Woolly Bear

Insects in Winter

Woolly Bear

Seeing an insect slowly crawling across the trail in front of me last week was a surprise.  I knew Wooly Bears were common but had never noticed one alive and active so late in the season.  Our good weather in December must have contributed to its late activity.

The Woolly Bear is the larval form of the Isabella Tiger Moth (Pyrrharctia isabella).  Its adult form is a smallish moth with light orange wings and orange body with black dots running down the length.  It is found in many cold regions including the Arctic.  

In some areas it is called the Woolly Worm.  In the USA there are Woolly Bear Festivals!  The Woolly Bear is not 'woolly' at all.  It is actually covered with stiff bristles and feels much like a stiff brush.  

Folklore tells us that the Woolly Bear is a weather predictor.  As the story goes, the width of the black bands on the front and rear of the caterpillar are indicative of the coming winter weather.  If the bands are narrow, we will have an easy winter.  Conversely, if the black bands are broad, we will have a severe winter. 

Isabella Tiger Moth  [Internet Photo]

The Woolly Bear (Isabella Tiger Moth) completes its life cycle in one year in the temperate zones of North America.  Farther north it may take more than one year.  In the Arctic it may take several years because of the short season for the caterpillars to feed.  Some have been known to take up to 14 years!  How does it do this?  Well, the Woolly Bear caterpillar can freeze and thaw without damage.  

The adult moths lay their eggs in summer and the larvae develop over the summer to become the Woolly Bear caterpillar, as we know it, by late summer.  In late fall they disperse, looking for suitable sites to overwinter, in holes in rocks and trees and logs.  There they freeze solid.  In spring they thaw and then spin a cocoon in which they develop into adult moths.  An interesting cycle!

So the two Woolly Bears I found last week were still looking for suitable sites to overwinter.  I hope they found something because heavy winter has since come.  With the temperature at -13ºC this morning, and about 25 cm of snow which has come since, they are likely in for the winter.  

Fredericton Christmas Bird Count

Douglas Sector

Bald Eagle [Internet Photo]

The Fredericton Christmas Bird Count has taken place now for over 50 years.   I have participated in a very large number of them.  It has been an interesting experience.

We cover the Douglas sector, the area between the Claudie Road and the former site of Hillcrest Fruit, just above Grand Pass.  It is usually held on a Sunday before Christmas, this year on Dec. 20.  We spend most of the day on the roads or somewhere on the landscape in that sector trying to establish the species of birds that are present and their numbers.  

This year the river was totally open so that tends to depress the waterfowl count.  One would think the opposite but it is because the vast surface of open water disperses the ducks, making fewer in our area.  Sometimes in very cold years, the only open water is at Currie's Mountain,  just below Grand Pass, and many ducks can be present there.

This year finch numbers were low.  That was unexpected because we had heard of a huge number of Redpolls which had passed through Quebec earlier in the season.  Naturally we expected to see large numbers here.  That was not the case.  We found that there is a large amount of fruit on the trees and that should bode well for winter feeding.  We found lots of apples, mountain ash berries and grapes on the vine.  There is a heavy cone crop as well.  We should get a lot more birds moving into the area as winter progresses.  

Also, we found a few members of migratory species still hanging around.  That is not surprising given the mild weather we have had so far this winter.  We found a large flock of robins and in other sectors they found a Common Yellowthroat and a Black-and-white Warbler.

American Robin s

Notice that we saw no sparrows, no starlings and no pigeons.  Finch numbers were indeed low as were waterfowl.  The Red-tailed Hawk was a nice bonus.  We had seen it around occasionally before the count and were fortunate to find it on count day.  

Red-tailed Hawk [N Poirier]

See below for the list for our sector.

Canada Goose 31

American Black Duck 16

Mallard 5

Bald Eagle 5

Red-tailed Hawk 1

Ring-billed Gull 2

Herring Gull 3

Mourning Dove 31

Downy Woodpecker 4

Hairy Woodpecker 2

Blue Jay 9

American Crow 45

Common Raven 6

Black-capped Chickadee 102

Red-breasted Nuthatch 4

White-breasted Nuthatch 3

Brown Creeper 1

American Robin 40

Bohemian Waxwing 9

Dark-eyed Junco 1

Purple Finch 9

American Goldfinch 35

On the 10th (11th, 12th and one for good measure!) day of Christmas, Animal Friends gave to Icarus, Igor, Idris and Irina four spay/neuter surgeries!

These young cats were brought to Animal Friends through our Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) Program. The TNR Program is a means of humanely controlling cat populations. Feral cats are trapped using humane box traps, brought back to Animal Friends to be spayed/neutered, vaccinated and ear-tipped by our vet. After they've recovered, the cats are then returned to their colony for continued care by the caretaker. This is the most humane way to control the problem of cat overpopulation. 

Icarus, Igor, Idris and Irina were part of a colony of feral cats and trapped as kittens. They could not have been more lucky! Instead of being returned to their colony, these four got a new lease on life! They instead were admitted by Animal Friends and became four adoptable kittens.

Not all feral cats are as lucky as Icarus, Igor, Idris and Irina. Most feral cats are forced to live on the streets. Rummaging for food each day. Living a hard life. But Animal Friends will be there for them.

We'll be there for them, to ensure they're spayed/neutered. To ensure they won't contribute more litters of unwanted kittens. To ensure they won't contribute more statistics to the cold, harsh reality of pet overpopulation. 

Right now, you can ensure that more animals – like Icarus, Igor, Idris and Irina – have access to critical spay/neuter surgeries.

Thanks to a very generous donor, there is no better time to give! Now through Dec. 31, every donation given to our Year-End Campaign will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $100,000.

Right now your support can go twice as far – helping twice as many animals.

Please click here to maximize this very generous challenge.

And if you donate at least $20 from now until Sat., Dec. 26 at 11:59 p.m. ESTyou'll be entered to win a pair of tickets to our series of 2016 W(h)ine events (held in Feb., March, June, Aug. and Oct.) that you can attend with your pooch!

Click here to enter now! 

The 12 Spays (and Neuters) of Christmas: Verdana and Tahoma!

On the eighth (and ninth!) day of Christmas, Animal Friends gave to Verdana and Tahoma two spay/neuter surgeries!

Verdana and Tahoma made their way to Animal Friends through a Humane Investigations case. Their former owners had released these two baby rabbits into the wild to fend for themselves. On that winter night they were rescued, their lives would be forever changed. Not only would these two kits be given a second chance to find a loving, forever home but they’d be given a longer, healthier life because they would be spayed/neutered.

Each pet brought into Animal Friends is spayed/neutered before being cleared for adoption. We know spaying/neutering is not only necessary for each pet’s health and well-being but it’s the compassionate, proactive way to combat the pet overpopulation crisis in our region
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And, we won't stop with the animals in our care. For more than 20 years, we’ve been committed to ensuring that affordable spay/neuter services are available to every pet owner – especially those struggling to make ends meet. This year alone our Low-Cost Spay/Neuter Program has completed an amazing 9,000 spay/neuter surgeries and every day we receive dozens of new calls from pet owners desperate for our high-quality, low-cost services.

Right now, you can ensure that more pets have access to a critical – and affordable – spay/neuter surgery.

Thanks to a very generous donor, there is no better time to give! Now through Dec. 31, every donation given to our Year-End Campaign will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $100,000.

Right now your support can go twice as far – helping twice as many animals.

Please click here to maximize this very generous challenge.

On the sixth and seventh days of Christmas Animal Friends gave to Pixel and Honey two spay/neuter surgeries!

The need for accessible and affordable spay/neuter programming comes in all shapes and sizes. But one particularly heartwarming story comes to mind. It’s about a client of our community outreach program and her two dogs, Honey and Pixel. But we’ll let the staff member who experienced it firsthand tell you about it …

I headed out to a client’s home to pick up a little Chihuahua, Honey, to be brought back to Animal Friends for her spay. As I’m putting Honey into a carrier, I see a small Shih Tzu, Pixel, out of the corner of my eye. The poor guy was covered in mats from nose to tail.

It turns out someone had left him on my client’s front porch and tied it to her door. She couldn’t turn her back on Pixel so she took him. She knew he needed help. But no matter how many times she tried to take him to a groomer she couldn’t get him into a carrier. You see little Pixel was in so much pain from the severe matting that he couldn’t endure any type of handling.

I asked her permission to take the little dog to the shelter, and give him a haircut and neuter him. She jumped with joy and accepted my offer. So with much luck and finesse I was able to get him back to Animal Friends.

And so we shaved Pixel down. Once the mats were gone, he immediately kissed and hugged our vet techs. The little guy felt so much better and was no longer in any pain!

Upon the return home, the woman cried and held me for a moment as she continuously thanked me for saving her dogs life. I left her home with tears in my eyes and joy in my heart. It was an incredible feeling to know we made a difference in more than one life that day.

It’s the moments like these that we at Animal Friends strive for – helping those who need it most. But to keep these services available through the end of the year we need you.

You can help pets – just like Pixel and Honey. Click here to donate now.

And thanks to an incredibly generous challenge from an anonymous donor your donation will be matched dollar for dollar up to $100,000 through Dec. 31.

Click here to make your donation go further today.

On the second (third, fourth and fifth!) day of Christmas Animal Friends gave to Jackie and her kittens four spay/neuter surgeries!

This is Cavatelli, Jackie, Rigatoni and Penne. A pregnant Jackie was rescued by a Good Samaritan, Rebecca. Rebecca found Jackie as a pregnant stray and brought her into her home so she could have a safe place to nurse and care for her kittens.

Rebecca brought Jackie to Animal Friends to be spayed through our Low-Cost Spay/Neuter Program. As a result, Jackie got us to our goal to spay/neuter at least 10,000 animals in 2013! Not only that, Jackie’s three kittens were our 10,001st, 10,002nd and 10,003rd surgeries of the year!

Animal Friends knows that low-cost spay/neuter programming is the only way to proactively relieve the pet overpopulation problem in our region. Jackie and her kittens were lucky to have been found by Rebecca. But not all pets are as fortunate to escape from the abuse, neglect and unwarranted euthanasia of pet overpopulation.

But we can’t fight the pet overpopulation crisis alone. To be a true resource to pet owners and communities, we need you.

Click here to make a difference in the lives of pets and people – like Rebecca, Jackie and her kittens.

And thanks to an incredibly generous challenge from an anonymous donor your donation will be matched dollar for dollar up to $100,000 through Dec. 31.

Click here to make your donation go further today.

Red Is For Christmas

Nature's Red Spells Christmas

High-bush Cranberry Viburnum opulus

Christmas is a time for red, to cheer us from a dull landscape.  The human eye likes the colour red.  Perhaps it is because it is the complementary colour to green which we see so much of in our surroundings.  It acts as 'eye candy' and a wonderful accompaniment to Christmas.

Red Trillium Trillium erectum

Cardinal Flower Lobelia cardinals [Internet photo]

Red is not a common colour for wild flowers.  So, we start celebrating in summer with the two shown above, the Red/PurpleTrillium and the Cardinal Flower.  The Red Trillium grows in our mixed and hardwood forests in early spring.  It is a welcome sight after a long winter.  It is sometimes called Wake Robin.  The Cardinal Flower is smallish and insignificant on first sight.  But looking closely it is very beautiful.  What a gorgeous colour!  It grows along stream banks and adjacent damp meadows in a few places here.  

Mountain Holly Ilex mucronatus

Winterberry Ilex verticillata

Shown above are the pleasing red of two of our berries.  These ripen in the fall.  Mountain Holly is found in damp thickets, swamps, bogs and wet woods.  Winterberry is beautiful in late fall and early winter as the bright red berries cling to the naked stems.  It is often picked and placed in Christmas bouquets.  

Florists market many commercial red flowers at Christmas time.  Shown below are the red rose and the amaryllis.

Red Rose

Amaryllis

And, to finish this post, I will show a photo I took of a visit to a greenhouse where poinsettias were being grown for Christmas.  What a sight this was!

Poinsettias

 

On the first day of Christmas Animal Friends gave to Sugar a spay surgery!

Sugar was rescued her from the house next to her current home. Her family noticed their neighbors had moved away but they didn’t take Sugar along. Upon investigating, they found that Sugar was indeed abandoned. She was found tied to a bedpost in the empty house. So they brought her home and intended to find a family for her. But, Sugar quickly worked her way into their hearts and has been with them ever since.

So her family brought her to Animal Friends to be spayed through our Low-Cost Spay/Neuter Program. As a result, Sugar got us to our goal to spay/neuter at least 10,000 animals in 2014!

Not only did Sugar’s family spay her to give her a longer, healthier life but they also compassionately and proactively ensured Sugar would never contribute a litter or pups to the cold statistics of pet overpopulation. You can provide affordable, high-quality surgeries to those who need them most.

Click here to donate now to help more pets like Sugar. 

And, thanks to a very generous donor, there is no better time to give! Now through Dec. 31, every donation given to our Year-End Campaign will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $100,000.

Right now you can ensure that more pets have access to a critical – and affordable – spay/neuter surgery.

Right now you can click here to make your support go twice as far – helping twice as many animals.

Right now we need you.

Mountain Bluebird

Rare Fall Vagrant Found in Acadian Peninsula

Mountain Bluebird 

New Brunswick has had a rare visitor for the last 10 days or so.  A rare fall vagrant has been found in the Acadian Peninsula near Inkerman at Four Roads.  Although the bird may have left yesterday according to a report today, many birders and other interested people have seen it.

The Mountain Bluebird is a member of the Thrush Family and is a 'cousin' to our Eastern Bluebird and our American Robin.  Its preferred habitat is fields and field edges and mountainous areas.  It normally breeds in the Prairie Provinces, British Columbia, the western states and northwards into Alaska and Yukon.  It winters in southern California, Nevada, Arizona, and northern Mexico.  So the bird that was found here should be headed for Arizona now.  It is rare to find this species here but it does happen occasionally.  One was seen in 1996 in Caraquet and one in Pennfield in 2000.

Why is this bird here?  We don't know for sure but it is thought that their navigation system gets damaged somehow so instead of travelling southwest, they travel northeast, for example.  It could have also got caught up in high winds during a weather system which blew it way off course.

Mountain Bluebird

The Mountain Bluebird is about the size of our Eastern Bluebird, 7.25 in. or 18.5 cm long.  The male is very blue over most of its body, darker on its wings.  The blue of this bird is iridescent, a very beautiful colour.  Eye candy indeed!  Our visitor is a female and she is duller with gray on her throat and breast and ultramarine blue on her wings and cerulean blue on her back and tail.  She is still amazingly beautiful.  They are cavity nesters like our bluebirds and readily use nest boxes.  They use tree cavities in the wild.

Mountain Bluebird [L Legere Photo]

Mountain Bluebirds feed on insects, fruits and berries.  They are the only bluebird which hovers.  That was what the bird at Four Roads was doing, hovering over the field and dropping down to get an insect.  The one which I saw in Pennfield in 2000 was in a blueberry field eating blueberries.

The Mountain Bluebird flies like our Robin.  It has long primary feathers and the long primary projection is a way to tell it from the Western or Eastern Bluebird when there is a question.  This could happen when sometimes the female shows a bit of orange tinge on its breast causing some confusion.  The primary projection is a technical term used by serious birders and denotes the length the primary feathers project over the tail in a sitting position.

Mountain Bluebird

Shown below is one of the many peat harvesting sites from the Acadian Peninsula, near where the Mountain Bluebird was found.  It is good to boost the economy with the sale of natural resources but one wonders how long it will take before these areas return to natural vegetation which can be used by our wildlife.

Peat Harvesting

Birding the Tantramar

Tantramar Marsh Supports Significant Bird Population

Tantramar Marsh

On November 26 we visited the Tantramar Marsh looking for birds and other wildlife.  It was a warm, sunny day and great to be out!  Although we covered all the roads in the marsh we spent more time on the Anderson Marsh Road.  

We were looking mainly for raptors.  The marsh is a good area for them to rest on migration because of suitable habitat and a high rodent population, the main diet of many raptors.  We saw many hawks including 13 Northern Harriers, 4 Rough-legged Hawks, and 2 Red-tailed Hawks.  

Rough-legged Hawk [Internet Photo]

Red-tailed Hawk

Eagles were also taking our attention.  There had been a few sightings of a Golden Eagle there in the last two weeks but in spite of careful searching we did not find it.  However, we did see 2 Bald Eagles.

Bald Eagle

Golden Eagle [Internet Photo]

The Golden Eagle has a very large territory for its 'home range' so was probably hunting over marsh areas across the border in Nova Scotia.  There were some ducks in the many streams flowing through the marsh and they were attracting the Bald Eagles.  The Common Eider shown below was seen in one stream.  A few days earlier a birder had seen an eagle feeding on an eider in this area.

Common Eider

The highlight for me was also another raptor species.  We saw two Short-eared Owls.  These owls have been seen on the marsh lately but it is unusual to see them active during the day.  We saw two of them in flight.  We did not know whether they were feeding or if they were being harassed by the many crows on the marsh.  

Pheasants and Snow Buntings were very numerous.  We saw many groups of Ring-necked Pheasants numbering at least 50 individuals.  There were several flocks of Snow Buntings, some very large.  We estimated seeing between 300 and 500 buntings altogether.  

As you can see we had a wonderful day exploring the Tantramar Marsh.  There were not many cattle pastured on the marsh but there were large round hay bales everywhere.  We did see a group of Scottish Highland Cattle on the edge of the marsh.  They were enjoying the breeze and the lush feed.

Scottish Highland Bull

Thanksgiving Enriched Environment Trail and Activities

Since it was such a hit at Halloween, Animal Enrichment Specialist Suzanne was at it again for Thanksgiving with another great set of activities and opportunities to explore for our animals. 

First up were our feline residents!  Alphonso decided to go sailing in the Mayflower, finally realizing his dream of being a pilgrim. The Mayflower was a repurposed cardboard box with some catnip sprinkled in the bottom to entice the kitties to explore.

Alphonso then spent some quiet time in a teepee. We don’t think he learned how to grow maize but he certainly enjoyed his time relaxing.

Our bunny residents got cornhusk leaf piles and lettuce cornucopias to chew and play with over the holiday weekend. Trust us, they were extra thankful!

Our shelter dogs moved the activities outdoors, despite a wet weekend.  Dogs like discovering new things and using their noses. Adding something unexpected to their routine mentally stimulates them and builds a more confident pup. 

Pools full of colorful toy balls and hay were available for the dogs to roll and sniff around in. Buck and Cooper found these two activities to be quite fun!  (Fun fact: Buck found his forever home shortly after these photos were taken!)

Ringo took part in our version of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Passing the erratic, floating balloons builds confidence and provides an unusual visual experience for Ringo.

Daisy sniffs our gourd garland on the trail. She had a great time exploring and taking in all the sights and sniffs! 

As always, Animal Friends strives to take care of the whole animal – body and soul – while they are here with us. Enrichment activities that engage all of the animals’ senses are beneficial to their physical and behavioral health. The activities provide opportunities to think and to explore space – therefore providing a sense of control to shelter animals. More importantly, stimulating their brains reduces stress and is fun!