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NOW IS THE TIME to prepare your feeders and garden for winter. Here's a few reminders. At the feeder: * Learn more about birding by joining a bird club or signing up for a bird walk. * Birds need plenty of roosting places in winter. Don't take down your bird houses; leave them up so the birds can use them as shelters in the cold. * Keep a good stock of bird seed in case of emergencies. You don't want to get caught short when you need it most and the weather has gone bad. Consider storing more seed during the winter, or better yet, put a couple of bags in the trunk of your car for safe keeping. The extra weight will give you added traction when the roads are slick, and you'll always have a ready supply on hand for your hungry winter visitors! * Put your posts in the ground before it freezes for your new bluebird houses. You'll want them up in February when the ground will be too frozen...Read On | ||||
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STAFFORD, VA-- Pam Sheely and her husband, Alan, sit on the deck of their Stafford County home, they can see a variety of birds, squirrels, groundhogs, turtles, frogs, hawks and perhaps a deer. Raccoons and opossums join the backyard menagerie after dark. (Raccoon by IL DNR) With that view, you might expect to find the Sheely home somewhere on the county's frontier. Actually, the couple reside in Shadow Woods, a subdivision next to Interstate 95 in busy North Stafford. It's more than just coincidence, however, that so many critters have found their way to their property. You see, the Sheelys' half-acre is recognized as an official wildlife habitat . Pam Sheely is a science teacher at A.G. Wright Middle School. And when she learned about backyard wildlife habitat programs two years ago, she thought it would be a good project for some of her students. However, since there was an expansion project planned at the school site, Sheely decided to implement the program at home with her husband's help. "We just wanted to improve our...Read On | ||
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By Janet Marinelli AS THE OLD-- saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This is especially true of the struggle to control invasive species. In the New York metropolitan area, where I live, roadsides have been overtaken by solid stands of purple loosestrife, and forest understories are thick with Japanese barberry. Biologists consider invasive species such as these to be one of the two greatest threats to native plants and animals, second only to the outright loss of habitat to suburban sprawl, agriculture, and industrial development. Land managers fight a daily battle to remove invasives from important natural areas. (Purple loosestrife by B. Blossey) The conventional wisdom, at least in horticultural circles, used to be that most invasive plants were...Read On | ||
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Curious Travelers This is something few people have seen before, or even heard of. This lady lives in a hummingbird fly zone. As the birds migrate, about 20 of them stopped by her yard. Just for a lark, she took a little red dish and filled it with sugar water and held it in her hands. It wasn't long before she got this result. Photographer unknown. For more nature
photographs, see
the Gallery on WindStar's web site and Nature's Best Photographs Album in the American Wildlife Blog. | ||
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Mad Bluebird Mugs Set of 4 (12-oz. each) $29.95 Order Now Usually he's the "Bluebird of Happiness" but here he appears ruffled and disgusted with the onset of colder weather in this reproduction of the photograph by Michael L. Smith. This is one of the most famous nature photographs ever created and originally was seen in a National Geographic Society birding book. Here it has been reproduced on 12-oz. porcelain mugs that are microwave and dishwasher safe. Makes a terrific gift! | ||
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When Wildlife Protectors Aren't IN RETROSPECT to the recent tragic death of Steve Irwin, Nan Fariss, Roanoke, VA offers some points to ponder in regard to his and other wildlife celebrities' status as "Wildlife Warriors." As habitat preservation and wildlife conservation have become more important worldwide and more popular in the mainstream media, many people have seized the opportunity to make a living portraying themselves as "ambassadors" for wildlife. We should take a step back and consider whether their interaction with the animals is really altogether positive when they base their celebrity status on hauling the animals to television studios or ambushing an alligator with ropes, duct tape and a camera crew...Read On Putting in A
Small Artificial Pond for Wildlife (Part II)
IT IS IMPORTANT to locate a pond in a fairly level spot where runoff from the yard will not be a problem, says Marlene Condon. This is especially important if you use pesticides on your lawn grass or other plants (although it would be preferable to eliminate all pesticide use in a wildlife habitat). Do not make the liner edge flush with the surrounding land as this makes it easier for dirt and other debris to wash into the pond. Instead, make the edge an inch or so above the soil surface and cover the edge with rocks or plants if you do not like its visibility. The pond does not have to be very wide to support wildlife (3 to 4 ft. will do), but a section of it should be at least 18 to 24 inches deep so that it will not all freeze during...Read On | ||
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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!
 Tom Patrick Email: wildlife@windstar.org
Phone: 301-293-3351
Web &
Blog: http://www.windstar.org |
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