Wednesday, September 22, 2010

da kang bee

the dapper, infamous, "Bee Martin" (aka eastern kingbird)
luxuriates in a bed of rough-leaf dogwood berries
(photo by stephen "salty" saltamachia)

like a bird
on a wire
like a drunk
in a midnight choir
i have tried
in my way
to be free

                                                                                           -- leonard cohen



          oh yeah..........wanna talk about a badass lil' bird? then let's have a look at the eastern kingbird.......it belongs to the bird genus Tyrannus, which really says it all...... it is an absolute tyrant of the airwaves........in his 1938 book, The Bird Life of Louisiana, harry oberholser writes, "The Kingbird is so called because of its habit of attacking and driving away all other birds from the vicinity of its nest, particularly the larger species like hawks and crows . . . so vicious is it in its attacks on even large birds that they seldom stay to fight it out, but escape as rapidly as possible."

     back in the day, we called them "bee martins," a nickname that supposedly arose from their propensity to take honeybees buzzing in and out of bee hives..............i've never seen that happen; but i have on many occasions witnessed their attacks on birds..........poor purple martins, for example........too bad that they often choose nesting sites out in the open country -- in kingbird territory -- for kingbirds give them no quarter. i've seen bee martins dive atop flying purple martins, grabbing them by the scruff of the neck and occasionally riding them all the way down to the ground (a hated place for a purple martin).......and as oberholser alluded above, slow-moving crows and hawks are no match for the aerial mastery of the kingbird. should these big boys cross into kingbird airspace or nest space, the bee martins dive on them and peck their poor heads for as long as they deem necessary; sometimes seemingly stretching the attacks out to the point of personal amusement.

     perhaps owing to its aggressive nature, the eastern kingbird is the only bird i know of that nests pretty much where it dam well pleases........when it comes to nesting -- or even to life in general -- most birds are into concealment..........not so for the bee martin........it's been noted nesting very high or quite low in forest edges, orchards, young open-grown live oaks in front yards, even on fence rails!

     several years ago, i noted eastern kingbirds and western kingbirds nesting together around a campground near emporia, kansas........man, would i have loved to hang around and see how they worked that arrangement out..............................................

     here in louisiana, eastern kingbirds are pretty common -- especially around pastures, marshes, prairies, parks, and other open areas -- during the spring/summer nesting season.....often, observers hear their raucous "Kree!Kree!Kreep!" screams well before spotting them. eastern kingbirds have carved out a massive breeding range here in north america, stretching from northern british columbia and ontario, to the maritime provinces, and southward through the high plains, great plains, and all of the eastern u.s.

     during the fall months, eastern kingbirds assemble into traveling flocks of various sizes, from several birds to hundreds of birds....as with many fall-migrating birds, they travel southbound in the daytime (as opposed to spring migration, when most songbirds become nocturnal migrants), gradually draining westward into gulf coastal mexico, thence due south into their winter homes in the deep interior of south america.........given the power of their flight, together with their fierce nature, my guess it that migration is a trip that they probably enjoy; as opposed to most other songbird species that tend more to slink around with visions of great peril.

     all eight species of  u.s. Tyrannus flycatchers are masters of aerial power and agility.........they all possess the same bill shape as well: a long but wide thing, tapering smoothly to a tiny hook at the tip......a snapping beak is what it is; and these birds will readily snap up just about any insect/arthropod that moves...even millipedes....i've even heard of eastern kingbirds plunging for minnows.....

     during fall migration, however, many kingbird and other flycatcher species move from a protein-rich insect/arthropod diet to a carbohydrate-rich wild berry diet.................recently, jay huner wrote that a small flock of traveling bee martins cleaned out substantial clumps of elderberry along his driveway in central louisiana.....they also love dogwood berries (as "salty" so beautifully captured via the attached photo), virginia creeper, supplejack, viburnum, and wild grapes.

     in reality, relatively few birds are "free" .................. most are so preoccupied with survival, you see........but a few, like the bee martin, do actually live the 'good life,' nesting almost wherever they please, and snatching food out of thin air whenever they or their dependents feel hungry...

Monday, September 13, 2010

sentimental journey




                                    "Spin me back down the years and the days of my youth . . . "

                                                                   --   Jethro Tull, from 'Thick as a Brick"


     this installment is not about nature, ya'll; unless you count the nature of cultural change..........

     on 10 sept, i drove up to haynesville, la. to do a talk for their annual butterfly festival....know where haynesville is? it's barely in louisiana -- maybe four miles from the arkansas line -- 250 miles from lafayette...................and at least a couple of generations removed from any existing post-modern culture.

     i'd been near, but never to haynesville, in my day; so i looked forward to the trip, remembering other nearby communities that i had been to, and had so enjoyed......but i could not exactly remember why. . .

     jumping off I-49 north of natchitoches, i had slipped the (relatively, i guess...) new allman bros. cd that a lafayette musician buddy had just given me, and by the time i had hit the first cotton field of the trip, just outside of coushatta, the sparse, rustic strains of dual (warren haynes & derek trucks....ya'll really oughta check this album ["Hitting the Note"] out..........) slide acoustic guitars were introducing greg allman's aching, 'hard times' ....... jerking me with a tactible shiver back into the years and the days of my youth....................growing up in ville platte, la in the 50s & 60s, we actually had a cotton field in town, not too far away from school (well, nothing was too far away from anything in ville platte...), where for a spell, we'd pick cotton before school (when them cotton bolls were heavier with dew....) for 2-cent-a-pound.

     but what had really given me that shiver there outside of coushatta was in instant memory of sharecroppers, the people who didn't pick cotton for fun.....they picked it -- and spent many more hours hoeing it -- for their lives............funny how during my dad's generation (ca. 1920s & 30s), the majority of folks around ville platte tended crops and livestock....for a living; but by the 1960s sharecroppers & small farm owners weren't even on local society's radar.......they were background noise......noticed only by merchants and bankers when they couldn't make their bills......yet they were the backbone -- the moral compass -- of what passed for "society" back then....................

     it's really no wonder how the blues got invented, ya'll..............

     anyway, the main thing that a traveler from far-away worlds notices up there on US371 is the roadside signage........just as in the post-modern world, it's everywhere; only it's different..............it's mostly wooden, and, again, it's wordage recalls what today would be considered the distant past. up there, convenience stores sit like a recent idea......all are independently owned, or at best, locally-franchised, with names like 'pak-a-bag' or 'handee-bag' .... i noted locally-franchised chicken joints named, 'chick-a-dilly'...........

     passing through the relatively large, I-20 town of minden, and turning right -- just past the Mt. Calm Elderly Apartments, you veer north-northeast, past 'the friendliest travel center in the u.s.' (just a gas station/cafe in the middle of the woods; but i'd bet that it's friendly.....) and you're really spinning back through the years.............

     i held out for a gas stop until i got to haynesville.....a town about the size of mamou or sunset......it only had 3 gas stations.....one of them, the one with the adjoining cafe, was closed......i pulled into the next one and an attendant (the owner, i think) actually came up and asked, "can i help you?"........i said, "yeah, ya'll take credit cards?" he goes, "uh...yeah....but we're out of gas...try that next one, around the corner, right across from the bank...." apparently the combination of the butterfly festival and the local high school football game (haynesville high's 'golden tornadoes') had caused a temporary blip in fuel demand...............anyway, i did like he said and landed at one of those locally-owned convenience stores, got out (no attendant there) and noted mechanical gas pumps..........that's right kids, no digital pumps up that way.......just as in the 1970s, these pumps have mechanical odometer-like dials.........no place to stick no credit card.....you pull on this armature type thing and that resets the pump and turns it on......i remember how modern such a pump seemed back in 1972....................................

     next i pulled in to the Starlight Inn to check in.....a true "motor-court" of 1950s vintage, where the attendant sits in a drive-in booth, fills out your room card for you, plops an honest-to-god room key in your hand, and you drive straight on through to your cinder-block room........replete with funky, concrete shower stall -- plastic shower curtain cracked with age -- and naked plumbing..................



    
     due to the heat, i guess (it had gotten up to 98F when i checked in at about 3pm), my room's window air-conditioner froze up that night, making for less-than-restful sleeping..............fortunately, the room was supplied with a complimentary, oh-so-refreshing, bar of 'beach mist' soap, to get me off and running the next morning.

     to a person -- black, white, and latino -- the townsfolk were friendly and courteous; looking at you directly in the eye to say, "good morning" or "hot, ain't it!?!" or "that'll be $7.28" as opposed to the sideways glances you (or at least i) get in the post-modern world.

     despite the sign that said "welcome to haynesville -- the butterfly capital of the world" there were no more butterflies around than any other rural louisiana town at this time of year......early fall, by the way, is the butterfly season across the gulf south............they did have a fine old clapboard cottage on the "festival grounds" landscaped "cottage garden" style with lots of wildflowers, and loaded with plains checkerspots and pearly crescents, skippers, and other butterflies-of-passage..................sorry that i didn't get a picture of that.................i also missed photographing the butterfly festival parade...........it happened so fast.......basically, a car or two with dignitaries and the town fire truck (blue!) loaded with golden tornado cheerleaders, on a 2-3 block parade route.............

     there were probably as many folks from south arkansas as from north louisiana at the festival.....all super-friendly and in a festive mood, regardless of the nearly-triple-digit weather.........................a good old-fashioned time was had by all................... 

Friday, September 3, 2010

louisiana plant-lovers bookshelf





     ya'll remember books, doncha? they've got pages....thin slips of paper......that you read then turn then read some more...........................................yeah, these days -- more than ever before -- you can say that in general books are a waste of perfectly good trees.................................still, for those of us with inquiring minds, most books have yet to be cyberized/digitized, and so you gotta get the tome if u wanna read it. fortunately, the www is chock full of used book sellers (don't bypass 'big cyberbox' amazon; they're hooked up to vast numbers of independent used book sellers) to root thru...........................

     listed/categorized below are my personal picks for "must have" books for louisiana plant lovers.


for the technical types:

  • Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas --  yeah i know, it says 'texas' not 'louisiana' but believe me it's got just about everything native to our state........it's built for professional biologists, particularly botanists; so it's highly technical and painstakingly detailed in its plant descriptions......it also provides global distribution information for each plant genus and family (e.g. "Salvia -- About 700 species distributed throughout the world but mostly in temperate and tropical regions, centered in South America.") which i really like.
  • Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Louisiana -- by dale thomas and charles allen; a 3-volume wire-bound catalog of all plants growing in louisiana and of the parishes each has been recorded in.

for less-technical plant identifyers....it's unfortunate that no one has come up with any really good books specifically focused on louisiana; yet, those listed below work wonderfully for most all of our species:

  • Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of Texas -- a fine early '60s book by professional texas naturalist robert vines..........it's a massive volume that includes 1) line drawings of most foliage, flower, and fruit, detailed distribution info, 3) habitat preferences, 4) propagation info, 5) cultural uses, 6) just enough technical description to get you what you need.
  • Seaside Plants of the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts -- again, despite the title, this provides best photographs of just about all louisiana native plants of importance, including numerous grasses, sedges, wildflowers, trees & shrubs.......very concise (it's meant to be taken out in the field, so it's compact), but gives a satisfactory amount of info on each species/variety.
  • Mississippi Trees -- recently published by the mississippi forestry commission, this book represents the template of what ALL tree identification books should aspire to.......it's got photos of not only leaves and flowers/fruits, but also bark and twigs for EVERY tree, and includes notes on habitat/ecology, wildlife value, timber value, landscaping info, and other facts. what a book!

for gardeners:

  • Southern Plants -- by neil odenwald and james turner.....the bible of cultural/growing/gardening recommendations for just about all garden-worthy plants that do well in in louisiana. it too provides line drawings of most foliage, flower, fruit, AND growth form and dimensions.
  • Basic Gardening: A Guide for the Deep South -- a self published, wirebound 'owner's manual' for the southern garden........covers all of the basic, plus tons of the freakily, uh, esoteric topics as author gail barton (career horticulture instructor from meridian, mississippi) cared to wander/careen through. thoroughly educational and thoroughly entertaining.
  • Native Gardening in the South -- gotta toot my own horn here......and belive me, i wouldn't; but thousands have sold since it was first published in 1992, so i can only suppose that it's a decent reference. as with my friend gail's book, it's a self-published wirebound 'owners manual' focused on gardening with southeastern u.s. native/wild plants only. like gail's, it also provides a goodly amount of historical/cultural "folk" usage, wildlife usage, propagation, maintenance, and garden design info.
  • Flowers Native to the Deep South -- by louisiana born-and-raised amateur naturalist, artist, writer, and educator -- the Godmother of the Gardening-with-native-plants-of-the-south movement -- the great caroline dormon....................she's the one who started it all....................she was instrumental in preserving louisiana's kisatchie national forest system, as well as the louisiana state arboretum (the first state-owned arboretum in the nation) up near chicot state park in evangeline parish. this book, and its companion, Natives Preferred were written (and illustrated with line drawings and watercolor plates)with such love, dedication, and passion, that they could not help but insprire an entire generation of native plant advocates, including my own mom, and then, me..........for a fine view of this helplessly, devastatingly, inspiringly eccentric crusader, look also for Gift of the Wild Things, a caroline dormon biography by fran holman johnson.

cultural/wildlife/"folk" users, and those who just like to read about plants:

  • Native Gardening in the South, 2nd Edition -- "folk" plants have always been a major interest of mine; and on this second edition, i substantially expanded the cultural/wildlife/"folk" section, incorporating louisiana bird/berry information gleaned from a 5-year louisiana bird frugivory survey that i and 25 other louisiana naturalists participated in. i also added louisiana butterfly gardening and folk usage info gleaned by charles allen and malcom vidrine.
  • The Wildlife Garden -- by new orleans naturalist Charlotte Seidenberg......covers all the basics, then goes right on down to the esoterics, including 'gardening for moths' which is indeed fascinating....great writing.....great reading.
  • The New Orleans Garden -- another by Seidenberg......overwhelmingly comprehensive history of the garden-worthy plants of new orleans......chock full of personal stories and citations of historical usages...........and new orleans has got a looooooooong history, ya'll.
  • Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of Louisiana -- by father-daughter botanists charles allen and dawn allen newman, along with amateur louisiana native plant enthusiast harry winters.........basically an even more concise version of robert vines' trees, shrubs, and woody vines of texas book. wonderfully written, and jam-packed with tons of plant trivia.
  • The Cajun Prairie: A Natural History -- by biologist/professor malcom vidrine.......in this tome, malcom jettisons his technical perspective to write about a landscape that he was born and raised in -- and which he dearly loves -- the coastal tallgrass prairies of southwestern louisiana......his love comes through in this fascinating book of an all-but-extinct louisiana ecosystem, with a happy ending.
  • Medicinal Plants -- by shaker-trained herbalist stephen foster and botanist james duke...this is a super-concise peterson field guide that (to me) gleans only the best-authenticated/documented north american medicinal plants and uses..........includes line drawings of foliage; and in this way is helpful as an identification guide as well.
  • The Green Pharmacy -- by james duke.........as above, but covering a global (as opposed to continental) perspective.
  • The Green World -- by vermont botany professor richard klein............here's the sleeper of the group.....the darkhorse......a treasure-trove of perspective: his, as well as that of various civilizations and societies throughout human history.........he begins with the basics of plant biology, and then embarks on a stream-of-consciousness ramble through plants, peoples, and time............utterly fascinating reading, ya'll.............................................good story about this book:  many moons ago, when i was working at the acadiana park nature station in lafayette, co-worker paul conover dropped this book onto a tall stack of "to read" books that had accumulated on an unused corner of my desk. figuring it was an "economic botany" book (which, indeed, it partially is...), i knew it was something i wanted to look at, but there was just too much going on.....................................one fine day i picked it up, and BAM......i was instantly hooked..............so much so that i "kleptoed" it into the safety of my home............................later, paul would ask about it, and i'd just say, "huh?" conveniently forgetting i'd ever seen it...............................................................................amazingly, it was actually written as a textbook -- one such as i've never seen before -- and paul had picked it up at a friend's garage sale, after it had failed to sell and was outright given to him......................................thankfully, paul was above to obtain another copy (for a dollar, i believe he said....), so i got to keep the copy that i had abscounded with..........................................................get it, plant lovers!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

the wind in the willow played . . .

                                        




(Note: for those of you arriving to this post via facebook, try using the blogspot site [type http://thenaturedude.blogspot.com/ into the top of your web browser and hit 'enter' on your keyboard] for a prettier view....)
 

  yes, ". . . love's sweet melody . . ."  remember that one, kids? ah, fats domino.......more on that, later.

     it took a little over 20 years (1982-2004) for a complete tree-canopy to grow over our backyard.....the only thing we planted was a solitary baldcypress......everything else came natural......then came hurricanes lily (2004) and gustav (2008), both of which were direct eyewall hits on our place, tearing holes in our tree roof.

     in the photo above, you see one of those holes, opening a view due north of our back porch....a 65' hackberry tumbled down to create it..................................................this hole perfectly frames the top of a super-emergent black willow tree, growing on the banks of a coulee about 100 yds into the surrounding woods.

     relatively short-lived, and not thought of as a desirable shade tree or even wildlife tree, the black willow (Salix nigra) is nevertheless a vitally-important component in a number of louisiana habitats, including cypress-tupelo swamp, bottomland hardwood forest, hardwood riparian, freshwater marsh,  etc.; and an even bigger player in human-altered wetland systems, where it functions as an early-successional or "pioneer" species.

     as with all willows (worldwide, primarily in northern hemisphere temperate zones, over 500 willow species occur), black willow produces multitudes of tiny seeds, each one attached to its own silken parachute...here in louisiana, these things fill the air during late spring, landing in every conceivable locale where the wind might blow..........in a fashion akin to the wild irises and a number of other wetland-emergent plants, those seeds which happen to settle where water meets shoreline readily germinate, allowing black willow to spread itself far and wide.

     amazingly (to a big dumb human, anyway), a number of bird species go after willow seed in a big way.....via the window off of our back porch, i've watched red-winged blackbirds, orchard and baltimore orioles, and indigo buntings devouring the seed of the big female willow (willows are dioecious = separate sexes on separate trees)............................they're either going after the seed, or going after insects around the seed, as i've noted these feeding episodes during the tree's seeding phase......i'm inclined to believe the latter............

     willows are most famously known as producers of salicytic acid, a precurssor to aspirin. there are many references to indigenous peoples' use of willow bark to alleviate pain.....................interesting how ever since artificial anti-inflammatories have been synthesized, the corporate health care industry has poo-pooed asprin? only recently -- and only grudgingly -- have they come out and said, "yeah, a little asprin might help in preventing heart attacks".... meanwhile, we're just now beginning to hear of horrific side effects associated with acetomenophin and other non-asprin substitutes...............

     in their fabulous book, 'Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of Louisiana,' father-daughter botanists charles allen and dawn allen newman (along with amateur botanist, dr. harry winters) further elucidate on the properties of black willow: "The wood is soft, light, weak and not durable but does not warp, check or splinter. It is used for artificial limbs, charcoal, toys, doors, fuel, cheap furniture, boxwood, excelsior, paper pulp, and baskets. The bark is rich in tannin and used for pain relief, expectorant, hemostatic, astringent, and tonic to break up fever.......In olden times, the inner bark was used in making a light purple dye, and as a substitute for quinine. During Revolutionary Days, charcoal from black willow was used for gunpowder. The twigs are commonly browsed by deer. The tree is valuable for pollen and considerable honey has been reported from willows."

     more on their book, and other essential books for louisiana plant lovers, in a later post.

     green willow wood is exceedingly flexible......as kids, we used to set "willa lines" for catfish, attaching nylon string and baited hook to willow saplings hanging over the water along the various rivers, bayous, and lakes where we camped and ran trotlines and nets..........................

     through recent american history the willow has appeared in numerous songs, mostly -- as in fats domino's 'blueberry hill' -- romantically swaying in the breeze...........occasionally, though, a songwriter or two has paid homage to the (sapling) willow's legendary flexibility.....or, in the case of bob dylan, lack thereof, in 'going going gone':

"I've just reached a place
Where the willow don't bend
There's not much more to be said
It's the top of the end
I'm going
I'm going
I'm gone."

     right, bob..............sometimes a person just doesn't feel romantic about a willow, y'know?

     speaking of willow songs, here's some cool trivia regarding fats domino's 'blueberry hill,' where "the wind in the willow played, love's sweet melody..."

  • 'blueberry hill' was written in 1940 by sicilian-born american band leader vincent rose, and the tin-pan alley lyricist team of al lewis and larry stock.
  • it was immediately recorded by singer tommy ryan with the sammy kaye orchestra, then POUNCED UPON, and recorded -- all in 1940 -- by the likes of gene krupa, glenn miller, gene autry, and jimmy dorsey, among others. talk about a sensation.....
  • none other than louis armstrong recorded it in 1949.
  • fats domino made it a hit in 1956. i was two years old then; but that didn't stop me, and you, from hearing it constantly for the remainder of our collective lives..............uh.... dam song's got legs...
  • 'blueberry hill' ranks #81 on rolling stone magazine's '500 greatest songs of all time' list.