I first started taking another look at that old cellar hole full of rocks in the fall of 2007, when my nephew Charlie Sewall came to York Hill for our annual deer hunt. For some reason I started up my chain saw and began clearing the trees and brush that had grown in it. The next summer, our friend Kerry King, an experienced stone wall builder, came to survey the collapsing walls whose rocks were now more visible. He started pulling out rocks, which induced me to shovel a place to fit a flat stone here and another one there, and Kerry found just the right one to fit between them. A piece of the cellar wall on the northern edge took shape, and we started digging out along the western edge, and to look for a big stone for the corner. And so it went, stone by stone. After a while the work of heavy lifting and shoving around of large rocks morphed into an exercise of pattern recognition. The torn-down remains of the old walls had created a large jumbled pile of mostly odd-shaped rocks, and we tried to find just the right one to fit a space here, and another to fit a different space there, our version of doing a jigsaw puzzle. We looked for the biggest stones first, for the base. The jumble of rocks became like a treasure trove crammed with colorful esoteric facts. Some of the oddest-shaped rocks seemed like useless discards, but Kerry reminded me, “We’ll eventually find their place.” We found some pretty odd empty places and it became fun to find just the right rock to fill them. There were also long flat rocks to look for, those that would become “bridges” over other rocks, connecting them into and strengthening the structure. Even the little rocks were useful—they became the “fillers.”
Fitting rocks to build the north wall of the cellar hole
I liked the way the rocks were fitting together as though they belonged to each other and had the vague feeling that, rather than just playing, we were possibly making a house foundation! The work seemed to me like building one’s life, where there are a few basics and bridges, and lots of fillers from a jumble of odds and ends that you don’t know at the time what to do with and that may seem obscure. It also felt like the story I was writing about homing, where pieces I had never thought of as being related started to have meaning.
The “foundation” was eventually far enough along that I could envision it half finished, whereas before the work had seemed too formidable to take seriously. I now started to visualize a cabin. A month or so later, while I was on an express train heading to Konstanz, Germany, where I would attend a conference to honor von Frisch student Hubert “Jim” Markl’s retirement and hear Randolf Menzel speak about his bee tracking, I daydreamed about someday building a cabin-house. I pulled out my notepad and a pen and made a rough sketch of what I envisioned this house on Adams/York Hill might become. And so it was that I became more interested in what the history of the Hill had been.
In 2011, long after both Floyd Adams and his wife, Leona, were deceased, I learned to my great surprise that the Adamses for whom this hill was once named had been the same family who had sheltered us at their farm when we came to America in 1951, and without whom we would not have ended up in Maine. My first playmates from whom I learned to speak English were Floyd and Leona’s sons, Jimmy, Billy, and “Butchie.” Floyd’s father, I learned sixty years later (at a York/Adams family reunion), had driven their cattle up from the farm where we lived near Wilton, to graze on this very same Adams Hill in the summer.
The finished cabin
In this same year also, while I was working on this book, we learned to our amazement that my nephew Charlie (Charlie H. Sewall) is a lineal descendant of the Sewall brothers who originally explored this region and who found the initials “Th Webb” inscribed in the bark of a tree along the “pond” they named Webb Lake, which is the centerpiece of the Weld area. My sister Marianne’s husband, Charles F. Sewall, had found and photographed the gravestone of an “Esq.” Dummer Sewall (1761–1846) in the nearby village of Chesterville, the site of the bog which in the 1970s was central to my field studies of bumblebees and resulted in my first book, Bumblebee Economics. My in-laws then learned that a Dummer Sewall from Bath, Maine, had been deeded land in Chesterville, as a reward for his surveying work in the area around Webb Lake, so the gravestone they found of their ancestor in nearby Chesterville may be that of the very same person who originally explored this area which I now call home. I wonder if the Sewall brothers had perchance climbed the Hill for a view in a clearing there, and stood near the site of the same apple tree under which Helen York had posed for her picture while sitting on the stone wall over a hundred years ago. I doubt it, but it is possible. Remains of the stump of the old apple tree under which Helen York sat (see the chapter “Of Trees, Rocks, a Bear, and a Home”) are still there.
Most recently the old apple tree gave me one more surprise. It was on August 24, 2012, when at 8:00 a.m. I was walking past it down the Hill to Alder Brook. A wispy smokelike plume was rising from the stump and percolating through the green foliage of the fast-growing maple trees for the eventual sugaring grove. As I came closer, I saw that every centimeter of the huge stump was shimmering. Sunlight was glinting off the moving wings of tens and maybe hundreds of thousands of black ants. They were “alates” (the sexuals) that were leaving their home on their nuptial flight. Among them were also almost as many honey-colored (wingless) workers, which would submerge back into the ground of their home and never leave it alive. Each of the (temporarily—they shed them soon after their flight) winged ants lingered briefly as it came from deep within the ground that is honeycombed with the rotting roots of this old apple tree that had been their home, and then it launched upward, beat its weak wings on its hopeful flight for a mate and a home, and was then blown away by the breeze.
Acknowledgments
MANY PEOPLE HAVE SHARED MY HOME IN MAINE, AND THEIR love for it and the land surrounding York Hill, as well as their companionship and inspiration, has solidified my attachment to the place. In particular they include Charlie Sewall, Lynn Jennings, Glenn Booma, and Kerry Hardy. I thank the late Albert Sawyer and his son A. Kendall Sawyer and Anne Agan for pictures and valuable historic information about York Hill. The chapter titled “Of Trees, Rocks, a Bear, and a Home” is adapted from an article previously published in Yankee magazine. Randolf and Mechtild Menzel, and George Happ and Christy Yuncker, gave me homes away from home on research expeditions that brought me up close to the homing behavior of bees and sandhill cranes, respectively. I am especially grateful for the friendship of Timothy Otter and for his sharing his information on ladybird beetles. I have over the years had input from Lincoln Brower on monarch butterflies, Robert “Swifty” Stevenson on tropical migrant butterflies, Randolf Menzel and Thomas Seeley on honeybees, Theunis Piersma and Robert Gill on shorebirds, Kent McFarland on thrushes, Eric Hanson on loons, David Ehrenfeld on sea turtles, David McPheters and Kerry Hardy on eels, Peter Gillette on star movements, Julie Reid and Ruth O’Leary on geese, and Gary Clowers on a mouse. Douglas Morse and Larry Weber introduced me to spiders and identified Charlotte, Kristof Zyskowski and James Prozek provided leadership and companionship during the trip into the wilds of Suriname. Craig Neff and Parmelia Markwood introduced me to the fascinating works of Maria Sibylla Merian. Andors Kiss and David Russell gave valuable information in answer to various questions. Sandy Dijkstra provided early suggestions on an initial draft proposal for this book. Homing in on the writing then led to twists and turns, providing unanticipated insights and constant temptation to stray. For much-needed focus and refinement I owe my sincere gratitude to the patience and guidance of my editor, Deanne Urmy, and copy editor, Barbara Wood. The ultimate responsibility for this book, though, is strictly my own.
Further Reading
Introduction
Albatrosses
Akesson, S., and H. Weimerkirsch. Albatross long-distance navigation: Comparing adults and juveniles. Journal of Navigation 58 (2005): 365–73.
Bonadonna, F., C. Bajzak, S. Benhamou, K. Igloi, P. Jouventin, H. P. Lipp, and G. Dell’Omo. Orientation in the wandering albatross: Interfering with magnetic per
ception does not affect orientation performance. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 273 (2005): 489–95.
Fisher, H. I. Experiments on homing in Laysan albatrosses, Diomedea immutabilis. Condor 73 (1971): 389–400.
Loons
Evers, D. C. “Population Ecology of the Common Loon at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge, Michigan: Results From the First Color-Marked Breeding Population.” In The Loon and Its Ecosystem, edited by L. Morse, S. Stockwell, and M. Pokras, 202–12. Concord, NH: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1993.
Mager, J. N., C. Walcott, and W. H. Piper. Nest platforms increase aggressive behavior in common loons. Naturwissenschaften 95 (2008): 141–47.
McIntyre, J. W. The Common Loon: Spirit of Northern Lakes. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1988.
Piper, W. H., D. C. Evers, M. W. Meyer, K. B. Tischler, J. D. Kaplan, and R. C. Fleischer. Genetic monogamy in the common loon (Gavia immer). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 41 (1997): 25– 31.
Piper, W. H., J. N. Mager, and C. Walcott. Marking loons, making progress. American Scientist 99 (2011): 220–27.
Piper, W. H., K. B. Tischler, and M. Klich. Territory acquisition in loons: The importance of take-over. Animal Behaviour 59 (2000): 385–94.
Piper, W. H., C. Walcott, J. N. Mager, and F. J. Spilker. Fatal battles in common loons: A preliminary analysis. Animal Behaviour 75 (2008): 1109–15.
Cranes Coming Home
Sandhill Cranes
Burke, A. M. Sandhill crane, Grus canadensis, nesting in the Yukon wetland complex, Saskatchewan. Canadian Field Naturalist 117 (2003): 224–29.
Forsberg, M. On Ancient Wings: The Sandhill Cranes of North America. Lincoln, NB: Michael Forsberg Photography, 2004.
Krapu, G., G. C. Iverson, K. J. Reinecke, and C. M. Boise. Fat deposition and usage by Arctic-nesting sandhill cranes during spring. The Auk 102 (1985): 362–68.
Miller, R. S., and W.J.D. Stephen. Spatial relationships in flocks of sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis). Ecology 47 (1966): 323– 27.
Russell, N., and K. J. McGowan. Dance of the cranes: Crane symbolism at Çatalhöyük and beyond. Antiquity 77, no. 297 (2003): 445– 55.
Yuncker, C., and G. M. Happ. http://www.AlaskaSandhillCrane.com/. A website with history and excellent photographs of the cranes described in this chapter.
———. Sandhill Crane Display Dictionary: What Cranes Say with Their Body Language. Dunedin, FL: Waterford Press, 201.
Human-Guided Migration of Cranes
www.operationmigration.org.
Beelining
American Frontier Lore of Bees
St. John de Crèvecoeur, H. Letters From an American Farmer: Describing Certain Provincial Situations, Manners, and Customs, Not Generally Known; and Conveying Some Idea of the Late and Present Interior Circumstances of the British Colonies of North America. 1782.
Homing Orientation by Honeybees
Chittka, L., and K. Geiger. Honeybee long-distance orientation in a controlled environment. Ethology 99 (1995): 117–26.
Hsu, C.-Y., and C.-W. Li. Magnetoreception in honeybees. Science 265 (1994): 95–96.
Menzel, R., K. Geiger, L. Chittka, J. Joerges, J. Kunze, and U. Müller. The knowledge base of bee navigation. J. Exp. Biol. 199 (1996): 141–46.
Menzel, R., and M. Giurfa. Dimensions of cognition in an insect, the honeybee. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews 5 (2006): 24–40.
Menzel, R., U. Greggers, A. Smith, S. Berger, R. Brandt, S. Brunke, G. Bundrock, S. Hülse, T. Plümpe, F. Schaupp, E. Schüttler, S. Stach, J. Stindt, N. Stollhoff, and S. Watzl. Honey bees navigate according to a map-like spatial memory. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 102, no. 8 (2005): 3040–45.
Menzel, R., A. Kirbach, W. D. Haass, B. Fischer, J. Fuchs, M. Koblofsky, K. Lehmann, L. Reiter, H. Meyer, H. Nguyen, S. Jones, P. Norton, and U. A. Greggers. A common frame of reference for learned and communicated vectors in honeybee navigation. Current Biology 21 (2011): 645–50.
Riley, J. R., U. A. Greggers, A. D. Smith, D. R. Reynolds, and R. Menzel. The flight paths of honeybees recruited by the waggle dance. Nature 435 (2005): 205–7.
Desert Ants
Müller, R., and R. Wehner. Path integration in desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 85 (1988): 5287–90.
Seid, M. A., and R. Wehner. Delayed axonal pruning in the ant brain: A study of developmental trajectories. Developmental Neurobiology 69 (2009): 350–64.
Stieb, S. M., T. S. Münz, R. Wehner, and W. Rössler. Visual experience and age affect synaptic organization in the mushroom bodies of the desert ant Cataglyphis fortis. Developmental Neurobiology 70 (2010): 408–23.
Getting to a Good Place
General Reference
Dingle, H. Migration: The Biology of Life on the Move. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Monarch Butterfly Migration
Brower, L. P. Understanding and misunderstanding the migration of the monarch butterfly (Nymphalidae) in North America: 1857–1995. Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society 49 (1995): 304–85.
Brower, L. P., L. S. Fink, and P. Walford. Fueling the fall migration of the monarch butterfly. Integrative and Comparative Biology 46 (2006): 1123–42.
Etheredge, J. A., S. M. Perez, O. R. Taylor, and R. Jander. Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus L.) use a magnetic compass for navigation. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 96, no. 24 (1999): 13845– 46.
Froy, O., A. L. Gotter, A. L. Casselman, and S. M. Reppert. Illuminating the circadian clock of monarch butterfly migration. Science 300 (2003): 1303–5.
Mouritsen, H., and B. J. Frost. Virtual migration in tethered flying monarch butterflies reveals their orientation mechanisms. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 99, no. 15 (2002): 10162–66.
Reppert, S. M., H. S. Zhu, and R. H. White. Polarized light helps monarch butterflies navigate. Current Biology 14 (2004): 155– 58.
Riley, C. V. A swarm of butterflies. American Entomologist, September 1868, 28–29.
Urquhart, F. A. The Monarch Butterfly: International Traveler. Ellison Bay, WI: Wm. Caxton Ltd., 1987.
Zhu, H., A. Casselman, and S. M. Reppert. Chasing migration genes: A brain expressed sequence tag resource for summer and migrating monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus). PLoS 3: e1293 (2008).
Zhu, H., I. Sauman, Q. Yuan, A. Casselman, M. Emery-Le, P. Emery, and S. M. Reppert. Cryptochromes define a novel circadian clock mechanism in monarch butterflies that may underlie sun compass navigation. PLoS Biol 6: e4 (2008).
Monarch Butterfly Overwintering
Brower, L. P., E. H. Williams, L. S. Fink, R. R. Zubieta-Hernández, and M. I. Ramírez. Monarch butterfly clusters provide microclimatic advantages during the overwintering season in Mexico. Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society 62, no. 4 (2008): 177–88.
Brower, L. P., E. H. Williams, D. A. Slayback, L. S. Fink, M. I. Ramírez, R. R. Zubieta Hernandez, M. I. Limon Garcia, P. Gier, J. A. Lear, and T. Van Hook. Oyamel fir forest trunks provide thermal advantages for overwintering monarch butterflies in Mexico. Insect Conservation and Diversity 2 (2009): 163–75.
Slayback, D. A., and L. P. Brower. Further aerial surveys confirm the extreme localization of overwintering monarch butterfly colonies in Mexico. American Entomologist 53 (2007): 146–49.
Other Lepidoptera
Chapman, J. W., K. S. Lim, and D. R. Reynolds. The significance of midsummer movements of Autographa gamma: Implications for a mechanistic understanding of orientation behavior in a migrant moth. Current Biology 59 (2013): 360–67.
Chapman, J. W., R. L. Nesbit, L. E. Burgin, D. R. Reynolds, A. D. Smith, D. R. Middleton, and J. K. Hill. Flight orientation behaviors promote optimal migration trajectories in high-flying insects. Science 327 (2010): 682–85.
Haber, W. A., and R. D. Stevenson. “Biodiversity, Migration, and Conservation of Butterflies in Northern Costa Rica.” In Biodiversity Conservation in Costa Rica: Learning the Lessons in the Seasonally Dry Forest, edited by G. Frankie, A. Mata, and S. B. Vinson, 99–114. Berkeley: University
of California Press, 2004.
Orsak, L. J. The Butterflies of Orange County, California. Berkeley: Center for Pathobiology Misc. Publ. #3, University of California Press, 1977.
Desert Locusts
Stower, W. J. The colour patterns of hoppers of the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria Forskal). Anti-Locust Bull. 32 (1959): 1–75.
Sword, G. A., S. J. Simpson, O. Taleb, M. El Hadi, and H. Wilps. Density-dependent aposematism in the desert locust. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 267 (2000): 63–68.
Dragonfly Migration
May, M. A critical overview of progress in studies of migration of dragonflies (Odonata: Anisoptera), with emphasis on North America. J. of Insect Conservation 17 (2013): 1–15.
Wikelski, M., D. Moskowitz, J. S. Adelman, J. Cochran, D. S. Wilcove, and M. May. Simple rules guide dragonfly migration. Biology Letters 2 (2006): 325–29.
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