Common Loon
As a wildlife photographer I am in the field observing and photographing all aspects of nature anywhere from 3 to 5 days a week. It doesn’t matter what the subject. From crawling insects to drop dead gorgeous orchids, from tiny hummingbirds to gigantic moose, nothing escapes my watchful camera and lens. With this much time spent in the field I observe some of the most unusual animal behaviors. Witnessing these behaviors is always a thrill for me and I find that I am continually amazed by nature. For example, I have been documenting and photographing “a year in the life” of a pair of Common Loons (Gavia immer). About once every two weeks I spend several hours in the morning and again in the evening with a pair of loons that have two young chicks. I have captured many intimate moments of the adults feeding the young or the young riding on the parent’s backs. Through my many hours with these loons I have documented all sorts of interesting behaviors such as group fishing techniques, defending territories, how they need to run across the surface of the water to take off, or how they skid on their bellies on the surface of the water while landing, and one behavior that I really wasn’t prepared for—assaulting. I think its common knowledge that loons tend to be highly territorial. From my observations I would agree, but they are not territorial in the way you might think. Adult loons regularly gather in groups of up to 10 individuals. They seem to enjoy each others company and they often hunt for fish together. However, you don’t want to be another species of water bird on the same lake as the loon. I first witnessed a female Wood Duck landing near the shore of my loon’s lake. Right away both parents submerged and moments later popped up just a few feet from the duck. Each parent lunged for the duck, just as the woodie took flight. I remember at the time thinking to myself, that seems unusual, what threat would a female Wood Duck have to these enormous birds. Within an hour an adult Western Grebe landed on the lake near some Bullrush. I immediately maneuvered the boat closer to the grebe for a better look and maybe some pictures. But I wasn’t the only one moving in to get closer to the grebe. One of the adult loons also moved in, but not to get a better look. Before I knew it, a full blown fight broke out between one of the loons and the much smaller grebe. Through my lens I could see water splashing everywhere, beaks and feet flailing about in every direction. Within another moment, the second loon came racing past my boat running on the surface of the water with its wings propelling him along just like oars on a boat. The second loon joined in on the brawl. The grebe was not only out numbered he was half the size of the loons. I thought to myself, this is not going to be pretty, and sure enough it wasn’t. Within 30 seconds the loons had bitten and kicked the grebe so many times the grebe lay nearly lifeless on the surface of the water. Unable to control myself I shouted out loud, “they have killed that grebe”. Satisfied that the grebe was no longer a threat, the loons strutted about, stretched their wings and called excitedly back and forth to each other before they swam back to the other side of the lake to join their young. The grebe, which lay fatally wounded, slowly righted himself but was obviously not doing well. I could see a large laceration on the side of its head and it was bleeding. I could tell by the off-balanced floating position, the grebe had a significant head injury. I thought, “What should I do”? As a wildlife photographer and naturalist I have a duty to not interfere with nature. I am there as an observer and biologist. I knew that to step in during the assault would have been wrong, but now that the loons were gone and the grebe was clearly in jeopardy I should take action. I waited about 10 minutes, watching and photographing the grebe as it swam in circles and was clearly not doing well. Finally the decision was made to get closer to the grebe. As the boat moved up to the grebe, it was obvious what to do. I scooped up the grebe in a large plastic bin and secured the lid. This grebe needed some medical attention quick. I phoned the Wildlife Rehab Clinic and let them know I was coming in with a Western Grebe and it had a head injury. Upon arrival at the clinic the staff admitted they don’t see very many Western Grebes, let alone one that was assaulted by a pair of loons. I was able to show the doctor the images of the assault on the back of my digital camera, and filled in the details with my own observations. The laceration on the grebes head wouldn’t be a problem to heal, but the doctor suspected something worse, and sure enough the x-ray revealed a skull fracture. The recovery time for this kind of injury would be long but the prognosis looks good. We hope to return the grebe to the wild by the end of summer and you can bet that I will be there to witness and photograph the event. Until next time…
Monarchs
My flower gardens are in full bloom with hundreds of brightly colored blossoms just waiting for a visit from the marvelous Monarch butterfly. However this summer has not been very good for this winged wonder. And it doesn’t surprise me considering all the obstacles that lay in the way of a reproducing monarch. Monarchs are members of the order lepidoptera. Lepidoptera is a fancy word that means: (lepis, Greek for scale, pteron, means wing. Together it means scale-wing.) Butterflies and moths are the only insects with wings covered with tiny scales. The wing scales are responsible for a monarch’s bright red and black color. If you have ever caught a butterfly in your hands and after releasing it seen a fine powder on your hands, these are scales. The average butterfly has 250,000 scales per square inch of wing surface. Monarchs go through four different stages of life, which is called, “complete” metamorphosis. Some insects go through only three of the four life cycles, which is called incomplete metamorphosis. As you might expect, a Monarch starts out as a teeny tiny egg. Mother Monarchs are capable of laying hundreds of eggs. Each egg is place on a “host” plant. In the case of the monarch the host plant is a member of the milkweed family. From these tiny eggs emerges an extremely tiny caterpillar. And this is where things start to get interesting. Plants in the Milkweed family have a milky sap that contains toxic chemicals called cardio-glycosides. The toxin causes hot flashes, sweats, nausea, vomiting and weakness to any animal that eats it. The caterpillars are unaffected by the chemical. The caterpillar only has one job–eat. And eat it does. All day for up to two weeks the caterpillar feeds on the milkweed leaves. After eating and growing to full size, the caterpillar crawls off to a safe location to rest. This is called the pupa stage. The caterpillar undergoes an unbelievable transformation. The caterpillar attaches itself to a stick and hangs upside down. It than sheds its skin to reveal an inner, bright green sack, called a chrysalis. Within the chrysalis, each cell of the caterpillar liquefies and reforms or transforms to create the butterfly. Finally, the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, which starts the fourth and final stage of the marvelous Monarch. The adult butterfly flies off to find a mate and to start the life cycle all over again. Since Monarchs produce several of these cycles each summer, the monarchs that hatch in September are very special. These late summer Monarchs are the ones that migrate to Mexico for the winter and are solely responsible for producing next years Monarchs. Until next time….
Acorns
Are you like me? Is it dangerous to leave your house? Is mowing your lawn becoming an exercise in dodging missiles? Are you woken at in the middle of the night by what sounds like machine gun fire peppering your house? Yes, it’s acorn season again. If you are fortunate enough, or unfortunate enough depending upon your prospective, oak trees are dropping their ripen fruit in your yard right now and there is nothing you can do about it. Oak trees are in the beech family (Fagaceae). They are often some of the largest trees and can be found all around the world. There are about 800 species of oak trees worldwide with the exception of tropical South America and tropical Africa. There are about 65 native species of oaks to North America and less than a dozen species in the Midwest. Nearly all oaks are deciduous, which means they drop their leaves each autumn. However in warmer parts of the planet, they are evergreen. All oaks have alternately attached leaves and nearly all have simple toothed or lobed leaves. Male and female flowers are found on the same tree. This means that all oak trees produce a fruit, unlike some tree species that have male flowers on one plant and female flowers on another, leaving one tree without any fruit. Acorns are technically a hard-shelled, single seeded fruit. All acorns are borne with a cup of many overlapping scales. These scales are how the Bur Oak got its common name. The scales look like a bur. All species of oak fit into one of two groups—White Oak or Red (sometimes called Black) Oak. Oak trees with leaves that have pointed lobes or tips are in the Red Oak group. Trees with rounded lobes or tips are in the White Oak group. However, the major differences between the two groups are in the timing or maturing of their fruit. White Oak members produce flowers each spring that result in acorns in the coming autumn. Red Oak members produce flowers in spring but don’t produce acorns until the second autumn. As a result the acorns from the Red Oak group tend to be higher in the bitter tasting tannin while the White Oak acorns have less tannin and are more palatable. Nearly all oak trees, no matter red or white group, will produce an extremely heavy acorn crop every 5 or 6 years. This is called a mass crop. If you have a dozen or so oak trees like I do, you can plan on having one of those trees producing a mass crop just about every year. Wildlife such as the Eastern Wild Turkey, White-tailed Deer, squirrels, and even Black Bears depend upon acorns as a major food source. Acorns that are buried by squirrels and not found sprout and begin to grow. This is how many of our future oak trees become planted. Most species of oak have thick heavy bark that is high in tannin. Tannin leached from the bark has been used in the tanning process of animal skins for hundreds of years. Acorns have also been an important food for people for thousands of years. After gathering and shelling the acorns, the meat was boiled in several changes of water to leach out the bitter tasting tannin. After drying, the acorns were often ground up to make flour. A very nitrous, all-be-it heavy, bread was made with the flour. Acorns were also roasted and eaten on their own. Until next time….
Sphinx Moth
I have many favorite visitors to my naturalist garden. First and foremost are the ruby-throated hummingbirds. These flying jewels thrill me to no end. Next would be all the different kinds of butterflies—mourning cloaks, tiger swallowtails, monarchs, red admirals and viceroys. They flitter into my garden and my heart. But for sure “wow” power–the sphinx moth is the real garden showstopper. Sphinx moth, also called the hawk moth or hummingbird moth, is a large moth that many gardeners confuse with hummingbirds. These daytime and evening flying moths have a 3-½ inch wing span, making them nearly as large as the ruby-throated hummingbird. But the similarities stop there. There are about 100 species of sphinx moths in North America. One of the more common is called the White-lined Sphinx moth (Hyles lineata). This whirling moth has a buff-brown body (thorax and abdomen) with large pointed brown fore wings that are outlined with white strips, hence its common name. Its hind wings are mostly pink. It flaps its wings fast enough to make seeing the white strips very difficult. Some species of sphinx moths can flap their wings up to 85 beats per second and can fly up to 10 miles per hour. That might be slow for a hummingbird but very fast for a moth. The white-lined sphinx moth has 6 white strips on its thorax (the body part where the wings attach). The abdomen (looks like the tail) has black and white spots separated by 3 pale pink lines. An another common sphinx moth is the smaller Green-banded sphinx moth. It is about twice the size of a bumblebee and has 3 bright green bands around its abdomen. Some mistake these moths for “baby hummingbirds”. Sphinx moths will hover at a flower for nectar just like a hummingbird. Its long straw-like mouth, called a proboscis, is usually coiled up under its head like a spring. It is so long that it is usually about as long as the moth’s entire body. When the moth approaches a flower it uncoils its proboscis and inserts it into the flower like a straw into a milkshake. It quickly sips the nectar and moves onto another flower. These moths have large eyes to see flowers but lacks ears for hearing. One of the ways to tell the difference between a sphinx moth and a hummingbird is to use your ears. Hummingbirds make a loud humming noise when flying. That’s how they got their name! And the sphinx moth is silent. Before any moth can fly is has to first go through a caterpillar stage. The caterpillar of the sphinx moth is very large. About 3 inches long and about as thick as your little finger. It is usually bright green with a large horn on its tail giving it a threatening appearance–although it is harmless. At this stage they are often called “hornworms”. When the caterpillar is disturbed it often rears up in a threatening posture with its head cocked reminding some people of the great Egyptian Sphinx. Which is how this moth got its common name. Unlike other moths, the sphinx moth caterpillar doesn’t spin a silken cocoon to metamorphose, rather it burrows underground creating a protective earthen chamber. The underground chamber is also how they survive winter. Sphinx moths are not picky and will try obtaining nectar from just about any flower. However there are a few flowers they seem to prefer. If you want to attract a sphinx moth to your garden, try planting any species of phlox, obedient plant, petunias, impatiens, or morning glory. Until next time…
Woodpeckers
I can’t tell you how many times I am asked about problem woodpeckers. At least a couple times a month, someone will call or e-mail me a question about a woodpecker that is damaging the siding on their home. So I am going to try to address the issue in this column. Up to a 6 species of woodpecker may find your home a good place to do what woodpeckers do—drill holes. Woodpeckers may choose your home for one of several reasons—drumming, nesting holes, roosting holes and foraging for food. In late winter and early spring, woodpeckers love tapping on aluminum siding, fascia boards, stucco exteriors, downspouts and chimneys for drumming. This particular behavior involves rapid tapping of its bill to create a loud noise. Drumming is used to announce territory and to attract a mate. Repeated drumming can lead to small holes or depressions in wood siding and stucco but beyond that it’s a relatively harmless activity and your house can take it. Another activity that takes place in spring is excavating nesting cavities. Woodpeckers often make several attempts at nesting holes. One of their choice nesting holes may be in your wood siding. When making a nesting cavity in your house, woodpeckers fist dig through the outer wood siding, and sheathing on the house (usually a fiberboard) before going directly into the insulation. It’s been speculated that woodpeckers excavate nesting cavities in homes to take advantage of the insulation the house provides and protection from predators such as raccoons that can’t scale the vertical walls of the house. Also, the wood siding is often a soft wood that is easily excavated. However a more plausible reason is, there may be no suitable dead trees in the area in which to excavate a cavity. Roosting holes are cavities that the bird may use during winter. These cavities are not the same as the nesting cavity. Roosting holes are usually excavated in late summer and fall. These large holes may be surrounded by several smaller unfinished holes, or a cluster of tiny holes at the corners of the house, on the eaves or corner boards. Again the reasons for this may be a lack of suitable dead trees or at least dead branches in which the woodpeckers would normally excavate a roosting hole. Foraging holes are created when a woodpecker is searching for food. All woodpeckers include insects as a large part of their diet. In particular many species of woodpeckers love the larva stage of most insects. The larva stage is the fat juicy worm like grub that spends its time buried within a tiny chamber in the wood. There are a few siding types that are more susceptible to insect infestation and thus attract the woodpeckers to your house. Grooved plywood siding, sometimes called Type 111 is one example. It is made of sheets of plywood into which vertical grooves are cut. These grooves expose horizontal gaps in the core of the plywood allowing insects to crawl inside the gaps and lay eggs. Wooden shakes and shingles also have a ton of nooks and crannies that allow insects to hide and lay eggs. Woodpeckers in search of insects hiding in your siding drill a line of shallow holes just enough to get its tongue inside and extract the hiding larva. The problem is, they usually drill dozens of holes to find the larva. Now all that remains is to address the few things a homeowner can do to prevent or stop any woodpecker activity on their house. First and foremost, leave some dead branches or dead trees standing on your property. As long as the dead tree poses no threat of falling on your house or your neighbor’s house, leave it stand. Provide an easy food source such as suet. There is now a suet cake that doesn’t melt so it can be offered all summer. Long strips of aluminum foil or reflective tape hung from areas where the damage occurs can scare away woodpeckers. Be sure the strips are long enough to blow in the wind. Windsocks can serve the same purpose. In fact, any moving object hung near the area can help. Lightweight nylon plastic netting can hang from the eaves. Be sure to leave at least 3 inches between the netting and the house. Aluminum flashing can be used to cover the damaged area deter future damage. A motion detector that sets off a loud noise or turns on a sprinkler can also work. This also works well for deer in your garden. Look for these products on the internet. Send me an e-mail for a link to many of these products. Until next time……
Flying Squirrel
It was as dark as a night can be when I first heard the faint bird-like calls. They were coming from the top of a near-by tree. At first I wasn’t sure what I was hearing. Songbirds are usually silent at night and this was not an owl making this sound. After a moment I realized I was listening to the calls of a Flying Squirrel. Indeed, this was a special night. There are two species of flying squirrel—Northern and Southern. The Northern variety (Glaucomys sabrinus) inhabits conifer forests across the northern portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The Southern variety (Glaucomys volans) lives in deciduous forests just south of the Northern’s range. Both of these squirrels are New World animals, which mean they are only found in the America’s. That’s not to say that Europe doesn’t have any Flying Squirrels, they do, just not the species that occurs here in North America. Flying squirrels are the only nocturnal member of the Squirrel family. And like many other animals their common name doesn’t describe them very accurately. They are not true flyers because they have no ability to maintain or increase altitude. However they are excellent at gliding and can maneuvering around objects during their decent. Technically they should be called Gliding Squirrels. Just for the record, bats are the only mammals that have the ability to fly. Northern Flying Squirrels are larger than the Southern, measuring only 5-6 inches. Northern’s are 7-9″ long. Both have a fluffy, flatten tail that is 3-6 inches long. The hairs on the tail extend out from only the sides giving it a flat shape and making it useful as a rudder or air break. Cute and fuzzy, they are covered with a very dense gray to brown fur that is incredibly soft. Like other squirrels they have a white belly. However the most notable aspect of this tiny glider is the loose fold of skin called the patagium, which stretches between the front and back legs to form a makeshift wing. To become airborne, they leap into the air and spread their legs and hold their tail straight out behind. The distance they can glide depends upon the height from which they jumped. The higher their departure the further they can glide. Most glides are between 20-50 feet long. Just before landing they use their tail as an air break and land facing up the tree trunk. They immediately scramble to the far side of the landing tree, presumably to escape any flying predators such as an owl that might be in hot pursuit. Flying Squirrels are strictly nocturnal which explains why we hardly see this gliding guru. They have large eyes to help them see in the dark. Unlike other squirrels, the Flying Squirrel rarely travels on the ground; so don’t look for their tracks in the snow. However, like other squirrels they do eat seeds and nuts but don’t burry them in the ground. Instead they cache the extra nuts in holes and crevices in trees. In addition they eat fruit, fungi, tree buds, bird eggs and even baby birds. They are the most carnivorous of the squirrels sometimes killing small birds or mice and sometimes eating dead flesh (carrion). They remain active all year long. Mothers have one to two litters of young per year. Each litter contains three to five young, which are borne blind, naked and helpless after only a 40-day gestation. It’s a gregarious animal with many individuals living together. Homes consist mainly of old woodpecker holes or abandoned Gray Squirrel nests. However they sometimes take up residents in birdhouses, Wood Duck boxes and occasionally in the attic of homes. They live only 3-5 years. Until next time……
Tundra Swans
November is a month of dramatic change. Beautifully colored autumn leaves are striped from the trees by raw winds and steady rains, leaving only the stark silhouettes of naked trees to define the landscape. It’s a time of change for the plants and for the animals as well. By November reptiles and amphibians have move into hibernation. Birds migrate while animals like squirrels and chipmunks store hoards of food for the long winter November is the month when we get our first snow fall and when the small ponds start to freeze up. Next to December, November has the least amount of sunshine. Only 41% of the days will have sunshine. Combine that with shorter daylight, long nights and throw in daylight savings time and you have one cold and dark month. It kind of makes you look forward to the clear but extremely cold days of January. November is also the time for the great tundra swan migration. We are very fortunate that each November thousands of tundra swans migrating from Alaska and the northern portions of Canada stop and rest in parts of North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. These very large, all white birds fly along a diagonal path from Alaska, cutting across North America, on their way to the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Formerly called whistling swans, because of their high pitched whistle-like whoops, they stop in the backwaters along the Mississippi River to rest and eat. The swans rest for several days to few weeks while feeding on aquatic plants. Their long necks enabling them to reach plants that are deeper than the average goose or duck can reach. The swans will be coming and going for several weeks until the backwaters freezes. Once on their way they will finish the second half of their migration in just a couple of days and spend the winter in the estuaries of the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic coast. Tundra swans are slightly smaller than the more familiar trumpeter swan. An adult tundra swan can weight up to 20 pounds and have a wingspan of nearly seven feet. Like the trumpeter swan, the tundra swan is all white with black legs and feet and a large black bill. Unlike the trumpeter, the tundra has a small yellow spot just in front of its eye and the tundra swan holds its long neck straight up, unlike the crooked neck of the trumpeter. The non-native Mute Swan is all white but has bright orange bill. Tundra swans breed in the shallow marches and ponds of the tundra of Alaska and Canada, hence their common name. Believed to mate for life, a tundra swan can live up to 20 years. The male swan is called a cob and the female is referred to as a pen. Mated pairs will produce only one clutch of young each year, called a cygnet. The yearlings are gray in color and won’t become pure white until they are nearly two years old. If you are interested in learning more about tundra swans and taking a day-trip to see and photograph them, join me for on Saturday Nov. 13th to the back waters of the Mississippi where we will see hundreds of these beautiful and graceful birds. Call the Outdoor Center at 949-8479 for more information. Until next time…
Northern Lights
If you didn’t see it yourself, by now you have heard about the amazing display of northern lights that occurred on evening of Nov 7th. Nearly everyone in the United States and Canada that had clear skies on that evening was treated to a display that was more than just a few green streaks in the northern sky. No, this display covered nearly two-thirds of the sky and consisted of moving curtains of white, green and red. The northern lights are also called the aurora. This name comes from the Roman Goddess of the dawn. In the northern hemisphere, they are called aurora borealis or northern lights. In the southern hemisphere they are called aurora australis or the southern lights. The auroras are caused by the sun. Frequently the surface of the sun has violent storms that spew out streams of charged particles (plasma) in an event called a coronal mass ejection. The results of the storms are solar winds traveling at speeds of 1 to 2 million miles per hour which are filled with tiny highly charged particles. It takes two or three days but eventually the solar wind reaches the earth. When the particles do arrive, they are deflected towards the earth’s North and South poles by the earth’s magnetic field. When the particles hit and interact with molecules in our atmosphere the particles become excited and begin to glow. The delicate colors of the auroras depend on the height at which the energy particles collide with our atmosphere. Street lamps and neon signs emit different colors of light depending upon the types of gas trapped within the fixture. The same applies for the auroras. If the predominant gas is oxygen and nitrogen the auroras will be red. This is rare and only occurs at times of maximum solar activity. The most common color is green, and yellow again caused by oxygen, but at lower levels. The auroras occur on 27 day intervals and usually last for several nights in a row. Northern lights that occur just after dark are not very showy. The best displays occur around midnight or shortly after. The auroras are never absent from the earth. Every hour of the day, every day of the year, the auroras are blazing somewhere on the earth. However, most people can go many years between seeing the northern display. The reason is the aurora spends most of its time around the ends of the earth, where there are plenty of penguins and polar bears but few humans. The best place to view the aurora lights lay within an auroral zone that encompasses the northern polar regions. From Alaska through the Northwest Territories of Canada, around to Norway, Russia and back to Alaska. Along this band, the lights can be seen on virtually every cloudless night from autumn to spring. Small expansions of the auroral zone are common and aurora often spills out to neighboring regions such as our or in the case of the display last week the entire US. Until next time…
The Missing Autumn
This year was almost a year with out an autumn. In fact it may go down in the record books as a year that went from summer to late summer then late, late summer then right into winter, skipping right over fall. It all started with warmer than usual temperatures in October and basically no early winter storms blowing out of Canada. The effect of this autumn weather pattern meant that the flocks of migrating waterfowl stayed up north in Canada longer than usual. Instead of the usual flocks of migrating ducks, what was left were resident flocks of Canada Geese and a few scattered Mallards moving from around lake to lake. Now that the cold weather is upon us the ducks are on the move and it appears they will not be stopping, leaving us with an autumn without any ducks. From points further north, the Tundra Swans are also running late or are non existent. A swan that nests on the tundra of northern Alaska and Canada the Tundra Swan migrates diagonally across North America and makes frequent stops in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin. This year in stead of flocks of thousands of white swans resembling a snow storm blown in on the wind, we have only seen a light dusting of these huge white birds. They too will blow on through on their way to the east coast forsaking us for this autumn. However, arriving much earlier than usual, some parts of the upper Midwest are seeing an invasion of northern owls. These include the Great Gray Owl and the Northern Hawk Owl. These predators of the north woods are moving in large numbers not seen in many years. These owls don’t migrate in a predictable pattern each autumn like the ducks and swans, but rather irrupt out of their natural range and move south only in years of short food supply. Apparently there has been a crash in the vole population in Manitoba leading to this early visitation. This situation is being monitored closely to document the extent of this owl invasion. The nonexistent autumn affected more than just the avian world. Mammals were also influenced by the lack of autumn. The White-tailed deer rut (breeding season) seems to be extended a few weeks longer than usual. While a few individuals may still be in rut in late Nov and early Dec in normal years, this year many field observations seem to indicate more breeding activity is taking place later in the season. Why this is can only be speculative at this point. So now that winter is upon us what can we expect? Well, knowing nature, the only thing we can expect is the unexpected. When will we learn that Mother Nature is dynamic and ever-changing. Nothing in nature is regular and predictable, despite how much we think we know and understand about nature. However, that is what I find so interesting about being a wildlife photographer and naturalist. Everyday I go to work is different and unpredictable. Ain’t nature grand? Until next time…
Christmas Trees
With Christmas just around the corner, many of us are still confused as to what kind of Christmas tree you have standing in your living room. If you have a live tree that is. A new study reported last week on the national TV news shows that the tide has shifted and more than 50 percent of US citizens now have artificial Christmas trees. Christmas tree lots are overflowing with a wide assortment of trees—pine, spruce, and fir. But how do you know which one is which? Here are a few tips to help you identify your green beauty. First, look at the leaves. That’s right the leaves! Pine needles are a type of leaf. Like all trees, the leaves (needles) of evergreens are different on each species of tree. First, count how many needles are growing in each group, called a bundle. The base of each bundle is wrapped in a brown papery sheath. A bundle can have one to five needles growing together. If your tree has two or more needles growing from a single bundle than you have one of the true “pine” trees. One of the more popular “pine” Christmas trees is the Scotch Pine. It has two long needles bundled together. Each needle is slightly twisted along its length which gives the tree a fuller look. Also very popular is the White Pine. It has bundles of five needles. Each needle is several inches long and very straight. When you run your hands over the needles of a White Pine, it feels very soft. If your tree has only one needle per bundle you have one of the fir or spruce trees. It is easy to distinguish between these two types of evergreens. Try shaking hands with your tree. If the needles are very sharp you probably have a spruce tree. Another way to check is to pull off a single needle and roll it between your fingers. Spruce trees have square, or four sided needles. If you are having troubles feeling the edges than cut the needle in half so you can see it in cross section. A handy way to remember how to identify a spruce tree is; Spruce and Square both start with “S”. If your needles are flat, you have a fir tree. Shaking hands with a fir tree doesn’t result in a trip to the emergency room like the spruce tree. Fir trees have soft, flat, pliable needles. Pull one of these needles off and take a closer look. The needles are flat. A handy way to remember how to identify this tree is; Fir and Flat both start with “F”. So to recap, if you have a tree with two or more needles from a bundle you have one of the pines. Square needles are spruce and flat needles are fir. Happy Holidays. Until next time…..