects starts at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, at Quality Inn and Suites, 2601 E 13th St., in Ames. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $60 each. A spouse or child can get in for $30.

Iowa has PF chapters in all 99 counties, and the Iowa State University chapter was the first student-led campus group in the nation when it formed 17 years ago. Its annual banquet will be this upcoming winter.

 

Todd Burras can be reached at ou****************@gm***.com.