Flora & Fauna of Drums # 4 - Reptiles, Amphibians

Blog #51 - Flora & Fauna of Drums # 4 - Reptiles, Amphibians, and a few other things to make your skin crawl.

Our last post looked to the sky, seeking the hope that the birds of Drumyngham bring us! Some of you who read this post, however, are probably not going to find hope, in fact some of you may say, “Ron! You go from Hope to Disgust!?”

Well, I don’t see it that way, but I’m sure there are some who will. This post is all about the slimiest and the scaliest of all our Drumyngham friends: the snakes (scales), earthworms (slimy), toads (neither!), garden slugs (slimy), and so forth that call our fair Drumyngham property, or, at least the Valley, their home (too).

And what better way to begin than with a SNAKE!?

Growing up here, I saw snakes in Drums, I just don’t remember seeing any around Drumyngham. I suppose they must have been here, but there were two little boys (at least) running all around the place then, too, so perhaps they stayed away from all the ruckus. You can be sure if I’d seen a snake here when I was growing up, it would have been part of the “zoo” I’d usually end up keeping by the end of each summer!

Then again, knowing Mom, perhaps not. By the way, in case you are thinking about doing such a thing, keeping or killing a snake, don’t. All Pennsylvania snakes are protected by Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission Regulations. So, if you want to keep one as a pet; or worse, are thinking of killing one; you will have the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to discuss the matter with and they won’t be pleasant.

We did find a snake skin once, probably around 1970. Yes. I saved it. I mean, did you really have to ask? That’s it in the photo. Mom made a display of nature items for a 4-H Exhibit once and she included the snake skin.  

This year (2021), one day this past Spring; there, sunning itself on our driveway, was a Garter Snake. When we approached It, it made tracks, well, you know what I mean, for the grass and flowers that edge the drive. On May 6, as I headed out our basement door, there on the wall to my right, at eye level, was the little fellow again. That’s when I snapped the fine photo that appears above.

Since then, we’ve seen it, or a close relative, a few times; twice slithering along the side of our barn (funny, I haven’t seen that little barn mouse lately…), once making its way across the lawn (those snakes are FAST!), and once headed out toward the park (I almost stepped on it that time). We also found one of its shed skins on the wall where I snapped its photo. 

Yes. I saved it. Again, you had to ask?

I put it in a collection of rocks and minerals I got as a present one childhood birthday from someone who obviously knew I liked those kinds of things but I bet never dreamed that it would also hold a shed snake skin one day.

We did also find a second skin near the barn. I didn’t keep that one. I mean, really, how many shed snake skins can one person keep after all? I just took a photo of it. See? However, truth be known, I sort of wish I’d saved it.

By the way, in case you are unaware, that’s how snakes grow. Their skin does not grow, so every so often, having grown too big for its own skin, literally, the snake must crawl out of it. There is a new skin already in place underneath to replace the old one the snake leaves behind.  

I wonder if that hurts – or itches or…?

And by now I’ve probably given more information about snakes than anyone really wants to know outside of a few herpetologists, perhaps a few zoologists, or maybe some little boys and girls who enjoy poking snakes, frogs, toads, pollywogs, and other such things with sticks (not that I ever did that, mind you).

 

Anyway, since I am on the topic of snakes, I might as well continue along that path. Drumyngham, to my knowledge, has been relatively free from some of the other snake varieties that reside in the Drums Valley. At least, I am told they live in the valley, I’ve never actually seen one in the wild. I’m speaking of the Copperhead Rattlesnake (Agkistrodon contortrix*). Of course, I could have been referring to the Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus), I’m told they live here too. There are probably some more snakes hanging out here, too, but, really, if I’ve not seen one here at Drumyngham, what’s the point to go on?

*By the way, that Latin sounding thing is a scientific name. Scientists assign them to the various creatures so they don’t keep mixing them up and everyone knows which critter is actually being discussed between two scientists. I included a short discussion concerning scientific names in the post: Flora and Fauna of Drums #1 – Bugs! in case you want to check that out.

Christmas 1967. That's me in my leopard spot
PJ's. To my right (left side of photo) is an odd
face with a big eye. That is the head of a very
large, stuffed toy turtle. I LOVED that thing.
I sat on it every Saturday morning to watch
"my" cartoons in front of the TV.

So, let’s move to other reptiles, like the TURTLES!! There is probably nothing that excites a kid more than a TURTLE – unless it’s a puppy, or a Stick Insect, or a frog, or a snake, or a…Well, anyway, turtles live in the Drums Valley, too. One summer, some of those little turtles you used to be able to get at a pet store lived in Drums. It was, I’m afraid, a rather short summer for them, however, if you catch my drift.

I didn’t note which turtles we saw were where in the valley, as I was growing up. Some of the turtles I saw were seen in the Nescopeck River, in or near the clean (East of the Jeddo Tunnel run-off) side of the Little Nescopeck, or in a small stream or pond here or there abouts, and some were seen while we were camping in state parks like Tobyhanna or Rickets Glen. Those parks are not in the Drums valley. They do remind me, however, of a turtle story.

 Each Summer Dad would spend his vacation taking us camping at one of the great Pennsylvania State Parks, usually Tobyhanna. Usually, once we arrived and had the tent set up, I’d be down by the lake fishing. First thing in the morning, EARLY, like 4:00am, I’d be down by the lake fishing. Unless we were doing something like going to the park lake’s “beach” to go swimming, hiking one of the park’s trails, or riding around the park with my brother on our bicycles, I’d be down by the lake fishing.

I think I’m one of those kids coming out of the water at the Tobyhanna park “beach” in 1964; otherwise, why did Mom take the photo? I know that’s me, lower left, probably 1967, fishing. I don’t know why, or where, Nathan got the boat! On the right we are biking in 1969. We must be going to, or returning from, fishing, however, because I’m holding my yellow fishing pole in my right hand. That orange thing on Nathan’s bike, by the way, is a box. It reads, “My 4-H Entomology Box”. One never knows when one might find an insect one wants to collect for their 4-H Entomology collection. My collecting stuff was in there too. Too bad you can’t see the sides of the box. We had insects painted on it, but that’s a different post: “Flora and Fauna of Drums #1 – Bugs!”

Usually, when a fish was after the bait, the bobber would pop under the surface of the water a few times until I either was successful setting the hook in the fish’s mouth, or the fish was successful stealing the worm. Once, however, the bobber popped down under the surface and stayed there. I tugged on the line but it just stayed under the water. My brother told me I had gotten hooked to a log but I hadn’t been reeling the hook in, it had just been sitting out there, waiting.

Then the bobber began to move slowly under the water to the left. I pulled back, and it moved slowly to the right. I pulled back. Slowly but surely, I pulled that hook back into shore and up out of the water. There hanging on the end was not a fish, but a turtle. The older kids told me it was “a Snapper”, but I have no idea what kind of turtle it was. They also told me I was in trouble because it was illegal to catch turtles. I was worried for quite a while over that one. They tell you a lot when you are the youngest. Mostly, however, I was angry because it meant I had to lose the hook! Stupid turtle. There was little we could do other than snip the line and return the turtle to the lake, with my hook! Poor turtle. By the way, it happened to my brother as well.

There are a number of turtles that live in Pennsylvania and, therefore, probably live in the Drums Valley. Snapping, Midland Painted, Spotted, Wood, Map, and Box Turtles all could live in this area. I was told stories as a kid about guys who were played with a Snapping Turtle and lost the tips of their fingers. Maybe that was true. But, like I said, they tell you a lot of stories when you are the youngest. Probably, they told me that so I didn’t play with any turtles I might find. It worked.

There is a state park in Drums called Nescopeck State Park. Lake Frances resides there. In addition to turtles, Lake Frances offers up a few other scaly animals, but they aren’t reptiles. They are fish; Trout, Bass, and Pan Fish (Bluegills, Sun Fish, and the like). The Park web site also says the six miles of the Nescopeck Creek is also the home of Brown Trout and native Brook Trout. I really enjoyed catching, and eating, Pan Fish during our camping trips but I don’t believe I’ve ever fished Lake Frances. Just one of those things, I guess. As a kid, I did do some fishing in the Nescopeck Creek. I think I lost more lures than I caught fish. I actually don’t remember ever catching any Nescopeck Creek fish. Just one of those things, I guess.

By the way, if you can find a few Fresh-Water Crayfish, they sure make good fishing bait! Crayfish are not insects, by the way. They aren’t fish, either. They are Crustaceans. I didn’t find many of those, however.

I DID find Earthworms, however. They are another great bait – my “go-to” bait, for sure! They come in all sizes. We had a garden so we were always digging up earthworms. The best ones, however, are those great, big Nightcrawlers! I liked them so much I drew one for a 7^th grade art class project. Mom glued into a scrapbook so it was hard to photograph, darn-it. 

Many was the night before a fishing trip that I found myself out under the stars, flashlight in hand, searching the ground for some Nightcrawlers. When you saw one, you needed to quickly grab on to it or it would draw itself back down the hole. They are quick. They are strong, too. They apparently have little bristles that they use to help “grab” onto the sides of the hole making it harder to pull the darn things out of the ground. Now I know how the Robin feels yanking on that worm! It sure was fun going out at night to get them.

You know, maybe THAT is why I liked Nightcrawlers so much.

There was at least one other type of worm living here at Drumyngham, but they were too small for fishing bait. My brother and I, considering ourselves to be scientists the way we did, did have some fun learning experiences with these worms. They were Flatworms, also known as Planaria.

There was a low spot in our backyard near the septic tank location. Water would collect in this location, fed by the septic leach field, making it a perfect place for Flatworms to live. These cross-eyed looking fellows are most interesting creatures. You can cut them into pieces and they will grow into new worms! Sort of frightening, now that I think about it. However, this was 1968. I was 11 and Nathan was 14. So, what did we know?

Drumyngham does not have any REAL ponds or any streams running across the property so no fish lived at Drumyngham, not in ponds or streams, that is. The closest water to Drumyngham is the Little Nescopeck Creek, which is polluted by mine run-off water from the Jeddo Tunnel (see the post: The Mouth of Evil for pictures of, and more information on, the Jeddo Mine Tunnel). Thus, no fish there. Not much else lives there either.

We DID have some tropical fish in an aquarium for a few years; Guppies, Zebra Fish, Tetras and so forth. Did I tell you about the catfish we had once? One day we came home to find the catfish missing! We guessed it had jumped out of the tank, probably looking to see the world. We looked all around but could not find that fish. A few days later, we decided the darn thing had to be someplace so we moved the desk the tank was sitting on, and when we did, there on the floor behind one of the legs and beneath the baseboard heating radiator, all dried up and covered in dust bunnies, was the catfish. It certainly looked quite dead. Goofy me, much to the anger and dismay of my mom and brother, tossed the fish back into the clean fish tank. Suddenly, that old, dry, dusty, dead fish, returned to life! It lived another few years. It never again tried to see the world, though.

I believe that is it for Drumyngham fish and reptiles. I don’t recall seeing any other reptiles here. I did find a toad. I did not try to identify the species. I was just glad to find him (or her)! Mom was less impressed, especially when I shoved it in her face and proudly said, “See what I found, Mommy?”. Now toads, of course, are not reptiles, they are amphibians. The Shedd Aquarium gives a great description of what that difference is so I won’t go into that here. Suffice to say, I liked the amphibians as much, or perhaps more, than the reptiles that crossed my path.

I think one of the great joys we get each Spring is to listen to the songs of the Spring Peepers. Spring Peepers are not toads, they are frogs. On April 9, 2018, life-long Drums resident Pete Medvecky and I hiked south along the WB&H Railbed from the junction of the Little Nescopeck Creek and South Old Turnpike Road in Fritzingertown to the Jeddo Mine Tunnel opening near Kis-Lyn. Our return trip took us to the point along the Little Nescopeck where the clean water meets the dirty. I knew that George Drum’s son, Philip (1787-1858), once owned a house near that point so we searched that out as well. All we could find of that house was a hole where the foundation once was located. However, all around us were the songs of the Spring Peepers. My imagination sprang to life and I envisioned 31-year-old Philip sitting on his porch one April day two hundred years earlier enjoying the same “music” then that I was enjoying that day in 2018; perhaps calling out to his wife, “Mary! The Peepers are singing! Spring can’t be long in coming now!”[1]

Here is a better photo
of the doorstop frog.

In the photo we see two Drumyngham frogs and a turtle. My dad made the turtle for us kids (Nathan and me) when we were small. The frog on the turtle’s back is a cast iron doorstop that’s been hanging out in Drumyngham for as long as I can remember. I wanted to say it was a toad but it does not have “warts” and its eyes are more frog-like than toad-like. The vase came with the house in Fritzingertown that Elmer (my grandfather) bought in 1919 from the Emblings. I have no idea how old the vase is. My mom always said she thought it was ugly. I, however, like it.

With no areas of permanent water (streams, ponds, etc.) on the property or even near-by. we don’t see a lot of frogs around Drumyngham. The closest source of water, other than our well, would be the Little Nescopeck, but enough said on that topic. However, the Drums Valley is home to a number of frog species including the Green Frog (Rana clamitans), Bull Frog (R catesbeiana), Leopard Frog (R pipiens), and, as shown above, the Cast Iron Frog (R ferrum). Sorry. I couldn’t resist.

There was once a pond near the present-day Evergreen Raceway on Mill Mountain Road. We would go there often to catch dragonflies, damselflies and other aquatic insects when we were in 4-H. Of course, frogs lived there too. It was always great fun to hear the Bull Frogs “ba-rump-ing” and the croaking of the various other frogs in reply. Sometimes you could get rather close to one of them but most often they went shooting off into the water before you could get “too” close. 

If you know where to look, you can find the old WB&H Railbed that runs through the woods and leads you to the pond area. Sometimes we’d hike the railbed over to the Mill Mountain pond to do some collecting (insects, that is). Since it is a wooded area, we’d often find salamanders and newts there. Well, maybe not newts, now that I think about it. We called them newts, but they were probably salamanders. Most people do that, use the names interchangeably, that is. However, the whole newt vs salamander thing is complicated. One source says they are different, another says a newt is a young salamander. A third says they are both right!

I especially liked salamanders, no matter what you call them. There is something intrinsically, well, cute about them. I’m not sure how many species live in the Drums Valley but the most common is the Spotted Salamander, also known as the Red Newt. See what I mean about names? Scientists call them: Notophthalmus viridescens. That’s good enough for me.

I guess all that’s left to talk about, then, are snails! The French know how to treat a snail right. They call it Escargot and it is delicious! I don’t think Snails used for Escargot live in PA. There are snails that do live in Pennsylvania. One of the largest is Triodopsis albolabris. We did accidently introduce some tiny snails to our fish aquarium one year. Those came along with some locally collected aquatic plants. They were a problem. We do know snails are living around Drumyngham. On Halloween 2021, I found this snail on our cellar door. At least I think it is a snail and not some other critter dressed up like a snail. On Halloween you just never know. What it was doing on our cellar door, I’ll never know. 

We ALSO have garden slugs! According to Penn State Extension, there are 20 species of slugs sliming their way across the Commonwealth. The difference between slugs and snails is that snails have their own mobile homes (we call them shells). Slugs do not. 

When I was little, I liked slugs for all the wrong reasons (slime trail, eye-stalks, size, slime, etc.) I did NOT like them chewing up my 4-H Garden plants! I would sometimes wish that some Garter Snake would come along and have a few of those Garden Slugs for lunch!

And that comment brings us full circle which means we need to find another topic to write about. Perhaps it is time to address the other half of the “Flora & Fauna” title. We’ve covered the Fauna side of things, perhaps we should now turn to the Flora side of things!

Join us next time for “Blog #52 - Flora & Fauna of Drums # 5 – Plants: If it doesn’t make you itch, make a tea out of it!”

 

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1. We are not sure of his first wife’s name. It possibly was Mary Woodring [Wotring]). It appears she died the same year Philip’s mother died, 1821. On April 22, 1822, Philip married his second wife, Magdalena Beishline (Sept. 9, 1802 – Dec. 10, 1885).

 

Flora and Fauna of Drums #3 - BIRDS!!

 

 

#50 - Flora and Fauna of Drums #3 – Dinosaurs, uh, I mean, BIRDS!!

cheep-cheep, squawk, hoot, cheap (oh, no, that’s me)

 

In 1895, Nathan A. Drum gave his wife, Mary, a Bible for Christmas. This Bible[1] includes a bit about just about anything you can think of that is connected to the Bible, including the Scriptures! Here, of course, are a few of the pages dealing with the birds of the Bible. I included a little better description of this Bible, and a photo of it, in the post: Baptisms, Marriages, and Deaths, Oh My!

So far, we’ve covered the big and the small of Drums Flora and Fauna. Our most recent post about the mammals of Drums growled and bugled across your computer screen. The one previous to that, about insects and spiders, buzzed, flitted, and crawled. This post mostly looks UP, toward the sky, to see what is flying over.

This one is all about birds.

Nothing that I’ve come across yet gives us any notion of what our; the Drums, that is; early relationship might have been with our feathered friends. Did Philip enjoy tossing pieces of old bread to the sparrows of Germany as a little boy? Was he pestered by the sea gulls while aboard ship traveling to America in 1738? Did he enjoy watching, and/or listening to, the birds at all? Perhaps that was a waste of time for a German farmer like him!

Did his son, Jacob, and grandson, George, go turkey hunting after they were settled into their new homestead? Perhaps a turkey or some quail were turning on the spit in the fireplace the day the Indians attacked their farm in 1774. Once again, we are left to wonder what specifically engaged our ancestors due to the lack of documentation. Not even “dust”; like a bird cage, for example; exists to give us even an inkling of how our ancestors felt about the birds.

This book, Pennsylvania Birdlife[2],
was a gift to my mom from a
fellow cancer patient in 1987.

Because of Jacob Santee’s Account book of 1887-88, we know he raised chickens, or at least, he sold eggs. Jake was Ella Santee Drum's uncle. This receipts page covers January through August of 1887; all eggs. I can’t figure out how much he was selling those eggs for, however. On April 14 he notes he received $0.42, May 5, $0.45 and June 4, $0.35. The highest amount is $1.60; the lowest, $0.20. No place on the page, however, does he mention egg quantity. Anyway, he was selling eggs.

This must have been an on-going, yearly thing, because we have an “egg-related” message on a post card that was mailed in 1921. It says, “Dear Gram, Please tell Jake not to save any more eggs for us, we won’t need any for some time. Lovingly, M. T.”. I don’t have this part of the “tree” nailed down as well as I should yet, so I'm not certain how Catherine Treible fits into "our" tree. As my mom would have put it, "she was some part of the family"..

In case you are interested, below is the front of the post card, too. It is interesting, too! However, that ain’t no chicken coop!

Jake's niece, Ella, mentioned above, married Elmer Drum in 1919. Elmer kept chickens, too, but probably not until after Jake died in 1930. When the farm was sold in 1965 (see the post John’s Keys for more on this sale), the Corn Crib and the Chicken Coop (the white building behind the Crib) were brought to Drumyngham. Although the Crib still stands, the Coop had to be removed in August of 2021. The Center beam had cracked and the floor was caving in. So that building is now gone.

I have purchased a few eggs myself. Oh, not from Jake, he died in the 1930’s. And although I have purchased chicken eggs many times, I’m not talking chicken eggs, either. I’m talking Ostrich Eggs. I lived in Botswana 1980-81 and Botswana sits on the edge of the Kalahari Desert. The San (Baswara) people live there and they make good use of the Ostrich eggs that they find. I suppose they eat them but that isn’t what I mean. They use the shells like canteens to carry water. I sent a few home as gifts. I knew my mom would enjoy them. She did.

We do find a bit of bird “dust” in Mary’s Bible. People often stick stuff between the pages of bibles and it seems Mary was no different. Between the pages of her Bible, we find the tip of a Peacock feather and a small feather of a Guinea Hen.

Maybe Nathan raised exotic birds! Perhaps it was Mary’s brother, Jake raising those exotic birds!

Also pressed between the Bible’s pages are two 4-Leaf clovers and a few flowers. We’ll look at them later in a post about what we know of the Drum’s plants.

Of course, there is the possibility that Ella or Elmer stuck those feathers and plants in the Bible. It was, however, probably Mary. Mary lived until 1966 and one assumes she retained her Bible in her possession throughout. It would not have gone to Elmer and Ella until Mary’s passing. Elmer passed in 1959. Ella suffered a stroke and moved in with her son, Harry, in 1967. So, if Ella put the feathers into the Bible, it was during the months she possessed the Bible between Mary’s death and her (Ella’s) stroke. We have very high confidence that it was not Harry, Eleanor or their sons who put these objects into that Bible.

It certainly was not something you’d put past my mom doing, however. My mom, Eleanor Drum, loved birds. She often tempted legal action by collecting feathers and other bird-related things she found and wanted to study. Many people do not realize that possession of wild bird-related items is a federal crime! It is illegal to possess bird feathers, nests, eggs, etc., no matter how you come to have them.

Now, I love birds and want to protect them. However, I believe this is a very poor law, indeed. It assumes the possessor of the item harmed the bird to get it. As I see it, this flies (no pun intended) in the face of the Constitution which tells us we are innocent until proven guilty. Possession of a feather does not prove a person killed a bird to get it! However, there you have it. After Mom died, we found a number of bird-related items she collected: some feathers, a few egg shells, even a few nests.

After Mom died, we also found a number of “Life Lists” she kept of her bird sightings. Apparently, she loved birds but had a bad memory, couldn’t remember where she left the list so, had to start a new one! My interest in birds is obviously rooted in my mom’s interest, acquired, most likely, from experiencing her total joy and excitement when she saw a “new” bird. She would get very quiet, then, while staring intently at the bird, anxiously whisper, while motioning for me to come closer so I, too, could see, by waving her hand down by her side so she didn’t scare away the bird, “Ronald! Come here! Quick! Look at that bird! Look, look! Why, that’s a (insert name of bird here)!” If she didn’t know what the bird was, she’d say, “Where’s my bird book? I have to look that up!” Either way, she then would grab her bird guide[3] and frantically turn its pages until she found the bird’s picture.

Once she’d found the bird’s picture in the guide, and confirmed her identification (“I was right! See?”), she’d write the date and place she saw the bird beside the bird’s information in the book. For example, as you can see, beside “Field Sparrow” on page 122 she’s written “lane 1966 -1970”. The “- 1970” was added when she saw it again in 1970. “Lane” refers to the dirt road along the eastern border of our property that Mr. Young uses to access his fields below our house.

Now check out her notations beside “Tree Sparrow”. Here it says, “Across street when trees were there 1965 – 1967.” The “ – 1967” phrase, I think, means she saw it again in 1967. The phrase “When trees were there” was added later. The property across the street from Drumyngham was wooded until it was sold in the late 1970’s. It was then cleared and homes were built there. I’m guessing the note about the trees was added once the trees were removed.

Beside “Vesper Sparrow” she’s written “Catalpa Tree 1966 1967”. Below the map she’s written 1968. She has also circled the name “Lark Sparrow” and has drawn a line to her note “1969”. Clearly, she saw a Lark Sparrow in 1969. The Vesper Sparrow made its appearance during those three earlier years and alighted in the Catalpa trees that once sat on Drumyngham’s western border.  

When she wasn’t looking at birds, she was talking about them. Chickadees, she would tell you, will usually be the first to find a feeder full of seeds, although the first to find mine were the Titmouse (however, one should never argue with their mother). She said that a person can stand out beside the feeder and hold their hand out, palm up, and the chickadees will soon alight on it to see what is in the hand. So, I tried it. All that I got was a sore arm from holding it up like the Statue of Liberty for so long! However, Mom loved to tell the story about the time she was filling her feeder and a Chickadee came and sat on her head. Then another one landed on her hand that was holding the feeder and still a third flew up and landed on her other hand as she poured in the seeds. (It was probably in the 1960’s when this incident occurred.).

Another story she’d tell with wonderment, probably occurred in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s. “I was out back (in our driveway) saying ‘good-by’ to a friend who was just leaving,” she’d tell us, “when over the barn flew some Red-Tail Hawks – not one, not two, but five. They turned left and flew down the field and crossed the road*. They were followed by at least 20 more! They just kept coming and coming.”

*By “road” Mom is probably referring to I81 below our house.

Mom did have her favorite birds, and Hawks were favorites, but of all the birds she loved, Mom loved owls the most. She once said, “I love a lot of birds but somehow owls take first place.” And of the owls, her favorite was the Great Horned Owl, although she could get pretty excited over a Snowy Owl, should one happen by. They do drop by, every so often, to the Hazleton area. One recently made quite a stir when it was sighted on April 17, 2020, at the Hazleton Airport.

To remind folks to wear masks, I set up
these three teddy bears and a snowy owl
at a local Senior Center,
all wearing masks.
When vaccines came out,
to encourage getting vaccinated,
I removed the owl’s mask
(it is under his foot)
and left a note,
“Owl got vaccinated!
Because Owl is wise!”

I’m not trying to make too much of this; however, some who knew Mom best found the following coincidence to be a bit too much to pass by. Whenever a Snowy Owl is sighted in the Hazleton area, it causes a bit of a stir; like the one made by the visit of a Snowy Owl in 2014. It arrived at the Hazleton Airport in early January, 2014 and stayed in the area for most of the month. That same month, my mom’s health took a turn for the worse. After suffering heart failure on January 1, on January 10, 2014 my mom suffered a devastating stroke. She passed away in the early hours of January 17, 2014. The owl stayed at the airport a few more days and then it, too, departed. That owl was mentioned by more than a few people who came to Mom’s funeral.

“The first owl I ever saw in the wild was a Great Horned Owl.” my mom would declare as she began her “owl stories”.  “It was only about six feet away from me! I was putting some things away in my mom’s bedroom. I didn’t turn the light on. I heard a clear “Hoot, Hoot”. I opened the blind and stared right into the face of a Great Horned Owl, easily seen in the light from our porch. We stared at each other silently a bit, then he hooted again. I turned and called Mom to come. When I looked back, he was gone.” (This story probably took place in 1949, before Mom married Dad, when the Shearers were living in a home along the Nescopeck River in St. Johns, PA).

There was a face painted on the tree,  three “branches”,
and a long nose and two arms.
I made those from wire coat hangers
wrapped in brown duct tape.
If you could see the photo close enough,
you would be able to see my eyes
(behind my glasses)
looking through the tree’s “eye-holes”.

“Another story about a Great Horned Owl that I like to tell happened in 1970.” she would continue. “Ronald wanted to be in the Conyngham Halloween Parade. Harry had a big, tall box from something so Ronald rolled it round like a log and painted it brown. Then he got a (paper mâché decoy Great Horned Owl). I sewed that onto the top. On parade day, I took him to the top of the hill (where the parade started) but learned I would have to march in the parade with him down Main Street, Conyngham. He got into the tree and the parade began. He had to walk very slow (because the costume made it difficult to walk) which held the parade up a bit and all along the way every dog in town barked at him and lunged for the owl. People were laughing all along but I was scared. He won first prize.”

I never said this to her, but I don’t think the dogs were trying to get the owl. Dogs just “do” stuff on trees. Even if that wasn’t why the dogs were lunging and barking, my guess is that the people THOUGHT that was the reason and therefore laughed so much. If that was the reason they were lunging, I’m glad the dogs were on leashes!

Anyway, Mom told Owl stories, one right after another!

“One Sunday morning when leaving for church, we saw this little reddish owl sitting on the well house roof. I didn’t know much about owls then in 1965. It was still there when we returned and we left it there, every so often someone would look back to see if it was gone. Then Harry came in at 5:00pm. It gets dark early in winter and he said he watched the owl fly away. I learned later that it was a Screech Owl.”

…One right after another! Whoo!

“We camped at Ricketts Glen many times. This one time, we camped in a good, isolated site. This one night, hooting woke me so I got up and went outside listening. Harry woke and followed me with a flashlight and there sat a Barred Owl in a tree. It was beautiful.”

I’ve had my own experiences with owls, as well. Shortly after taking up residence in Drumyngham in 2017, I awoke around 2:00am needing a drink of water. As I climbed back into bed, I heard the Hooting of a Great Horned Owl. They are beautiful to listen to. On November 16, 2018 (I noted it on my calendar), I noticed an owl fly over Drumyngham. Again, in early 2020, probably April, I was cutting back some shrubs along Drumyngham’s western border. I happened to look up at the nearest tree and sitting there watching me was a Great Horned Owl. A different owl was heard on March 20, 2021. It was early morning as I went out to collect my newspaper when I heard the call of a Screech Owl (a very weird and spooky call!). Most recent noteworthy occurrence was the hoo-hoo-hooting of the Great Horned Owl on October 21, 2021, at 6:15am, again as I retrieved my newspaper.

Apparently big birds enjoy the Drums valley. A neighbor stopped by earlier this year (2021) to tell me he’d seen a Bald Eagle in its nest on “the next road over”. That is a sort of big deal since Bald Eagles have not been seen very often in the valley in recent years. They have, however, been making a comeback. Bald Eagles came close to extinction from illegal hunting, loss of habitat, and contamination from the pesticide DDT. So, to see these majestic birds flying in our skies again is a very good thing! I believe I had that opportunity on April 20, 2021, as a matter of fact. I’d seen Bald Eagles in Maine but this was the first one I’d seen above Drumyngham. How my mom would have enjoyed seeing that!

“Ronald! Come here! Quick! Look at that bird! Look, look! Why, that’s a Bald Eagle!” I can almost hear her saying it!

Growing up with Mom; there was always some adventure. “Ronald! Come here! Quick! Look at that bird! Look, look! Why, that’s a Barn Swallow!”

Photo of a Barn Swallow I took in 1971.
You can’t miss the bird.
I circled it with blue magic marker.
I also labeled it “Barn Swallow”;
even if it does look like “burn”.

My dad had built a large shed behind the house; sort of a garage for his pickup and tractor. He called it his “Barn”. A few years after it was built, a number of blueish purple birds came chattering in and took up residence in his barn forcing him to keep his barn doors open through the summer. These birds build nests of mud in barn’s rafters. They are quite interesting to see and it was great fun to watch them as they’d catch insects on the wing and then swoop into the barn to feed their babies in their nests.

There is a problem, however. Most animals produce waste material and Barn Swallows are no different. Soon it was piling up beneath the nests. Dad had to park his truck outside to keep his truck from filling up, too! “I built the barn for the truck!” he announced one day, “not to house Barn Swallows!” That fall, after the swallows had flown south, he closed the barn doors. They stayed closed the following spring. I still see the swallows flying about overhead each year. I often wonder where they fly “home” to now.

However, I also keep the barn doors closed.

Most of the nests fell apart over the years, but a few are still there. Waiting.

I suppose, at some level, most people enjoy birds. My dad was actually partial to the Blue Bird. Dad died in 1986. That previous summer I remember him saying, “I sure wish Blue Birds were still around. I did like seeing them!”. After his funeral in April 1986, we were back at the house, all so quiet. I happened to look out one of our windows, and there, sitting on a pole in the back yard, was a Blue Bird.

Blue Birds are another species that the world came close to losing due to DDT. So, it has been nice to see the Blue Bird making a comeback of its own, recently. We see them more often with each new year. My friend, Linda, who lives across the valley from Drumyngham, has alerted me the past two years when Blue Birds first flew in to nest at her place. The one in the photo was seen behind Drumyngham on April 1, 2019, no fooling.

Even my brother, Nathan, enjoyed birds. Of course, he was more into “studying them”, you know, scientifically. I believe it was in the 1960’s when he put together this model of a Robin and hung it on his wall. It is still there. The worm was gone for a few years but, when we moved his desk, we found the worm and put it back where it belonged.

I was just looking around the various rooms of Drumyngham, taking a short rest from writing this. It is actually somewhat surprising the number of bird “things” Mom hung on walls, that she made, had to dust! Plates and pillow cases and towels and models and quilts – even Avon perfume bottles!

For example, take this plate that I gave her. I knew she’d like it because if it wasn’t hawks or owls Mom was “ooo-ing” at, it was hummingbirds. Another favorite, of course.

“Ronald! Come here! Quick! Look at that bird! Look, look! Why, that’s a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird!”

According to Penn State, the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird is the only one that breeds east of the Mississippi River. I suppose every once in a while, one of the other species drifts in, as well, you know, just for a visit.  

They are quite a joy to see visiting a flower in the garden, just hovering by some trumpet-shaped blossom, sipping sweet nectar. I was going to say, “..and humming a merry tune” but let’s not get ridiculous. By the way, that humming is caused by the rapid flapping of those little wings. All-in-all, when all is said and done, it is an amazing bird.

I think what is often, for me, the most amazing, however, is seeing what birds come to a bird feeder. We get all the regular characters, of course, here at Drumyngham, the sparrows, finches, cardinals, and such, but when an “odd-ball” arrives, well, that causes a stir!

One day in May; May 4, 2020, to be exact; While I was home alone, this fellow landed with a thud at the feeder. I almost said in a loud, horse whisper, “Mom! Come here! Quick! Look at that bird! Look, look! Why, that’s a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak!” The photo doesn’t do it much justice but they are magnificent to see. Of course, Mom had a plate depicting the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak hanging on the wall. It does the bird better justice.

The Rose-Breasted Grosbeak has a cousin called the Evening Grosbeak. That fellow is black and yellow. It is also a very impressive bird to see. It, too, has visited our feeder. It just hasn’t stuck around long enough for me to get its picture.

The black and yellow birds that DO stick around long enough to get their pictures taken are the Goldfinches! Sometimes they even come in a crowd. Oh, ok, “flock”. Sheesh!

A few orange and black birds stop by in the spring, too. While the Baltimore Orioles are here, they are really something to see. They only hang out at the feeder for a few weeks and then they just fly away.

Goldfinch

 

I’m not sure where they go. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen one of their nests in our park. The Oriole builds a hanging basket for a nest. I suppose that’s one way to rock your babies to sleep.

Oriole

 

 

Orange minus yellow equals Red and Red is a lovely color for a bird to wear, too. My wife recently reported seeing a red bird in our backyard. It most likely was a Summer Tanager. We have not seen it again. The Summer Tanager is a cousin to the more common (around here, at least) Scarlet Tanager which is red with black wings. One wonders why the black winged Tanager was called “scarlet” but the totally red Tanager was called “summer”. It seems to me it ought to be the other way around! Anyway, although they have been seen here occasionally, Summer Tanagers are considered to be rare visitors to Pennsylvania. One wonders, as our climate continues changing, will we begin to see Summer Tanagers more often?

Look close. You'll see him.
He's right in the middle or the tree.

A red bird we do often see, and hear, around Drumyngham, is the Northern Cardinal.  See the red bird in the center of this photo? Kind of looks like a Christmas Card, even though the photo was taken on March 10, 2019. The male is a bright red color from beak to tail. The female is more of a tan color although still sporting that red beak. Both of them have that distinctive crest upon their heads.

Speaking of heads, here is a white-headed (and white belly) Cardinal that visited the feeder on July 14, 2018. I believe this was a genetic mutation and not a species difference. A yellow cardinal was sighted by someone in Pennsylvania on March 20, 2019 and a half male-half female cardinal showed up in someone’s yard on February 25, 2021. Neither of those “someone’s” was me, however. All I got was this shy, white-headed fellow. Too shy! I almost missed getting his photo. He took off very quickly launching himself a milli-second after I pushed the button, making this the best picture of him I could get.

 

Most red-heads I’ve seen around here, other than my wife, of course, are woodpeckers. In the early spring of 2018, my friend Linda Yanac was doing some “spring-cleaning” of large items about the house and asked me to stop by to help. While I was there, there began a pounding on an upstairs window that raised some concern. Linda told me it was “that damn woodpecker”. She used some more choice words as she described the harassment she was receiving from this bird. I asked her what kind of woodpecker was it. “A Piliated Woodpecker! The damn thing has already busted out one of my shed windows! Now it’s banging on my attic windows!”

Up we went to see and sure enough, there on the window was one of the largest birds I’ve ever seen in the wild so close up! I rather hoped it DIDN’T bust through the window while I was there. If it got in, it could do some damage! I captured a few images of it before it decided it needed some aspirin for its pounding headache and flew off.

I am not sure how this story ended. All I do know is that the bird stopped banging on the window and has not been seen since.

I don’t know why woodpeckers have red on their heads, but many do. Two closely related woodpeckers that often visit the Drumyngham feeder are perfect examples of what I am talking about: the Hairy Woodpecker and its smaller cousin, the Downey Woodpecker.

When I was living in Maine 2015-2017, I had a feeder that was often visited by both of these woodpeckers. So, I was not surprised when they were also showing up at the feeder in Drums. I was amazed, however, when the Red-Bellied Woodpecker started showing up. I’d never seen one of those before.

It was one of those, “Come here! Quick! Look at that bird! Look, look! Where’s my bird book? I have to look that up!” moments for me, except, there was no one here to say it too. I’d seen Flickers before, and this bird resembles the Flicker, so, was it a Flicker? We had a Flicker visit our apartment in Silver Spring, MD often in the spring mornings. It liked to rap its beak, called “drumming”, against the apartment complex chimney. Problem was that the chimney was covered in sheet metal. It made for an interesting alarm clock!

But this bird wasn’t a Flicker. Then I realized, it was a Red-Bellied Woodpecker – which, by the way, I think is a stupid name for the bird, it has a redder-head than belly! I guess it couldn’t be called a “Red-Headed Woodpecker” however, since that name was already taken. I’d like to see one of those fellows sometime, too.

Now if you want to talk about a bird with a red belly, this woodpecker can’t hold a candle to the good old American Robin. In the spring, many folks will declare, “I saw the first Robin today! Spring must be here!” Problem is, I’ve seen Robins in January, not even CLOSE to spring!  Turns out, Robins live around Drumyngham all year. Who knew? Well, other than the Robins, of course.

That’s a Robin in a snow squall. Truth be told, however, it was a spring snow squall. It happened on May 2, 2018.

Birds do come in all colors. But I think the rest of the birds I want to mention are all grey; except for the Blue Jay, although some might argue Blue Jays are more of a blue-grey than blue.

The Blue Jay is a very LOUD bird. Some of its calls could have been used in the Godzilla movies! Get a flock of four or five screaming all at once and then you REALLY have something!

This fellow visited our feeder on November 16, 2018.

Another blue-grey, or, perhaps, grey-blue is more like it, bird is the Mourning Dove. It has a call that is somewhat soothing – a soft coo-coo-cooWho. We see and hear this bird around Drumyngham quite often. Usually they are up high, on power wires, in trees, on roofs, etc. The one in the photo was on the ground. Actually, this young dove doesn’t look too well and probably didn’t survive long after this photo was taken on August 29, 2018. We have a number of cats that roam the neighborhood, as well as foxes, raccoons, and so forth, any of which would very much enjoy an easy meal of squab, for sure.

  

Mourning Dove

 Cats make me think of Catbirds, of which we have a number and which also visit the feeder, usually looking for suet. They have a call that often sounds like the mew of a kitten. I suppose that is how it got its name. The one in the photo, however, I think got too close to its namesake, so this is all I was able to photograph of the bird. I wonder who is “mewing” now? Another example of what can happen when you break quarantine (a COVID-19 joke, and a bad one, too).

The photo was taken October 17, 2020. By the way, I know the feathers look blue in the photo. I think it is a trick of the light.

Another of our grey birds is the Tufted Titmouse. These were the first birds to find my bird feeder when it was first put up in 2017. They have a whistle that lets you know when they are present.

This photo was taken November 12, 2019.

The last feeder visitor I have on my list to show you is the White-Breasted Nuthatch. It has a smaller cousin called the Red-Breasted Nuthatch which, and don’t tell the big guy but, I think is prettier. The nuthatch has a distinctive call as well. I enjoy watching the Nuthatch take a seed and then “hide” it in a crack near-by. Nuthatches are also “upside-down” birds. They hang beak down most of the time. This Nuthatch stopped by on November 16, 2018.

One bird is known for its lack of imagination. The Mockingbird doesn’t seem to have a song of its own, it just calls out songs of other birds. You know it’s the Mockingbird because there can’t POSSIBLY be THAT many different birds all singing, one right after the other, in the same tree! Then you see it fly and notice a flash of white from its tail.

The Catbird will mimic other birds as well, so one needs to be careful in their identification, but when you hear a Cat Bird and a Mockingbird, which is which is very apparent, I think. I was once told Mockingbirds don’t sing in August, but I think I heard one once so let’s say “don’t OFTEN sing in August.”

The relationship between humans and birds is an interesting one. Some we hunt and/or raise for food, Wild Turkey’s, for example. Mr. Young (Clyde) raised Ring-Necked Pheasants when I was young. When they were big enough, he’d release them in the fields below Drumyngham, to be hunted, of course. It was not unusual to be walking in the field and suddenly have a Ring-Necked Pheasant explode off the ground right in front of you, squawking its peculiar squawk as it rose into the air. I haven’t seen one in years so I suppose the hunters did their jobs well, or perhaps, the winters did.

Click HERE to see a YouTube of this “explosion” event, but be aware, the bird gets shot in the end.

Living next to a farm as we do, one sees many things in the fields below Drumyngham.  On August 28, 2021, we were presented with a visit of Canadian Geese. Usually, we can see a flock far down in the fields, closer to the Little Nescopeck. They usually take off if you get too near, and by “too near” I mean about three football fields away. On this day, however, the flock was feeding in the field right behind the barn. I even was able to get close enough to them for a few good photos. I have a few more pics of them, but really, they all look somewhat like this one.

An odd thing to see down in the fields, scary one might even say, is a flock (a Wake) of Vultures. Occasionally, something will die down in the field. Sometimes, if a farm animal dies, Ransom will carry it down there. No matter how it gets there, however, you know when a dead animal is down there because it isn’t long before the vultures arrive to make short order of the carcass. There are two species of vultures that soar in the Drumyngham skies looking for their next meal, Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures. Turkey Vultures sport a red head that makes them resemble turkeys. The Black Vulture is the larger of the two, but the Turkey Vulture has a wider wing-span. They are both large birds indeed. They do have a way of filling a person with dread.

Most people, however, seem to find hope in the birds around them. I think it has to do with the freedom one sees in the life of a bird. Birds in cages are always depressing. The wild bird can take to the air; most of them, anyway; at a moment’s notice and fly away, free. And, when they do alight again, they burst into song. Birds bring beauty into our lives, both sight and sound!

 

Who doesn’t like to sit outside in the early morning and listen to the songs of the birds around you? Is there a better way to begin a day?

Why, just to know that a bird has been present brings a smile to most faces.

Eventually, the long, hot summer slowly turns cooler and we all begin to notice the hints Mother Nature gives us that Autumn is arriving; the cooler breeze, the yellow or red leaf here or there among the green, the milkweed seeds floating on their gossamer parachutes past your nose. Soon winter will have us once again in its grasp. Before that, however, the Autumn Leaves begin their Fall Dance as they turn Butler Mountain into a palate of reds and yellows, then float down all around us as if we were in a snow globe of leaves instead of snow. Soon we hear the Autumn Choir burst into song above our heads as the Canada Geese make their journey south, all telling us the year is coming to a close.

 

And as these Canada Geese turn South bringing the year to a close, we bring this post to an end as well. But do not despair. It won’t be long before the Drums of Drums, PA will Spring forth with yet another post; one that is sure to enlighten you as it examines more of the Flora and Fauna that makes Drumyngham the place to be year-round!

 

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[1] Williams, Prof. S. W., The Pronouncing Edition of the Holy Bible Containing the Authorized and Revised Versions of the Old and New Testaments, arranged in Parallel Columns, Giving the Correct Pronunciation of Every Proper Name Contained in the Bible. (Phila.: A.J. Holman and Co., LTD, 1895)

[2] Luttringer, Leo A., Jr., Pennsylvania Birdlife (Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Game Commission, 1973)

[3] Zim, Herbert S., Ph.D., Ira N Gabrielson, LL.D., D.Sc., Birds, A Golden Nature Guide, (NY: Golden Press, 1956)