WindStar Wildlife Garden Weekly
Connecting People
To Nature Through
Education August 14,
2007
Official
Publication of WindStar Wildlife
Institute
|
|
|
It's Not Over 'til It's
Over
JUST BECAUSE your favorite bird
fledged once in your nesting box, it doesn't mean the pair are
finished for the year. Some produce one brood and some can
have two, or even more broods per season.
Why is this? There are
several factors involved such as, how long it takes the bird
to construct a nest and lay eggs, how long incubation is and
how long the young are in the nest before they fledge.
Generally larger birds, such as Great Blue Herons, only have
one brood. Great Blues have an incubation time of 28 days and
it takes the young 55 to 60 days before they leave the nest.
Allowing a week or two to construct their large stick nest and
lay eggs, that would be almost 3-1/2 months to breed. That
does not leave much time, especially in northern areas, to
have a second brood.
Many songbirds such as cardinals, robins,
mockingbirds, bluebirds, etc. all can have two or even more
broods in a season. The incubation time for a Northern
Cardinal is 12 to13 days and it takes 9 to11 days for the
young to leave the nest. Cardinals have been known to have up
to four broods in the South! So enjoy the birds around your
home and observe which ones have second or more
broods.
Tom Patrick
Founder &
President
| |
|
| Quick Links
|
|
to
the
Knowledge Center
|
| Our Sponsors |
|
| Become A
Member |
Support
WindStar's
Environmental
Education
Programs With Your
"WindStar Wildlife
Institute's web
site
offers a wealth of information on birds, other wildlife and
backyard habitat issues." -Connie,
NC
Give the
Gift
Of Nature--
Visit WindStar's
Fan Dancer
Crimson
Beauty
Photos By Tim Flanigan
Just
Added!
Beautiful
Giclée Canvas
Wildlife Prints
"I am taking your online Wildlife Habitat Naturalist
Course and am enjoying the materials. It will help me with my
own "Wildlife Habitat" and help me in my job at a Nature
Center." --Vicki
Capps
"The Master
program has opened up a whole new dimension in my life which I
had never considered. I have been challenged to learn about
habitat planning, species food preferences, garden design and
ecology concepts. It has given me the resources and confidence
to be able to share what I have learned with both children and
adults. This outreach has been a source of personal
growth and inspiration for me." --Pat,
MD
"The
(course) far exceeded all expectations. An even greater
enjoyment has been sharing what I learned with others-my
neighbors and co-workers. It has been rewarding to help
individuals increase their appreciation of nature-starting in
their own backyards." --Paulette,
MD
"The WindStar course will
have a far-reaching and long-lasting influence on the way that
people look at wildlife and the ways that we can more
effectively share our mutual space. I'm proud to be part
of it." --Cathy, MD
"I want to
commend you on the Master Wildlife Habitat Naturalist program.
I particularly like your approach of training wildlife habitat
advocates and sending them back to their communities to be
messengers for the cause." --Joshua, MD
DNR
"The Master Wildlife
Habitat Naturalist program is generating a great deal of
interest from community decision makers in replacing wildlife
habitat lost to residential and commercial development.
We are glad to partner with WindStar Wildlife Institute in
this environmental education and outreach endeavor. You
can count on us to provide technical assistance, publications,
planning assistance and speakers for future
programs." --Michael, USDA Forest
Service
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is pleased to be a
partner with WindStar Wildlife Institute in creating and
implementing the Master Wildlife Habitat Naturalist
program." --Kathleen, USFWS
This
remarkable image of eleven adult Eastern Bluebirds roosting at
night in a nesting log in order to keep warm by Michael Smith
has won several prestigious awards for its uniqueness and
beauty. It has also appeared in numerous publications and can
be seen on the cover of several
books.
| |
Where the Wild Things Are!
(Have you ever seen a happier
Wombat?) EDITOR'S NOTE:
Improving wildlife habitat is a worldwide issue as
shown in this article. Jackie French is the
author of "The Secret World of Wombats" (Angus and
Robertson/Harper Collins). "The Amazing World of
Wallabies and Roos" will be out early next year.
See how similar and different her habitat is with
yours.
By Jackie
French
ATTRACTING birds
and animals to a suburban garden is a matter of
providing a few basics, writes Jackie
French.
I'm writing this with a
Wombat sitting on my foot (his name is Feisty) and
a Lyrebird digging up the potato patch outside the
window. In other words, I live in the bush in
Australia. In fact, at times the bush lives
in my house, too.
However, most of
us assume the bush is the best--and only--place
for wildlife. But with a bit of dedication city
gardens can have even more wildlife than the
bush--a few afternoons' work a year will provide
wildlife with a lot more food and shelter than
nature ever managed.
Why bother
attracting native animals to your
garden?
Partly because of the
sheer joy of living in a complex world with more
than humans for company.
Partly because wild
animals deserve...Read On
| | |
Cowbirds Get Others To Raise Their
Chicks
 By Scott Shalaway
HARRY
COLEMAN, JR. of Martin's Ferry, Ohio, writes, "While
watching birds at my feeders, I listen to classical
music on my portable player. This is my relaxation
time."
"What bothers me," he
continues, "is to see a Song Sparrow feeding a bird
which is at least two times its size. Wherever the Song
Sparrow hops, the bigger bird is right on its tail. The
Song Sparrow digs at the ground for insects, and if it
eats one, it will feed the next one to the sponger."
(Brown-headed
Cowbird)
Mr. Coleman hasn't been able to
identify the bigger bird and asks why the sparrow feeds
the sponger. He concludes, "Feel free to ignore this if
you believe I'm battier than the birds."
This is a terrific
observation, and one I receive several times each
summer. Often it comes from rural readers who report
seeing... Read
On |
|
|
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 and
100% money back, if, for any reason, you are not
satisfied.
Find
more nature products in the Nature Shop
|
|
Wildlife Photo of the
Week
Cattle
Egret by Arlene Ripley
| |
|
Wildlife Group Goes Hi-Tech To
Track Deer
PAHRUMP, NV-Mule Deer herds may
start developing paranoia, believing that someone is
watching and tracking their every move. In this case,
they would be right. (Mule
Deer)
Over the
winter, the Nevada Department of Wildlife began
monitoring a new radio collar that contains a small GPS
unit that generates coordinates of the animal every four
hours and a transmitter to transmit the data via
satellites to the department's computers each
day.
"Concern for the western Elko
County deer herd's critical wintering areas, especially
after the 2006 catastrophic wildfires, prompted an
effort to intensively monitor Mule Deer movements and
their survival using satellite telemetry in real time,"
said Wildlife Staff Specialist Mike
Cox.
Department big game biologists
captured 10 Mule Deer in December 2006 from specific
subherds in the mountain ranges where the deer spend the
summer.
Cox reports that each subherd
has a history of complex migration routes that they take
from summer habitats to... Read
On
|
|
Does Environmental Education Figure
Prominently In
Classrooms?
 ENVIRONMENTAL education has
long struggled for legitimacy alongside more traditional
disciplines within the liberal arts and sciences.
But "environmental literacy" studies in
the late 1980s revealed that schoolchildren lacked basic
knowledge about the natural environment.
(Outdoor classroom)
This convinced the
U.S. Congress to take action, and in 1990 they passed
the National Environmental Education Act, forcing the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to strengthen and
expand environmental education nationwide through
education and teacher training and the administration of
grants to exemplary programs. While many
of the programs since developed by the EPA have been
lauded as exemplary, a lack of funding has prevented
many ideas from moving forward. According to a National
Environmental Education Advisory Council report, between
1991 and 1996 the EPA received 10,000 environmental
education grant applications totaling $300 million, but
was only able to fund 1,200 totaling $13 million.
Continued shortfalls at the EPA under the current Bush
administration have forced further
cutbacks.With such a lack of federal
resolve, the onus for teaching kids about the
environment has fallen on local schools and individual
teachers.
According to the President's Council on
Sustainability, because environmental education is
multi-disciplinary, it is hard for teachers to...
Read
On
|
NOW
AVAILABLE
NEW!
WindStar
National
Master Naturalist
Course
PLUS...
WindStar Wildlife Habitat
Naturalist Course
| |
 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
Tawny Emperor Butterfly by Leisa's Images
|
|
10072 Vista
Ct.
Myersville, MD
21773
301-293-3351
| | | |
