GAINING GROUND FALL 2019 In this issue: Our Fall Seasonal Calendar Eyes in the Sky: Top 10 Reasons to Look Up Out and About: Recapping the DLC’s Summer Events What You Can Do About the New Land Tax Laws The Secret Life of the Great Horned Owl Everett Cook: The Happy Preservation Warrior CONSERVATIONIST’S OUT IN THE OPEN: THE NATURE OF THINGS CALENDAR GREAT GOINGS ON by Karissa Stokdal WHAT A SPORT, SEPT 21-22 lease introduce yourself. Stop by the DLC booth at the annual Orvis Game P Hi, I’m Owlbert. I am a Bubo virginianus, more commonly known as the Great Horned Owl. I get my name Fair and Sporting Weekend. The event features from the distinct, pointed feathers on top of my head, but they aren’t my only defining feature! I have bright, yellow more than 70 exhibitors and vendors, as well as eyes and a dark, black beak. If I sit up straight, I’m almost two feet tall! loads of activities and exhibits for kids and adults at the Sandanona Shooting Grounds. Fly-fishing Q: What’s your daily routine? demonstrations, dog-training seminars, a variety A: I’m a predatory bird with a diet more diverse than of hands-on youth programs and a Land Rover any other North American owl species. My sharp beak driving course are among the activities for visitors and talons allow me to catch and feast on rodents, who are encouraged to participate. Admission is amphibians, reptiles, fish, smaller birds and even other free. 3047 Sharon Turnpike, Millbrook. 845.677.9701 raptors. I prefer to do the majority of my hunting at or [email protected]. night because that’s when prey is most abundant. FAMILY FUN AT FARMFEST I can rotate my head more than 180 degrees to look in any direction and have excellent vision for hunting BACK ON THE FARM, SEPT 28 Irene and Jack Banning kept it lively at their fourth annual Farm- in the dark! I am very elusive and blend well with my Fest on Memorial Day Weekend at Black Sheep Hill Farm in Pine Join the DLC at Brookby Dairy’s Fall Farm Festival, surroundings, but sometimes you can catch me sitting Plains. Perfect weather ensured a great turnout of attendees, who packed with family activities and home-cooked in trees at dusk or in the early hours of the morning. found fresh foods, flowers and locally made products, as well as food. Tours of the milking barn, demonstrations Even if you have never seen me, I can guarantee farm animals for petting and other engaging activities for the kids. and the opportunity to meet and greet the animals you have heard my distinct call of one long hooooot, will be part of the fun at this historic farm. The family followed by three shorter hoots. will also host local food producers and artisans from FOREST FLYERS the Hudson Valley who will share their expertise on The DLC partnered with Audubon New York for a workshop Q: What’s your relationship status? cheese-making to yarn spinning. Admission is free. “Improving Habitat for Forest Birds” this past May. Participants A: Great horned owls are typically monogamous. My 62 Dover Furnace Road, Dover Plains. learned how to make their forests hospitable to our feathered nightly hooting warns other owls to stay away from our friends and continued outside for a picture-perfect birdwatching territory. As a male owl, I put out my call all year long FALL FETE, OCT 13 walk in the woods. but during the fall, my female counterpart also hoots as The Dutchess Land Conservancy’s annual Fall a display of courtship. Although many other species of Country Luncheon takes place each year on the COUNTING SHEEP bird are flying south for the winter, our mating season Sunday of Columbus Day weekend. The lunch The Sheep Dog Trials at Caora Farm near Millerton delighted is just getting started! We prefer elevated nesting sites, but rather than build our own we will move into provides an opportunity for the community to spectators with skilled sheep herding action. Nearly 50 handlers another critter’s abandoned nest. As early as January, come together to celebrate land conservation. and 100 dogs participated on a June weekend, creating an exciting my mate will lay her eggs, and by February we could This year’s program highlight will be a Birds of competition for spectators on this forever-protected working farm. have as many as six chicks. Prey exhibition. By invitation only. If you would like to SUMMER STROLLING receive an invitation, please contact us Q: Where do you live? On two summer Saturday mornings, folks enjoyed easy nature at 845.677.3002. A: Great horned owls thrive in a variety of habitats walks through the forests and fields of the DLC’s 435-acre from isolated forests to urban parks. We are native to Shekomeko property in North East. During the hikes, discussions the Americas and, with about a dozen subspecies, we ranged from identifying trees and frogs to managing invasive species can be found all over North America as well as a good and the views from the property’s high points were enjoyed by all. part of South America. We do, however, vary greatly in coloring depending on our location: dark sooty in the Pacific North West, to paler in the Southwest, to nearly white in sub-Artic Canada. If there are tall trees and prey available, you can bet we’re around somewhere. My own territory is right in the village of Rhinebeck. Keep your ears open for my hooting, I’m closer than you think! m PHOTO CREDITS: Greg Hume (owl) Greg CREDITS: PHOTO This page: a great horned owl. Opposite, clockwise from top: visitors at Black Sheep Hill Farm; walking on the DLC’s Shekomeko 2 property; spectators at Caora Farm; birdwatching with Audubon New York; milking a cow at Brookby Dairy. On the cover: A springer 3 spaniel waits to take the plunge at a protected property in Verbank. Cover: Thompson-Finch Farm. Photo by Tara Kelly. THE EXPLORER’S NOTEBOOK by Julie Hart What’s with all those lines of little holes in the tree bark? Most likely you’ve spotted a tree visited by a YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER (Sphyrapicus varius). This bird, as its name suggests, drinks tree sap as a major food source, and it does so by drilling multiple holes in the bark to It’s all too reach the tree’s conductive tissues (called xylem and phloem). Birch, maple and hickory are Fall: the season of back-to-school and back-to-work. favorite trees of the sapsucker because of the high sugar content in their sap. easy in our modern world to become buried in our work or studies with our heads dutifully craned down, staring at the glare of a glowing screen. For this edition When you walk in the forest, stop and look up every once in a while; take a moment to appreciate the TREE CANOPY above you. Notice the different leaf shapes and bark patterns of Explorer’s Notebook, the DLC’s Julie Hart reminds us to pick our heads up that define each tree species, enjoy the shade they provide and breathe in the oxygen they’re now and again and remember to take in the wonders of our natural world. producing through photosynthesis. Remain still and quiet and you’ll notice you’re not alone: the flicker of a bird’s wing will catch your eye, there are insects on the trunk and leaves, and a squirrel scampers through the high branches on its quest for food. We seldom use the stars to navigate anymore (thanks GPS!), but stargazing is still a sublime human experience. Stars, galaxies, planets and even human-made objects, like the INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION, are all visible. NASA’s “Spot the Station” website, spotthestation.nasa.org, will help you find when and where to see the ISS. You’ll see an unblinking light visible for just a few See that big clump of leaves up in that tree? It’s a DREY, the home of an Eastern Gray Squirrel minutes as it moves quickly across the sky. The less light pollution in your area, the more stars (Sciurus carolinensis). Dreys are carefully constructed from dry leaves and twigs, lined with moss you’ll be able to see. To learn how to minimize light pollution, visit darksky.org. and dry grasses. Squirrels may be pests at the bird feeder, but they also bury nuts and seeds in the ground as a food supply for the winter. Because many of these nuts and seeds never get dug up and eaten, squirrels are great contributors to forest regeneration. They are planting tree Owls are mainly nocturnal birds who hunt at night, but where do they go during the day? seedlings galore! Many species like to roost on a high tree branch and often prefer conifers, such as hemlock or pine. Some of our smaller owls, like the EASTERN SCREECH OWL (Otus asio) and Did you know that CLOUDS are identified by genus and species names, just like plants and NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL (Aegolius acadicus), may spend their days in a tree cavity. animals? The World Meteorological Organization’s International Cloud Atlas (cloudatlas. They don’t make these cavities themselves, but use existing holes created by woodpeckers or wmo.int) has great information on cloud identification and etymology of cloud names. Isn’t rotted wood. Check out the bird webcams on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s website to see it great to know that spending hours gazing at cloud formations counts as serious scientific birds in their natural habitats at cams.allaboutbirds.org.