Good News from Unexpected, July 2008
Mother Nature never stands still, and she has been shaking her hips here at the Refuge for the last couple of months like a crazed hula dancer.
The spillway, which controls the water level in Miller Pond, blew out in May. Miller Pond is now Miller Marsh. The combination of age and water pressure forced the timbers downstream, and the pond followed; like pulling the stopper out of a full bathtub. This has created a rather uncomfortable situation for the beavers who live here. Their lodge is located below the Dike at the high end of what was Miller Pond. Due to the series of many small dams they constructed, they are now living in a small oasis of water that lies on either side of the Dike. Although I have not seen them, they probably have kittens in the lodge who are not yet able to swim very well. They may eventually traverse the narrow muddy ribbon of water to relocate downstream, below Unexpected Road. This all depends on how safe they feel where they are and how much food they have access to presently. If and when Unexpected Road is repaired, I do not anticipate the spillway being replaced, due to cost and liability.
Last week, sixty mph winds brought trees and branches down throughout the Refuge. Al came by and helped clean up the mess. The trees that came down around the cabin are being eyed by yours truly as firewood. I will put my plug in right now: if you have potential firewood from spring winds, think of donating it to the Refuge! We actually have a “firewood team” of volunteers who cut, load and split found and donated wood.
In early June a switch was flipped in South Jersey, and the season changed from beautiful spring weather with 70 degree days and no humidity, to hot, humid and humming with summer insects. Personally, I relish this kind of weather. I don’t particularly care for the biting flies, but hey, you take the good with the bad. I am amazed, however, at the media hype that blooms with this type of weather, or any weather that is not the “perfect day”, for that matter. It would seem that we should all be terrified at the prospect of a hot day and are forewarned relentlessly to remain indoors at all cost and drink water like a camel preparing for a long desert voyage. If you condition yourself to air conditioning you will likely remove an entire season filled with beauty and wonder from your life.
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We had some fun and exciting events during the cool spring weather. Our annual Frog Walk, led by Fred Akers, began at 7:30 on a lovely Saturday evening as we strolled along the trails from bog to bog. The Main Pond, an old cranberry bog that is naturally shallow, held enough water from a recent shower to provide breeding grounds for quite a few amphibians. Standing on the Dike, we heard the green frog, bull frog, carpenter frog and cricket frog, which of course, sounds something like a cricket. Standing knee deep in cool, dark water at Muddy Bog, we heard, and then saw, a male Pine Barrens tree frog calling for a mate. We also observed a large leopard frog who was not calling, but appeared to be resting on the duckweed that bobbed gently from our movement through the water. We waded through Wet Bog and then enjoyed a moonlit walk across Bluebird Field with bats flitting overhead above the lacy silhouette of apple tree branches. By the time we returned to the cabin, we had heard three additional species: northern gray tree frog, fowlers toad, and serenading us throughout the entire trip, the spring peepers.
Several groups joined us for hikes in May and June. An impromptu group dropped in on a cool, crisp Tuesday morning, and I was honored to have what I can only call a lesson in “Birding with the Pros.” Augie Sexauer, Nels Anderson and Jean Gutsmuth and their two guests, Emily and Gub, shared a wonderful nature walk in which we saw amazing avian activity in the forest fields and swamps. Dozens of birds, (to name few — scarlet tanagers, bluebirds, blue gray gnat catchers, several warblers and a multitude of ovenbirds) were calling, mating, nesting and flitting around our heads throughout the trek. After several hours of observation, we returned to base for lunch, just in time to watch a Baltimore oriole construct a nest in the tulip poplar directly over the cabin roof. What a day!
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The following week, several members of the Burlington County Natural Science Club gathered here for a birding trip that was just as fruitful, adding Prothonotary warblers, wood ducks, kingfishers and several kinds of herons to the list. On this day, we were joined by a curious beaver on our traverse across the Dike. She floated about 20 feet upstream, watching us intently. She never slapped her tail, but patiently treaded water, silently waiting for us to move on. After a moment of quiet contemplation we gave her space.
Most recently, the Gloucester County Nature Club, lead by Karl Anderson, spent a wonderful day examining the flora and fauna of the Refuge. Their casual inventory of 206 plant species identified here. See their photos at www.gcnatureclub.org/Unexpected_Pics.htm.
The Refuge mission is, and always has been, to provide habitat for the indigenous species that live in the Southern New Jersey Pinelands, and based upon the natural activity observed here this season, it has certainly succeeded in fulfilling that mission. There are fewer and fewer places for non-humans to live out their own missions. Habitat destruction is now ranked as one of the leading causes of species extinction worldwide. There was a large open field I used to pass not far from here, and I would always have a sense of satisfaction that someone had taken the time to install bluebird nest boxes along the far edge. Currently, construction of a Target, Staples, Lowe’s Home Improvement Center is underway there. Just whose home is being improved? Certainly not the bluebirds’, and in my opinion, not ours.
We will be signing the loan papers next week, to acquire an additional acres. We will be then be a 767 acre sanctuary for the benefit of non-humans and humans alike. Now that is what I call a Home Improvement Center!