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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 30, 2015)
Wednesday,December30,2015The Nugget Newspaper,Sisters,Oregon11 Tales from a Sisters Naturalist by Jim Anderson Hidden critters in your winter world Outthereinthatnicebig woodpile you’re consum- ingthiswinterthereareany number of insects, spiders and other six- and eight- legged creatures sleeping away the winter. (What a rude awakening it must be when they suddenly find themselvesintheconsuming breathofsummer!) When you walk across thegrassinyourfrontyard, pleasedon’tstompyourfeet; there are hundreds of other creaturesdownthere,sleep- ing away the winter.While outinthehayfieldshundreds ofgroundsquirrelsaresnor- ingaway.(Butnotgophers, they’refoodforthebeauti- fulrough-leggedhawksthat comedownfromtheArctic Circletospendwinterwith us.) There’saveryspecialbird weseeinSistersCountryin summer that sleeps away winter: the common poor- will, the smallest of the nightjars.Ifyouwerewatch- ingtheroadaheadofyouon anightlastsummer,youmay haveseenitshugeeyesshin- ingbackatyoujustbeforeit flewupinfrontofyou. Youcouldhavemistaken the poorwill for another nightjar,ourcommonnight- hawk, but poorwills are halftheirsize.While“our” nighthawks at this moment are gobbling up nocturnal insectsinCentralandSouth America, the poorwills are actually still in North America, sleeping it off in the southern parts of their range. In 1948, Dr. Edmund Jaeger, a biology teacher from Riverside Junior College in California, was – We can straighten ‘em out – Loaner Cars Deductible Assistance Windshield Replacement p 541-549-DENT — 541-549-3368 — 332 W. Barclay Dr., Sisters out birding with a group of students in nearby creek washes, when one of the groupsawwhatappearedto bethebackendofanightjar protruding from the stream bankandrootsofthewillows andoaks. Curious (as most teach- ersare),Jaegertookacloser lookatthebirdandnoticed it appeared to be dead, but when he and his students picked it up to examine it theynoticeditwaswarm.Lo andbehold,theybecamethe firsthumanstoreportabird goingintoastateofhiberna- tion.Butnotthefirsttosee it… The Native American Hopi people were likely aware of the poorwill’s behavior long ago, as their nameforthisbirdishölchko, which translates to “The SleepingOne.” Even the great scientist and explorer Meriweather Lewis didn’t catch on that poorwillshibernatewhenhe andhissidekickClarkfound theminthetorpidstatewhile goingthroughtheDakotasin 1804.Theydidmentionthem in their journals, but didn’t recognizethemassomething differentfromthewhippoor- wills of the east — or that theywerehibernating. Hibernation is the pro- cessthatputsananimalinto a deep sleep where breath- ingandheartrateslowdown toahairlinebetweenbeing lifeanddeath.However,to hibernate,theanimalgoing into that state must have a suitable layer of fat. The fat is metabolized to make foodand(andwater)forthe Th ank you for a wonderful year! We look forward to serving you in 2016! 541-588-6611 220 W. Cascade Ave. Come in, Relax, Enjoy! photo by Jim AnderSon a group of Townsend’s big-eared bats waking up from their winter nap. animal’ss-l-o-w-l-ycirculat- ingblood. The larger burrowing rodents we see running around Central Oregon in summersleepthroughwin- ter. Yellow-bellied mar- mots;California,Belding’s, Merriam’s, Columbia, and Washingtongroundsquirrels spend up to seven months sleeping.Theyappearabove ground in March and have gonebacktobedbylateJuly. During those short five months above ground, they reproduce and eat, eat, eat andeat.Believeitornot,the Belding’s ground squirrel’s “favorite” food is dandeli- ons(andyouthoughtitwas hay).If,however,theyhap- pentocomeacrossinsects, bird’seggs,worms—orone oftheirdeadbrethrenonthe road — they will consume thataswell. We need water to keep our blood healthy; during hibernationthat’stakencare of with water metabolized out of the fat. “But...” you mayask,“whataboutelimi- nationofwastewaterafter- wards:urine?” Amazingly, the urea is recycled and turned back intoprotein,aspackratsdo. (Packrats—which do not hibernate — rarely drink water. They recycle water so many times the waste is almost pure urea; there’s somuchintheurinethatit coatstherocksnearthepack- rat’sdenalmostpurewhite, insteadofthecharacteristic yellow.) Frommyexperience,bats arethedeepesthibernatorsof all.WhenIwasstudyingand bandingbatsinthelavacaves near Bend in the ’70s, I’d oftenremoveabatcarefully fromtheirhead-downperch on the cave ceiling, photo- graph, weigh and band it, and it wouldn’t wake up. Amongthemostinterest- ing hibernators are butter- flies and moths. While our monarchs have migrated to Mexico and California to escapewinter,ourswallow- tailbutterfliesandmothsare wintering over as eggs, or wrappedinthesilkoftheir chrysalides and cocoons. However, mourning cloaks and California tortiseshells winteroverasadults. What’sneatisthatinall stages, insects possess an antifreeze in their “blood” that protects them from freezing, even way below zero!Andhereweare,freez- ing our whats-it off… It makesonewonderwhothe so-called, “lower animals” reallyare.