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August 7, 2006
August 7, 2006

In This Issue

Gardening To Attract Wildlife

Hummingbird Numbers Are Taking Off

Wildlife Rescuer Teaches Youngsters About Raccoons

Entomologists On Guard For Unwanted Invaders

Wildlife Photo of the Week

Lastest Messages From American Wildlife Blog

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American Wildlife Blog

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Discover Why No-No Feeders Are Best

Dear Thomas,

Window To Nature I don't know how I could live without my home office window. All day long I see a never ending saga of Mother Nature's creatures and ever-changing weather. Do you know the saying from the movie (Field of Dreams), "build it and they will come?" Well, if you improve your wildlife habitat and make sure you provide food, water and cover, your window will be like mine! What do I see just outside my window this week? The answer is Wild Turkeys, American Crows, Chipmunks, Cottontail Rabbits, Gray Squirrels, American Goldfinches, House Finches, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Wrens and Chickadees, Northern Mockingbirds, Catbirds, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Northern Cardinals, Blue Jays, Eastern Bluebirds, Downey, Pileated and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, White-breasted Nuthatches and occasionally a Whitetail fawn. No wonder I hate to leave home!

Gardening To Attract Wildlife

By Suzanne Mahler
MARSHFIELD, MA--As the summer progresses, a gardener's focus usually shifts from planning, preparing and planting beds and borders to routine maintenance and enjoying the fruits of our labors. (Yellow-shafted Flicker by Leisa's Images)
Weeding, watering, and deadheading continue to be daily tasks, plus dozens of new treasures remain clustered in my driveway waiting to find homes, but my sense of urgency seems to wane and I am more likely to pause to identify the source of an unfamiliar bird call or watch the graceful flight of a monarch butterfly as it floats from flower to flower.

Ever since I was a little girl, I have enjoyed observing wildlife. In years past, I have raised injured or abandoned baby squirrels, bunnies, and Raccoons, numerous baby birds, and a wide array of other miscellaneous critters and have celebrated their successful return to the wild. My husband likes to tease me when I complain about squirrels decimating our bird feeders or raccoons raiding our trash that these are the great grandchildren of the creatures I rescued years ago.

When we purchased... Read On

Hummingbird Numbers Are Taking Off

By Scott Shalaway
IF I POLLED readers to identify the most popular backyard bird, I'm confident of two results-- the winner would vary by season, and the summer favorite would be the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Perhaps that's why I get so much mail each summer asking, "Where are my hummers?" (Ruby-throated Hummingbird by Bill Schmoker).
Earlier this month I tried to ease these fears by explaining that hummer numbers ebb and flow in a predictable manner each year. May numbers peak as migrants pass through the area. In June, we're left with the local breeders, and adult females spend most of their time tending to their nests. So in June and early July, it's not unusual to see just a few hummers at feeders.

By mid July, young hummingbirds fledge and visits to feeders increase dramatically. And that's exactly what has happened at my feeders the last two weeks. I can now almost always see six to eight individuals at... Read On

Wildlife Rescuer Teaches Youngsters About Raccoons

BRADENTON, FL--Justin Matthews of Matthews Wildlife Rescue turns back from his pickup and produces a furry critter, hanging upside at arm's length in a state of suspended animation.
It's one of several feathered and furry critters he brought on this day in late June to show to a group of preschoolers visiting Mixon Fruit Farm in Bradenton. At first I don't recognize what's hanging before me, having been startled by the animal's relaxed appearance, what with both pairs of arms and legs spread-eagled in the sunshine. Then I notice the mask. (Raccoon kit held by Justin Matthews by Paul Gonzalez/The Herald)

It's a young Raccoon. It's given name is "Bandit," but then that's the name of all the other Raccoons in "rescue rehab" at Matthews' home. It's strange to see an animal with such a reputation for being a stealthy charlatan and trickster caught so single- handedly, but then Matthews' role to these young animals is that of the... Read On

Entomologists On Guard For Unwanted Invaders

By Don Hopey
PITTSBURGH, PA--Out in a grove at Moon Township Industrial Park, an odd, out-of-place little insect species first captured in spring 2005 continues to be of more than passing interest to the Department of Homeland Security.
The bug--an Asian Ambrosia Beetle native to Siberia and no bigger than a pin head--was identified by an entomologist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, examining traps set in hundreds of locations near seaports, airports and national borders.

(Surrounded by beetles and other bugs, John Rawlins, left, associate curator of invertebrate zoology for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, talks with staff entomologist Bob Androw by Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette)

It's likely that the tiny alien insect found, which does not appear to be a threat, made its way into the country innocently, probably in a wooden spool or pallet shipped to Pittsburgh International Airport from Asia. But its discovery and identification underscore the kind of intense scrutiny that is starting to be focused on invasive insect, plant and animal species after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

It also shows how the role of the Carnegie Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, and other institutions once... Read On

Wildlife Photo of the Week

Inquisitive Jay Wins Contest
Last January, on his 10th birthday, Jesse Ritonen (Finland) received what he had been wanting since he was seven--an SLR digital camera. In February, his father took him for a couple of days to a hide in Utti, Finland, to photograph birds. Jesse has been interested in wildlife since he could first walk, and so this was a very special trip for him. The weather was overcast, but several jays, crows and two goshawks visited them. This jay came in the early morning and perched on the snowy branch of a pine tree opposite, staring directly into Jesse’s camera. ‘I was so excited,’ says Jesse, ‘to have such long eye-contact with a wild bird.’ Jesse was the winner of BBC's Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

For more nature photographs, see
the Gallery on WindStar's web site
and Nature's Best Photographs Album in the American Wildlife Blog.

Lastest Messages From American Wildlife Blog

Disappearing Goldfinches

BARBARA JONES of Tabernacle, NJ says she stopped worrying about the absence of Goldfinches years ago, but it always kind of takes her by surprise. "Sometime in June the Goldfinch population in our yard starts to diminish. What were dozens of birds become 10, and at its nadir, we sometimes see only one or two Goldfinch in a week. After the long process of waiting through the spring for them to get their bright summer feathers, it seems cruel, or at least ironic, that soon after they molt they disappear from my yard," she says. "Then suddenly they are back! And shortly after that, the population explodes as... Read On
BARRY ZIEGLER of Gerrardstown, WV, posed several questions that he'd like answers to about feeding suet, curtailing greenbrier and getting rid of the invasive multiflora rose. Cathy Gilleland responds with lots of good information... Read More

Tell us your favorite wildlife tips by clicking Here.

If you are registered to receive the FREE American Wildlife Blog, you can add comments to any of the articles, and if you want to pen your own article, send it to wildlife@windstar.org with the subject line "New Blog Feature."

That's it for this week. Be sure and sign up for the American Wildlife Blog for the latest commentary and please feel free to add comments of your own.

Have An EXCELLENT Day in your WILDLIFE HABITAT!

(Red Lacewing Butterfly by David Davis)

Tom Patrick
WindStar Wildlife Institute

email: wildlife@windstar.org

phone: 301-293-3351

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*Hummingbird Numbers Are Taking Off*

By Scott Shalaway IF I POLLED readers to identify the most popular backyard bird, I'm confident of two results-- the winner would vary by season, and the summer favorite would be the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Perhaps that's why I get so much mail each summer asking, "Where are my hummers?" (Ruby-throated Hummingbird by Bill Schmoker). Earlier this month I tried to ease these fears by explaining that hummer numbers ebb and flow in a predictable manner each year. May numbers peak as migrants pass through the area. In June, we're left with the local breeders, and adult females spend most of their time tending to their nests. So in June and early July, it's not unusual to see just a few hummers at feeders. By mid July, young hummingbirds fledge and visits to feeders increase dramatically. And that's exactly what has happened at my feeders the last two weeks. I can now almost always see six to eight individuals at... Read On

Wildlife Rescuer Teaches Youngsters About Raccoons

BRADENTON, FL--Justin Matthews of Matthews Wildlife Rescue turns back from his pickup and produces a furry critter, hanging upside at arm's length in a state of suspended animation. It's one of several feathered and furry critters he brought on this day in late June to show to a group of preschoolers visiting Mixon Fruit Farm in Bradenton. At first I don't recognize what's hanging before me, having been startled by the animal's relaxed appearance, what with both pairs of arms and legs spread-eagled in the sunshine. Then I notice the mask. (Raccoon kit held by Justin Matthews by Paul Gonzalez/The Herald) It's a young Raccoon. It's given name is "Bandit," but then that's the name of all the other Raccoons in "rescue rehab" at Matthews' home. It's strange to see an animal with such a reputation for being a stealthy charlatan and trickster caught so single- handedly, but then Matthews' role to these young animals is that of the... Read On

*Entomologists On Guard For Unwanted Invaders*

By Don Hopey PITTSBURGH, PA--Out in a grove at Moon Township Industrial Park, an odd, out-of-place little insect species first captured in spring 2005 continues to be of more than passing interest to the Department of Homeland Security. The bug--an Asian Ambrosia Beetle native to Siberia and no bigger than a pin head--was identified by an entomologist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, examining traps set in hundreds of locations near seaports, airports and national borders. (Surrounded by beetles and other bugs, John Rawlins, left, associate curator of invertebrate zoology for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, talks with staff entomologist Bob Androw by Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette) It's likely that the tiny alien insect found, which does not appear to be a threat, made its way into the country innocently, probably in a wooden spool or pallet shipped to Pittsburgh International Airport from Asia. But its discovery and identification underscore the kind of intense scrutiny that is starting to be focused on invasive insect, plant and animal species after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It also shows how the role of the Carnegie Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, and other institutions once... Read On

Wildlife Photo of the Week

Inquisitive Jay Wins Contest Last January, on his 10th birthday, Jesse Ritonen (Finland) received what he had been wanting since he was seven--an SLR digital camera. In February, his father took him for a couple of days to a hide in Utti, Finland, to photograph birds. Jesse has been interested in wildlife since he could first walk, and so this was a very special trip for him. The weather was overcast, but several jays, crows and two goshawks visited them. This jay came in the early morning and perched on the snowy branch of a pine tree opposite, staring directly into Jesse’s camera. ‘I was so excited,’ says Jesse, ‘to have such long eye-contact with a wild bird.’ Jesse was the winner of BBC's Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year. For more nature photographs, see the Gallery on WindStar's web site and Nature's Best Photographs Album in the American Wildlife Blog.

*Lastest Messages From American Wildlife Blog*

Disappearing Goldfinches BARBARA JONES of Tabernacle, NJ says she stopped worrying about the absence of Goldfinches years ago, but it always kind of takes her by surprise. "Sometime in June the Goldfinch population in our yard starts to diminish. What were dozens of birds become 10, and at its nadir, we sometimes see only one or two Goldfinch in a week. After the long process of waiting through the spring for them to get their bright summer feathers, it seems cruel, or at least ironic, that soon after they molt they disappear from my yard," she says. "Then suddenly they are back! And shortly after that, the population explodes as... Read On BARRY ZIEGLER of Gerrardstown, WV, posed several questions that he'd like answers to about feeding suet, curtailing greenbrier and getting rid of the invasive multiflora rose. Cathy Gilleland responds with lots of good information... Read More Tell us your favorite wildlife tips by clicking Here. If you are registered to receive the FREE American Wildlife Blog, you can add comments to any of the articles, and if you want to pen your own article, send it to wildlife@windstar.org with the subject line "New Blog Feature."