WindStar Wildlife Garden Weekly
Connecting People
To Nature Through
Education October 22,
2007
Official
Publication of WindStar Wildlife
Institute
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It Was A Glorious Weekend! 
TODAY, while putting together
this week's issue, I was working at the computer when one of
our resident Chipmunks jumped up on my office window ledge and
stared at me.
It was clear what he wanted--more black
oil sunflower seeds. In addition to the seven
birdfeeders, I regularly pour the seeds on a big log
placed just outside my window. It wasn't more than five
minutes after I came back inside after "refreshing" the log
when the Chipmunk was back and with a friend. They've been
busy for the last several hours, filling their cheeks with the
sunflower seeds, and running back to their den to store the
food for winter.
Yesterday was such a beautiful fall day my wife
and I decided to drive to Berkley Springs, WV to see the fall
colors and stop by the Nature Niche, owned by Judy Webb. The
store has a terrific selection of products to improve wildlife
habitat. Judy is one of several dozen wild bird store owners
that have registered for WindStar's Wildlife Habitat
Naturalist certification course.
After
lunch we drove to Shepherdstown, WV to attend the annual Open
House at the National Conservation Training Center. The
turnout, especially of youngsters, was excellent and the kids
had many activities from which to choose--from wild animal
programs in the auditorium to classroom and outdoor
exhibits. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff members
were on hand to educate and entertain. All in all, it was a
wonderful day.
Tom
Patrick
Founder &
President
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Can
Small Animals Survive
Hunting?
By Scott Shalaway
AFTER
WEEKS of unseasonably warm temperatures,
there's finally a fall chill in the air. Cooler
temperatures and falling leaves trigger distant
memories.
(A young boy shoots his
first pheasant)
When I turned 12, my father took me
hunting for the first time. We had a bird dog, and on
Saturday mornings we roamed nearby fields in search of
Ring-necked Pheasants and cottontails. I learned gun
safety and hunting strategy in pursuit of small game.
October was the highlight of our hunting
season.
Though hunting is on the
decline, millions of hunters across the country still
pursue pheasants, cottontails, squirrels and other small
game species. The obvious question to a casual observer
is, "how can these small animals sustain such relentless
hunting pressure?"
The answer is
"reproductive potential." That's the term biologists use
to describe the high reproductive rate of these species.
Cottontails, for
example, begin breeding in February unless winter's grip
in unusually firm. As birthing time approaches, the
female digs a shallow hole in the ground. The female
lines the nest with fur she plucks from her belly and
covers the opening with grass, making it difficult to
see from above.
Nests usually are placed...
Read
On
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Nature
Quotes
"In nature, nothing is perfect
and everything
is perfect.
Trees can be contorted,
bent in
weird ways,
and they're still
beautiful."
--Alice
Walker
Photo by Lenore W.
Horowitz
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Threats to Bumblebees Fly Under
Radar
 GRANTS PASS,
OR--Looking high and low, Robbin Thorp can no
longer find a species of bumblebee that just five years
ago was plentiful in northwestern California and
southwestern Oregon.
(Franklin's
Bumblebee)
Thorp, an emeritus professor of entomology
from the University of California at Davis, found one
solitary worker last year along a remote mountain trail
in the Siskiyou Mountains, but hasn't been able to
locate any this year.
He fears that the species--Franklin's
Bumblebee--has gone extinct before anyone could even
propose it for the endangered species list. To make
matters worse, two other bumblebee species--one on the
East coast, one on the West--have gone from common to
rare.
Amid the uproar over global warming and
mysterious disappearances of honeybee colonies, concern
over the plight of the lowly bumblebee has been confined
to scientists laboring in obscurity.
But if bumblebees were to
disappear... Read On
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Wildlife
Photo of the Week
Photographer John Fast spent many hours
over several days to photograph the antics of 7 fox
kits. On the final day of his shoot, one daring kit
separated from the rest and approached him. The kit
lowered his head and suddenly raised it again, holding
this single feather in his mouth. There was just enough
time to make 2 shots before he dropped the feather and
returned to the others.
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The Sparrows' Secrets
 By Diane Cooledge Porter
ON CRISP October days, when
they're passing southward through my yard, I hear
fragments of the White-throated Sparrows'
(pictured) Old Sam Peabody song.
From my upstairs
window, I watch a bunch of dead leaves blow into the
yard on a gust of wind. They settle, brown and rumpled,
among the gathering autumn leaves beneath the bird
feeders. Nothing much to attract
attention.
And then the new arrivals
transform into White-throated Sparrows. They jump, kick
the leaves behind them, and reach into the cleared space
for seeds that other birds have spilled from the
feeders.
Now and then one of
them gives way when another rushes at it, allowing the
more aggressive bird to feed in some particularly
attractive spot. But the time of defending territories
is long past.
These sparrows are just passing
through, migrating southward, and they seem comfortable
with one another's proximity. Only a few will linger
here where I live, in Iowa, at the northern boundary of
the sparrow's winter range.
Most will spend the
winter in... Read On
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Deer
Fishing? Sounds
Crazy!
RECENTLY, my
buddy Bo Warren and I were trolling for stripers in the
Chesapeake Bay.
We were 1-½ miles
offshore in about 80 ft. of water contemplating why the
fish weren't biting. We looked back to check our
gear and saw something odd in the water. Was it a
seal? Can't be, we don't have seals around
here.
On closer look, it turned
out to be a buck deer that was WAY off course. He
was desperate and barely staying
afloat.
I've seen deer swim a river or bayou before.
When you see that, the first thing you notice is that
they are powerful swimmers. Their head and
shoulders are out of the water and they make
surprisingly good headway. This critter was just
keeping his nose up and looked like he'd been swimming
all night long. In fact, he was so worn out that
he swam toward the boat probably thinking it looked
enough like land to him. When he got closer
though, he wasn't sure what to make of the two dudes on
board, and backed off.
So, since the fish weren't biting, we
thought we'd give this buck a hand. Turns out Bo
grew up around cows and was really handy with a
bowline. He lassoed the deer on the first
try! Bo grabbed his neck, I grabbed the flank, and
we barreled over backwards into the
boat.
Before
I knew it, Bo was on top of him and had him tied up just
like a calf. We hit the throttle and shuttled him to the
closest beach--Kent Point. I beached the boat and we
carefully unloaded the deer onto the sand. The
whole time we kept thinking he was going to kick the
snot out of us. He never did though; he was
totally spent.
We untied him and
jumped back. Too weak to stand, he just sat there
quivering. We even picked him up again and put his
feet underneath him, but he still couldn't walk.
Don't know if he made it or not, but I think his chances
were vastly improved. Hopefully he recovered after
time.
When you're out and about, ya
just never know!
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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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