Skunks and Skunk Cabbage Mean Spring is Here

One night in early March I caught my first whiff of skunk spray in the air – a sure sign that spring is on its way.

Other than Pepé LePew and the fact that they are smelly (and can make you or your pets smelly too), I have very few associations with skunk. So I did some research to learn more about these much-maligned critters.

The skunks that live here in New England -- Mephitis mephitis nigra, the striped skunk -- are easy to spot. Their distinctive black and white striped fur and bushy tail make them stand out at dusk, or when your headlights flash on them while driving at night. Unlike other members of the weasel family, they are not especially agile. Their gait is wobbly, and with short legs, they move rather slowly. Perhaps that is why so many of them end up as roadkill. Generally an adult skunk measures 29-36 inches in length, tail included, and weighs 6-10 pounds. The males and female look alike, although the males are 25% larger.

Striped skunks usually make their homes in fields and woodlands, but they are just as happy to live under a porch, deck or shed. Because of their short legs, skunks don’t climb well, but they are excellent diggers. Sometimes they dig their own burrows, but more often they take over that of another animal, such as a woodchuck or fox. The burrows are from 6-20 feet long, with a round room at the end lined with leaves and grass.

Nocturnal, they rest in the burrow during the day, and search for food by night. While foraging, they usually stay within a one-mile radius – but they will go as far as five miles if they need to. Their diet consists primarily of small rodents, insects, and seasonal fruit – but they also will eat the eggs of turtles and ground-nesting birds, as well as garbage and pet food. While not true hibernators, they do tend to settle down in groups of three or four for the colder seasons, emerging only when the weather grows warmer than 30 degrees.

Here, breeding season for skunks is in February and March. Litters of two to ten are born between late April and early June. Six to eight weeks later they are ready to learn how to forage for food with their mothers (the fathers are not involved with raising the young).

While we tend to associate skunk with the stink they can make, the truth is, they spray this scent as a last resort. Skunks will spray when they sense they are in danger – but when possible, they prefer to walk away from danger altogether. If you find yourself face to face with a skunk, it is best to back away slowly. And bear in mind these warning signs. Before a skunk releases its spray, it arches its back, raises its tail, turns its back toward its target, and stomps its feet. The musk is released in a fine spray from two glands on the skunk’s rear end. It can travel a distance of 15 feet – and there is enough in the glands for 5 consecutive sprays.

Taking up residence under your deck, perhaps, or getting trapped in your garage, skunks can be a nuisance. Mass Audubon’s Living with Wildlife is an excellent resource, accessible via the website http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/wildlife. It includes some guidelines on skunk problems and how to avoid or fix them.

Another sure (and somewhat related) sign of spring is the emergence of skunk cabbage in wetlands. In mid-March I noticed the rounded purple heads beginning to emerge in a swampy area of my back yard.

Eastern skunk cabbage, or Symplocarpus foetidus, is one of the first plants to bloom in the early spring. This foul-smelling plant produces a bulbous, mottled purple flower, about 4-6 inches tall. The flower appears to be lying in the mud, leaves or moss in which it grows because the stem and leaves do not emerge until later in the season.

The leaves are large – 15-22 inches long and 12-15 inches wide. When torn or trampled upon, they are quite smelly. The smell is not harmful to humans – and in fact it attracts pollinators such as bees and stoneflies to the plant, and helps prevent larger animals from damaging it.

Skunk and skunk cabbage – smelly when disturbed and not especially attractive -- might not be among our favorite things in the natural world. But by winter’s end, it’s a joy to see them . . . some of the first signs of spring!

Sources:
www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/wildlife
www.wikipedia.com
Living with Wildlife: The Skunk in Massachusetts – Massachusetts Department of Fisheries & Wildlife

By Kezia Bacon-Bernstein, correspondent
March 2008

Kezia Bacon-Bernstein's articles appear courtesy of the North and South Rivers Watershed Association, a local non-profit organization devoted to the preservation, restoration, maintenance and conservation of the North and South Rivers and their watershed. For membership information and a copy of their latest newsletter, contact NSRWA at (781) 659-8168 or visit www.nsrwa.org.

Signs of Spring

Skunk cabbage emerges in spring.

Spring is coming! For the first time in I don't know how many years, that little creature for which we named Groundhog Day opted to emerge from his burrow and forego six more weeks of hibernation. Who can blame him? With all this sunshine and unseasonably warm weather, it's hard to believe we've got a few more weeks of winter left to go.

It was a mild winter. Our largest snowfall yielded at most six inches, which seemed like nothing compared to last year's seemingly endless supply. The snow moon -- February's full moon -- has now passed, leaving only cold, clear weather in its wake. On the calendar, winter continues through March 20 (and this being New England, we can't really be sure it's behind us until May), but it's time to start looking for signs of spring.

Let's start with the most obvious: the sun. Those long dark days of winter have passed, the days when the sun only seemed to shine from nine to five, when most people were too busy doing other things to really take notice. The days are growing longer again -- the sun's up by 6:30 a.m., and it stays light until almost six at night. Longer days bring more opportunities for walking around and observing the natural world as it awakens from its winter nap.

Maple sap has begun to run. The process of tapping maples for their sugary sap dates at least as far back as 1609. It's a skill the colonists learned from Native tribes and turned into a major New England industry. Each sugar maple yields from five to sixty gallons of sap, which can be boiled down into the syrup we know and love. Look for little ice formations at the tips of sugar maple twigs for evidence of sap-running.

The buds are on the forsythia, so now is a a prime time to clip some branches from this sun-loving upland shrub. Set the clippings in a vase of water and soon you will have a bouquet of bright yellow flowers. Forsythia don't bloom in their natural setting until April, but they respond well to forcing.

If you'd rather a more naturally-appearing flower at this time of year, keep an eye out for snowdrops. Although these small white perennials are not native to this region, they are a favorite among bulb-planters, as they are one of the earliest flowers to emerge from the warming winter ground. Once established, they tend to multiply, appearing in increasing numbers in sunny, well-drained places. Seeing snowdrops, one can't help but ask: can daffodils be far behind?

The appearance of pussy willows is another sure sign of spring's arrival. Before the leaves of the salix discolor form, it produces catkins. Sometimes bright yellow or green, other times drab in color, these furry little flowers help to identify this shrub.

Pussy willows grow in swamps, along streams, and in other damp places. The shrub itself can grow to 12 feet high, its numerous branches providing good nesting, breeding, and overwintering sites for a variety of wildlife species. Once you've identified a patch of pussy willow, step back and watch for food-seeking mammals. Beaver, red squirrel, meadow mice, and deer each enjoy snacking on a different part of this plant, from the leaves of the twigs to the catkins to the bark.

The vivid green leaves of skunk cabbage (symplocarpus foeidus) are another sign of spring. This wetland-loving plant takes its name from the odor produced when its flowers are crushed. Skunk cabbage actually begins its development in the fall, so by February it is ready to respond to even the most subtle seasonable changes, often emerging through the swamp floor on a warm, sunny day. The plant itself generates a lot of heat, with temperatures rising up to twenty degrees higher than the air which surrounds it, so that it often will melt any snow and ice in its midst.

Skunk cabbage may stink, but wetland creatures find it most appealing, what with the services it provides. Up to three feet tall, with large, veined leaves and thick fleshy root stocks, its dense growth supplies important cover and breeding habitat for the wildlife. Skunk cabbage often dominates swamp areas, but since its deep root systems help to stabilize the soil and thus prevent erosion in these frequently flooded areas, its profusion is rarely seen as a problem. The first plant to flower in spring, it is also a valuable source of pollen for bees.

If, like the skunk cabbage, you find yourself so impatient for spring that you're trying to melt any snow and ice that crosses your path, consider stepping out into the woods. Spring is indeed on its way and wetlands are great places to see evidence of this. Why not take an hour or two to explore the freshwater swamps at Norwell's Jacobs Pond and Norris Reservation, Pembroke's Tucker Reservation, or Marshfield's Corn Hill Woodland.

If you go, don't forget your boots. The thick patches of mud that one encounters on just about any woodland trail at this time of year are yet another sign that the ground is thawing and spring is on its way.

by Kezia Bacon
Assistant Director, North and South Rivers Watershed Association
February 1997