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WindStar Wildlife Garden Weekly e-Magazine |  |
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Welcome to
By Scott Shalaway
They usually arrive shortly before Christmas and quickly find the white millet, cracked corn and black oil sunflower seeds that fall from the feeders hanging overhead. (A banded Fox Sparrow is held by a research scientist in photo by Doug Oster.) Despite their name, Tree Sparrows are not forest birds. They nest in northern Canada and Alaska among the stunted trees and shrubs that characterize the tundra. Because of the tundra's short growing season, Tree Sparrows raise only a single brood. The female builds the nest on the ground or in a small spruce or willow. She incubates an average of five eggs for about 12 days, then the male helps feed the brood. The chicks leave the nest at about 10 days of age and can fly four to five days later. In the fall, Tree Sparrows head south in search of food and more hospitable weather. By mid to late December, they reach the temperate latitudes. I find visits by Tree Sparrows particularly gratifying because they travel so far. Here, Tree Sparrows inhabit old fields, forest edges and marshes where they roam in flocks of 30 to 40 individuals. Within these flocks, smaller sub-groups of four to eight birds travel and feed together. Look for these smaller groups to visit feeding stations. They subsist almost entirely on seeds of weeds and grasses. A Tree Sparrow is among the easiest of all the native sparrows to identify. At first, it may suggest a Chipping Sparrow, a common summer resident that winters much farther south. Look for a rusty cap, a rusty line through the eye, a distinctly two-toned bill --dark above, yellow below--two white wing bars and most conspicuously, a plain gray breast punctuated by a dark central spot. This distinctive "stickpin" makes identification easy for even beginners. Another winter visitor whose arrival often coincides with the holiday season is the Fox Sparrow. I don't see foxies every year, but when I do, it's a treat. Among the largest sparrows, they measure about seven inches long and sport a bright rusty plumage. Heavy streaking across their chest converges to form a distinct central spot. When I see a Fox Sparrow, I'm reminded of a big rusty Song Sparrow. Like Trees Sparrows, foxies nest across northern Canada and Alaska in openings and along edges of the boreal forest. So when they visit, I know there's a good chance they, too, have traveled long and hard. A few years ago, in an attempt to provide Tree Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Song Sparrows and White-throated Sparrows with a protected feeding area, I devised a simple multi-level platform feeder. Place a 3 ft. by 5 ft. piece of exterior plywood on top of two sawhorses. Then set two concrete blocks on top of the plywood and cover them with a smaller piece of plywood. Anchor the whole arrangement with another concrete block. This set-up creates a large, three-tiered platform feeder for ground feeders. The ground is reasonably protected by the first tabletop, and initially birds congregate there. But the middle level is protected by a roof that is only as high as the concrete blocks; expect birds to gather here when it snows. Another simple way to enhance a backyard feeding station is to place used Christmas trees near feeders. Collect several after the neighbors put them out for the trash collector, and tie them together so they don't blow away. A few old Christmas trees provide ground feeding birds with protective cover from snow and wind and safe haven from hungry hawks and cats. Cardinals, woodpeckers and chickadees may be the stars at feeding stations, but don't ignore the handsome native sparrows that often forage inconspicuously on the ground. Many have traveled a long way to reach your backyard. –Pittsburgh Post Gazette
STATES HAVE pondered why critters cross the road and are spending taxpayer dollars to get them safely to the other side. Transportation and wildlife departments are designing a series of “critter crossings”--underpasses, overpasses and fences--so that animals aren’t fenced in by roads. The goal is to reduce the harm highways inflict on habitats as suburban sprawl carries roads deeper into forests and wetlands while making roadways safer for humans and animals. Nick Timiraos of Stateline.org writes that scientists locate potential crossings in areas where animals are known to travel by identifying migration paths or simply noticing stretches of pavement littered with roadkill. They try to create an opening that looks natural and safe for animals. Jeffrey Collins, an ecologist at the Massachusetts Audubon Society, said animals respond better to shorter and wider tunnels and can take months to become comfortable using underpasses. In Maine, the threat is Moose. In Washington, Elk. In Massachusetts, Whitetail Deer. Florida has led the way in critter crossings with a series of 24 underpasses and 10-ft. fences to protect the endangered Florida Panther along 40 miles of Florida’s I-75 Alligator Alley constructed beginning in the 1980s. The wildlife crossings and fences have decreased panther road mortalities, according to a 2001 study by the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission. California underpasses in the Mojave Desert protect the region’s tortoises. Two tunnels in Amherst, MA, help guide migrating salamanders across a road to warm, fishless mating ponds. Washington state is scheduled to build a series of wildlife passages in 2011 in the Snoqualmie Pass, a 15-mile stretch of land through dense mountainous forests along I-90. At $100 million, the seven-year project would be the most extensive and expensive of its kind in the United States. Tony Clevenger, a wildlife ecologist at the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University, said a similar series of 22 underpasses and two overpasses along the Trans-Canada Highway in Alberta’s Banff National Park have helped decrease elk and deer deaths by 95 percent. Total roadkills are down by 80 percent, Clevenger said. Now cars aren’t killing elk, wolves are. “With these measures in place, we’ve seen that these predator-prey relationships have been restored,” Clevenger said. Vermont and Maine both have struggled with the deadly combination of increased traffic and a growing Moose population. Moose pose a particular problem because they are slow, large and so tall that headlights often go under their legs, so their eyes don’t reflect light at night the same way that deer do. Maine averages three motorist fatalities each year in Moose collisions and warns drivers that they have a one-in-four chance of being injured if they hit a Moose. Maine saw 2,068 collisions caused by Moose from 1999-2001, with eight human fatalities and 583 human injuries, said Keel Kemper, wildlife biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Numbers that show the effects of Moose- crossings are not yet available. Over the same period, the state saw 12,872 crashes with other wildlife, resulting in two fatalities and 647 injuries. An experimental project in western Maine uses infrared technology to set off flashing lights on warning signs along the highway to alert drivers when a Moose is on the road. A similar project in western Washington uses radio collars on elks to trip flashing lights along Highway 101. But Richard Forman, landscape ecology professor at Harvard University, remains skeptical of systems that use technology to modify human behaviors. Forman said that critter crossings, which began in Europe nearly a decade before the United States adopted them, are still the most effective at reducing roadkill. Besides reducing the animal death toll, however, wildlife fences and culverts reduce habitat loss by preserving ways for animals to move about, Forman said. With critter crossings as a starting point, ecologists are encouraging states and the public to reduce further the effects of highways on sensitive habitats. That thinking has made its way to Congress, where the recent reauthorization of the federal transportation bill included funds to consider the effects new and existing highways have on sensitive habitats. * * * * * THIS WEEK we are off to the annual Birdwatch America conference and expo in Atlanta. When we return, I’ll bring you news of the latest wild bird products.
By Ron & Sharon McConathy
This motion can occur in several ways. Subjects almost always move, the camera often shakes, the wind seems to move everything, and we move when we hold our cameras. (Panning gives feeling of motion in this photo by Ron & Sharon McConathy) Movement can be both a curse or a blessing. Science tells us that the absence of motion occurs at absolute zero, or about minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit. Therefore, we warm-blooded photographers need to learn how to either overcome or use the ever-present motion as we snap those shutters! Motion of the camera when the shutter opens is usually considered undesirable except when we're panning the camera, a topic we'll discuss below. If you want a tack-sharp image, the camera must be still while the shutter is open. A rule of thumb is to not handhold a camera at a shutter speed slower than the fraction of 1 over the focal length (mm) of the lens being used. For example, when using a 100mm lens, avoid hand holding the camera at shutter speeds slower than 1/100 second. However, the new vibration reduction/image stabilized lenses can change this rule of thumb and significantly reduce camera shake while allowing hand-held photography at slower shutter speeds. The 35mm image size captured on film or on a digital sensor is small, about 1.3 square inches. To make an 8x12 inch print, this capture area is enlarged 74 times, and for a 16x24 print it is enlarged 298 times. Even a small amount of camera motion will show up as a blur on larger prints. Some photographers have adopted unique techniques to prevent camera motion, and searching the web to read about these can prove very interesting. Try searching on “camera shake,” “blurred pictures,” “sharp pictures,” and “tripod techniques.”
Using a tripod When using long telephoto lenses (over 300mm) on a tripod, touching the camera and the movement of an SLR camera's mirror can vibrate the camera, causing image blurring. A good way to avoid this unwanted motion is to use a cable or electronic shutter release whenever your camera is mounted on a tripod. Using a tripod has pros and cons. Pro: When photographing subjects that don't move such as scenics and macros, having the camera mounted on a tripod slows down the photographic process and allows you to study the composition and hopefully make better images. Con: When photographing subjects that move (e.g., running deer, birds in flight), a tripod without a ball or Wimberly-type head will make such photography almost impossible. Pro: A tripod makes multiple exposures and panoramic images possible. Con: You have to carry the tripod! Caution: Some people position their tripods with the attached camera, and then only make pictures from the spot where they placed the tripod. Professionals, on the other hand, use a quick-release camera mount so they can easily remove the camera to look through the viewfinder to find the scene and composition they want to capture, and then attach the tripod at the camera’s position for the shot.
Using motion effectively If you haven't yet experimented with motion in your images, give it a try. Choose different shutter speeds until you find one you prefer for capturing subject motion. When photographing moving water, I personally like shutter speeds above 1/125 second to freeze the water movement in streams or waterfalls and shutter speeds between 1/4 and 4 seconds for blurred flowing water. Some professional photographers, such as Arthur Morris (www.birdsasart.com), tell you the shutter speeds they use for their great images, and you can use this information as a guide for your pictures. Moving the camera to follow a moving subject (panning) is also very effective. Panning shows the subject in focus against a blurred background. The camera shutter speed must be fast enough to stop the subject's motion but also slow enough to blur the background. The correct shutter speed depends on how fast you move the camera to follow the subject. Panning is most effective when the subject is moving from side to side in front of you. Initially try shutter speeds from 1/20 to 1/100 second, with the faster shutter speeds being used for the faster moving subjects. When panning, continue following the subject as the camera's shutter is released. Read your manuals to set up vibration reduction/image stabilized lenses and the camera's auto-focus for effective panning. Practice panning with your camera by following a moving subject such as a car. Motion is important in your photography, either by its absence in a tack-sharp image or by its presence when some element of the image is intentionally blurred. Practice the techniques for both. Those viewing your photographs will appreciate the detailed scenics and the artistic blurs. And your photography will be richer for it! EDITOR’S NOTE: This series of articles about nature photography is created exclusively for WindStar by Ron and Sharon McConathy, Aronsha Nature and Scenic Photography (www.aronsha.com). They write about various aspects of nature photography, such as ethics, philosophy, techniques, equipment. Readers are invited to submit comments and questions to the new American Wildlife Blog on our new web site that will be launched later this month.
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AN ALBERTA CANADA wildlife park that allows the paying public to kiss a full-grown Brown Bear is under fire from bear experts, including one who describes the show as a "stupid and dangerous example" of bear exploitation. However, the Innisfail, Alberta park's owners say the bear kissing teaches people about the dangers of bears in the wild. "This is the most stupid and dangerous example of exploiting bears that I have ever seen," said Charles Jonkel, co- founder of the Missoula, MT-based Great Bear Foundation. The Discovery Wildlife Centre has offered visitors the chance to kiss a Brown Bear for three years, charging people $20 to have a photograph taken with 24-year-old Ali Oop. –National Post (Brown Bear by John Hyde)
By Camilla H. Fox and Richard Hawley
Nevertheless, the county has an opportunity now to implement a proactive public education campaign that promotes educated coexistence and reduces wildlife conflicts. (Coyote) Encounters between humans and coyotes have become more frequent in our expanding cities and suburbs. The patchwork of green space and open areas provided by residential development offers much "edge" habitat where the coyote can find plentiful sources of food, water and shelter. Unfortunately, lethal control is frequently the knee- jerk response to the appearance of coyotes and other wild animals in both rural and urban areas. Using your county and federal tax dollars, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services agency killed 420 coyotes in San Luis Obispo County last year and more than 1,200 other animals, including foxes, bobcats, mountain lions, skunks, raccoons and opossums. Nationally, Wildlife Services killed 2.7 million animals last year. Many of the killing methods employed, including aerial gunning (the shooting of animals from low-flying aircraft) and neck snaring, have been widely criticized as cruel and indiscriminate. Although killing wildlife allows public officials to argue they are "doing something," wildlife biologists tell us lethal control does not offer a long-term solution to conflicts. Nonselective killing methods often remove individual coyotes that have no history of conflict. Dr. Stanley Gehrt, one of the nation's foremost urban coyote researchers, argues: "Indiscriminate removal may exacerbate a conflict, if coyotes that have a healthy fear of people are replaced by new coyotes that have little or no fear of people. Therefore, removal should be discouraged ... and management should focus on public education." Public outreach is imperative to ensure that all residents do what they can to prevent wildlife conflicts. Most conflicts result from people providing coyotes (and other wild animals) with food, intentionally or not. Fundamental to resolving negative encounters with wild animals is reducing wildlife attractants. Keep pets and other domestic animals indoors at night, feed your pet indoors, keep refuse containers closed, and keep other food sources such as fallen fruit off the ground; these are easy ways to discourage conflicts. But if your neighbor feeds deer or leaves his compost uncovered, your own efforts will ultimately be futile. Unless people take responsibility to remove attractants to discourage unwanted wildlife, negative encounters will occur, and wild animals will be killed. County and city officials, homeowner associations and developers should consider adopting ordinances, bylaws and/or covenants, conditions and restrictions that discourage intentional wildlife feeding. This would allow authorities to warn residents that feeding wildlife is reckless and endangers both humans and wildlife. In addition, penalty provisions will act as an incentive and can discourage habitual offenders. We can coexist with coyotes and other native wildlife if we recognize and appreciate the important role they play in maintaining a healthy ecosystem and ensure that our activities do not adversely alter that role. Living with the natural environment, including wildlife, greatly increases our quality of life but also requires that we take responsibility to keep wild animals wild by not introducing and habituating them to human sources of food. -- San Luis Obispo Tribune EDITOR’S NOTE: Camilla H. Fox is director of wildlife programs for the Animal Protection Institute. Richard Hawley is the Executive Director of Greenspace--The Cambria Land Trust.
If you
love to feed, photograph, or (Coyote pups )
By Nancy Oakes
They are places where wildlife can move from one habitat to another. They are places where animals feed, rest and sometimes raise young. If the wild animals are lucky enough to live in a place where there is lots of natural habitat to move around in, to find food and water, to hide and rest, to raise young, then there is no need for buffer zones. (Northern Bobwhite Quail in buffer strip by Gary Kramer) As the countryside becomes more developed, wildlife will find fewer large tracts of natural habitat. In my neighborhood several large semi-natural areas of land have been sold and divided into smaller plots. Most of the plots will have a house and other buildings built on them, will have fences put up around the boundaries and will become a home, not for wildlife, but for people and their pets/livestock. That's where buffer zones come in. A buffer zone can be any strip of land connecting developed areas to natural areas. The strip has to be left in a wild state, whether planted to be that way or left in its current natural growth. An article by Rod Doolen called "Shrubby Fencerows Make Good Neighbors" provides a wealth of information on maintaining or creating a viable buffer zone for wildlife. Doolen describes an ideal buffer zone that will provide a place for wildlife to raise young, find food, shelter and rest. The 20-ft. wide center of the zone consists of large trees. On both sides of the trees, bushes and shrubby trees take up another 5-ft. wide strip. Weeds, grass and wildflowers make up the outer 10 ft. of area on either side. Doolen adds that a landowner can "make the fencerow even more attractive and useful to wildlife by placing brush piles within the fencerow every 100 to 300 yards." He explains that such brush piles can provide a "bolthole" (my word) for animals fleeing predators. The one fencerow on the property I live on already has most of the features Doolen recommends, at least on my side of the fence. The large trees in this fencerow consist of laurel and live oak and wild cherry. In some cases the bark of the trees has grown around the wire of the fence. A number of saplings are growing up alongside the larger trees. I thin out some of these but leave others as replacement trees. Cedar trees make a great shrub lane candidate, as do beautyberry, sumac and wax myrtle. I have all of those growing on the property and they came there naturally in most cases. On the outer edge of the fencerow, I allow tall grasses and weeds to grow such as yellow aster, camphorweed, Spanish needle and goldenrod. I would like to widen this buffer zone by planting more shrubs and allowing some of the seedling trees to grow up. For the most part, the fencerow/buffer zone takes little care. The fallen limbs from the large trees become brush piles that serve as hiding places for wildlife. Doolen is not the only person singing the praises of wildlife corridors. Another article written for the Conservation Commission of Missouri recommends allowing fencerows to grow up in shrubs, vines and small trees so that wildlife can use them as travel lanes. The article also explains that if you want to help wildlife, you can also leave bushy or grassy strips between pastures, crop fields and woodland. A publication put out by Florida Native Plant Society provides tips on how to attract birds and butterflies to your property. Among the advice given is to spare the weeds such as Spanish needle in some areas. Also they suggest providing "hiding places" where trees and shrubs are close and dense, and grass and weeds are left unmowed. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service put out a publication titled "Planting a Refuge for Wildlife." They write that 88% of all Floridians said it is important to know that wild animals live around their home. Guess what ingredients are suggested to encourage wildlife? Food, water, shelter and cover. Sound like a buffer zone/fencerow to you? I feel like I'm preaching to the choir here. So what sort of wildlife can local residents hope to help by providing buffer zones? Birds come to mind first since we have so many here. Included among the tweety birds such as cardinals are the less-seen quail and turkey. Rabbits, raccoons, opossums, fox, squirrels, deer, skunk, and armadillo will also make use of buffer zones. Then there're moles, mice, rats, shrews, bats, tortoise, frogs, snakes, salamanders, anoles, lizards, skinks, butterflies and all manner of spiders, beetles, wasps and bees. Wildlife also includes plants, and along the fencerow where I live I've observed some neat plants including Indian pipes and terrestrial orchids. The reason these plants grow there is because of the undisturbed state of the ground. Decaying leaf litter and branches provide a richness to the soil that wouldn't be there if I cleared and mowed these areas. – Williston Pioneer
HOMEOWNERS occasionally find bats roosting or rearing young in their attics. When this type of discovery is made in the summer, it's best to wait until late fall to remedy the situation, according to the Game Commission. Trying to exclude bats from your attic in summer may lead to bats trapped in the attic. They may eventually work their way into your living quarters in their efforts to escape. Waiting until fall, when bats head to winter hibernation sites, eliminates this risk. Placing a bat box outside may help ensure the bats don't try to access your home when they return in the spring .-- Pennsylvania Game Commission (Leaf-nosed Bat by San Diego Zoo)
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TELL YOUR FRIENDS
======================== ======= Have an EXCELLENT Day in your WILDLIFE HABITAT! Tom Patrick
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LET NATURE BE YOUR LEGACY
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