Drumming woodpeckers, blazing brushfires, and other charming signs of spring
Resources to support Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the South following the hate crime in Atlanta + news on unionizing efforts at Audubon
[touches earpiece] We’re receiving reports that woodpeckers are drumming on siding. They’re drumming on roofs. They’re even drumming on street lights.
When woodpeckers drill for food, they’re pretty quiet, especially if it’s good soft wood with lots of invertebrates for them to eat. But in the spring, woodpeckers do something called drumming, which is exactly what it sounds like. They find the most resonant surface in their chosen territory—often house siding, a steel shed roof or in the above case, a street light—and hammer away, wanting to be heard far and wide, just like robins starting their chorus bright and early.
I take a “leave it be” approach with wildlife whenever possible, but then again I live in an apartment, away from the problems of house dwelling. I can understand that a persistent woodpecker waking you up at inappropriate times would be a problem, especially if a woodpecker seems to be drilling for food in wooden walls rather than drumming on a tough surface just to make a racket. Mass Audubon suggests hanging a plastic sheet or streamers that will move in the wind around the affected area on your house to deter the bird.
The best suggestion, though, is to make the surrounding habitat more appealing for drilling than your house by leaving dead trees in the yard. It doesn’t sound charming, and if there’s an HOA, they might have nettlesome questions. But dead trees, called “snags” in the biz, are one of the most bird-friendly landscaping elements, offering shelter and food to dozens of species.
The reports of woodpecker drumming are a sure sign of the advancing season. Others include blackbird migration, the return of flying insects, and the plant of the week below.
Are the woodpeckers, groundhogs or biting insects doing something odd where you are? Tell me about it: possum.notes.substack@gmail.com
Resources to support Asian Americans in the South
This has been a grim week. The hate crimes in Atlanta that left eight people dead, including six Asian Americans, are part of a larger trend of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders facing more frequent racist violence and harassment during the pandemic.
Georgia Audubon shared this list of organizations to support that are serving Asian Americans in the South, adding: “Georgia Audubon stands in solidarity with our Asian American and Pacific Islander neighbors. Anti-Asian hate crimes have skyrocketed around the country. Please consider supporting the organizations in this article.”
Bird conservation groups traditionally have a reputation of not getting involved in issues outside of local bird populations and land conservation, perhaps thinking to reserve their political capital for what they know best. But it’s good to see Georgia Audubon and others in conservation breaking this trend and recognizing that leading the community in one area means being accountable and responsive to that community all the time, not just when it’s necessary for conservation goals.
Here’s a larger list of Asian American and Pacific Islander community organizations around the country to support, researched and compiled by New York Magazine.
Audubon’s getting a union
Employees of the National Audubon Society are seeking to form a union, an affiliate of the Communication Workers of America. They’re unionizing after “widespread workplace problems, including two rounds of layoffs, a mishandled diversity training, and the resignations of two top equity and inclusion officials,” according to E&E News. Audubon’s CEO, David Yarnold, pressured Devon Trotter, a senior diversity and inclusion officer, to reveal the names of people who criticized the company in an anonymous employee survey. Trotter resigned following Yarnold’s intimidation effort. Yarnold continues to deny that the company has serious structural problems. The Audubon Union organizers are demanding a role in decisions about Audubon’s policy agenda and greater protections for inclusive hiring and career advancement.
Audubon workers are at the intersection of two fields, conservation and journalism, that have both faced funding challenges and deep-rooted problems with racism, sexism, and other inequities. The Audubon Union has the potential to reshape not just its own workplace but also to set the tone for workplace equity and inclusion across the conservation and communications landscapes.
The National Audubon Society has hired a union-busting law firm and claims the company has none of the problems their workers say they have. Meanwhile, the union’s logos and artwork have been incredible:
I’ll be supporting Audubon workers’ efforts to unionize and transform their workplace any way I can (proud member of the National Writer’s Union/Freelance Solidarity Project.)
Brushfires in Boston
Every week I learn something new. It’s a reminder that I really don’t know that much. This past weekend, we were driving home from the grocery store and saw this:
It looked pretty dramatic, with the fire glowing in the evening darkness. This may seem like a sizable wilderness, but it’s really a moderate-sized marsh and woods surrounded by densely plotted neighborhoods, so it was alarming to see an uncontrolled blaze there.
Greater Boston, I’ve since learned, is at risk of brushfires starting in early spring after the snow melts and thick carpets of dry leaves cover the ground. Massachusetts sees thousands of brushfires every year, peaking in summer—2020 was particularly incendiary. It may not be as big a risk as in, say, California, but it’s certainly a reason to take precautions. This past weekend, severe winds helped put conditions over the edge and start several brushfires in the region.
The brushfire in Quincy was on Pine Island, connected to the land only by a muddy marsh, more or less unreachable by foot. But I scoped it out from across a tidal inlet the next morning, expecting to see dead trees and destruction. I was surprised to find a relatively serene aftermath:
The fire appears to have only burned the leaf litter and some ground-dwelling plants, leaving the large trees unharmed. You can see that this forest has a fairly open understory and trees with a healthy amount of space between them. That probably made the forest more resistant to a hotter burn that would have swept up tree trunks and led to further destruction. Instead, now the ecosystem will benefit from increased availability of nutrients from the ashes. Some locally adapted species such as pitch pine have evolved to bounce back quickly after a fire.
Not every forest in the region would have fared so well. It’s a good reminder that preparing forests for possible fires by removing excess brush and burning off leaf litter in controlled burns can protect natural resources and people’s lives in the long run. In some ecosystems, controlled burns may even increase carbon storage by promoting the growth of big mature trees, the forest’s best way of sticking carbon in the ground and keeping it there. Prescribed fires in the pitch pine forests of nearby Cape Cod help improve habitat for the at-risk New England cottontail rabbit.
Plant of the week: Snowdrops
Snowdrops (Galanthus) aren’t a plant I knew well growing up, but around Boston, naturalized patches of snowdrops are common on the fringes of neighborhoods, such as here at the edge of a fenced-off bog managed by the city. Introduced from Asia and Europe for gardening, they’re cool-climate flowers that bloom at the end of winter, a sure sign that frosts are on their way out. Their seeds spread with the help of ants, which are drawn to the seeds’ oily exteriors. The ants carry the seeds underground to eat the oils, leaving them in the perfect place to grow. Common snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are unfortunately threatened in the wild due to over-harvesting and loss of habitat, so their sale is regulated.
The Chicago Botanic Garden notes that planting snowdrops beneath an oak or maple can be a nice pairing, because “they can complete their life cycle before the trees leaf out.” I’m mourning the passing of spring before it has even happened, after reading that! Attention doesn’t solve the problem of time passing, but it at least recognizes the reality of things that don’t last before they’ve gone away.
There was another thing behind the fence that I couldn’t get to:
Early spring is the perfect time for de-trashing and recycling at local parks, because the stuff is still easy to see before leaf-out. Now that it’s warmer, I’ve been meaning to get out and do a little spring cleaning.
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Possum Notes is a weekly newsletter about wildlife and landscapes around where I live. It’s produced on occupied Massachusett and Wampanoag land.