HomeMy WebLinkAboutFebruary 17, 1963 - Grey SquirrelFocus on Nature', by Paul Stoutenburgh, Cutchogue
It is the purpose of this column
to bring to our readers as many
writers on different phases of
Natural History. Martha Meihke
is a true example of a wonder.
fully talented person who I feel
should be presented to you. After
reading her excellent article this
week you will agree with me that
we should hear moire of her tal-
ents. S.
GUEST WRITER:
MARTHA MEINKE
Until 1752 February was the
last month in the English calen-
dar, which 'seems most suitable
to a student of nature, for it is
indeed the lowest ebb of the
living year. Seeds and berries
become scarce, with snow very
often covering-what food there
is available to foraging wildlife.
Alternate thawing .and freezing
presents hazards also. One won -
ders how .the rabbits,
birds and allthewild creatures
who stay' at through the
winter here manage topull
through.
I never cease to marvel at how
the manyforms of insect, animal
and bird life continue to survive
winter after winter through the
ages. -Of course, individuals of
the various species do not all
live through Cfie bitter cold and
snow. In fact,';the mortality is
high, especially among the insects.
It is the contiguity of the specials
that nature safeguards.
Few of the crickets we heard
chirping in late summer a n d
autumn will live to see the spring.
Most of them perished with the
first frost. Butte the eggs laid _ un-
derground by the females will
winter over, and next summer
we shall again hear crickets
chirping — a new generation. So
it will be with the katydids and
grasshoppers. The f e r t i l i zed
queens of the bumblebees and
papermaking w a s p s carry on
their s p e c i e s by hibernating
through the winter and starting
new colonies in the spring.
As I skated over the f r o z e n
surface of Lake Maratooka this
January I thought of how the
lake had been last summer when
I had visited it with my grandson
to catch frogs and turtles. The
lake had teemed with life then,
as it will again next summer —
and the next — and the next.
Now all was still and frozen.
The dragon flies that had darted
a b o u t on gossamer wings had
died of cold. However, while we
had watched them skimming the
surface of the water last sum-
mer, the females had been de-
positing innumerable eggs. Dra-
gonfly life was now in the form
of acquatic nymphs below t be
ice.
The frogs that had slipped off
the lilypads just out of reach
were now asleep in the m u d,
drawing in minute quantities of
oxygen through the skin to sus-
tain life. Turtles in the water do
not always sleep all winter. I
have seen them swimming be-
neath thick clear ice. Below the
ice were the fish and m a n y
smaller forms of aequatic life.
Around the snores of the lake
box turtles, snakes, toads, spiders
and other creatures had all found
some sort of shelter. Wood, earth,
mud, leaves — all serve as in-
sulation against the cold.
Carpenter bees sleep in t he
galleries which they or t h e i r
parents made in sound wood last
summer. The eggs were placed
in these :tunnels and the bees that
developed from the larvae lie in
a closely. formed line.
Carpenter ants crowd into the
corridors they have made in the
trunks' and branches of trees.
Other kinds of ants can with-
stand some freezing and submer-
sion while hibernating. T h e y
rlaacatl their hncv aMivitiac wt n
together in deep sleep in their
underground passages.
The monarch butterflies we had
seen on the milkweed had flown
southward. Other butterflies and
moths pass the winter in t h e
chrysalis or cocoon stage. Mourn-
ing cloaks get through the win-
ter sheltered in a tree hole or
crevice. At any time now we
might see one sunning itself.
Although outwardly February
has all the marks of too 1 on g
lingering winter, secretly the
sap is rising and unseen forces
are generating the new life of
another spring. Animals, b i r d s
and insects, having surmounted
the hazards of winter, will soon
plunge into the business of pro-
creation and rearing their young.
Gray squirrels start mating in
January.)
Spring is a season of seething
activiityiogach creature striving to
get enough food to develop fully,
while at the same time to keep
from being eaten. Nature keeps
the balance well. Rarely does a
species becomeextinct-andthengenerallybeacusemanhas interfed.