News from the preserves, parks and backyards of Princeton, NJ. The website aims to acquaint Princetonians with our shared natural heritage and the benefits of restoring native diversity and beauty to the many preserved lands in and around Princeton.
Friday, May 17, 2024
Campus Grounds Sprout Local Flora
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Chimney Swifts Converge on a Tower Near You
In a recent letter to Town Topics, Princeton ecology professor Andy Dobson invited readers to witness one of nature's more remarkable annual phenomena, playing out in and above the tower of the old Valley Road School. From his letter:
In the half hour after sunset, several hundred swifts will be “turning and turning in a narrowing gyre” centered around the tower of old Valley Road School building behind Conte’s Pizza. It is quite a spectacular sight as the rapidly spinning circle of birds “know exactly where it leads, and you can watch them go ‘round and ‘round each time.” Suddenly, they will begin to drop down and disappear into the tower to roost for the night. “Wait ‘til you see half the things that haven’t happened yet.”
Andy encourages us to "come to the playing field on Valley Road and enjoy a truly remarkable local wildlife spectacle."
"They will probably be there at dusk for the next couple of weeks while they pair up and locate nest sites on local tall buildings. The site is Princeton’s equivalent of the Serengeti wildebeest crossing the Mara River on their annual great migration."
His letter was published on May 8, and in typical fashion I didn't get myself over there to have a look until 9 days later. When I arrived, right at sundown, there was nothing to be seen--a golden opportunity for self-rebuke--but just as I began to leave, a high-pitched cheeping somewhere above pulled me back. They came, a few at first, then many, swooping down on the chimney only to veer away at the last possible moment. There is no clear choreography to their acrobatic flight, as they head off in all directions at great speed, sometimes in pairs but mostly on their own, each one's acrobatic flight describing a broad circle out across fields and rooftops, always to return to play yet again with the magnetic pull of the chimney. As the light fades, their gleeful independence ultimately yields to the collective impulse, drawing them down into the chimney's depths to spend the night.
Here's a link to Andy's wonderful letter. And here is a link to local writer Carolyn Jones' well researched article on our local chimney swifts and the longterm threat redevelopment of the Valley Road School site poses to their very specialized habitat.
Andy's comparison of chimney swifts to the migration of the wildebeests that he studies in Africa has added meaning for those of us who have seen the university as often detached from the community of which it is a part. He recently began teaching a course called "Woods and Rivers of Princeton." The course gets students out exploring local nature, and has become so popular that this coming fall's course is triply over-subscribed. This valuing of the local is gratifying to see, and I like to think is part of a larger trend.
Update, 5.31.24 Andy reports that "the swifts are still there, numbers declining as they pair up and locate nest sites. They should be back by the middle of August in even larger numbers with young of the year."
Saturday, May 04, 2024
Helping Herrontown's Beauty Express Itself
Redbuds can't survive in the deep shade of the forest, but they proliferate on the more open Veblen House grounds.
Tent Caterpillars and the History of Black Cherry Trees in Herrontown Woods
Black cherry trees draw attention in early spring because of the "tents" that tent caterpillars weave on them. I was surprised to find out that these tents are sometimes mistaken for gypsy moth infestations. There's also some disagreement as to how damaging tent caterpillars are to the trees they feast upon, so I decided to do some investigation.
First, some distinctions between tent caterpillars and gypsy moths. Tent caterpillars are native, feed primarily on cherry trees, build conspicuous tents, and do their feeding on the fresh, tender leaves just beginning to emerge in April. Gypsy moths are a nonnative species imported from Europe, start feeding in May on a very wide spectrum of hardwoods and even some conifers, and do not build tents.
Gypsy Moths"Wild black cherry, which grows to magnificent size in the Allegheny Mountains, is a poorly formed tree in Herrontown Woods, occurring mostly in areas which were recently open fields. Its best growth has been in the pine plantation, where specimens are 30 to 40 feet tall and possibly may develop into good-sized trees. Apparently these black cherries were able to develop along with the young pines after these were planted in the open field. Although the birds do bring seeds of the cherry into the forest, the many seedlings and the few saplings that occur there grow poorly and remain shrub-like."
Monday, April 29, 2024
Persistence Furthers With Garlic Mustard
Another weed that is risky to let get established in your yard is garlic mustard. The plant shoots up 1-3 feet high during its second year, and is easy to spot right now with its cluster of little white flowers. The flowers look decent enough, but a laissez faire approach will lead to this weed taking over, altering soil chemistry and crowding out other flowers. The garlicky smelling leaves are edible, especially when young, but you'll never eat enough to control it.
The strategy for combatting aggressive plants in the garden is different for each species. Garlic mustard is a biennial, meaning it gathers energy the first year, then blooms and dies the second year. If you leave it while it's flowering, chances are you'll forget to pull it later, after it has blended back into the green of the garden. By the time the plant dies and turns brown later in the summer, marring your garden with its skeletal remains, the seeds will have matured and dispersed, creating an even bigger problem next year.
But foil its attempt to make and spread new seed, and the soil will eventually run out of seed to make new plants. Best to pull now, while in bloom, though it can be pulled any time before the seeds mature. "Grab low and pull slow" is a good motto for getting as much of the root as possible. Don't put the pulled plants in your compost pile. Even when pulled while young, there's still a chance that the flowers will mature into viable seed.
To avoid having to stuff the pulled plants in trash bags to send to the landfill, what we've done at Herrontown Woods is pull every last one we can find, then pile them in an out of the way spot, so that any seeds that mature on the pulled plants and sprout the next year will be easy to find and pull. Pulling gets easier each year, until what once took hours now takes but a few minutes.All problems should yield so nicely to persistence.
Related posts:
Monday, April 22, 2024
Bringing the Garden Inside
"I asked an elderly woman once what it was like to be old and to know that the majority of her life was now behind her.
She told me that she has been the same age her entire life. She said the voice inside of her head had never aged. She has always just been the same girl. Her mother's daughter. She had always wondered when she would grow up and be an old woman.
She said she watched her body age and her faculties dull but the person she is inside never got tired. She never aged. She never changed.
Remember, our spirits are eternal. Our souls are forever. The next time you encounter an elderly person, look at them and know they are still a child, just as you are still a child and children will always need love, attention and purpose."
~ Author Unknown
illustration by Tasha Tudor
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Lawn Blotch 2024
Maybe people have another name for it, but every April there is a condition of some lawns that catches the eye. I call it "lawn blotch," which develops early in spring when the grass has yet to grow but other plants have.
Those other plants that spring forth here and there in a lawn might be Star of Bethlehem, which will later have pretty white flowers but spreads underground, popping up all over the place in your yard. Or they might be the pretty but terribly invasive lesser celandine, which will become a nuisance for you, your neighbors, and your local nature preserve if you don't spray it or dig it up.Or they could be a weedy allium that I call wild garlic.
None of these plant species are native. Lesser celandine is poisonous.
Lawn blotch has at least one positive, though. I've frequently seen the wild garlic being gratefully harvested by people of Asian heritage, to use in cooking like chives or onions.Friday, April 05, 2024
Lesser Celandine Spreading Into Local Parks
Poisonous to wildlife, crowding out other plants, be they native wildflowers or turfgrass, lesser celandine spreads across sunny lawns and shady forests alike, forming dense, exclusionary mats that can extend far into the distance.
I've written many posts about this highly invasive plant, and how it can be controlled with targeted, minimalist use of herbicide if one catches it early in one's yard or in a local park or preserve. Invasions start with one isolated plant like this, which can be easily sprayed with systemic herbicide without damaging nearby vegetation. (Or dug up and thrown in the trash, not the compost.) Of course, one plant looks harmless enough, but its rapid spread will change your view from "Gee, that's pretty" to "Help!!"Wednesday, March 06, 2024
Princeton Salamander Crossing Brigade
Their objects of affection and devotion are frogs like this one,
and salamanders like this. Due to land preservation efforts that began with the donation of Herrontown Woods nearly 70 years ago and continue to this day with a critical initiative to save the 90 acre Lanwin tract, there is still enough forest and clean water along the ridge to sustain these charismatic and ecologically important creatures. After long winter dormancy, it's these first warm, rainy nights that stir wood frogs, spring peepers, and spotted salamanders to action.
Herrontown Road dates back to the early days of Princeton. It rides the top of the ridge, winding around the back side of Herrontown Woods. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of amphibians, seeking the vernal pools in which they were born, unknowingly risk being crushed when they cross this strip of pavement. A spotted salamander can live more than 20 years, so that each loss has consequences for decades to come.
Monday, March 04, 2024
Are Bubbles Trouble for a Tree?
One of the students in a class I was teaching about rocks at Herrontown Woods noticed something decidedly un-rocklike on a black oak we were passing by.
Foam was collecting at the base of the tree. Might it indicate some malady like decay or disease?