An October Farewell to the Blue Ridge

We are “snowbirds” who follow the neotropical bird migrants as they leave the soon to be frozen northlands and head south.  Thus we reluctantly bid a farewell to our beloved Blue Ridge Mountains and drive to our equally beloved but very different Florida habitat.  

Bill Dunson

Fall colors begin to change in mid October at the Galax farm

Bill Dunson

The various colors of these fields indicate different vegetation present in areas either burned, mowed once, or planted with grasses and flowers.

Bill Dunson

The horse neetle can be considered a noxious weed, a medicinal herb and/or a wildlife food.

Bill Dunson

This hickory tussock moth caterpillar is moving to find a winter pupation site

Bill Dunson

This large mouth bass grew to about one foot within one year feeding on green sunfish

Bill Dunson

This northern water snake is sometimes mistaken for the more southerly and venomous cottonmouth

Bill Dunson

Wild turkeys gather into flocks in the fall

In mid to late October the signs of the changing seasons in the VA mountains are very obvious.  A distant view of our 1880’s farm homestead reveals a distinct change in color of the marshes as vegetation dies, leaves fall from the red maple tree, and the grasslands take on a brown tint.  These colors also reveal the wide variety of types of vegetation and thus habitat types which we work so hard to cultivate in order to increase biodiversity.

 A different view of some of our fields illustrates this diversity and how it is created and maintained.  In the foreground is a steep hillside with a growth of brownish little bluestem grass, which seems to flourish best in low nutrient soils which minimize competition.  Just beyond is a series of fields that are also not mowed due to the steep terrain, but are burned regularly and which have lush growths of ragweed, wingstem, goldenrod and assorted other wildlife-friendly “weeds.”    To the left are fields which are mowed once a year in mid June for hay and then allowed to re-grow as warm-season grasses, particularly fox-tails.  The rectangular patches in the distance are a five acre field that was planted two years ago with a mixture of warm season grasses and flowers;  an over-grazed hilltop has yielded a tall and very dense growth of switchgrass, tall bluestem, Indian grass, and flowers that are being gradually out-competed by the grasses.   We learned a valuable lesson here- not to plant switchgrass with shorter flowers.

One of our numerous fall field fruits is the native but somewhat noxious horse nettle, a potato relative (a nightshade not a neetle), which has a yellow tomato-like fruit that is esteemed by wildlife but not by farmers since the leaves and stems are prickly and the green fruits are toxic.  The ripe fruit has been used by herb doctors as a sedative or antispasmodic. 

A sure sign of fall is the maturing of the hickory tussock moth caterpillars which not only get much larger but stop associating with their fellows in large numbers.  They can be encountered as they go walk-about looking for a site to pupate during the winter.

Fall brings a clearing of the pond waters since algal growth slows and it is sometimes surprising what is now visible.  I was astounded that the tiny several inch long largemouth bass which I planted last fall are now about a foot long and seem absolutely huge.  They have grown well on a diet of  small green sunfish which were over-populating the pond.

In re-arranging some rocks along a creek I came across a feisty northern water snake which is sometimes mistaken for the cottonmouth which does not live in the mountains.  It feeds on amphibians and fish. We also have queen snakes which are a specialist feeder on recently shed crayfish.

Another sure sign of fall is the appearance of flocks of some birds such as red-winged blackbirds.  Turkeys also form flocks and are visible sometimes working the recently mowed fields, in this case at the Devil’s Den Preserve.  I do not mow any of our fields in the fall since it reduces the value of the standing vegetation as winter cover and food. 

Changes in patterns of animals and plants occur within many habitats during the fall in the Blue Ridge.  But even in Florida there is a massive migratory movement of birds and insects such as dragonflies that marks the fall season as quite different.  Isn't it exciting to learn to recognize these patterns and observe how they vary in response to weather changes and longer term fluctuations in global cycles.  

Bill Dunson

Galax, VA & Englewood, FL

wdunson@comcast.net

http://www.independencedeclaration.com/blogs  

http://lemonbayconservancy.org/dunson_archives.htm  

http://lemonbayconservancy.org/wildflower.htm

http://bocagrandetalk.com/page/content.detail/id/515184/Life-cycles-delight-and-concern-Lemon-Bay-onlookers.html?nav=5047      

http://bocagrandetalk.com/page/content.detail/id/515424/Epic-bird-insect-wars-waged-though-use-of-camouflage.html?nav=5047