A FEW YEARS AGO, I threw a birthday party for my son, when an unexpected guest arrived.It was a large snake, about 3 or 4 ft. long and black, that slithered up my wooden fence in an attempt to get at a birdhouse where sparrow chicks had just hatched.
My guests, most hailing from suburbs more urban than my own, were amazed. Heck, I was too. It was quite a spectacle.
Before the snake could make good on its meal plans, I used a garden rake to gently remove it from the fence, took it to the back of my yard and released it.I never saw that particular snake again, but every summer as the temperatures warm up, I see its smaller cousins, garter snakes, throughout my yard. Having grown up in one of the more urban suburbs, I'm continually delighted to see snakes.
My childhood was nearly devoid of wildlife sightings, aside from squirrels and the occasional deer.Here in Steger, though, I've been exposed to many more species. Last summer, I spotted a blue heron squatting on top of my backyard shed, seemingly solving the long-running mystery at my home of what was happening to the goldfish in my little plastic-lined backyard pond.
A Groundhog has taken up residence under that shed as well, and while it has been known to defoliate some of my pepper plants, I plant enough that it's not a problem. I saw my first-ever oriole this year, feasting on the fruit from my mulberry tree, and hawks and other birds of prey are almost commonplace as they circle the skies over my house.
Crawfish occasionally creep up from the drainage ditch, and I keep an eye out for toads as I mow the grass.It all adds up to an enjoyable experience that adds some unexpected excitement for my wife, son and me in our everyday life.
But not everybody agrees with me. My neighbors on both sides, who both happen to be women, abhor the snakes in particular. One went so far as to place mothballs all over her back yard to ward them off, making visits to her home reminiscent of entering an unused closet.
On the other side of me, my neighbor and her husband are at odds over snakes. She hates them, he likes them. He told me not long ago that a garter snake actually entered their house recently, causing quite a commotion. Snakes have never entered my home, but I can imagine the hubbub, as my wife is no fan of snakes, either.It doesn't matter that snakes are actually good garden denizens. They eat bugs and mice. Their excrement doesn't constitute hidden land mines, as that of other animals. And they make interesting discoveries for kids.Plus, they're harmless.
My cat often catches garter snakes, and while I've seen the snake try to strike at my cat, its fangs evidently had no effect. I've picked them up with no sign of aggression. While I would be more hesitant to handle a snake such as the large one who showed up at my boy's birthday party, I do know that there are no poisonous snake species in our neck of the woods.
Last month, a message appeared on the Internet about a Steger resident who had spotted what he or she thought was a Massasauga Rattlesnake. They called police, who eventually killed the animal. I put in a call to the Steger Police Department to ask if there was an actual rattlesnake sighting in Steger, and the woman who answered the phone replied, "I don't think so."
While anything is possible, my guess is that the snake was misidentified, unless climate change is expanding the territories of more southern-based critters earlier than we thought.
Observing wildlife is one of summer's small pleasures. And rather than being afraid of the animals out there, try to take some time to watch them and show them to your kids. After all, there's enough to be afraid of out there without including the little critters with whom we share our yards.
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
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.
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
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
I AM a walker, not a runner. I walk along the edge of a lake. I want to slow life down a bit if that is possible. I see the green reflection of the trees on the blue of the water, one dependent on the other.
I seek this day to be out in nature. I wish to spend some time away from the clock. I need to escape from things that demand much of me. I need to walk without purpose—without the necessity of doing much calculated thinking. I want to find a place away from the hollering billboards, the screaming headlines, the blaring TVs and radios and the roaring automobiles.
I have found a place to go to be quiet, but it is not a place of silence. For a moment, the music of life is clear. A tree sings to me. Is it the wind or just my imagination? Whatever it is, it speaks to something deep inside me. I stop and listen to the grasses whispering in the breeze. The leaves of the trees rustle slightly as an accompaniment. It seems as though the grasses and the trees whip themselves around until the wind blows.
As I walk, I hear the same sounds that walkers like me have been hearing for ages.
This walk is yet another great gift of nature. It offers me freedom from the incessant tail chasing that sometimes becomes my life. Putting one foot in front of another down this path softens the boundaries of my imagination.
The Hopis believe that their prayers keep this world spinning on its axis. I can’t help but believe that my quiet walk must do the same.
There is a magic to be found in a walk along the shores of this beautiful lake. I feel as though I belong in this place. A walk here allows me to forget the bad things in the world and forces me to remember the good things. And all I have to do is to listen.
Al Batt Naturalist/Writer/Storyteller Hartland, MN
THERE ARE kind, animal loving, folks who would never intentionally hurt a mouse. I happen to be beautifully and happily settled literally in the woods. I have lived in a generally serene condition here for 30 years. I have often said that I'd be happy to live here until I no longer need a place to live. But yesterday the damned mice...yes, the DAMNED mice...gave me a chunk of motivation. Where are my desperately needed friends, the Barred Owl and the beloved Black snake? Where have all the mouse eaters gone?
The deer have eaten all of my persimmon plantings. They camp in my back yard all summer to eat the apples. Do you ever hear me say, "Those damned deer?"
Yesterday, my lawn/garden tractor, which is less than two years old, just quit in the middle of the yard. My first thought was, "Hey, out of gas." Nope. Finally, I lifted the engine cover to find a mound of fiberglass insulation about the size of Farmer Jones' straw hat on top of the engine. (This "cute mouse nest" was built within a week.) So there was a pound or two of fiberglass insulation sucked into the engine.
I'm thinking this means very big bucks in repair cost, certainly three figures and probably four. So send me some mouse eaters, please.
Jack Lewnes WindStar National Master Naturalist Port Republic, MD
RECENTLY, I came across a childhood photograph of me leaning against a big old oak tree. My smile appeared to make up half the photo. With this image as my inspiration, I retire to the woods to do some serious sitting. I walk directly to the right place. I lean back against the same oak the camera caught those many years ago.
The oak is well anchored to this spot. I quickly discover that I am, too. This is a place to receive messages, a place to be quiet and reflect. A place to listen to myself. It pleases me to be here. I feel a sense of belonging. The incipient green around me is soothing to my eyes.
I watch the tiny warblers flitting about in the branches above me. They are passing through on their migration north. They are in a hurry, but at least for this afternoon, I am not. Like the birds, I, too, am just passing through.
I have been fortunate in finding the place where I ought to be this day. The warblers need to be somewhere else. I need to be here. I hear an eagle's cry. I look high above my comforting oak tree and see the large raptor travel across the sky. For once, I watch without a bit of envy. A smile fills my day.
By Len Wells
FAIRFIELD, IL--Pam Blevins moved into a small apartment here a few months ago after losing her husband to Alzheimer's disease.
Soon afterward, her own health started to decline.
First, it was a growing weakness in her hands, then her legs. Doctors first thought she may have suffered a stroke, but the tests were negative.
After several rounds of tests at three area hospitals, doctors decided she likely had a form of muscular dystrophy. To say the least, the news was depressing. Her children are all raised and gone, and life in that small apartment started to close in on her.
But one sunny morning this spring, Blevins heard an unusual noise just outside her sun porch. It sounded like birds squawking, but she couldn't figure out where the sound was coming from.
She opened the door that leads out onto a small balcony where her gas grill sits, and the noise grew louder. Still, she couldn't find the source of the bird noise. Looking under the eves, she found no nests like barn swallows often build with wads of mud and tiny sticks, and still no evidence of where the sound was coming from.
Back inside, Blevins turned her TV on and settled in to watch another episode of "Judge Judy." The courtroom drama drowned out the sound of the birds.
A few days later, as the spring weather finally improved, Blevins decided she might fire up her gas grill and cook a hamburger for lunch.
"I decided I had better give it a good cleaning first," she said. "There's no telling the last time that thing was used." Armed with a spray bottle of cleaner and a brush, she lifted the grill lid and was shocked at what she saw. Instead of a blackened gas grill grate in need of a good scrubbing, there were five baby robins with their gaping mouths open wide, waiting for another meal. "I guess they thought I was going to feed them," she said. "I just closed the lid and watched for their mom to come back."
Mom did come back, and the in and out flights through the back vent hole of the grill have provided quite a bit of entertainment for Blevins. That is, until she heard firecrackers going off in the woods just west of her house. It was enough to startle her and her five new friends, the gas grill robins.
"I looked out, and there was a guy throwing firecrackers into the edge of the woods," she said. "I couldn't imagine what he was up to."
As the smoke settled, she figured out the man's target. It was a fox and three of its young. Scared half to death, they scurried out of the woods into her backyard, then disappeared into the woods off to the north. Eventually, the man left and the fox family returned unharmed.
Now, Blevins has even more entertainment. Every evening, just before dusk, the foxes come out of the woods into her backyard to play.
Between the gas grill robins and mother fox and her three babies, Blevins should have quite an entertaining Mother's Day.--Evansville Courier and Press
WindStar Wildlife Institute Thomas D. Patrick Founder & President
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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.
