March's Grand Surprise
Ready for a grand surprise? Summer is not the only time to see butterflies at Kankakee Sands.
Wait, what—March? Believe it or not, if you head out for a walk on a sunny day this chilly month in an open woodlands or savanna—such as Conrad Station Savanna on the north end of Kankakee Sands—or a park, or even a backyard where trees are present, there’s a good chance you may see a mourning cloak butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa).
Unlikely as it may seem, they really are out there! But they’re a little hard to see. When the large, 3-inch jagged-edged wings of the mourning cloak are folded in a closed and resting position, the dull-grey color of the wings blends perfectly with the tree bark or fallen leaves where it may be resting.
It’s this dull grey color for which it was named, resembling the cape or coat worn by someone who is in mourning. But when those wings open, the creamy yellow edges of the wings, decorated with a long row of royal-blue ovals, will grab your attention and shroud you in a cloak of delight. Does me every time!
And then off it will go, fluttering away in an instant. These fast-flying butterflies are quick and wary, which serves them well. As you might imagine, a juicy-bodied butterfly would be a fine meal for a hungry bird, reptile, amphibian, larger dragonfly or praying mantis. Given the 30,000 acres of natural areas owned by TNC and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in Newton County, there’s no shortage of any of those predators!
The mourning cloak butterfly is found throughout North America and even in the temperate regions of Eurasia. In Great Britain it is an irregular migrant, and therefore has been affectionately called the grand surprise. It certainly is an exciting, grand and fun surprise for us in Indiana when we see it in March after what always feels like a long, cold winter!
Mourning cloaks overwinter as adults in hollow logs, in tree cavities and under bark. The overwintered adults have tattered wings, but seeing a butterfly in March is often so exciting and wonderful that we overlook it’s not-so-vibrant appearance.
Overwintered adult mourning cloaks will mate in the spring and lay eggs on the twigs of host plants that the caterpillars will eat when they hatch: willow, elm, poplar, hackberry and cottonwood. Unlike monarch caterpillars, which eat by themselves, mourning cloak caterpillars feed together, communally munch, munch, munching away. Because the eggs and caterpillars are a protein-rich food for a wide array of hungry insects (including beetles, ants and wasps), many of the eggs and caterpillars do not reach the butterfly stage.
In May, the mourning cloak caterpillar—velvety black, speckled white and with spiney bristles—forms a chrysalis and pupates. Adult mourning cloak butterflies emerge in June and July with fresh vibrant wings and will feed on the sap of trees and fallen fruits, but rarely will they nectar on flowers. At this time of year, the other Indiana butterflies—swallowtails, monarchs and red admirals, to name a few—paint the landscape with their bold oranges, yellows and blues. As they fly about and nectar on eye-catching flowers, it’s all too easy to overlook the mourning cloak. That’s why March is a grand month to see the grand surprise.
But if you don’t see one this month, fear not! The chances of seeing one this year are great. Mourning cloaks have one of the longest lifespans of our Indiana butterflies—11 to 12 months! And in years (such as this one) when we have had warm spells during the winter, they have been documented in every month of the year, though they are most commonly observed from March through November.
We will be hosting two upcoming group opportunities in April and May to see mourning cloaks at Conrad Station Savanna. Please join us!
- Jeanette Jaskula, president of Friends of the Sands, will be leading a mothing excursion at Conrad Station Savanna to inventory the moths that come to a sticky sweet bait she makes out of fermented bananas and beer and spreads on the trunks of trees. That concoction doesn’t sound too tasty to us, but the mourning cloaks can’t resist!
- We will be hosting several volunteer workdays to remove non-native, invasive garlic mustard plants, which are aggressive and shade out our spring wildflowers. It’s quite satisfying to pluck unwanted garlic mustard plants from the ground, and seeing a mourning cloak butterfly is icing on a volunteer workday cake!
To stay in the know about upcoming mothing opportunities this spring, visit our events calendar at nature.org/indianavolunteer, visit the great outdoors and treat yourself to a grand surprise!
Nature Notes for February
A Getting Warmed Up with the Rough-legged Hawk
My 90-year-old neighbor used to tell me that he was going out fishing… not catching, but fishing. It’s about the experience, he’d tell me. And that is how it is with me and birding… it’s about the experience. Attempting to see some birds—sometimes being able to watch and identify them, and sometimes not. It’s not always easy, especially when the birds are small! So, when I am feeling like having some birding success, I often set my sights on the larger birds.
Should you visit Kankakee Sands in February, you'll probably get to see one of our larger prairie birds—the rough-legged hawk (Buteo lagopus). With a wingspan of 53 inches, there is a good chance you’ll notice it when it is soaring overhead!
But how will you know that the bird perched on the fenceposts around the bison pasture, or hunting from a small oak tree growing in the prairie, or soaring overheard, is indeed a rough-legged hawk?
That is where the bird watching part comes in. Taking note of identification markings and bird behavior can help you to decide just which bird it is that you are looking at. For example, when a rough-legged hawk is in flight, you will be able to see that its longs wings do not taper to a point, as a falcon’s wings do. Instead, their wings are broad and wide at the tip. Notice the tail for another clue—the tail of a rough-legged will be broad and fan-shaped.
The rough-legged hawk was named for the feathers on its legs, which give the legs a rough look. Most birds do not have feathers on their legs. Think about those long-legged flamingos, majestic bald eagles, and even the tiny chickadees—all with smooth, featherless legs.
If the bird is perched, are you seeing a small beak and the feathered legs? If soaring, does it hold its long broad wings mostly horizontal in a light upward v-shape (known as a dihedral)? Watch for the flapping of the wings: is it shallow and smooth, lazing and loping? Is the bird solitary and hunting alone? Does the bird stop in mid-flight to hover, flapping its wings rapidly to stay in one place, and then diving down to pounce feet first upon its prey? More clues that you’re witnessing a rough-legged hawk.
Rough-legged hawks can be confused with the other large bird of prey that spend winters at Kankakee Sands, so focus your attention on the tail. Like the rough-legged hawk, the red-tailed hawk also has a broad fan-shaped tail, but its tail will also have red feathers, most easily seen when in flight, which rough-leggeds don’t have. Northern harriers will have a white rump band at the base of their long, narrow tail.
The call of the rough-legged hawk won’t offer much help when it comes to identification unfortunately. Though its two-second, cat-like meow call is very unique, it is rarely heard. Like most hawks, rough-legged hawks seldom vocalize outside of breeding and nesting season. The exceptions are the hungry young nestlings and juveniles which call loudly and often to their parents for more and more food. The squeaky birds get the voles!
Sometimes bird behaviors, like those listed above, can be much better clues to the identity of a bird than the actual feather markings and coloration. This is especially true for birds like the rough-legged hawk who exhibit polymorphism, in which different birds of the same species exhibit variations in their feathers or plumage. In the case of the rough-legged hawk, there is a light form (or morph) and a dark morph. If a rough-legged hawk is patterned in the light morph form, it will be mottled brown all over, have a pale brown head, a dark belly patch, and the undersides of the wings will be white with small dark spots at the bend or elbow of the wing. In the dark morph form, the rough-legged hawk will be covered from head to toe, in dark brown feathers, the only exception being a band of white feathers along the outer edge of the underside of the wings and tail. At Kankakee Sands we typically see the light morph form, but the dark morph form also is present, so stay sharp!
Rough-legged hawks spend summer months in the Arctic tundra of Alaska and Canada, where they nest on cliff edges, raise their young and feed on voles, lemmings, ground squirrels, hares and small birds. They winter all across southern Canada and the northern US in open areas such as prairies, marshes, fields, bogs and dunes looking for mice, voles and shrews.
Kankakee Sands is open for birding any time of the year, and thanks to the 8,000 acres of planted prairie and wetland acres here, there are almost always birds to be seen! In the winter, it’s highly likely that you’ll see rough-legged hawks, red-tailed hawks and northern harriers during the day, and short-eared owls at dawn and dusk. In the spring, you can delight in many migrating birds in bright breeding plumage singing for a mate. Summer is the time for nesting and feeding, and then fall, the birds again migrate.
You can bird from your car, from a parking area, or from one of the trails we have at Kankakee Sands. If you are new to birding and would feel more at ease with a birding buddy, reach out! We have staff and volunteers who are able to take small group of visitors for birding. At our Kankakee Sands office, we have bird identification books and binoculars that can be borrowed, too.
There are so many other natural spaces and places to bird in Indiana, and all around the world! Birdability is a fantastic resource for those wanting to do more birding. Birdability’s tagline is “because birding is for everybody!”, and it’s true! Their vision is that birding is “for everybody and every body, regardless of disability or other health concerns.” The Birdability website has crowdsourced maps for birding locations all across the globe that describe in detail the accessibility of each location so that a person knows what to expect when arriving and will hopefully feel more comfortable and prepared to get out there and get birding!
Indiana Audubon reports that 413 species of birds have been documented in Indiana and of those, 247 species have been documented at Kankakee Sands. With all those bird species utilizing the planted prairies and wetlands here, a birding adventure surely awaits you! Come on out to Kankakee Sands this February and get your birding skills warmed up with the rough-legged hawk. It’s going to be a great year for you and birding, I just know it!
Nature Notes for January
A Visit from a Good Luck Sparrow
December and January are ‘a visiting time’—a time to escape the chill of winter and explore new spaces in far-away places, or to travel to see friends and family in old familiar haunts and catch up on the year that was. It’s also a visiting time for sparrows, and my grandfather always told me that a visit from a sparrow is good luck!
Many of our Indiana summertime sparrows—the Henslow’s sparrow, grassland sparrow, and chipping sparrow—have recently left Kankakee Sands to migrate south for the winter. But another sparrow has just arrived—the American tree sparrow (Spizelloides arborea)—and it is here to stay for the next several months.
American tree sparrows spend the summer way up in Alaska and Northern Canada’s transition zone where willow, alder, spruce and birch grow at the edge of the open tundra. (Gosh that must be pretty. Wouldn’t it be nice to visit there one day?) In the late fall, the American tree sparrows migrate south to southern Canada and northern United States of America where they take up temporary winter residence in transitional areas with trees and shrubs at the edge of open land—brushy roadsides, woodland edges, shrubby fields, marshes and wetlands.
And they have come to eat! Here in Indiana and in other areas of their winter range, American tree sparrows are able to find seeds and berries in more abundance than in their summertime habitat at this time of the year.
American tree sparrows easily fall into the category of LBB—Little Brown Birds. Without binoculars, it can be a challenge to distinguish which species the little brown ball of feathers might be. Many of the sparrows that we see in Indiana are in the four to six-inch range and mottled with brown feathers. So how can we distinguish the American tree sparrow from other sparrows that winter here like the white-throated sparrow, the song sparrow and the introduced-from-Europe house sparrow?
If you can get a good view of the American tree sparrow, you’ll see that in addition to being little and brown, it has a cap of red feathers on its head, a grey face and a red eye-streak, which a few other sparrows also have. But its most striking feature is its bicolored beak: the upper bill—the maxillary beak—is dark in color, and the lower bill—the mandibular beak—is yellow. And on its buff-colored, un-streaked breast is a small dark spot of feathers. Put it all together and you have yourself an American tree sparrow!
Should you not be able to see the bird well enough to note the field markings, maybe your ear will catch the song of the males sung from a perch and described by Cornell’s All About Birds website as a series of high sweet sounding whistled notes sweet, sweet, todiddle dittle di that fall in pitch as the notes are sung. When feeding and foraging, you’ll often hear a musical “teedle-eet” from members of the flock to one another.
Tree sparrows are ground feeders, foraging most of their food from the ground. In fall and spring, they feed mostly on the seeds of grass, sedges and wildflowers as well as berries, catkins and insects. During the summer, when rearing chicks, they feed more extensively on protein-rich insects: caterpillars, beetles, flies, moths and spiders. During the winter, the American tree sparrow will dine on seeds and berries in natural places, and even come into backyards with landscaping plants still standing and with birdfeeders that have dropped small seeds to the ground.
My what entertaining eaters they are! They excel at removing the seeds and berries still attached to the plants by jumping, hopping and slapping the seeds with their wings, and then scrapping the ground with their feet before eating them up.
In addition to being a ground feeder, American tree sparrows are also ground nesters. In the summer months when they are in their breeding grounds in Canada and Alaska, they create small open cup nests made of grasses, moss and twigs which they line with feathers and fine grasses. They build their nests in grass clumps at the base of shrubs for protection to hold the four to six pale blue, red-specked eggs and raise their young.
With all the time that the American tree sparrow spends on the ground eating and nesting, their name is rather misleading as they don’t spend much time in trees at all. Like most of us, they did not choose their own name! American tree sparrows were named by European colonists who came to America and thought they resembled the European tree sparrow. If I were to rename it, I might call it the cute busy bicolored beak bird. But now I’m wondering what name the American tree sparrow might give itself?
Partners in Flight estimates that there are approximately 26 million American tree sparrows in the world today, which seems like a lot. However, they are included in the listing of Common Birds in Steep Decline due to a decrease in number by 53% between 1970 and 2014. The causes of the decline are not well understood but could have to do with the sparrow’s disappearing winter habitat of meadows and wetlands that are converted to agricultural lands and residential or commercial areas.
Remember that American tree sparrows frequent backyards, so you can help this little brown bird by planting native plants in your own landscapings and leaving the stems standing until spring for the birds to glean the seeds, and by planting native shrubs and trees in your yard that provide winter berries, like serviceberry, elderberry and sumac.
This winter, as you visit new places or are visited by friends and family, grab those binoculars and head out for a walk or drive, or simply enjoy sitting by the window looking out to see if the American tree sparrow might also be visiting you. If they are, you’re in luck!
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