Turtles, Bears, Invasive Plants, and More!

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Bears Are Hungry - Do Not Invite Them to Dinner

It may be a chilly start to October, but bears are awake and are now spending up to 20 hours a day looking for food! Bears are not picky eaters. They are all about finding the most calories for the least amount of work. Bears aren’t lazy. They are in a race against the hibernation clock, trying to put on as much weight as they can, and so the less energy they spend searching for food, the faster they can fatten up. Garbage, birdseed, and pet food are easy calorie jackpots for bears. Chickens are "eggstra"-appealing now. Apiaries are a candy store with a big side of protein. Fields of corn, pumpkins and fall veggies, hobby orchards, and other people-provided food are often served up in much more concentrated sources than the natural foods bears forage on in the wild.

Connecticut has an abundance of natural habitat to support our growing bear population. This fall, do your part to keep bears from accessing people-related foods, which will lead to more and more conflicts between people and bears.

Read this article from BearWise to see all the things around your home that might attract bears, and what you can do to keep bears out of your stuff and out in the wild.

More on hemorrhagic disease . . .

Seaside Goldenrod Helps Guide Monarchs Down the Coast

After the warm summer weather passes and crowds of beach goers have disappeared, wildlife still finds a refuge along our protected beaches and coastal areas. Patches of habitat fortified by dune fencing, which seemed unimpressive and unnoticeable during the summer, is now glowing with a unique fall flower. Seaside goldenrod, which doesn’t begin to bloom until mid-September, identifies itself with bright golden flower spikes growing in dense clumps wherever it can establish along the coast. Seaside goldenrod is unique for its somewhat waxy leaves, which help it survive the harsh, salty environments along the east coast from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada.

Seaside goldenrod’s ability to prosper where other goldenrods cannot make this species especially important to migrating monarch butterflies who follow the coastlines down to their wintering grounds in Mexico. Managing protected areas, like Sherwood Island State Park in Westport, helps ensure that monarchs and other migratory wildlife can meet their biological needs while en route to their overwintering grounds.

Connecticut's Turtles - Stuck in Colder Weather

As daily temperatures continue to fall, Connecticut’s turtles prepare for the coming winter. Like all reptiles, turtles are ectotherms and must rely on their surroundings (outside heat sources) to drive their metabolism and allow other bodily processes to function normally. A turtle’s average body temperature is not that far off from the temperature of its surrounding environment. As you can imagine, this is why you aren’t likely to see a turtle moving along the forest floor in the middle of December when the temperature is 34 degrees Fahrenheit. These long-lived reptiles sense the changing seasons and have evolved some interesting adaptations that make surviving freezing cold temperatures possible. Photo courtesy of Dennis Quinn.

More on where turtles go when it gets cold . . .

Let the Leaves Fall Where They Will

It is easy to appreciate the beauty of Connecticut’s fall foliage, but for many, this appreciation quickly dissipates once those brightly colored leaves begin to accumulate on their lawn. The natural process that trees across the landscape undergo every year is often viewed as a monumental chore for homeowners who view the leaves as an unsightly mess, and they will work diligently to have their lawn completely leaf free.

The reality is that a carpet of leaves serves as food and shelter for many insects, including moths and butterflies. Different species may spend the winter as eggs, caterpillars, or adults, and finding refuge in the leaves is often essential to their survival. Plus, more insects means more natural food sources will be available for birds throughout winter.

This fall, save yourself time, energy, and money and simply leave the leaves. Instead of spending hours of your weekend raking, bagging, mowing, and mulching, get outside and enjoy the fall landscape. And when you see leaves gently hitting the ground, try not to cringe! Remember, they serve an important purpose for many other species that call our state home.

More on the importance of leaving the leaves . . .

Suffield WMA Prescribed Burn Update

Prescribed burns are one of many tools used to manage habitats for wildlife. This past April, DEEP staff conducted a prescribed burn across 50 acres of Suffield Wildlife Management Area. This area is managed for early successional habitats that support grassland- and meadow-dependent species of birds, mammals, and insects. During the bird nesting season, grasshopper sparrows, bobolinks, eastern meadowlarks, and many other species grace this grassland, which spans about 330 total acres, extending into Massachusetts’ Southwick Wildlife Management Area.

After a fire, woody plant growth is suppressed, nutrients are returned to the soil, and new herbaceous growth rejuvenates the burned landscape. By summer, wildflowers like bee balm, yarrow, and black-eyed Susan are in bloom, hiding the blackened stems of Asiatic bittersweet. When fall arrives, most of the summer flowers and native grasses have gone to seed, providing migrating songbirds fuel for their journeys. Migrating raptors, like norther harriers, can be seen circling low over the fields, hunting for small mammals. Numerous goldenrod and aster species get their chance to bloom, as the green grassland shows bright patches of white and gold. Among the wildlife using these late-season flowers are numerous specialist bees, like cloudy-winged miner bees, as well as monarch butterflies, who depend on goldenrod and aster species to fuel them on their southerly migration through October.

Without natural or man-made disturbances like prescribed fires, these rare and important habitats would eventually succeed into forests and become unsuitable for dozens of species that are facing long-term declines associated with the loss of early successional habitats.

View our post from earlier this summer . . .

Whip-poor-will Woods Forest Legacy Project Receives Award

The Whip-poor-will Woods Forest Legacy Project (WPWW) recently received the 2022 Excellence in Conservation Organization Award for Outstanding Project from the Connecticut Land Conservation Council. This landscape scale conservation effort permanently protects 1,495 acres on 7 tracts owned by 6 landowners in the town of Stafford through the Forest Legacy Program.

WPWW abuts approximately 13,000 acres of protected open space and contributes to Connecticut’s target of protecting 21% of the state’s land area as open space by 2023. The project furthers one of the main goals of the Governor’s Council on Climate Change (GC3), the Policy on Resilient Forests for Connecticut’s Future (PRFCT Future), and Connecticut’s 2020 Forest Action Plan to keep forest as forest and minimize forest loss across the state.