Nature report

NATURE ARTICLE - by Earl Plato

SQUIRREL REPORT
I received a call in early January from an enthusiastic Steve Clarke of Crescent Park. Steve is a retiree who has found a great deal of pleasure feeding birds, squirrels and a rabbit. He reported seeing on a regular basis a gray squirrel that was a very light brown in colour. It is probably an albino variation. I have a slide of such a squirrel lacking regular colouring taken in 1990 in Abino Woods.
Marg Russell called January 3rd of this year to tell me that she saw two white squirrels near Point Abino lighthouse. As she was driving she saw a white one climbing a tree. It was all white except the tip of its tail. Marg drove on a liitle more and saw a smaller version. Two albino Squirrels! Marg thought that this might be a seasonal thing. In other words, when winter comes the squirrel puts on a white winter coat. Not. A gray squirrel is a gray squirrel. Only when a genetic variation like albinism in which regular pigments is lacking do we see different shades of colour in gray and black squirrels.
Bill Peart of Ridgeway told me of seeing albino gray squirrels along Erie Road, Bay Beach some twenty years back. My wife and I concurred for we saw some too for we lived in the Bay Beach area then.
The years we lived on the farm we had the loquacious, little red squirrels dominating their territory. Has anyone seen a coloured modification of the red squirrel? I haven't. GROUND FEEDER
Steve Clarke is one of those bird lovers who uses a ground feeder. He has an extensive feeding station. He has many stories to tell. One is of a brown rabbit (not a cottontail) who watched the squirrel take a peanut and walked away. The brown rabbit followed in its footprints in the snow.
Steve is a believer in popcorn feeding. He pops large amounts at least four times a week. He asked me if I ever fed our nature friends any spaghetti. I said no. He never throws away old spaghetti. He cuts it up and places it on the ground. He has learned that the squirrels refused to eat off a plate. (down to earth animals) He even cuts pieces of cooked liver and find that they disappear quickly.
He has a lattice work that protects up to a hundred sparrows. They wait for the opportune time to swarm down to the feeding area. Squirrels hid in the lattice too. Steve puts out 10 pounds of peanuts so you can imagine the scene.
I asked Steve about cats. Ground feeders present this problem. He said, "No problem." That's good news. It's apparent that Steve loved feeding our wildlife and he does it consistently. That's important.
MUSHROOM REPORT
Ed Feiertag of Ridgeway had read my article on the larch and mushrooms. He shared with me that on Cherry Hill Golf Course there are pine mushrooms growung in and near an evergreen grove. What about spray? I wouldn't eat them. Ed grew up in the country near Fenwick and he recalls how his mother, who was of Austrian descent, would have the children pick mushrooms near the edge of the woods. They were 3-10 inches in height. From Ed's description I believe that they were Chanterelles. He said that they were depressed or sunken in the center. They would store them in large bags where they dried. They would be used for flavouring soup and stews throughout the winter.
Ed knows about poisonous mushrooms and what to look for when you are out collecting. My wife's step grandfather, the late Joe Holler, would not eat mushrooms. When he came to Canada from Austria as a teenager he became deathly ill from eating mushrooms. He had eaten mushroome that he thought were safe. I wonder, if he like Ed's mother, had been used to eating Chanterelles and if you check your mushroom book there are some of these species such as the Craterellus that are inedible and MAY be poisonous.
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Ed Feiertag pointed out that in one of my December articles that Zoutman was the owner of the Nursery on Gorham Road in Ridgeway not Jan Verburg. I stand corrected.
BIRD REPORT
Ken Bradfield of Niagara Parkway tended an injured bird last winter. What he thought was a Blue Jay at first, turned out to be a Horned lark. This lark is smaller than a Blue jay. The last lark I saw was in Wainfleet Marsh in 1989. If you have heard one sing you will never forget it clear, hugh-pitched tinkling notes as it flies. .
Ken reported on the cormorants. He has seen them in groups of two or three on the Niagara River near Chippawa. Remember these are Double-creasted Cormorants. Take a look in your bird book. He's a Niagara River winter resident.
In early January Harvey Kitchen of Niagara Falls reported this incident. Harvey made it clear that he lives in the city not on the outskirts. As he looked out back he saw a hawk feeding on a Mourning Dove. It was the size of a crow or a raven. He believed that it was a Cooper's hawk. Its tail was about ten inches long. I suggested that it might be the smaller Sharp-shinned hawk. Both hawks are great acrobatic fliers and can whizz in and about trees. In the middle of the city? I guess so. One thing we know that it wasn't the big relatively awkward Red-tailed hawk that we see in the country side. They feed on mice, voles and rabbits.
Harvey's hawk had a whitish-barred chest and white spots the size of dimes on the back. Look for the shape of the tail. Is it white and rounded? Then it's probably the larger Cooper Hawk. Thanks Harvey.
DID WE SAVE THE LITTLE GUY?
Jim McFarlane of Crystal Beach made an early stop at my house in mid-January. On the way to work in Welland he stopped on the Point Abino Road to the south of No. 3 Highway when he saw a small owl by the roadside. As he stepped out of the car he heard a screech like that of a Red-Tailed Hawk. The little Screech Owl was petrified and did not move. Had it been struck by the big hawk? Jim decided to head back into Ridgeway to my place with his little owl wrapped in a blanket. He or she was still alive. Thanks to my wife and daughter we contacted the Owl Rehab and Research Centre in Vineland. The manager of the Rehab Centre, Kiper Parker, told me in length what to do with our little guy. The first thing I did was to bring him into a warmer part of the house. He told me how to prepare a suitable holding box for it. Because time was so important in saving the life of our owl he decided to send one of his helpers, Christine Jamieson, down to Ridgeway. She was there in about an hour. Our little Screech Owl was still alive. Christine assured us that one of the other helpers was an expert at saving owls. However, she said that we may be too late.
Jim McFarlane stopped in after work and I told him what had happened. I was told to thank him on behalf of the Owl Rehab Centre. Thanks Jim for your kindness to our endangered wildlife. We will call the Centre in a few days and check on its progress. Hopefully there will be good news.
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Keep a lookout for Arctic Owls this winter. We hear that lack of food upnorth is forcing them south.