IT HAS BEEN a banner year for wildlife in my backyard, and each evening my wife and I enjoy the show from the back porch.
Pairs of bluebirds, robins, phoebes and Chipping Sparrows tend to their second nests of the season, while the young of their first broods search the backyard for insects and earthworms.
Each nest was within 25 ft. of the house. The bluebirds used an old Downy Woodpecker hole in a dead apple tree just off the porch. The robins nested inside an open shed. The phoebes built their nest under the roof at the cellar door. And the chippies used a blue spruce that I planted nearly 20 years ago after using it as a live Christmas tree.
Two mammal species have had similar success. In the evening, as many as 10 cottontails scamper around the lawn, and I think a White-tailed Deer gave birth to a fawn on the edge of the yard. One evening my wife spooked the fawn from its bed while doing yard work. And a few days later, I glanced out the kitchen window and noticed a doe browsing at the bottom of the driveway. As mom ate, her spotted fawn ran wind sprints up and down the length of the yard. It was almost as if the fawn was showing mom it was ready to venture beyond the safety of the backyard.
But Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have been the stars of my backyard refuge. Normally I see just a few adult hummers at the feeders from the time they arrive until mid-July. Then young start coming off the nest, and their numbers increase dramatically. Many years I can count 12 to 20 hummers feeding at any one time after mid-July.
This year is different. I saw the normal few hummers through June 16. Then on June 17, the population tripled and has been growing ever since. These observations suggest that females began nesting within days of their return on April 26.
I HAVE MORE delightful creatures than a Nature Sanctuary! I have had Chimney Swifts in my chimney for years...and they are here this year too, keeping my property free of mosquitoes. My bluebird box has at least four tiny bluebirds working on fledging. The bluebirds have already fledged five youngsters this year. This one is their second brood...in prior years they have had as many as five broods!
The Gray Fox has four tiny foxes living under my shed in the Groundhog borrow. The Groundhog seems displaced and he or she is wandering...perhaps to find a new burrow location. Several Whitetail Deer spend a lot of time wandering into the yard and munching on apples. This evening there were five. One already has antlers in velvet..taller than his ears and one had an udder larger than a basketball. Last week two tiny fawns visited and nibbled a bit on fallen apples and laid down, cuddled up and took an hour nap.
On Friday evening, a violent storm was bearing down from the North and I was watching it approach through a back window...the sky was darkening and lightning was flashing when five tiny Striped Skunks waddled hurriedly down the path and slipped under the GQ. They were completely white! No black was visible. (I identify them as Striped Skunks because they are the only species that we have here.) There are often six rabbits (Cottontail) chewing their way around the yard and they raise their young under my deck which is just six inches off the ground and at least that many Grey Squirrels scurrying from here to there doing all their busy stuff.
From time to time we have bats. I love to have them but I think that the competition from the Chimney Swifts may force then to move to a less competitive space.
There are often Black Snakes in the shed....and I'm pleased to have them there. Sometimes snake sheds hang from the rafters. On two occasions, Copperheads.
The birds here are worthy of an Audubon Society Chapter's bird walk. Blue Grosbeaks nest within 75 feet of the Skunks' hideaway. ( Which is directly under my feet as I type.) We have Indigo Buntings and Towhees. For the last two months I have heard a Poor- Will calling in the very early morning hours. Note that this is a relative of, but not the same as, a Whip-Poor-Will. The Whip-Poor-Will was common here for many years but now seems to be absent.
Contrary to many habitats in the area, there are more Great Horned Owls heard here than Barred Owls. (That could well be because of the skunks!) Today I saw Purple Finches darting around in the apple trees. I've lived her for 30 years and I can confidently say that I have seen at least a hundred species of birds here. I have kept a list. I won't bore you with it unless you'd like to have it.
I feel privileged and proud to live in an extraordinary wildlife habitat, much of which I have developed and enhanced. I can't imagine one being more complete. Or, any other wild creatures that I'd like to attract.
I worry only about the skunks under my feet. (This may become a trapping and relocation project.) I do often get a whiff of their defensive power.... as I am receiving right now.
Jack Lewnes WindStar National Master Naturalist Port Republic, MD
I'M FROM MA and recently came across your website when trying to figure out what to do. My dog recently found a baby rabbits nest, and somehow dug one out of the hole. She bit the baby and it was bleeding a little bit, so I picked the baby up and put it back in its hole in the ground. The baby seemed to be okay, just somewhat freightened....I just want to make sure its' mother is going to take care of it. Do you think it will??
A SWEEPING bill introduced last week in Congress would mandate that wildlife habitat preservation "should guide the stewardship of America's public lands," a policy that, if implemented, could upend current land management policies and create new challenges for renewable energy development across the West.
The bill, sponsored by Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI) and Walter Jones (R-NC), is aimed at the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service, which must adhere to a "multiple-use" principle of land management that makes room for oil and gas drilling, minerals mining and timber harvesting alongside recreation and habitat protection.
"This legislation is badly needed to put wildlife on an equal footing with other sustainable uses of our federal lands," said Kind, the seven-term lawmaker from western Wisconsin, in a statement. "Unfortunately, in recent years we have seen an increasing emphasis on extractive uses to the detriment of wildlife species."
Environmentalists hailed the "America's Wildlife Heritage Act" as a landmark bill and the first comprehensive conservation legislation in 30 years. Among other things, they said it could steer wind farms and solar arrays away from sensitive wildlife habitat, and assist federal land managers developing wildlife corridors through which plants and animals could migrate north as the climate warms.
One of the bill's boldest provisions--and one sure to draw fire from opponents--is a measure requiring federal land managers to identify as many as 20 "focal species" for each land unit that would act as proverbial canaries in the coal mine with respect to potentially harmful activities.
"Fish and wildlife have taken a back seat to oil and gas leasing and other uses of federal lands for too long," and Kind's bill would "level the playing field as our nation's multiple-use laws have always intended," said Steve Williams, president of the nonprofit Wildlife Management Institute, which has lobbied Congress on wildlife issues for nearly a century.
In lieu of open-ended management, BLM and the Forest Service would have to "plan for and manage" their lands in such a manner as to "maintain sustainable populations of native species and desired non-native species within each planning area," according to the bill, which defines a planning area as an individual BLM or Forest Service unit.
But the legislation also directs BLM and the Forest Service to "ensure that any activity authorized, funded, or carried out within the planning area does not increase the likelihood" of harming wildlife populations in those areas.
Peter Nelson, federal lands program director for Defenders of Wildlife, said the bill's intent is not to prevent wind farms, solar arrays and geothermal power plants on BLM and Forest Service land from being built. Rather, he said, the legislation calls for energy projects to be designed in a way that sustains wildlife populations.
Another of the bill's goals is to ensure that federal land managers begin the process of identifying and preserving undeveloped migration corridors that will ease the gradual shift of plants and animals as their traditional habitats become unsuitable due to climate change.
The legislation states that federal land "will play an important role in the ability of fish, plants, and wildlife to adapt to and survive global warming’s mounting impacts."
The International Panel on Climate Change estimates average temperatures in the United States could warm 7 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. Scientists have calculated that for every increase of 1.8 degrees, the U.S. vegetation belt shifts 60 miles north or 550 ft. higher in elevation.
As the vegetation moves, thousands of species will rely on the nation's remaining undeveloped spaces to seek out new habitat.
But because so much of the nation's 624 million acres of federal land are crossed by highways, transmission lines and other infrastructure, wildlife biologists, environmental groups and some policymakers are promoting more heavily the idea of establishing national wildlife corridors.
The America's Wildlife Heritage Act is one of three legislative efforts before Congress that touch on the issue of wildlife corridors. The others are the "Climate Change Safeguards for Natural Resources Conservation Act" and the "Border Security and Responsibility Act," which among other things discusses restoring wildlife migration routes severed by the controversial U.S.-Mexico border fence . Rep. Raúl Grijalva, (D-Ariz.), is the chief sponsor of both bills.
One model that BLM and the Forest Service could use for establishing such corridors comes from the nonprofit sector.
For more than a decade, the Wildlands Network has coordinated efforts to carefully plot migration corridors that link public lands already protected under state and federal statutes. The group's Western director, Kim Vacariu, said those efforts have involved both BLM and the Forest Service as well as private landowners who have agreed to voluntarily set aside property to aid wildlife migrations.
Eventually the network hopes to establish a 5,000-mile wildlife corridor from Mexico to Alaska to be called the "Spine of the Continent Wildway." Passage of the Wildlife Heritage Act will provide an important step toward making that corridor a reality, Vacariu said.
I WAS READING some of your blog entries, and I was wondering if you may be able to answer a question for me. While I have read that ladybug houses are beneficial, I can’t seem to keep wasps out of mine. I guess that the entrance makes a good place for a nest. I read what you said about keeping wasps away with mint, but will that hurt the ladybugs too? I want to try and use something as natural as possible as I don’t want chemicals everywhere. Plus I hate to kill the wasps I just don’t want them on my porch!
NOW THIS may seem a bit odd to you. To think about insects, let alone feeding them.
There is no time like the present to plan ahead if you want birds in your yard year round. Birds and animals depend on different foods at different times of the year. They are opportunistic when it comes to food and will eat a wider variety of food if it is available. This also means more and different birds in your yard.
Many native plants provide food for insects and birds. When young trees or wildflowers sprout in an inconvenient place, too close to the back door, or in front of a window or near a sidewalk, the temptation is to remove it right now. You may consider transplanting it or waiting till the end of the growing season to remove it.
Why?
A little black chokeberry tree (Aronia melanocarpa) is a wonderful host for Tiger Swallowtails Butterflies (see photo). The larvae will feed birds and keep your butterfly population going strong. Allow the tree to grow and the fruits will feed multiple species of birds and small mammals. By waiting, you enjoy the best of nature.
You as a gardener might believe that by planting a butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) native to China, that you are helping butterflies. Butterfly bushes are merely attracting the adults who sip the nectar (which plays an important role). Hummingbirds enjoy them as well. However, the plant cannot be eaten by the butterfly larvae. And, it can be invasive.
You need to attract insects in the larvae and nymph stages. You must plant native plants that will attract the adult insects to lay eggs in your gardens. Even a lowly fly maggot, which lives inside the hard round galls often seen on the stems of goldenrod, has an important place in the ecosystem. These fly maggots are really high in proteins and fats, and chickadees love them. We feed them seeds which is good, but when they get one of those maggots, they can really make it through the cold winter night.
By cutting down and removing the goldenrod, the wild black cherry, the milkweed and other natives, you eliminate the larvae and other insects and the birds go hungry. Plant exotics and the results are very similar.
Yes, to attract birds, you must feed the insects first. Many of our neo-tropical birds are strictly insect eaters. By planting native, you feed the bugs that feed the birds.
The typical garden might hold weeping cherries, lilacs, crape myrtles and tea roses. They are beautiful, but it's a barren wasteland to native insects and thus birds. You don't have to cut down the lilacs (hummers and pollinators enjoy them) but they are doing little for the insects and other birds.
There are lists of plants for what attracts what, which was then eaten by what, and so on.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is what I believe to be the premier organization and web site to offer names of natives. Your state and province "Department of Natural Resources" or what ever name they go by will offer you suggestions as well.
Almost all North American birds other than seabirds ( 96%) feed their young with insects, which contain more protein than beef.
So the message is this:
You as gardeners and nature lovers could slow the rate of extinction and possibly prevent it, by planting natives in your yards.
For example, in the northeast, a patch of violets will feed fritillary caterpillars. A patch of phlox could support eight species of butterflies. The buttonbush shrub, which has little white flowers, feeds 18 species of butterflies and moths; and blueberry bushes, which support 288 species of moths and butterflies. Introduced species do very little for birds and butterflies.
Where there are insects and larvae, there are birds.
While it is true that many adult birds enjoy fruits and seeds, insects make up a vast majority of the diet for baby birds that require the high protein to grow fast and strong. Spicebush, viburnums, other native trees, shrubs and flowers offer more than fruits and seeds. They provide food for insects that in turn feed our birds.
If left alone, "Nature" will play out like God intended it to do. Birds, toads, frogs, lizards, beneficial insects etc. will keep other insects in check. When we flood the landscapes with toxins, "Nature" gets out of balance and then you have to worry about insect plagues.
With any habitat, offer fresh water for drinking and bathing. Mud puddles are handy for butterflies and certain birds.
Get creative, but allow nature to be your guide.
For more help, go to www.gardening-for-wildlife.com
MANY PEOPLE feed wildlife, but do they know they may as well be killing them?
Urban sprawl shrinks wild spaces at a rapid pace, disconnecting habitat and polluting (with chemicals, noise and light) the only home our wild neighbors have. Most don't have the time or ability to relocate and are instantly competing for the last remaining resources they need to survive.
In nature, most wild animal populations will grow and shrink with resource availability, but since we develop and disconnect their habitat so quickly, their populations don't have time to shrink with it. Many will encroach on other habitat, out-compete more sensitive species, become a nuisance to humans and be removed, or be hit by cars.
Though well-intentioned, when we feed wildlife, we are helping to maintain their population at a size that their home can no longer support. We are also desensitizing them to humans (a fear that they need to keep them, and you, safe) or encouraging them to stay put, thus becoming a nuisance.
Feeding alligators will lead to future encounters with humans, then they're trapped and killed. Bird feeders feed squirrels and raccoons, too, so they congregate in our neighborhoods, which can irritate people. Feeders give outdoor cats a one-stop-shopping post, too.
If you love wildlife, consider their life in the wild, and that we can't rob them of their most important skill: survival.
I SAW a bird's nest scrunched in between a school and the fire escape steps. In it were two eggs and a mother bird, who fled as soon as she saw me approaching.
Weeks later, I returned to check on the eggs. Once again, the mother fled as I climbed the stairs. As I looked into the nest, I saw a baby bird. It looked to be at least two weeks old. It had quite a bit of fuzz, and its wing was open. He was cleaning himself. He was approximately 15 centimeters long. I touched him on the back very swiftly with one finger. But as I got home and I told my parents they said that I must've killed it. I've been feeling so guilty--too guilty to check on it.
Is it really a myth that the mother will know and then will abandon it?
SPRING is in the air – time for more outdoor activities, including more time birding. It’s wonderful!
It’s also time for backyard and gardening opportunities. As most bird enthusiasts know, backyard stewardship means creating places for birds and other wildlife to feed, hide, nest, and find water. Removing invasive plants and planting native vegetation in the yard is especially vital.
And so is removing the lawn. Cookie-cutter-styled yards with manicured lawns of bluegrass and fescue don’t provide much in the way of useful bird habitat.
So here’s our tip of the month: Now is the best time to reduce your lawn to a minimum size, eliminate the use of chemicals, and even save some money! Plan to use that extra lawn space for planting a variety of species and types of plants, flowers, vines, shrubs, and bushes that are attractive to birds. Swap a monoculture of grass with a diversity of bird-attracting plant species. Minimize lawn size; maximize plant diversity.
Paul J. Baicich Editor Birding Conmunity E-Bulletin
THE TALLEST BIRD in North America is alarmingly short in number this year.
As a result, wildlife officials would like the public to report sightings as the flock migrates north.
Endangered whooping crane numbers dipped for the first time since
2001. This winter killed 21 birds, more than during any winter on
record, further straining the last wild flock's population. Experts say a poor, dry South Texas habitat is to blame. Low 2008
rainfall resulted in saltier bays and fewer blue crabs, the bird's
primary food source.
Last fall, the flock grew to 270 birds. Deaths this winter, and 34
birds that failed to return to Texas last season, dwindled the flock by
20 percent during the last year.
Whoopers spend summers in Canada and winters in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge near Rockport. Migrating cranes usually depart the Texas coast in late March and early April.
To report sightings of the flock and to
help wildlife experts track the birds, call 1-800-792-1112. Enter "9"
to exit voice mail, then enter extension "4644."
You also may e-mail Lee Ann Linam, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologist, at leeann.linam@tpwd.state.tx.us.
WindStar Wildlife Institute Thomas D. Patrick Founder & President
10072 Vista Court
Myersville, MD 21773
Phone: (301) 293-3351 Email Windstar
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About Windstar
WindStar Wildlife Institute is a national non-profit conservation organization established in 1986. WindStar is a leader in "connecting people to nature through education." In 1999 the Board of Directors decided to move the headquarters to an award-winning, passive solar and earth sheltered structure, Terra Vista, near Myersville, MD. And, a new, four-acre demonstration wildlife habitat, containing all the elements and key components, was created for members and others to visit and to get ideas for their own properties. Each year new habitat components are added. The Institute is known for its award-winning environmental education and certification programs, web site, American Wildlife Blog and outstanding use of nature photography.
