25 turkey facts to gobble up

Thanksgiving brings turkeys into the spotlight which usually is detrimental to them. So here are 25 turkey tidbits to ponder while your turkey is cooking in the oven.

1. A male turkey is a tom, a female turkey is a hen and baby turkeys are called poults. Juvenile males are called jakes. A group of turkeys is called a flock.

Poults leave the nest within 12 to 24 hours of hatching

2. Male turkeys are also called gobblers because of the “gobble” call they use to announce themselves to females. The gobble can be heard up to a mile away.

3. Wild turkeys make fifteen different vocalizations, including a “purr”, “yelp”, “kee-kee” and a clicking noise made by the females.

4. In addition to gobbling, toms impress hens by fanning their large tail, drooping their wings and strutting. 

Western hemlock tolerate life in the shadows

Fastest. Strongest. Survival of the fittest. When push comes to shove in nature, usually the weak or meek don’t survive. And in the case of trees, the towering giants bask in the sun and shade out their competition--at least in theory. 

A drooping top is one way to identify western hemlocks

Waiting in the shadows of some towering Douglas-fir and western redcedar are inconspicuous western hemlock. Often recognized by their droopy tops, western hemlock survive where many other species cannot--in the shade. 

By no means are western hemlock shade-loving trees. Instead they are shade tolerant trees. Western hemlock grows abundantly in the shade of mature trees waiting for them to topple and then they bolt upwards to the open canopy. 

Frogs breathe through skin and swallow with their eyes!

In the spring, I’m always listening for the first robin to sing and the first frog to ribbit. But in the fall, I never know if an insect song or frog croak will be the last I hear until spring. 

Just a few weeks ago a frog croaking caught my attention. Not only because it was October and I thought the frog should be settled in for winter (though it has been unseasonably warm) but because I heard it on a dry, ponderosa pine hillside. What was a frog doing up there away from water? 

Columbia spotted frog

Shouldn’t frogs be down in the mud on the bottom of ponds with turtles for the winter? Apparently not. 

What is that big beetle?

Whether a bird, plant or insect, identifying one I haven’t seen before is always interesting. So when I received an email that Cal Russell was displaying a big beetle on his counter at Boundary Tractor, I hurried down to take a look at the mystery beetle. 

I’ve seen big beetles before but not this big. The roughly two inch long, reddish-brown beetle had long antennae, gnarly-looking legs and short spines on its neck. 

Ponderous borer/western pine sawyer

Partly due to the long antennae, the beetle is classified in the long-horned beetle family. Like some other species, this beetle has many common names: ponderous borer, pine sawyer, western pine sawyer, spined woodborer and ponderosa pine borer. Even scientifically the beetle has two names because the classification has changed: Ergates spiculatus and Trichocnemis spiculatus.