Missing skunk cabbage

Has anyone seen a black bear? With a mild winter and warm March days, it’s possible that the males have been emerging from winter dens.

If a few of them have been mauling bird feeders, it will solve a mystery—the sudden and sad disappearance of a local skunk cabbage colony. From the time I discovered its chewed remains, I’ve been asking, “Do deer eat skunk cabbage, or what?”

Yesterday an e-mail from a botanist friend reported: “ I know that bears eat skunk cabbage, but I’d be surprised if they were out and about yet. Then, who knows with this mild weather?”

To a friend from Fairview Lake it definitely seemed like a bear. “Oh, boy! Around our way, bears love skunk cabbage. It’s their favorite food.”

Although I hadn’t found typical bear tracks, I know, too, that the ground was frozen when the plants were gnawed.

If a reader can shed light on “The Case of the Missing Skunk Cabbage,” please contact me!

Painted Ladies—I have a new friend named Tara, who called from the Wilkes-Barre area to ask about raising Painted Lady butterflies. She’d received the caterpillars for a sixth grade science project, with jars and paraphernalia for raising 20 of them.

Tara’s problem was that one caterpillar was too weak to crawl up its jar—which it had to accomplish before molting into a chrysalis. We discussed a couple of solutions, but that wasn’t all. About bedtime the phone rang with Tara reporting, “It’s hanging! It’s made a chrysalis.”

Given the grim headlines lately, I’ve decided we need a big influx of Tara’s, and of Painted Lady butterflies, too.

First “fox”—On March 10 we welcomed a first fox sparrow—two days after big V’s of geese flew upriver. It came without fanfare, and was gone before week’s end—en route to breeding grounds in northern Canada.

What’s distinctive about this big sparrow is the rusty tail, and its habit of scratching with both feet in unison. And its all-too-brief stopovers near the Ides of March.