WindStar Wildlife Institute Blog

I Threw A Birthday Party For A Snake!

Black Snake

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.

Paul Eisenberg

Steger, IL

Help Identify Blue Snake

WHILE out on my walk I saw a dead snake on the side of the road.  It was a baby snake, maybe 10 inches long. It was powder blue in color. I live on the south shore of Massachusetts and have never seen anything like it before.  After some research I have come up with nothing.  The only blue snake I found was in California.  Do you have any thoughts on this?

Gail Smyth

What Species of Snake Is This?

I SAW this snake on my patio near our small koi pond yesterday.  It is about 30 inches long and I think it is a Garter Snake, but don't know for sure and whether it is dangerous. It has a blunt tail compared to other snakes I have seen so thought I should check it out. Do you know what it is?

Dan Martin
Mt. Airy, MD

Snakes Are Good For Your Garden

SNAKES have a very bad reputation among many folks because people seem to inherently fear them.  That is really a shame because snakes are terribly important in the home garden. Black Snake is a common garden visitor
    
Perhaps the number one complaint of gardeners is that there are too many moles and voles.  The moles wreak havoc by making tunnels just under the surface of lawns, resulting in upraised areas of turf that are hard to mow over.  Voles, being herbivorous, sometimes eat gardeners’ plants.  But if folks would accept snakes in the yard, they would not have serious problems with moles and voles.
    
Snakes are the prime predators of these small animals because they can slither right down into their underground dens to catch them.  A snake is the only animal with the proper anatomy to easily go into burrows.  Thus snakes are much more effective than any of the products on the market that are sold for killing or repelling moles and voles, and some of these products are horribly inhumane.
    
You should recognize that there are always going to be some moles and voles in your yard which is how it should be.  A yard without moles is a yard that will be overpopulated by beetle grubs that can harm your grass or other plants when an overpopulation of these insects feed upon the roots.  A yard that has no voles—that help limit the overpopulation of plants—is a yard that will require weeding.
    
Snakes also help to limit populations of other kinds of animals that may not be problematic for people and that homeowners may prefer not to have eaten, such as bird eggs or nestlings.  However, such predation is absolutely necessary in our world (see the January, 2007, issue of Windstar's Wildlife Garden Weekly).  We wildlife lovers have big hearts and we do not generally like to witness predation, but we have no choice but to accept nature on its own terms.
    
You should watch where you are going to avoid stepping on snakes or any other kinds of animals that may be underfoot.  And never reach into areas that you can not see into.  A yard full of wildlife is a yard to enjoy but also one in which you need to be alert.  You need not be afraid, just careful and aware.

Marlene A. Condon
Author, Nature Friendly Garden
Crozet, VA

Only A Few Days Left To See '07 Terrapins

By Scott Shalaway
TIMING IS EVERYTHING. Visit the New Jersey shore before Memorial Day or after mid-July and you'll never see a Diamondback Terrapin.

These aquatic turtles spend most of the year in the streams and salt marshes between the mainland and the barrier beach islands along the East Coast south of Cape Cod. But for about six weeks in June and early July, females leave the marsh to dig nests above the high tide line and lay eggs. (The notches visible on both sides of the rear of the diamondback hatchling's shell are marks made by the researchers to designate it as having been born on Poplar Island in Chesapeake Bay in photo by Roberto Borea, AP.)

Invariably and unerringly, they head for the barrier islands, which today are home to popular resort communities such as Avalon and Stone Harbor. On June 25, our first day at the beach this year, Sea Isle City teemed with terrapins. Dozens lumbered across streets and along sidewalks. Their destinations were "lawns" landscaped with beach gravel. I observed one female, about the size of a dinner plate, just as she reached her nesting site.

Initially, she seemed to wander aimlessly about the yard. Then, for reasons known only to her, she selected a spot and began to dig with her hind legs. Working blindly, her broad paddle-like feet shoveled alternately to sweep a small area free of gravel. When she reached the compact sandy subsurface, the task got more difficult. Each swipe of a leg threw out a scoop of sand. Her effort reminded me of a two-armed backhoe. She continued relentlessly for about 15 minutes. The completed nest was flask-shaped--wider at the bottom than the top--and as deep as her legs could reach.

As I watched from 20 ft. away so I wouldn't disturb her, she began laying eggs. In just a few minutes, she laid nine white, oblong eggs. When the final egg dropped, she immediately began to backfill the nest chamber. After returning the excavated sand, she reached widely to pull in stones to cover the nest. The entire ritual lasted about 30 minutes.

When the nest was complete, the female headed back to the salt marsh. In 16 to 17 days, she will return to the same area to nest again. Most females produce two or three clutches during the six-week nesting season. The eggs, warmed by the sun, hatch in six to seven weeks. Some quarter-sized hatchlings emerge by late summer and head to the marsh; others overwinter in the nest and emerge the following spring.

Roger Wood, director of research at the Wetlands Institute (www.wetlandsinstitute.org) in Stone Harbor, calls the hatchlings "sea gull potato chips" because gulls, crows, crabs and other predators gobble them up. Wood estimates that only one in 100 hatchlings survive to adulthood.

High predation combined with the hundreds of road-killed pregnant females make terrapin life a struggle. In fact, that's what motivated Wood to get involved. He got tired of seeing hatchlings eaten by gulls and adult females smashed by cars. Through July 3, volunteers already had picked up 273 road-killed females this year.

For 19 years Wood has assembled a growing team of volunteers, interns and colleagues to help the turtles. They have developed a turtle excluder device that keeps most terrapins out of deadly submerged crab traps. They maintain "turtle patrols" during the nesting season to rescue females crossing busy roads. And in 2004 they began erecting "turtle fences" along the causeways to keep terrapins off the roads. This alone led to an 85 percent reduction in mortality along the causeway leading to Stone Harbor.

Terrapin conservation also includes an innovative "head start" program. Volunteers collect road-killed females, remove the eggs, and incubate them in captivity. Incubation temperature determines the sex of turtles, so all head-started individuals are reared to become females and thus replace their dead mothers.

Furthermore, head-start terrapins are kept active and well fed all winter, so one year after hatching they attain a size (about 3.5 inches) that takes four or five years in nature. Head-starters 1 year old can then be released with a greatly reduced risk of predation.

Ultimately, however, the fate of diamondback terrapins rests with educating the vacationing public. Understanding terrapin biology is the first giant step. --Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Gater Provides Major Water Hazard

EDITOR'S NOTE:  Attracting more wildlife to your property is a noble and fun thing to do.  But this golfer got more than he bargained for at his golf club.

VENICE, FL--A man who lost his ball in a golf course pond nearly lost a limb when a nearly 11-ft. American Alligator latched on to his arm and pulled him in the water, authorities said.

Bruce Burger, 50, was trying to retrieve his ball Monday from a pond on the sixth hole at the Lake Venice Golf Club.The alligator latched on to Burger's right forearm and pulled him in the pond, said Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Burger used his left arm to beat the reptile until it freed him.

"I saw him reach down to get his ball and he yelled" for help, said Janet Pallo, who was playing the fifth hole and ran over to drive the man to the clubhouse.

Burger, from Lenoir City, Tenn., was taken to a hospital but was not seriously injured, Morse said Tuesday.

It took seven Fish and Wildlife officers an hour to trap the one-eyed alligator, which measured 10 feet, 11 inches, Morse said.

The pond at the sixth hole has a "Beware of Alligator" sign.

"Unfortunately, that's part of Florida," course general manager Rod Parry said. "There's wildlife in these ponds." --AP

Come and Remove Snakes

WE ARE being plagued by snakes this spring, especially with all the rain. We are finding snakes in our garages, our yards, everywhere. I have bought 5 gallons of Snake Away to keep them from getting inside the garage, but I found one in there on Friday. My yardman walked upon one on Monday and today, when I walked outside to walk my dog, there was a 3 ft. snake on the sidewalk. My neighbor had a 5 ft. snake wrapped around her doorknob one evening. Is there some group that could come and remove as many of these snakes as possible? (lives in the Dallas area)

Brenda J. Lister
bjlister@sbcglobal.net

Great Weekend For Turtles

LAST WEEKEND a big Snapping Turtle climbed out of our man-made pond at the Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Nature Center. (Eastern Mud Turtle by J. White)

The egg-laying process began about two ft. from the edge of the pond. A hole was dug...perhaps 12 or 18 inches deep. The 20 to 30 golf ball-sized eggs were laid and the pit haphazardly covered. The Snapper returned immediately to the pond. The egg laying turtle will provide no further parental care. When the young Snappers hatch in 80 to 90 days...already boldly marked on the calander...they are on their on.

The eggs, in case you have never had a chance to examine them, they are not at all like birds' eggs, in that the shell is not brittle but leathery and tough. Interestingly, the sex of the soon-to-be turtles is determined by the ambient temperature during incubation. A couple of degrees makes the difference..higher temperatures produce females.

Then, with a nature oriented group of youngsters attending, an Eastern Mud Turtle carried out the same ritual. This turtle is tiny compared to the big Snapping Turtle..it is only four inches long. It was raining today and the Mud Turtle looked very glossy and black.

After the egg laying, I picked it up briefly to check the coloring of the underside (plastron) to convince myself of its' identity. Some yellow blotches confirmed what I had thought. These tiny Mud Turtles will hatch in late summer...August, probably.

Amazingly they will stay right there until next Spring! I wonder what they do there...sleep? (estivate?) I wonder if they eat what might happen by.. While the Mud Turtle lays just a few eggs, perhaps five or six, she may repeat the process once or twice more this Summer. (If you happen to be taking the WindStar National Master Naturalist Course, the way these turtles lay eggs might be a good example of the "R" reproductive strategy!)

So.. the week-end at the Nature Center was an exhibition of turtles laying eggs.,, a rare and pleasing treat.

Jack Lewnes
WindStar Master Wildlife Habitat Naturalist
Port Republic, MD

Live and Let Live

I WAS somewhat alarmed when I read the story about the Copperhead Snakes in New Jersey. I can't imagine why someone would try to 'pin down a snake with an ice scaper' and not expect to be bitten. It then sounded like the family went on a snake hunt and I assume they killed the remaining snakes that they found after the incident. The ending remark that "they are getting too close" is a classic example of our inability to live in harmony with wildlife.

I think the article should address that if we leave animals alone they will usually not bother us. It is easy for us to forget that all animals have a place within the checks and balances of nature. It is when things are out of balance that we lose equilibrium.  I lived in Florida for many years which is home to the Diamondback, Coral and many other venomous snakes. I learned to live within a respectful distance when possible. The local phone book even listed a description, drawing and common sense advice on what to do if encountering snakes and other venomous wildlife in the state.

Please let people know that there are alternatives to living with feared or 'nuisance' wildlife rather than killing them and to never try to corner or capture a snake or any other wild animal!. 

Kathy  McDonald
Cleves, OH

New Feature: Let's Build A List of Wildlife Tips!

ONE OF THE BEST read features of WindStar's  previous e-newsletters and e-magazines has been the "Tips For Wildlife" section. Many of you have asked about adding this to the blog.  We heard you and we will do it. We'll start it off with this item about safflower.  You can add more tips by simply clicking on "Comments" at the end of this tip.

Tip:   Do you want to be a little more exclusive in your birdfeeding?
Safflower may be the solution for you. Many of your favorite birds will enjoy safflower. Blackbirds, grackles and even squirrels typically don't. Offer safflower gradually, mixing it with the seed you currently provide. Over time you'll end up with a dining spot for all kinds of birds, including House Finches, woodpeckers, nuthatches and chickadees!