Nature Notes
As memories of this warm, wet Winter fade into the promise of Spring, it’s time to embrace the changing seasons, even at this accelerated pace.
Flowering trees like dogwoods, redbuds, cherries and serviceberries have blossomed for better or worse. If we experience a hard frost during March it will have a negative affect on the amount of fruit these understory trees produce and therefore impact the diet of many birds and mammals. It may be that above normal temperatures and precipitation increases the early activity of insects, which in turn might fill in the nutritional gap for some of the critters that would typically be feeding on fruits.
It also means that we lovers of outdoor activities need to think about protecting ourselves from ticks. Warm, wet weather equates to an increase in the tick population. There are several species found around Lake James, but getting bitten by any of them is something to be avoided. While most people are aware of the significant health consequences of Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, there are a number of other nasty tick-borne diseases in the Southeast and the frequency in which they are transmitted to humans is on the rise.
Just last year, former North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan died following a three-year battle with Powassan Virus, which she contracted through a tick bite in 2016. She was 66 years old.
How can we avoid ticks while making the most of the wonderful outdoor activities available at Lake James State Park and beyond? Stay on the trail; avoid grassy and brushy areas where ticks are found. Treat your clothing with permethrin or other approved insect repellents. Check your clothes for ticks when you get home. Take a shower and do a thorough tick check of your entire body. Remove any attached ticks immediately.
Incidentally, there is at least one effective natural predator of ticks out in the forest - the Virginia opossum. Opossums are North America’s only marsupials, belonging to the same family as koalas and kangaroos.
A 2014 study published by the Cary Institute of Ecological Studies showed that opossums ate more than 90-percent of the ticks that attempted to parasitize them. That same paper extrapolated that individual opossums consumed up to 5,500 ticks per season.
Spring is coming! Be prepared. Be careful. Be happy.
See you out on the trail.