Beaux the Barred Owl (Strix varia)

It happened last week during Habitat Garden Club (volunteers work in the habitat gardens: Tuesdays from 9 until noon), we heard a wild barred owl (Strix varia) calling, and wildlife ambassador, Beaux, replying. At first, the wild bird’s call was distant, then we saw the owl fly to a tree behind the nature center and then to a branch above Beaux’ enclosure. An ascending, “Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hooo-aw” was followed by an intensifying call-and-response courtship duet of hoots, cackles and caws.

You’ve probably heard Beaux call from the enclosure before, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?” Or maybe you’ve seen Wildlife Care Naturalist, Emily Hutto, walking around the campus with Beaux on the glove.

Emily explains how Beaux became a wildlife ambassador, “When Beaux was a nestling, he fell out of his nest in Alabaster. He was brought to the Alabama Wildlife Center where it was found that he had congenital glaucoma in his left eye. The only way to save his life and prevent the disease from progressing was to surgically remove the eye. Beaux is missing his left eye and cannot be released because his poor depth perception makes it difficult for him to hunt and compete with healthy owls in the wild. Beaux has been with Ruffner since 1999 and is 24 years old.”

Next (and Last) Open Greenhouse Day — April 29!

Saturday is the last day of Greenhouse Days! The greenhouse will be open on April 29 from 10 am - 2 pm, where you may shop for native plants from Ruffner Mountain and Turkey Creek Nature Preserve.

The feature plant this week is bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora). A thicket-forming shrub, bottlebrush buckeye has large, palmately-compound leaves, and the shrub profusely blooms in early summer with long spikes of white feathery flowers. Bottlebrush buckeyes are perfect for a shady woodland border.

The nectar-rich blossoms of bottlebrush buckeyes attract many species of butterflies, and one of our favorites to watch is the pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor). With a constant flutter of the wings, the butterfly uncoils its proboscis (an elongated sucking mouthpart that works like a straw) to probe and sip nectar from each flower.

Notes From the Field

Wildlife Care Naturalist, Emily Hutto, and her husband, Ross, hiked to the big crusher and the red lakes on Friday afternoon — “We found all kinds of wildlife. We found dozens of Slimy Salamanders and Webster’s/Zigzags that I didn’t photograph.

--Box turtle shell and live Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina)

--Some kind of cup fungus that was really large (Ascomycota is the farthest I can ID this)

--Barred Owl (Strix varia) who was not scared of us at all and happily sat on his branch as we walked by

--Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus) who was unfortunately deceased when we found it

--Biggest slimy salamander (Plethodon glutinosus) I’ve ever seen. Definitely 6in long!

--Red Salamander (Pseudotriton ruber) - find of the day! I’ve never seen one before. Also massive!

--Two-Lined Salamander (Eurycea bislineata)

--Spotted Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus conanti)

--Literally the largest Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) I’ve ever seen in my life. It was 3 feet tall and had a woody base! Has anyone ever seen one this big before? How big do they get?”

Next Open Greenhouse Day - April 22nd!

Some people love them, and some love to hate them (they can be a little weedy in places), but black cherry trees are ecological superstars in the natural world, and we want people to love them as much as we do. You can buy one at Greenhouse Days: Saturday, April 22. We’re open from 10 am until 2 pm.

Black cherry (Prunus serotina) flowers offer nectar and pollen to insects, small red or black fruits are a favorite food to many species of birds and mammals, and the trees serve as larval host to more than 450 species of butterflies and moths (this amazing fact comes from nature superstar, Doug Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home, Nature’s Best Hope, and the guy who started the movement, Homegrown National Park).

Imagine having a black cherry tree in your yard and watching nature in action— wonderful interactions between plants and nature all year long.

In the spring, long clusters of white flowers protrude from limbs, enticing pollinators to drink and eat, and in return, the tree’s pollen is transferred to other flowers. Successful pollination will insure the production of fruit. Fruits ripen in late summer to early fall. Fruit-eating birds like tanagers, American robins, cedar waxwings, thrushes, bluebirds, and woodpeckers gobble up the cherries. Chipmunks and squirrels will too.

Eastern tent caterpillars may seem unsightly, but to the yellow-billed cuckoo, they are a delectable snack, bristles and all.

Eastern tiger swallowtail butterflies are just one of the many species of butterflies to lay eggs on the tree. Their caterpillars nibble the leaves, often undetected by us but sought out by foraging birds to feed themselves and their young. Another amazing fact from Tallamy: A single pair of breeding chickadees must find 6,000 to 9,000 caterpillars to rear one clutch of young!

Brown-Headed Cowbirds

The brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) is a much maligned bird. A brood parasite, the brown-headed cowbird female lays her eggs in the nests of other species, leaving the other birds to foster the young cowbirds, sometimes at the detriment of the foster parents’ own offspring.

Watching cowbirds during breeding season begins with following the sounds of chitter chatter. The pale brown female chooses between the competing males. Males have glossy black bodies and brown heads, and they are strikingly beautiful as they stand with their heads held up high with tilted bill. Fluffing up their upper feathers during courtship displays, the males will follow the female around, hopping to wherever she goes, lifting and spreading their wings and tails, bowing and dipping their heads, chattering all the while.

The evolutionary history of this species is fascinating, and in discovering reasons for its breeding strategy, it’s possible to understand and appreciate the brown-headed cowbird. Brown-headed cowbirds were once a bird of open plains, prairies, grasslands, thickets, and forest edges, not a bird of the forest. Foraging on insects and seeds kicked up by grazing animals like bison and cattle, they found their niche. As the grazing herds moved, the flocks went with them. Stopping to nest would not work, but finding foster nests afforded the birds to move with the herds. Expanding human development, agricultural pastures, fields, residential areas, and the resulting forest fragmentation has given more habitat to the cowbirds to expand their range.

Next Open Greenhouse Day - April 15th!

Are you making a shopping list for the Greenhouse Days? The greenhouse will be open to visitors every Saturday in April from 10 am - 2 pm, where you may shop for native plants from Ruffner Mountain and Turkey Creek Nature Preserve. This week’s feature plant is Cherokee sedge (Carex cherokeensis).

“Sedges have edges, and rushes are round, but grasses have nodes from their tips to the ground.”

This rhyme gives us an easy way to remember how to distinguish the difference between sedges, rushes, and grasses. Sedges have edges, but they are also great planted along an edge of a flower border, and they definitely deserve more use in our gardens. Sedges can help set the foundation, create a base layer, fill in the gaps, and offer blooms as well (yes, sedges bloom!). The wheat-like inflorescences of Cherokee sedge droop on stalks above the grasslike leaves. This sedge bunches together and adds structure and accent to plant borders.

Once you are hooked on sedges, you’ll want to add more to the yard. They are great as ground covers or lawn alternatives (simply mow like turf grass). Cherokee sedge is very adaptable to sun and shade, wet or dry. It grows very well in our irrigation-free habitat gardens!

Next Open Greenhouse Day - April 8th!

Are you making a shopping list for the Greenhouse Days?

The greenhouse will be open to visitors every Saturday in April from 10 am - 2 pm, where you may shop for native plants from Ruffner Mountain and Turkey Creek Nature Preserve.

This week, we’re featuring wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) and golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea). Blooming together now in the Ruffner Habitat Gardens, the combination is bright and colorful. The red, dangling, nectar-rich flowers of wild columbine attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and early pollinators.

Once the flowers set seed and the seed capsules begin to brown and split, tiny seeds begin to spill. Allow the plant to self-sow, or collect and scatter seeds to other areas of your habitat garden. Golden Alexanders are host to the black swallowtail butterfly, and it is fun to look for the caterpillars. Umbrella-shaped, bright yellow flowers attract all kinds of pollinators, and the flowers last a long time in the garden. This plant is a prolific self-seeder. Grow these plants together, and you won’t be disappointed. The foliage on both stays green throughout most of the winter.