Tent Caterpillars!

(left) Eastern tent caterpillar moth nest. Justine Kibbe Photo. (right) Eastern tent caterpillar moth. (Doug Tallamy Photo)

Silk nests of the eastern tent caterpillar (Malacosoma americana) began showing up on South Beach Road in late April. Not to worry! Contrary to popular belief, these nests will not kill trees, plus they provide food for bluejays, orioles, chickadees and nuthatches.

“I wouldn’t be concerned about the eastern tent caterpillar,” said entomologist Adam B. Mitchell, Ph.D. “These are native species feeding on native plants (mostly cherry trees). The caterpillars, in turn, provide food for breeding birds.

“Tent caterpillars can defoliate young trees, especially ornamentals, but native trees will recover within a month—just  part of the natural process!”

Eastern tent caterpillars form a silken nest (or tent) in the crotch of tree branches, where they rest and molt. They leave the nest during each bout of feeding to “scout” for leaves to feed on, dragging a trail of silk behind them that other caterpillars will follow. They move to new feeding sites en masse, feed, and then return immediately to the tent, where they rest until the next feeding.

Approximately six weeks after hatching, the larva become fully grown, up to two inches long. They leave the nest to pupate in silken cocoons that are found on tree trunks, fences or leaf litter. About two weeks later adult moths emerge and soon deposit the overwintering eggs on trees.

The eastern tent caterpillar moth overwinters as an egg, usually in a spongy mass of 150-400 eggs. These egg masses are covered with a shiny black material that helps protect the eggs during the winter months. Once spring arrives, the larvae hatch about the same time cherry tree buds open, and the trees begin to produce young leaves, required for larval development. Also, the position of the tent is critical because these caterpillars must bask in the sun to elevate their temperatures to aid digestion.

Island Beauty by Justine Kibbe

FIConservancy Naturalist Justine Kibbe walks and bikes Fishers Island from end to end. Her pictures, captured with patience and thoughtful attention, reveal the beauty of this Island.

Read about the above images in Justine’s nature portfolio: From the Field

Clockwise from top left: Osprey, mallards, seaweed, red-tailed hawk, American bullfrog

Beaver Believers

Beaver spotted near airport April 18. Stephanie Hall Photos

Multiple people reported late afternoon beaver sightings on the West End in April. The first was April 18 near the airport, and the second was April 19 at the Gatehouse. This is a good thing! Beavers are critical to the healthy ecology of streams and wetlands.

The American beaver is the largest rodent in the United States and is sometimes thought of as a nuisance in populated areas, because it fells trees (for food) and floods areas with dams (as protection from predators).

But beavers provide multiple ecological benefits: They create a diversity of wetland habitats and replace forested areas with grassy “beaver meadows” and aquatic vegetation. Beavers are also a “keystone” species, which means that they have a disproportionate positive impact on an ecosystem when compared to their numbers.

A growing coalition of “Beaver Believers”, including scientists and ranchers, are trying to restore beavers to diverse areas, from the Nevada deserts to the Scottish Highlands.

A 2018 book, Eager: The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, by Ben Goldfarb, shows how our landscapes have changed over the centuries, and how beavers can help fight drought, flooding, wildfire, extinction, and the ravages of climate change. The book is the winner of the 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.

For further information, read Beavers in Connecticut: Their Natural History and Management.

Beaver heads across road to Gatehouse April 19 and eventually down Recreational Path. (Still photo from Jim Reid video)

The Burn: How It’s Done

Part of 2019 planned burn Mar. 27 on Parade Grounds.

The Fishers Island Fire Department (FIFD) reported a successful planned burn Mar. 27 of 36.04 acres of restored grasslands along the airport runway and on the Parade Grounds. But what do our volunteers actually do to conduct a safe burn in specifically prescribed areas?

Don Beck, FIConservancy Board Member and Fishers Island Club golf course superintendent explains:

The fire department combines its annual training exercises with burns necessary to maintain FIConservancy’s restored grasslands. This year, it took about 20 volunteers and three fire trucks two-and-a-half hours to complete the burn. We always have an ambulance on site during the  burns.

Before the burn, we had a meeting at the fire department with Chief Bruce Hubert and Assistant Chief Jeff Edwards, who split up FIFD members into three teams, with one truck for each team.

We discussed the logistics of the burn and what everyone’s role would be. The 36.04 acres were broken down into four plots or burn units. The wind was blowing from the north, away from houses and traffic along the road, over open water, so Team 1 started the burn on the southern most plot, which abutted a sandy beach.

While the southern-most plot was burning, Team 2 used one of the fire trucks to water down lights and electrical components along the runways. Once the southern-most burn was completed, the two other teams started to back burn the two plots along both sides of the long runway. (Back burning is a method of controlling the fire, so it doesn’t spread to adjacent fields. The back burn is lit against the wind, so it burns very slowly.)

Once the back burn had created a sufficient buffer between plots, both fields were lit from the northern side, allowing both plots to burn very quickly. Once those two plots were completed, we moved everyone to the final Parade Grounds plot. The Parade Grounds was back burned, then lit from the northern side the same as the earlier plots. We finished as the sun was setting. We then re-filled the trucks at the hydrants near the post office, and everyone came back to the fire department for a warm meal cooked by John Bergquist and Aaron Lusker.

Fire is essential for the habitat of the fields. The fire burns all the duff of previous seasons’ growth and more importantly kills a lot of the invasive weed seeds. The heat from the fire warms the top inch or so of the soil making the weed seeds unviable but not harming the desired warm season grasses which root very deeply in the soil.

See 2019 prescribed burn pictures below. Tom Sargent Photos.

Piping Plover pair returns to Fishers Island. House hunting on Sanctuary of Sands, South Beach.

FIConservancy Naturalist Justine Kibbe has been monitoring Piping Plovers in the South Beach area of Fishers Island for several years. Officially designated a “threatened” species, Piping Plovers are named for their melodic mating call.

Piping plovers eat freshwater and marine invertebrates that wash up on shore. They require a specific habitat to survive and are therefore an indicator of the “health” of a marine area. Their speckled eggs blend seamlessly into the coastal environment. Please tread lightly.

Fishing vessel “All for Joy”, with yellow spill boom in place, is secured to a barge at Mohawk Northeast, Inc., Thames River, New London/Groton CT. Joe & Tracy Brock Photo

It took 20 days, but the capsized fishing vessel “All for Joy” was finally removed from the mouth of Hay Harbor at 6:05 p.m. Mar. 30.

The commercial fishing vessel capsized south of the Race March 10 and eventually came to rest at the mouth of Hay Harbor, leaking fuel that reached to the shore of Fishers Island. Two fishermen were rescued unharmed.