VMN Banshee Reeks Chapter

For today let's look at the invasive Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica). This is a rapidly spreading vine that grows up trees and will engulf smaller shrubs. It can strangle trees in their early spans, either killing the tree outright or, in the event the honeysuckle is removed, leaving the trunk with a corkscrew shape. It maintains its leaves late into the winter and sprouts them very early in the summer, allowing for vigorous growth. Once the vine has made it far enough to catch the sunlight it can spread to nearby trees, creating a mass of vines that can prevent trees from obtaining the necessary light and can actually pull down weaker trees from accumulated weight. In a number of thickets in Northern Virginia, much of the greenery is actually heavy masses of Japanese Honeysuckle.

For more information on identifying and removing you can find the Blue Ridge Prism Fact Sheet here:https://blueridgeprism.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Japanese-Honeysuckle-Fact-Sheet-Blue-Ridge-PRISM.pdf

Since we're getting to the colder part of the year, let's look at how one native animal survives the winter. The American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus) overwinters underground. This toad digs in to loose soil and burrows one to two feet underground to get below the frost line. However, these toads will also use existing burrows and even ant mounds or cracks in home foundations when necessary. It is also thought that they may use the same overwintering locations each year.

The American Toad is an opportunistic feeder of insects and other invertebrates. In addition to hibernation in cold months, during particularly hot and dry times the toad can aestivate to avoid harm. The glands seen on the back of the toad produce a toxin that is generally not harmful to humans, but can irritate the mucus membranes of predators.

As we enter the winter, let's look at a tree we'll be able to see bloom early next year, the American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), also called the Ironwood. It has also been called Musclewood because of the appearance of its bark, which is generally smooth with muscle like bumps. Ironwood trees are slow growing, deciduous, and only grow 20 to 30 feet high. It will begin to bloom in February and start to produce its seeds in the early spring.

The Ironwood and Hornbeam monikers come from the extremely hard wood produced by this tree. It is strong and can take a high, horn like shine. It was used for ox yokes, bowls, tool handles, and other implements of every day life. However, the trees do not produce much wood per tree, making it difficult to use this tree commercially. As a part of the habitat it plays a useful role as an understory tree and provides early habitat and food for birds and pollinators. An excellent if underappreciated plant for smaller plots of land.

With Halloween tomorrow, we'll turn to Poe to give us our wildlife spotlight, the Common Raven (Corvus corax). Like the crows we highlighted 2 weeks ago, the Common Raven is a corvid. It can be distinguished in a few ways from the 2 crow species that frequent the area. Ravens are larger than crows and are similar in size to a red-tailed hawk. Ravens also have a thicker bill with bristles covering about half of the length and a "shaggy" neck as a result of elongated feathers. In flight, ravens will have a noticeably wedge shaped tail as opposed to the curved or straight tail of the crows. Finally, ravens have a croaking call, though ravens are talented mimics and can even learn to talk better than some parrots.

Like other corvids, it is a scavenger and opportunist. Raven's have a varied diet that can include carrion, insects, grains, fruits, live meat, eggs, and even human food waste. Ravens are highly intelligent and have a brain to body ratio similar to humans. They can learn to speak, are skilled at both finding and making tools, and have even demonstrated the possession of theory of mind, allowing them to recognize when other individuals (including humans) may have knowledge of use or detriment to the raven. For this reason, ravens have been shown to make false food caches.

Ravens, like other corvids, can learn human faces and distinguish between people. They can also spread this knowledge to other ravens, making it possible for entire groups of ravens to recognize and harass individuals who have harmed or threaten one of their number. Ravens have also been shown to ally with wolves in western states by directing wolves to recently killed or injured large mammals and sharing in the meal. Ravens have even been filmed playing with wolf pups.

Based on the intelligence of the common raven, Poe's poem might not have underestimated the bird's abilities at all.