Our Window on Nature

Not long ago we were out for a walk and we smelled a skunk — a very ripe, very dead skunk. When we finally located the source of the odor it proved to be a dried out, thoroughly dismembered carcass that had obviously been lying beside the road for months. Unseasonably warm weather had activated its pungent scent, proving that the odor of wood pussy certainly lingers. Long ago it had tangled with a car, lost, and ended up on the grassy bank.

That brings up the question of why in some areas skunks are exceeded only by rabbits and opossums in numbers of road kills. We all know how numerous rabbits are and how stupid opossums are, but skunks? They aren’t that numerous and they certainly aren’t dumb. Just overly confident.

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With vision so sharp it equals that of a man with binoculars, a bighorn ram gazed down the mountain. In the open vistas favored by this species, keen eyesight far overshadows the need for acute hearing or sense of smell, so we were certain the animal eyed us long before we spotted him. Even so, he seemed more curious than alarmed.

We hiked up Truchas Peak in New Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains especially to see bighorn. As in any designated wilderness, if you want to visit the critters, you walk. Gradually, our eyes picked out several more bighorn, less visible against the rocks. Oh, for their surefootedness as they ambled down the almost-vertical slope. We couldn’t believe they were actually approaching us. Could it be that there were enough hikers along here to turn these wild, free creatures into panhandlers? Surely not.

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Sometimes instincts win out over logic. Many creatures have actions that just come naturally and they can’t help themselves. Ducks swim, frogs hop, birds fly. And beavers chop down trees.

In each case they are displaying their adaptation to a habitat, and if a beaver didn’t use its big teeth to imitate a lumberjack it couldn’t use the resulting lumber to build a lodge, make a dam, or store the tastier bits of wood for a winter meal.

Recently while exploring the banks of a local pond I found the distinctive marks of a beaver — chips of wood chiseled from the base of a tree, the clean cuts made by teeth designed for a specific job. And not just one tree, but on over a dozen, large and small. But the reason it’s happening right now is a bit of a mystery.

The pond is at its lowest level in the last ten seasons, and unless we get a deluge it’s unlikely that any water will overflow the banks this year. The only time I’ve seen beavers work hard at a dam is when there was running water to control, and their is no indication of dam-building at the only potential outlet. And it seems a bit late in the year to stock up the pantry, especially with such hefty pieces of timber.

But there might be another reason. The beaver isn’t the only forester working around the fringes of this pond. After years of neglect a local resident has taken on the job of clearing away much of the brush and brambles, cattails and small trees that have been encroaching on the fishermen’s access trails.

I think the beaver perceives these changes to it’s home turf as either a threat or a challenge. You can sense the competition when the base of some trees are half chewed through, and six inches higher there is the clean cut of a chain saw. Whatever the cause, this is one busy beaver. Perhaps he’s just trying to stock up on building materials before they all disappear.

The Beaver

Today may be Groundhog Day, but regardless of whether Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow this morning, I think we’ll probably have a bit more cold weather before Spring arrives.

In case you’ve missed out on this exciting bit of nature lore, Punxsutawney is a village in Pennsylvania, and each year at this time the local groundhog, Phil by name, comes out of his burrow to make a weather forecast. If he sees his shadow, it means we’ll have another six weeks of cold winter weather, so Phil heads back to his burrow. But if it’s cloudy this morning, the rest of the winter will be mild. Sounds about as accurate as a few weathermen we’ve known.

Last month, with some unseasonably cold weather, the water we put out for the local animals froze solid — that ice cube up above was about four inches thick. When a resident squirrel kept licking the ice to quench his thirst, it reminded us of the importance of water for wildlife.

But be careful how you keep that water liquid. Each year some well-meaning people try to have water available in their backyards but poison the animals by diluting it with anti-freeze. Or they will use glycerin, which can also lead to fatalities.

If you’d like to see several commercial solutions, follow this link. Or play handyman and run an outdoor electric cord to a light bulb covered by a clay flower pot. Place your bird bath or water container on top of the pot and it will keep the ice from forming during all but the coldest weather.

Or do as we do — make a morning ritual of saying hello to the birds as you scatter some seed and then chip the ice from their water. It’s a nice way to start the day.

As for Punxsutawney Phil, we just got word that it was cloudy in that part of Pennsylvania this morning. No shadow. That means a mild rest of the winter. The local residents have been keeping track of these predictions since 1887, and Phil has been correct about 39% of the time.

If you can’t beat them, trick them instead.

Possums are famous for “playing dead” when threatened, but they aren’t playing. Scientists say that the opossum actually goes into shock when overly stressed. So if you see a ‘possum lying on the ground, limp and unconscious, stand back. It has only fainted. Give it time, and it will revive and go on its way.

Several other animals are known to feign death – some of them my surprise you. At least 21 snake species are known to use this survival technique – here’s one example. When a hognose snake feels threatened by a predator, it flips over, belly up, with a gaping mouth that may ooze drops of blood.

Several other animals are known to play dead when they see no escape. Fledgling birds instinctively play dead to confuse predators. Pipistrelle bats are well known to feign death. So do some lizards. We’ve recently heard about an entire clutch of owlets playing dead, but they too got up and began moving when the threat passed. But here’s the biggest surprise – even spiders are known to play possum in order to prevent being eaten!