Wild Wonders of Winter
(Page 3 of 4)
December 2007/January 2008
By Terry Krautwurst
Water boatmen often are confused with backswimmers, a family of similar-looking but larger aquatic bugs. Backswimmers, however, swim upside down and tend to stay on or barely below the surface. The differences are worth noting for wading humans. Although water boatmen are harmless, their back-swimming cousins can inflict a painful bite.
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Water boatmen are prodigious egg layers; so much so that a pond’s bottom can become encrusted with countless eggs attached to underwater plants. Periodically, large numbers of adult boatmen take to the air to mate or seek new homes. Those landing in birdbaths and swimming pools are seldom welcome. But in the larger scheme of things, water boatmen are essential gleaners in aquatic ecosystems and an important food source for fish. In parts of Mexico, humans like them, too. The bugs are sold as a delicacy, and their eggs are harvested by the ton and ground into meal.
Screeching East and West
In 1927 ornithologist Edward Howe Forbush wrote about a belief in parts of the Deep South that hearing the quavering, mournful call of a screech owl at night foretold impending death. To quiet the unwanted forecaster, you were to turn your left shoe upside down — and if that didn’t silence the bird’s ominous utterances, you could try pulling your left pants pocket inside out.
These days you can rest assured that the screech owl’s plaintive calls in the woodlot near your house portend a beginning, not an end. Commencing early in the year and reaching a crescendo in late winter, the sounds of screech owls in woodlands, parks and suburbs throughout most of the continental United States signal the onset of the little birds’ breeding season. If you live west of the Rockies, listen for a short, muted trill akin to the cooing of a mourning dove with a bad case of nerves, or a series of five to 15 soft, flutelike notes in increasing tempo, similar to the rhythm of a ping-pong ball bouncing to a stop. East of the Rockies, the screech owl’s territorial and mating calls are different: a distinctive, eerie whinny reminiscent of that from a horse, and a mellow, husky trill.
Once considered geographic races of the same bird, eastern and western screech owls were officially declared separate species in 1983, based not only on their individual vocal repertoires but also on DNA evidence and distinct color variations. Western screech owls are mostly gray or (especially in the Northwest) brownish-gray, while eastern screech owls may be either gray or (particularly in the East and Midwest) rusty red. In most other respects the two are essentially identical. Built like feathery fireplugs, the stocky little birds stand all of 8 1/2 inches tall. They have big yellow eyes, collapsible ear tufts, and a streaked breast that works in concert with their cryptic coloration to help them virtually disappear against a tree trunk.
Its diminutive size notwithstanding, the screech owl is a ferocious and efficient hunter, using its sharp, hooked beak and oversized, razor-taloned feet to bring a swift end to many a mouse, bird, worm and insect. Secretive but tolerant of humans, screech owls often are the most numerous and ecologically important predators in wooded urban and suburban areas.
