Virginia Master Naturalist Linda Bender shows wild onions to three of the Young Naturalists during last year's program called "Winter Feast." The group made pizza that day using some of the wild edibles collected at Blandy.

By Steve Carroll
Director of Public Programs 

With winter fast approaching, it's easy to turn our thoughts to warm fires and good books. But one group of area children, dedicated volunteers, and warmly-dressed staff will instead spend winter Saturdays exploring Blandy's grounds.

This year's Young Naturalist series includes five programs linked by the theme, "Exploring Winter Using All Our Senses." Each program highlights a different sense, such as vision and touch, which we will use to explore our surroundings, better understand Blandy's plants and animals, and appreciate how humans relate to their environment.

As in years past, the Young Naturalist program will benefit from financial support provided by The Adams Companies, and from the volunteer help of Virginia Master Naturalists.

Check out the Young Naturalist program brochure for program details, costs, and registration, or call 540-837-1758 Ext. 224.

By Dave Carr

Director, Blandy Experimental Farm

The Arboretum, fields, forests, and ephemeral wetlands of Blandy always provide for fun birding. The changing seasons regularly bring new species to add to a core group of year-round residents, resulting in the kind of variety and surprises that make birders get out of bed ridiculously early in the morning. Every now and then, Blandy gets a visit from something especially out of the ordinary, and in November several exceptional birds drew birders to Blandy from all over the area. One of the interesting things about these species is how tied they are to particular types of trees.

Loggerhead Shrike Photo: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

In early November Linda Chittum reported a Loggerhead Shrike in one of the large succession fields at Blandy. Loggerhead Shrike populations have been declining sharply in the eastern United States due to habitat loss and degradation, and it is regarded as a Threatened species in the state of Virginia.  Shrikes are handsome gray and black songbirds, and although no larger than a robin, these formidable predators take prey as large as mice and sparrows. The shrike has earned the nickname "butcher bird" for its habit of impaling and storing its prey on the thorns of trees or, in a pinch, a barbed wire fence.  Many of the honey locust and Osage orange trees at Blandy are now decorated with the shrike's victims, which hang like gruesome ornaments throughout its territory. These displays have given the shrike a reputation as a gratuitous killer, but some ornithologists have hypothesized that male shrikes build their larder to impress females with their hunting prowess.  Certainly the birders who have come to search for the Blandy shrike have been as impressed with these adornments as with this rare bird itself.

The next group of rare birds began appearing at Blandy in mid November when James Fox photographed a small group of White-winged Crossbills. Shortly after this initial sighting, Red Crossbills and Common Redpolls were reported. These are refugees from the north country, denizens of the boreal forest forced to wander south because of failed cone crops throughout much of Canada. The Arboretum's extensive conifer collection provides many of the comforts of home to these nomadic birds, and birders have flocked to Blandy for this rare opportunity.

Both White-winged and Red Crossbills are colorful finches, about the size of bluebirds. They are "holarctic," occupying the taiga of North America, Europe, and Asia, rarely venturing as far south as Virginia.  Crossbills are unrivaled in North America for their degree of specialization on a single group of trees. As their name implies, their hooked upper and lower beaks cross, giving them a unique look. Their crossed bill acts as a powerful and precise tool that functions to separate the scales on cones, allowing their spiny tongue to expertly extract the seeds hidden inside. The birds have been seen plying their trade in the Arboretum's hemlocks, Norway spruce, larch, and several species of pines.

The tight ecological relationship between Red Crossbills and conifers is giving biologists new insights to the evolution of new species. Although taxonomists currently recognize only a single species of "Red Crossbill" in North America, at least nine different types have been recognized based on their call notes. Each of these types has a slightly different bill and tongue morphology that seems to be optimally adapted to handle the cone of a particular species of conifer. Over the past 20 years biologists studying these birds have been building one of the strongest examples of bird-plant co-evolution and ecological specialization driving diversification.

Whether you come to Blandy for the birds or the trees, I think the world seems all the more exciting when you contemplate how connected they both can be. Even if you're not a birder, keep an alert ear for the chatter in the tree tops and a sharp eye for an impaled grasshopper on a thorn.  And if you are a birder, who (like me) has been frustrated in your attempts to glimpse one of these rare birds this winter, take some time to appreciate the magnificent trees that have provided these birds with a home away from home.