Nature in Late Spring Along the Haw River NC

Spring comes in many guises in the Piedmont lowlands of NC. It may be the passage of migratory birds, or the calling of frogs of different species, or the awakening of many life histories of animals and plants quiescent during the winter. But in stark contrast to our SW Florida winter home (where April is the driest month), there is abundant rainfall in NC. Our private nature preserve along the Haw River now stands at about 48 acres and our trail system is nearly complete. My son has run the trails using Strava and this program computes that with minimal overlaps we have about 3.5 miles of trails. These gradually improving trails can provide both a workout and/or lessons in natural history as you pass through distinctly different ecological communities at various elevations above the river floodplain.

The largest effect of the river on the surrounding ecological communities derives from the level and velocity of river waters. Recently the river has varied from about 10 feet on April 29 to a low of 2.5-3 feet after May 6. The flow is “flashy” in that it changes quickly with changes in rainfall and runoff. When the river is high and muddy you may wonder where all the animals go- do they allow themselves to be swept downstream or hunker down under rocks or in bank refuges to wait out the flood times? I suspect that many of them have behaviors that maintain themselves in one general location during high flow but only an experimental marking program could determine this. At low flows our aboriginal Indian fish weir is quite obvious and it is tempting to imagine a tribe using this cleverly constructed device to catch migrating shad or other species more than 500 years ago.

There are interesting flowers blooming after the flush of spring ephemerals such as the strange paw paw tree which is pollinated by flies attracted to a smell of rotten meat. The atamasco lily is a polar opposite large white lily said by an online source to be pollinated mainly by bees. I think it more likely that such a large white flower is pollinated by night-flying sphinx moths.

Butterflies are quite active at this time during warm days. This female spicebush swallowtail was fluttering around a spicebush laying eggs under the leaves. Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) is a bush that is poisonous to deer and likely conveys toxicity to caterpillars feeding on it. So the resemblance of the spicebush swallowtail to the poisonous pipevine swallowtail likely provides protection by Muellerian mimicry.

Spiders are becoming more active and this wolf spider was carrying a large load of babies on her back. Wolf spiders are predominantly raptorial and hunt prey on foot without a web. The degree of maternal protection offered by this scary looking female is impressive and shows how much of our so-called higher level behaviors can be derived from “primitive” animal forefathers.

Some of our family visitors are fishermen and I enjoy seeing what they catch. The predominant sunfish in the river seems to be the beautiful redbreast sunfish, with fewer numbers of black crappie. This individual seems to be a young specimen since the extended operculum is not dark.. There are also predatory largemouth bass and bowfin in the river.

The predominant turtle we see is the river cooter but they are shy and rarely provide a close look. This cooter was making a nest next to our driveway in a patch of loose dirt which is quite a long way from the river. Turtles must trek a long way to find suitable soil for nesting in an open area that will provide the right temperature conditions for proper development of the eggs and their sex ratio.

Birds of many species are both resident in our area and migrating through to more northern latitudes. This solitary sandpiper is using our river corridor to travel to Canada to breed. The spectacular male rose breasted grosbeak may be migrating to breeding areas as close as the higher mountain ridges in NC or further north. This male yellow rumped warbler could also be doing the same. The male ruby throated hummingbird feeding on coral honeysuckle I planted, is likely a breeding resident that winters in S or central America. The wild turkey is of course a year long resident if not seen too often in hunting season! This male bluebird has a nest in our yard box and possibly spends the entire year here. The cedar waxwings may be residents or individuals moving north to breed.

It is spring and rabbits are breeding!  I found a nest of six young bunnies getting ready to disperse.

Every time of year provides a spectacular natural spectacle of natural events for us to enjoy. So get out there, go for a hike, learn some bird and frog calls and a few flowers and begin to become a nature aficionado. It will benefit your health and enhance your enjoyment of life.