by Roland D. Hallee

There is nothing like beating a subject to death. But, in this case, it’s worth every word.

You have to be living in a cave not to know that deer ticks are at an all time high. They are everywhere. Friends and family have told me stories about their encounters with the insect, and they all have one thing in common. They have all had multiple numbers on them at one time.

Also, as you know, deer ticks are hazardous to your health, primarily because they are the carriers of the dreaded Lyme Disease. In the last decade alone, the population of ticks of all kinds has ballooned in the United States. The number of ticks that carry Lyme disease has been on the rise in the mid-Atlantic states, and has skyrocketed throughout the Northeast. It has gained a reputation as a serious health problem in many areas.

On top of that, with most of us trying to get outdoors this time of year (opening camps is a real concern), and with the recent mild winter we experienced, the deer ticks are already active and will be out in force this summer.

Only adult female ticks and nymphs can transmit infections through their bite. Male ticks attach, but they don’t feed or become engorged. Adult females have red and brown bodies and are larger than males. Nymphs are actively feeding between early April and early August.

Although not all deer ticks are infected with Lyme disease, you never really know. Only ticks that have fed on infected mammals are diseased. About half of deer ticks are infected (usually white-footed mice can be other culprits).

Deer ticks live two to three years, and in that time usually enjoy three blood meals. In the spring and summer of its second year, a nymph will take its second meal. They insert their mouth parts into the skin much like a corkscrew, which ensures them a nice tight grasp. They often take up to five days to complete their meal.

This fact is key to reducing panic when discovering a tick. An infected tick must be attached to its host for at least 24 hours, and up to 48 hours to transmit the disease. It’s the very reason for checking your body right away after any possible exposure to a tick-infested environment.

Deer ticks crawl. They usually grab onto people or animals that brush up against plants near ground level, and then they crawl upwards to find a quiet place for their blood meal ­– the inner thigh and in the hair line behind the neck are a couple of “favorite” spots. Although many sources will state that ticks don’t land on you from an overhanging tree branch, many people have insisted it has happened to them.

Ticks live in wooded, brushy areas that provide food and cover for mice, deer and other mammals. The ideal tick environment is humid. Your exposure will be greatest along trails in the woods and fringe areas between woods and the border, where they will wait patiently on the tips of vegetation for an unsuspecting host to walk by.

Life is too short to avoid the outdoors during our short spring, summer and fall. In Maine, that is about half the year. There is no need to be brave, just be smart: cover your body; wear repellant; check yourself for ticks, if you find a tick, remove it immediately; shower soon after being outdoors; throw clothing in the dryer, that will kill any ticks present; and finally, if you are concerned, don’t hesitate to contact your doctor.

The best way to remove a tick is to use fine-point tweezers and grab the tick as close to the skin surface as possible. Pull backwards gently but firmly, using an even, steady pressure. Do your best not to jerk or twist. Don’t squeeze, crush or puncture the tick’s body, the fluids inside may contain infection-causing organisms. After removing the tick, wash the skin and your hands thoroughly with hot soap and water. If any mouth part of the tick remain in the skin, leave them alone. They will be expelled on their own. It could take weeks. Trying to remove them will only cause you unnecessary pain.

For the deer tick, Ixodes scapularis, deer are the preferred host, but they can also be found in small rodents. After the female is engorged, the tick drops off and overwinters in the leaf litter of the forest floor. The following spring, she will lay several hundred to a few thousand eggs in clusters. They are very hardy creatures. They will be active even after a moderate to severe frost, as daytime temperatures can warm them enough to keep them actively searching for a host. In the spring, they are one of the first invertebrates to become active.

It may be monotonous to keep hearing about the health hazards of being infected by a deer tick, but it’s one that needs to be repeated.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

The 1927 New York Yankees batting order, including Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, was known by what nickname?

by Roland D. Hallee

Have you ever heard of a pumpkin bug? Well, neither had I until someone asked about them.

The pumpkin bug, or squash bug, are also called stink bugs, but are not the traditional stink bug. Although some pumpkin bugs are called stink bugs, not all stink bugs are pumpkin bugs. If you ever spot a sizable green stink bug, there’s a good chance that it’s a pumpkin bug. They are similar in appearance to stink bugs because they both have a foul odor when squashed. However, stink bugs are wider and rounder.

The squash bug, Anasa tristis, is common throughout the United States. It primarily attacks squash and pumpkins but can also attack other cucurbits, such as cucumbers.

They are the bane of a gardener. They are difficult to kill and can cause a lot of havoc.

The adult bugs are somewhat flat, large insects, measuring 5/8 inch long and 1/3 inch wide. They are usually dark gray to dark brown. The edges of the abdomens protrude beyond their wings and typically have alternating orangish and brown stripes. They are able to fly, however they often simply walk around on plants.

These bugs overwinter as adults in sheltered places, such as under plant debris, around buildings, or under rocks. When adults emerge in the spring, they fly to growing cucurbit plants to feed and mate. Females lay eggs individually in small clusters of about 20 commonly on the undersides of the leaves, especially between the veins where they form a V. The females usually begin to appear in gardens in early June, and continue to lay eggs through mid-summer.

These bugs have piercing-sucking mouthparts they use to suck the sap out of leaves. This process produces yellow spots that eventually turn brown, and disrupts the flow of water and nutrients, which can cause wilting. Young plants are more susceptible to extensive damage. Larger, more vigorous plants are more tolerant of feeding damage, although they can also be injured or killed if they are severely attacked.

These bugs inject a toxin into the plant and suck the sap right out of it with their sharp mouthparts. This causes yellow spots that eventually turn brown. The leaves will wilt because the damage prevents the flow of nutrients to the leaves, and then they will dry up and turn black.

The most important times to control squash bugs are when the plants are young seedlings and when they are flowering. Early detection is important because adult squash bugs are difficult to kill.

Remove or knock off and kill nymphs and adults by dropping them into a bucket of soapy water. This can be challenging because the bugs hide under leaves and move quickly when disturbed.

Crush the eggs that are attached to the undersides and stems of leaves.

Trap the bugs by laying out boards or pieces of newspaper. The bugs will congregate under the boards at night, and then can be collected and destroyed in the morning.

Check your plants daily. If there are no more than a few vines infected, keep collecting and destroying the bugs and crushing the egg clusters that you find.

Insecticides are not generally needed to control these bugs. They can be used if cucurbits are found wilting early in the season. Carbaryl/Sevin, is most effective if applied when eggs are hatching. Consult your local garden center for controls that are locally approved. When using an insecticide, make sure to read the instructions well.

Planting time is approaching. Make sure your garden is free of these little pests. There is no worse feeling than seeing your plants being destroyed and you have no idea what is causing it. Check under the leaves.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Which MLB pitcher owns the distinction of having won the most games, and having lost the most games during his career?

by Roland D. Hallee

The old reliable spring indicator appeared in my backyard over the weekend, twice. The robin made its presence known.

However, it was what happened Monday that certified that old folklore. I know spring officially arrived this past Tuesday, March 19. That is a day or two earlier than usual, but it seems everything is early this year.

Going back to what confirmed spring is here was the sighting of the red-winged blackbird. Of all the migratory bird, it is generally the first species to make its way back north.

The red-winged blackbird is a bird found in most of North America and much of Central America. It breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, and Guatemala, with isolated populations in western El Salvador, northwestern Honduras, and northwestern Costa Rica. It may winter as far north as Pennsylvania and British Columbia, but northern populations are generally migratory, moving south to Mexico and the Southern United States.

Claims have been made that it is the most abundant living land bird in North America, as bird-counting censuses of wintering red-winged blackbirds sometimes show that loose flocks can number in excess of a million birds per flock and the full number of breeding pairs across North and Central America may exceed 250 million in peak years.

Regarding its numbers, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the red-winged blackbird of least concern.

The red-winged blackbird is sexually dimorphic; the male is all black with a red shoulder and yellow wing bar, while the female is a nondescript dark brown. Seeds and insects make up the bulk of the red-winged blackbird’s diet.

The red-winged blackbird is a sister species to the red-shouldered blackbird that is endemic to Cuba. These two species are together sister to the tricolored blackbird that is found on the Pacific coast region of the California and upper Baja California in Mexico.

Depending on the authority, between 20 and 24 subspecies are recognized which are mostly quite similar in appearance.

The red-winged blackbird breeds in marshes, brushy swamps, hayfields; forages also in cultivated land and along edges of water. Breeds most commonly in freshwater marsh, but also in wooded or brushy swamps, rank weedy fields, hayfields, upper edges of salt marsh. Often forages in other open habitats, such as fields and mudflats; outside the breeding season, flocks gather in farm fields, pastures, and feedlots.

One of the most abundant birds across North America, and one of the most boldly colored, the red-winged blackbird is a familiar sight atop cattails, along soggy roadsides, and on telephone wires. Glossy-black males have scarlet-and-yellow shoulder patches they can puff up or hide depending on how confident they feel. Females are a subdued, streaky brown, almost like a large, dark sparrow. Their early and tumbling song are happy indications of the return of spring.

Red-winged blackbirds may come to your yard for mixed grains and seeds, particularly during migration. Spread grain or seed on the ground as well, since this is where Red-winged Blackbirds prefer to feed.

The red-winged blackbird is a highly polygynous species, meaning males have many female mates – up to 15 in some cases. In some populations 90 percent of territorial males have more than one female nesting on their territories. But all is not as it seems: one-quarter to one-half of nestlings turn out to have been sired by someone other than the territorial male.

Male red-winged blackbirds fiercely defend their territories during the breeding season, spending more than a quarter of daylight hours in territory defense. He chases other males out of the territory and attacks nest predators, sometimes going after much larger animals, including horses and people.

Red-winged blackbirds roost in flocks in all months of the year. In summer small numbers roost in the wetlands where the birds breed. Winter flocks can be congregations of several million birds, including other blackbird species and starlings. Each morning the roosts spread out, traveling as far as 50 miles to feed, then re-forming at night.

The oldest recorded red-winged blackbird was 15 years, 9 months old. It was banded in New Jersey in 1967, and found alive, but injured in Michigan in 1983. It was able to be released after recovering from its injuries.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

What Boston Celtics player holds the distinction for hitting the most 3-point baskets in one season?

by Roland D. Hallee

Last week I was watching a cardinal at my wife’s bird feeder and wondered how those little critters keep warm. So, let’s talk about how those little feathered friends keep warm during those times.

Birds are warm-blooded animals that have a much higher temperature than humans, usually in the range of 105 degrees, as compared to our 98.6 degrees. Body temperatures can vary during daylight hours but it can challenge the birds during the night to maintain such a high body heat.

Smaller birds run more of a risk of body heat loss since they have a proportionately larger surface area on their bodies to lose heat but a smaller core volume to generate it.

Birds have different ways to maintain body heat during cold weather. Their feathers provide remarkable insulation, and many species will actually grow extra feathers as part of a late fall molt to give them thicker protection in the winter. Oil also coats their feathers to provide, not only insulation, but waterproofing.

Their legs and feet are covered with scales to minimize heat loss. By constricting blood flow to their extremities, they can also reduce body heat loss even further.

Then, there is the old standby: adding body fat reserves to serve as insulation and extra energy for generating body heat. They will gorge themselves in the fall when food sources are abundant.

Another way to produce insulation from the cold is to fluff their feathers. That enables air pockets to be created, keeping them toasty warm. Also, it is not unusual to see birds standing on one leg or crouched to cover both legs with their feathers to shield them from the cold. They also tuck their beaks into their shoulder feathers for protection, and to breathe air warmed from their body heat.

On sunny days, they will perch with their backs to the sun to maximize the exposure area of their body. They raise their wings to allow the skin and feathers to absorb as much of the sun’s heat as possible, even spreading or drooping their wings while sunning.

If you see a bird shivering, don’t worry. They do this to raise their metabolic rate and generate more body heat as a short term solution in extreme cold.

Many small birds will gather in large flocks at night and crowd together in an attempt to share their collective body heat. Even individually, they will roost in places that may contain residual heat from the day’s sunlight.

But, there is something called torpor that birds will use to conserve energy during the cold nights. Torpor is a state of reduced metabolism when the body temperature is lowered, therefore requiring fewer calories to maintain the proper heat. Birds can lower their body temperature from 22 to 50 degrees. Torpor, however, can be dangerous as reduced temperature also leads to slower reactions and greater vulnerability to predators.

Even with all of these Mother Nature-built in safeguards, mortality rate among birds can run high during extreme winters. You can help.

During winter, keep your feeders cleared of snow and filled with good food, offer liquid water, and provide shelter. You can build brush piles or protective boxes if you have no natural shelters. I think one of the reasons we have as many birds during winter as we have is because birds are attracted to coniferous trees. My wife and I have three rather large pine trees in our backyard, providing them with plenty of protection from the weather.

Mother Nature, again, provides for its creatures, large or small.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Which current NFL team was originally called the Titans?

by Roland D. Hallee

As we look forward to saying “goodbye” to February and welcome March with open arms, a thought comes to mind of an old weather lore, “In like a lion, out like a lamb.” In this case, it could be vice versa, considering the mild weather we have had as we usher in the third month of the year. So, it’s more like, “In like a lamb, out like a lion.”

Much like regular folklore, weather lore is passed down through speech and writing from normal people without the use of external measuring instruments. The origin of weather lore can be dated back to primieval men and their usage of star studying in navigation. However, more recently during the late Middle Ages, the works of two Greek philosopher-poets, Theophrastus of Eresus on Lesbos and Aratus of Macedonia, are known greater for shaping the prediction of weather. Theophrastus and Aratus collated their works in two main collections for weather lore: On Weather Signs and On Winds. These were used for helping farmers with harvest, merchants for trade and determining the weather the next day.

Weather lore is the body of informal folklore related to the prediction of the weather and its greater meaning.

Astrology and weather lore have been closely interlinked for many years – with each planet often being associated with a weather state. For example, Mars is red and must therefore be hot and dry. Prevalent in ancient Roman thought, astrologists used weather lore to teach commoners of the star and cloud formations and how they can be used to see the future.

Before the invention of temperature measuring devices, such as the mercury thermometer, it was difficult to gather predictive, numerical data. Therefore, communities used their surroundings to predict and explain the weather in upcoming days.

Weather folklore, therefore, refers to this mid-latitude region of daily variability.

Other common proverbs are:

When clouds look like black smoke
A wise man will put on his cloak

(Thick, moisture-laden storm clouds absorb sunlight. It gives them an appearance that somewhat resembles black smoke.)

Red sky at night:

A red sunset probably means dry weather the next day.

Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight.
Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning.

(In a common variation, “shepherd” is replaced by “sailor”.)

A red sky – in the morning or evening – is a result of high pressure air in the atmosphere trapping particles of dust or soot. Air molecules scatter the shorter blue wavelengths of sunlight, but particles of dust, soot and other aerosols scatter the longer red wave length of sunlight in a process called Rayleigh scattering. At sunrise and sunset, the sun is lower in the sky causing the sunlight to travel through more of the atmosphere so scattering more light. This effect is further enhanced when there are at least some high level clouds to reflect this light back to the ground.

When weather systems predominantly move from west to east, a red sky at night indicates that the high pressure air (and better weather) is westwards. In the morning the light is eastwards, and so a red sky then indicates the high pressure (and better weather) has already passed, and an area of low pressure is following behind. That is a scientific fact.

So, what does that have to do with March coming in like a lion or a lamb? Whether you believe in the myth or not is up to you but it sure is fun to think about.

Does a phrase that originated in England and Wales centuries ago even have relevance in a state in our northern part of the country?

Sandi Duncan, managing editor of that old standby, the Farmers’ Almanac, once said the lion/lamb saying is probably more wishful thinking than fact.

They do a lot of articles on weather sayings, but sometimes they are awfully true because they’ve been handed down by people who observe the weather, according to Duncan, from her office, in Lewiston.

“The ‘in like a lion’ one is based on the idea if it comes in bad it will go out nicely. People really do hope March is at the end of winter.”

The phrase is based on the beginning of the month being in winter and the end being close to spring.

But a weather phrase like ‘red sky at night, sailors’ delight’ is much more accurate. With that, there is scientific backing, but not with the lion saying.

In the last 16 years, March has come in with a roar eight times and gone out with a “baah” 10 times.

But March has also roared once at both ends of the month while braying four times at the beginning and end of the month during those years.

If you’re worried about amounts of snow and spring floods, March is the type of month where snow can come at any time. It doesn’t really matter how the month goes out or comes in, but what happens in between. Always remember, two thirds of the month is still winter.

March is a very variable month. It can be winter-like and cold with snow, while other times it can be mild and lots of snow melt like last year.

Alas, the interpretation is up to you.

There is one thing for certain. Only 27 days ‘til spring.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Who is the highest scoring defenseman in NHL history (goals and assists)?