WindStar Wildlife Garden
Weekly
Connecting
People To Nature Through
Education
September 9,
2007
Official
Publication of WindStar Wildlife
Institute
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The Wildflower
Revolution
FOR
AMERICANS on the move, a rest stop on the
East Coast's main thoroughfare, Interstate 95,
seems an unlikely setting for a
revolution.
But to a growing
number of horticulturalists, Felicity Barringer of
the New York Times says, the vegetation
stretching beyond the gas pumps toward the highway
median might as well be marching behind a fife and
drum.
 Dark green switchgrass stands four feet
tall. Asters, amonsia with tiny blue flowers, and
flowering white thoroughwort nestle there, in
place of a simple lawn. Down the road, the
cloverleaf for I-95 and Route 896 is filled with
golden Indiangrass; its gossamer flowers riffle as
trucks whiz by. This is the meadow vista that
stretched before the eye back when Delaware was a
colony, and earlier.
Now these regional
plantings are increasingly favored by the
country's highway gardeners, who see themselves as
heirs of an environmental Enlightenment. Their
credo is, "Get the mowers out of the 12 million
acres of roadsides and median strips around the
United States, and let the wildflowers and grasses
grow."
Roadsides, they say, are
the national front porch. Why, then, should they
look like an English formal garden or a Scottish
golf course? Why shouldn't they mimic the land as
it was before highways? In part as a frugal
move-not mowing can save states tens of thousands
of dollars each year -at least a dozen states
including Colorado, Delaware, Nebraska, Oregon,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and
Washington, have increased their inventory of
native plantings.
Tom
Patrick
Founder
&
President | |
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"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
Give the
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Beautiful
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Wildlife Prints
Fan Dancer
Crimson
Beauty
Photos By Tim Flanigan
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NEW...EXCLUSIVE
for WindStar Readers
Mad
Bluebird
Men's & Women's
Watches
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Want More
Birds?
Spiff Up Your
Garden!
Summertime is a
great time to feed birds. By
Duncraft
By Umbra
Fisk
GARDENS are a bird
attractant, buffet, and shelter.
First
off, why bother to lure birds to your yard?
Ecologically, the reasons are compelling.
Animals need certain foods, certain habitats,
certain other animals, plants and insects to
survive and thrive.
We
humans have chosen pavement as a habitat.
Well-planned gardens amidst the asphalt are
sanctuaries for otherwise stranded small animals
and insects. A neighborhood series of linked
habitats creates a little wildlife corridor.
Altruism in the form of a backyard
wildlife sanctuary will reward us: Birds are
cute, and provide a soothing bucolic atmosphere,
what with their charming noises and flitting.
Even the bird-indifferent can be won over by a
nice herd of Black-eyed Juncos furtively--but
nicely--zipping about in the
morn.
Birds develop niches in tandem
with plants, so using certain native... Read
On
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Birdwatching
Hobby Takes
Flight
 DEAL ISLAND,
MD-- Jim Rapp has one hand on the
wheel and the other holding a pair of binoculars
as he drives his truck slowly down a gravel
drive on the banks of a Chesapeake Bay marsh.
"Do you
see that? Right there?" he whispers, excitedly
pointing to a black-and-white bird dabbing its
beak in the mud. "That's a Black-necked Stilt.
Wow. Oh, wow!"
Not since the
days of John James Audubon have birds gotten so
much attention from naturalists. While hunting
and fishing are declining in popularity, the
old-fashioned act of birdwatching is hot again
as people look for outdoor activities that don't
require a lot of equipment or
training.
According to the
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which tracks
wildlife recreation, birdwatching is now a hobby
of 47.8 million Americans, with "wildlife
watching" up 8 percent from 2000 to 2006. The
birdwatching trend comes as both hunting and
fishing declined in popularity, by 4 percent and
12 percent, respectively, over the same
period.
More
than 20 states have created "birding trails"
since... Read
On
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NEW! NOW
AVAILABLE
National Master Naturalist Course
More
Info Register
PLUS...
Wildlife
Habitat Naturalist Course
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Info More
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Register
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Nature Quotes
"Everybody needs
beauty as well as
bread, places to
play in and pray in, where nature may heal
and give strength to body and
soul."
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Wildlife Photograph of the
Week
No bird feeder is
safe from this Black
Bear! No
feeder is safe on this property.
No feeder is safe on thi
s
property. |
OOPS!
LAST
WEEK we mistakenly
identified the butterfly (right) as a Spicebush
Swallowtail by Leisa's Images. It is
actually a female Black Swallowtail, according
to Mona Miller, Herndon, VA. She says both
Spicebush (left) and Black Swallowtails (right)
have blue on the bottom upper wing. The Black
Swallowtail will have two rolls of orange spots
on the underwing. The Spicebush has one roll of
orange spots with one spot, looking like a
comet.
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Nuthatch Offers New
Perspective
 By Michael
Burke
THE GRAY-BROWN, deeply
furrowed trunk of a venerable oak rises 80 ft.
into the winter sky, casting a sharp black
shadow on the pale yellow siding of our
neighbor's house. The bare tree's intricate
shadow suggests a contemplative Japanese ink
painting.
Interrupting the static design,
though, is an energetic little bird. He is
clinging to the trunk, but heading headfirst
down the tree-a Cirque du Soleil acrobat whose
powerful barrel chest easily supports his
inverted
frame.
The
White-breasted Nuthatch, which has a narrow
black cap and nape leading to a blue-gray back
and wings, stopped for a moment and craned his
head back at a right angle, In that distinctive
pose, his white face and breast are his most
pronounced features. Moments later, he continued
down the trunk in search of
insects.
I am recovering... Read On
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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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