Subject: From WindStar
Wildlife Institute
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Dear Tom,
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TIPSY PELICAN CAUSES CRASH--The bird that crashed
through the windshield of his car might have been flying under
the influence. A California Brown Pelican probably was
intoxicated by a naturally occurring toxin found in algae
blooms when she hit the car on the Pacific Coast Highway in
Orange County, CA recently. The driver was startled, but not
hurt. The pelican needed surgery for a broken foot, and also
had a gash on its pouch. Though toxicology tests take several
weeks, the odd bird behavior was likely the result of
poisoning from domoic acid, which has been found in the ocean
in the area, said Lisa Birkle, assistant wildlife director at
the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach.
Pelicans have excellent eyesight and are unlikely to fly into
cars when sober, Birkle said. The center has received 16 calls
of strange bird behavior in the past week, and was holding
three other birds found disoriented and wandering through
yards and streets. |
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By
Scott Shalaway
EVERY YEAR at about this time
state wildlife agencies plead with the public to resist the
compassionate urge to rescue abandoned wildlife. That fawn in
the high grass almost always has a mother nearby. An e-mail
from Kevin Traube of Beckley, WV highlights this point.
"I enjoy your column each Sunday, and wanted to share
with you an interesting experience I had recently. I own the
Mountain State Miniature Golf Course in Beckley and was
cleaning the greens one morning earlier this month to prepare
for the day, when I discovered a fawn curled up next to one of
the greens. (Fawn and doe by Dan Addison
Photography)
"I blocked off that particular hole to protect the fawn,
and it stayed there all day, barely moving, despite hundreds
of golfers passing within just a few feet of it. About the
time it began to get dark that evening, a golfer playing a
nearby hole scored a hole-in-one. When he let out a yell, the
deer got to its feet and stumbled off into the woods that line
the golf course, a distance of a only about five paces. All
day long we had been hearing its mother pacing in the nearby
underbrush...Read
On
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By
Joseph Hall
THEY EVOKE Spanish moss and magnolias—
their crazy, copycat arias providing a signature song of the south.
The Mockingbird, after all, is the state bird of Arkansas,
Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. So what were these three
plump young Dixie chicks doing stuffed into a Canadian nest in west
Toronto last week? (Northern Mockingbird with worm by
Joanne's Backyard)
Like several other bird species associated with the U.S. Deep
South, hundreds of Mockingbirds have recently begun to call the
Toronto area home. And while global warming has not been proven as
the cause of this northward migration, it's certainly being pegged
as a...Read
On
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By David
Kidwell
HAMPTON TOWNSHIP, NJ—In the woods, just say
"Jane."
Forget Jane Huffman's Ph.D. from Rutgers. Forget the prestigious
fellowship at the University of Delaware. Forget 20 years of
teaching at East Stroudsburg University.
"If a bear is heading my way, I want someone to say, 'Jane,
here comes a bear.' I don't want them wasting time saying 'Dr.
Huffman, here comes a bear.'"
(Dr. Jane Huffman, a biologist from East Stroudsburg
University, looks for ticks and other parasites on a 240 pound
female Black Bear)
This day, there's a bear nearby. But it's in a trap, and feeling
the strong effects of two sedatives shot into her system by dart
gun. Wildlife technicians issue trapped bears two forms of ID an ear
tag and a mouth...Read
On
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Pamela
Wood
BIRDSVILLE, MD--Kevin Colbeck has always loved
hunting and even had a commercial hunting business.
So when he wound up managing a hunting property in Birdsville,
he got to thinking about what could attract more birds and wildlife
to the land. He consulted state officials, borrowed a tractor and
set out planting Indiangrass, big bluestem grass (see photo
by Prairie Nursery) and wildflowers. becoming more common
across the state.
Soon birds were flocking to his property. That was a dozen years
ago, and that one experiment has blossomed into an award-winning
West River-based business, SMGC Wildlife Habitat Restoration.
Colbeck recently was named a Wildlife Conservationist of the
Year by the Maryland Wildlife Advisory Commission, a volunteer
panel.
He's given up his old gig, a commercial hunting business, to
focus on the habitat plantings. An American history major in
college, Colbeck never thought he'd have a...Read
On |
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"To
fulfill a photo assignment on Killdeer for a magazine, I located a
nest by watching the parent birds perform the broken wing act and
working backwards from the path they tried to lead me. The closer I
got to the nest, the more excited they became. (Works every time).
The nest held four black spotted eggs. By the third day of
photography, three had hatched and mom killdeer insisted on sitting
on the nest, eventually ignoring me seated in the brush near by.
Later that day the fourth egg hatched and the little family quickly
left the area." (Photo of Killdeer sitting on nest by Tim Flanigan,
Nature Exposure, Bedford, PA)
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Great Line-up Of Experiences!
APPARENTLY not many people are concerned
about kids losing their contact with nature based on the response to
last week's American
Wildlife Blog. But, they were interested this week in
Cathy's observations on Fireflies, Pamela's problem with the Common
Raven at 5 a.m, Jan's fascinating story about the River Otters,
Jack's stories about the American Kestrel plus the Bald Eagle that
landed with a fish in his yard, and Ron relating his fascination
with birds and growth of his bird garden. Wow-- what a variety of
interesting experiences! If you are registered to receive the FREE
American Wildlife Blog, you can add comments to any of the
articles, and if you want to pen your own article, send it to
wildlife@windstar.org with the subject line "New Blog
Feature."
(Bald Eagle
with fish)
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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!
(Lady Slipper by Barry Merluzzo)
Tom Patrick
WindStar Wildlife Institute
phone:
301-293-3351
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