Swallows Found Dead (Disappearances)

Swallows have been found dead in large numbers along the Susquehanna River the past few days. Results are still preliminary (and reported to me about third hand) but the word is that they had no food in their stomachs and so likely starved to death. Toxicology tests are being run, however. The weather here has been (as regular readers know), foggy and rainy and chilly since last Saturday. Apparently that has been long enough for the insects that the swallows feed on to disappear.

Perhaps the scariest part of this story is that it was only a few weeks ago that I reported on an article in The Auk that indicated large numbers of insect-eating swallows and warblers died during their northbound migration in the late frost that killed the insects they feed on. And now it appears the same thing has happened during the southbound migration, though at this point I have no idea if the deaths are as widespread as what was the case in the spring. Why this may mean to the population of insect-eating birds as a whole is unknown. How long it will take the population to recover is also unknown.

My photo today isn’t of swallows, but the theme of disappearances continues. This lovely old stone fence has been here for 150 years or more but may well not survive the week. Road widening is underway, and another of these stone fences just a mile up the road has already gone. The lovely tree that I photographed along the outside of this same fence for my January 19, 2007 post has disappeared from the time I drove past after work yesterday to when I drove past this morning.

Disappearances are just one half of the process of change--appearances of new things being the other half. I don’t think I would mind changes so much if so many of them weren’t for the worse.

Coltsfoot and Other Insanities

If you want a better indication of how late this spring is arriving, today’s photo is it. This is coltsfoot, which is typically the first wildflower to appear each year. In fact, this flower is so anxious to bloom that it blooms before its leaves appear. As you can see in this photo, the plant is not yet (quite) blooming as the flowers haven’t opened up yet.

It is not uncommon for me to first see a blooming coltsfoot around the first week of April. I wouldn’t be surprised, in some years, to find it before the end of March. I have also seen it in bloom when patches of snow were still around. But this year, today will be its blooming day. It is no exaggeration to say that it is blooming about 3 weeks later than usual.

The coltsfoot, as I have only just found out to my dismay, is not native to North America but to Europe, where it was used to treat asthma and colds, usually in a tea sweetened with lemon. It is also, apparently, smoked in a pipe to treat asthma, which to a modern sensibility seems like a contradiction in terms.

Spring continues its slow progress, though the speed of the season is beginning to increase. Last night, as I drove past the old snowmaking pond, several tree swallows skimmed along its surface—another first of the year!

And this morning, for at least several seconds, I was briefly convinced I’d overslept. Dog and I were walking along one of the ponds when I saw brightness in the east and was momentarily blinded. The sun! If the sun was up, it could only mean that I was late for work because when Dog and I walk it is still dark. In fact, it was dead dark only yesterday on our walk, and it doesn’t go from dark to sunny in one day when we walk at the same time each morning, so…Oh, wait. The sky is clear this morning. The sun is supposed to be rising now. It’s only because it’s been so flippin’ overcast for the past two weeks that I couldn’t see morning was rising to greet us on our walks. Okay, so I’m not late. Deep breath.