Phenology for 10/2/12: Chickadees

This web site has not deliberately discontinued the phenology updates. Last summer's phenology did become boring, during seven weeks when it rained every dang day, and e-mail has been keeping me fairly busy. However, some readers have liked the nature notes, so here's an update:

Weather: Normal for the time of year--which is to say, delightful. Daytime highs in the seventies, overnight lows in the fifties and sixties.

Scenery: Some trees have already turned yellow and/or shed leaves, after a long season and further spread of fire blight. The mountains are becoming colorful on schedule. If you like hiking, biking, or driving among mountains patched with red, orange, gold, green, and occasionally purple, this is the week to visit Scott County.

Birds: The usual mix of sparrows, jays, crows, and at the Cat Sanctuary the resident cardinals chasing them off. However, on the way to the computer center this morning, I heard chickadees loudly identifying themselves from trees along the road. On closer inspection, they weren't greeting the human passer-by, but quarrelling with the resident crows! These small birds can be very cheeky. Photos, video, and audio about chickadees here.

Insects: This is one sector of the local population who really haven't liked this year's weather. An anglewing butterfly spent some time at the Cat Sanctuary earlier this month, but I've seen very few moths, butterflies, or beetles.

One species that has thrived on this summer's weather is a native insect that is neither an American cockroach nor a palmetto bug. It is smaller, and not a pest, but it looks similar to an American cockroach. It is known as the Wood Roach. We most often see the mature male (magnified photo here), who can fly, likes to travel, and frequently comes into houses in a load of firewood. Unlike the American cockroach, the Wood Roach wants to get out of the house--not badly enough to disturb his rest during the daytime, but enough that he will usually find a way out around sunset. Baby Wood Roaches (photo here) are occasionally found around wood piles, compost heaps, and garbage dumps. They are not attracted to sewer lines and won't invade the house. Their population is well balanced by native animals. They will never become as big, as filthy, or as obnoxious as an American cockroach. They are not a problem.

Despite their superior manners, nobody wants to look at Wood Roaches either. They like damp or moldy wood, bark, cardboard, and paper. If you store these items in a shed or wood pile, in damp weather you will probably see a few Wood Roaches. As with woodlice and carpenter ants, the presence of these creatures near a house is cause for concern, but the concern is to protect the wood. Dry out and preserve the wood, and the animals who eat rotting wood will go away.