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Tips On Improving Your Wildlife Habitat
Canada Goose rests on one leg on
fence
By Walter
Scott
BLOOMFIELD, IA--On a
recent trip to the lake, I noticed a Canada Goose in a
tree. It is not common to see geese in trees, except at
our place.
A large branch extends
from a dead tree in the water. For several years, a
goose has nested in this tree. I would imagine it is
ideal habitat after she learned that geese can land in
trees. Her nest is well off the water, and a Raccoon or
other predator would have to swim to get to the base of
her tree. I would not want to be the one to climb the
tree with an angry mother goose protecting the first
branch.
When we built the lake, I
wanted to remove all the standing timber that would be
flooded, but I was encouraged to leave them for the
wildlife. I never thought a standing tree in the lake
would be habitat for a goose, but nature has a way of
adapting. Anything we can do to provide wildlife habitat
will be used. Sometimes it will not be used in the way
we planned, but it will be
used.
Our Wood Duck house raised
two groups of bluebirds. The Wood Ducks had to... More
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Cacophonous Coyotes In
Cities
By David A.
Fahrenthold
THE SOUND did not
belong. It was high-pitched and keening, something from
a prairie night or a Hollywood sound-effects
reel.
Something one should not hear while
sleeping in a bed, in a house, in Chevy Chase,
(MD).
(Coyote
howling by Jeff
Rich)
"AOOOOOOO!" said Lee
Bernstein, mimicking the noise that woke her up at 4
a.m. March 31. "Like a cartoon or something."
Other people have
heard yipping in the woods near Cleveland Park, barking
off Oregon Avenue NW and wailing that answers police
sirens near Military Road NW. These are the sounds of
coyotes, the Western predators that first colonized the
city's suburbs and now have established themselves in
Rock Creek Park.
As the animals have
moved in, neighbors have started hearing things that
leave them startled, curious and suddenly worried
about... More
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Mad Bluebird
Flags
Large Flag is 27" x
37"(h)... $19.95
Garden Flag is 12" x 17"(h)...$9.95
 He appears like he is looking directly at
you, but he's not happy about it. Usually he is 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.
These flags are true works of art and will bring the
world of nature alive whereever they are
displayed.
OUR GUARANTEE is unconditional
and 100% money back, if, for any reason, you are not
satisfied.
Find more nature products in
the Nature Shop
|
Wildlife Photos of the
Week
Eastern Bluebird retrieves mealworm for young in
photos by Arlene Ripley
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'I Fished With Worms and
Doughballs'
By Scott
Shalaway
TROUT FISHING can be
simple or complicated. When I was a kid, I caught trout
using worms and doughballs on a bare hook. As an adult,
I've seen fly anglers with thousands of dollars of
equipment hook plenty of trout, and I've watched both
types of anglers go home
empty-handed.
As is often the case with outdoor
activities, it's not the equipment that determines
success. It's knowledge. Successful anglers, young or
old, know their fish.
Trout
require clean, cold, or at least cool, water. Stocked
trout like it about 57 degrees, slightly warmer than the
optimal temperature for those raised in the wild. As a
rule of thumb, rainbows prefer the warmer pools and
Pennsylvania's state fish, the brook trout, like it
cooler.
Brookies are more tolerant of acidity
than their immigrant cousins, but far more sensitive to
water temperature. While browns and rainbows can... More |
Saving the Wild Huckleberry
 IDAHO'S state fruit is
delicious, free to pick on public lands and a major
source of antioxidants.
Even
beasts, from the bear to the blue grouse, dine on it
regularly during the summer and fall. But the berries'
wide appeal is exactly the problem, historically. In
Idaho, Montana and Washington the huckleberry is a case
study of what happens when a plant everybody likes grows
in a place everyone can get to--but no one wants to regulate.
Eleven-year-old
Edith Rosales picks wild huckleberries with her family
several days a week during the summer. Photo by Mark
Harrison
Explorers and pioneers have mentioned
huckleberries--and other fruits mistakenly labeled as
such--in continental temperate forests across the United
States and Canada since the 1600s. Lewis and Clark
noted... More
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 NOW
AVAILABLE
NEW! WindStar National Master Naturalist
Course More
Info Register
PLUS! WindStar
Wildlife Habitat Naturalist Course
| |
 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
|
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10072 Vista Ct.
Myersville, MD
21773
301-293-3351
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Spring Seeding
