WindStar Wildlife Garden Weekly
Connecting People
To Nature Through
Education June 4, 2007
Official
Publication of WindStar Wildlife
Institute
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Global Warming No Problem?
A FEW
politicians, including the country's leader, say global
warming is no problem. Bush's NASA Administrator Michael
Griffin, whose agency spends about half the federal climate
research budget, said in an NPR interview that, while global
warming is changing Earth's climate, he's not convinced that
is "a problem we must wrestle with." One of NASA's top climate
scientists, James Hansen, afterwards called that a "shocking
statement because of the level of ignorance it indicated."
This week Bush changed his tune but if you listen carefully,
you'll see that nothing has changed. The new position was only
to shoot down the world effort to make controls
mandatory. Bush said the U.S. would take the lead on the
climate issue--but there will be no mandatory reductions, no
carbon trading and vaguely expressed objectives. Who do you
believe? No contest. I believe the words about global warming
issued recently from a top panel of international scientists
who were purposely blunt:--'warming of the climate system is
unequivocal,' the cause is 'very likely' man-made, and 'would
continue for centuries.'
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Wren Adds Just the Right
Note!
Carolina Wren sings away by Leisa's
Images
By Michael Burke
A
SLIGHT movement on the periphery of my vision
alerted me to the wren before I fully realized he was
there.
A moment later, the clear,
fluting notes boldly announced his presence. The
Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) is
like that: a diminutive bird that might be overlooked
except for an outsized song that commands
attention.
It was one of those
brutally hot and muggy August days that have been
driving people out of Washington since the earliest days
of the republic. We were visiting a friend on the
western shore of the Chesapeake. The sun was setting, a
light Bay breeze had arisen, and the cool drinks and
congenial conservation had put us into a better frame of
mind.
The birds were a bonus.
Osprey swirled above and egrets and herons worked the
shoreline. Meanwhile, gulls and terns soared over open
water. The Carolina Wren, which landed briefly on a
patio chair, was looking for spiders and insects and
reminding everyone that the backyard was
his.
All wrens are small, and at
just less than 6 inches, the Carolina Wren can lay claim
to being the largest of the wrens found in... More
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Grow A Garden,
Help Wildlife
Grey Tree Frog takes a rest
by Jay Owenkowski
By Fred J.
Aun
THERE would be a lot of happy
little critters if every homeowner in New Jersey with a
backyard embraced the state's nickname and planted a
garden, especially one containing some native plants and
a little pond.
The Schiff
Nature Center in Mendham, NJ opened its new Native Plant
and Butterfly Garden this year, and even director Tanya
Bi signano--who thought she knew what to expect--was
surprised by what happened once an artificial pond with
recirculating water was
installed.
"We put it in the end
of March last year," said Bisignano. "We got Gray Tree
Frogs at the end of last summer."
While she
said she wasn't surprised when the tree frogs showed up
--since there are many of them in the area--she was
amazed one day when, while working elsewhere in the
garden, she heard Wood Frogs calling from the
pond.
"Wood Frogs typically like...
More
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Mad Bluebird Garden 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
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Find more nature products in
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Wildlife Photo of the
Week
What could be more beautiful in the
spring than trilliums in this photo by
Tim Flanigan
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Exotic Hydrilla
Benefits
Ecosystem
 AN EXOTIC species of aquatic
vegetation that was deemed a severe nuisance when it
began rapidly colonizing the Potomac River, has instead
benefited the watershed's ecosystem, according to a
studyby the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) published in the journal Limnology and Oceanography.
(Alison Fox made
this photo of hydrilla wrapped around the propeller
of a boat motor.)
The robust exotic hydrilla first
appeared and began to flourish in the fresh water
reaches of the tidal Potomac River just as management
investments to reduce nutrient loads from sewage
treatment plants were beginning to take effect.
Submerged aquatic vegetation is an
important ecosystem resource for fish and waterfowl and
it was feared that the expansion of hydrilla would
impair the reemergence of native species, but this has
not proven to be the case... More
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Bluebirds' Brilliance Captures
Attention
By Michael Burke
 THE BLUE FEATHERS seemingly
possessed an internal light. Their intensity dazzled,
demanding attention. The bird was facing away from me,
looking back over his royal blue wing that captured the
brilliant sunshine of a perfect spring
day.
Birders typically enjoy their
pastime at dawn and dusk, when birds are generally more
active. The early afternoon can be an especially slow
time, particularly when winds are still. Yet here I was
one midafternoon, binoculars in hand, being charmed by
the Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis). (Eastern Bluebird by Cornell Lab of
Ornithology)
The bird
sat atop a nesting box. A rolling green carpet of low
marsh plants stretched out between my spot on the
boardwalk trail and the bird box. A dozen yards beyond
lay a mixed deciduous forest, still coming into leaf,
providing a palette of browns, yellows and forest greens
as a backdrop. The colors were commanding and the
clarity of detail striking.
One of the
advantages of midday birding can be the magnificent
light. It felt like I had just gotten a new pair of
glasses, with everything suddenly in sharper focus. As
every elementary school science student knows, colors
are merely the combination of reflected and absorbed
wavelengths of the visual spectrum of light.
The physics of the experience
were lost on me at the moment, though. I was simply
bedazzled by that blue... More
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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
President
(Baby Moose by Andy Chloe)
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10072 Vista
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Myersville, MD
21773
301-293-3351
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