Hawk Mountain - hawks?

nature article Earl Plato
Hawk Mountain? Yes, it’s one of the great centres of North America’s bird migration flyways. It’s located thirty miles or so north of Reading, Pennsylvania. I’ve made the trip in 1996 and would like to repeat it. However, I have the latest issue of Hawk Mountain News, Fall 1998. So tell us about the birds, Earl. Sorry. Not this time. I want to tell you about a strange little creature I met on that tortuous climb up the mountain. This meeting took place half way up Hawk Mountain in a thickly forested area in between torrential downpours. What was it? Marcia Bonta of the Hawk Mountain News shares this, ‘To my surprise the tiny rodent nosing under the forest leaf duff did not run off when I came near.” That’s almost exactly what I experienced.
It did not come nearer to me but began circling rapidly and jerking its head. It disappeared under the leaves as if it was searching for food and reappeared doing its shivering dance. This was repeated over the next few minutes. I was looking at a chubby red-backed vole that lives on the mountain. Back at the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Center there was a diorama and information about this most common small mammal found on the Mountain. Its full name is Gapper’s red-backed vole. Gapper? The origin of that label I missed but I imagine the scientific name (Clethrionomys gapperi) indicates who named the little guy.. The paintings and photos show the red back but out on the mountain in the wet I couldn’t distinguish the red back.
Marcia Bonta reveals what that shivering and dancing is all about. “The vole produces its own body heat by non-shivering thermogenesis.” What? “Between its shoulder blades, near its spinal cord, the vole has high energy, heat producing tissue called brown adipose or brown fat, which acts like a blanket to keep the vole warm.” That helps to explain the gyrating of the little guy. He was shaking up his fat. That’s it. Be alert for our little mammals. There’s interesting things to learn.
***
You could hear me coming a mile away. I walked the terrazzo halls of Niagara Square and Penn Centre the other day. Squeak! squeak! squeak! My favourite old white Reebok walking shoes are noisy. If I walk on my tiptoes or heels in these shoes not so bad. Out in the paths of Marcy’s Woods - no noise normally - but that’s not in the Fall. Walking in the woods in autumn nothing creeps up silently on anything in Marcy’s Woods these days.
Ed Teale, late nature writer, in a late October entry in his log gives a good picture of this time of year. I add to his description. The carpet of fallen oak, maple and beech leaves in Marcy’s Woods become more crisp and dry.providing an early warning system for the wildlife there. No one , I believe, not even the native Indians, could walk in silence through these woods. No resident red fox could stalk its prey noiselessly here. Stealth is impossible. Even a Marcy chipmunk broadcasts its every hop as it moves in the leaves on the hillside of the Lower Trail. A gray squirrel burying an acorn attracts our attention as it scatters the leaves.
We humans scuffle along and we have to stand still when we want to listen to the birds.
Several years ago at this time of year an unseen Ruffed grouse took off in the wetlands to our left. The dry leaves went flying by the violent downdraft of its beating wings. These game birds have a special stake in the dryness of leaf cover in the autumn woods. I think you know why. A few Saturdays ago Rob Eberly, son, Robbie, and I walked some rough underbrush in the area We heard the reverberations of shotguns. We stopped and listened. No rustling of fallen leaves broadcasted the approach of dogs and hunters.The shots had occurred some distance away. It is when the leaves are wet from rain, when they are soggy and silent underfoot, that a grouse or some ones such as we three are more likely to be surprised.
Personally I like the sound that comes from the scuffling of leaves underfoot on a sunny October day. I can’t describe how it sounds but it’s a pleasant reminder of Fall.