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     WindStar Wildlife Garden Weekly
                              Connecting People To Nature Through Education      May 21, 2007
                                      Official Publication of WindStar Wildlife Institute
 
Desert Gold
What Ever Happened To West Nile Virus?
EIGHT YEARS after the virus left the West Nile and made its way to the U.S. Northeast, chickadee populations in the region have dropped 53 percent, while Eastern Bluebird populations have been diminished by 44 percent, according to an article in Nature. American Crows have been hit the hardest, being wiped out entirely in some small regions. According to ecologist Carsten Rahbek, the trend "suggests that West Nile Virus could potentially change the composition of bird communities across the entire continent" --which could affect not just birds, but the whole food chain. The virus has sickened more than 23,000 Americans and killed nearly 1,000 since 1999. One thing you can do to help is to use a dripper or mister on your birdbath to keep mosquitoes from laying eggs.
 
In This Issue
Birds To Look For
Hummer Questions
Mad Bluebird Flags
Wildlife Photo of the Week
Rachel Carson
Songbirds Herald Spring
Naturalist Courses
American Wildlife Blog
WindStar Wildlife Institute
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 Birds To Look For During Migration
 
Killdeer shield 
Killdeer feigns broken wing to distract intruder. Photo by Tony Beck.
 
By Scott Shalaway
FOR MOST BIRDERS, the next six weeks are the most exciting of the year. Migration is in full swing, and every day brings a new group of birds to woodlots and backyards. Identifying some species can be a challenge, but many are quite recognizable, even for beginners.

Here's a list of 10 common migrants that anyone can identify:

Killdeer return early, often in February, and are often heard before they're seen. They say their own name: "kill-dee, kill-dee" or sometimes "dee-dee-dee." These large plovers prefer open country and often lay eggs in a scrape of a nest in cemeteries, backyards and even gravel parking lots. When disturbed near the nest, they feign a broken wing to distract the intruder. The most reliable field marks on killdeer are the two prominent black bands across the chest.

At about 10 inches in length, American Kestrels are North America's smallest... More
 
 
Questions Are Flying About Hummingbirds 
Ruby-throattp
   Ruby-throated male hovers protectively over feeder. Photo by Tom Patrick

RUBY-throated Hummingbirds are back!

Their tiny size, acrobatic flying ability and eagerness to use nectar feeders make hummers one of America's favorite backyard birds. This fascination always triggers a flurry of mail, so let me review the most common hummer questions I get each spring.
 
How many species of hummingbirds live in the east?
Only the Ruby-throated Hummingbird nests regularly east of the Mississippi River. The female lacks the male's bright red throat, so some people mistakenly believe two species visit their feeders.
 
When should I put up my hummingbird feeder... More 
 
 
Mad Bluebird Garden Flags
Large Flag is 27" x 37"(h)... $19.95
Garden Flag is 12" x 17"(h)...$9.95
                                                                                          Mad Bluebird flags
 
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
 
   Copperheads in pot
  Flower purchased at grocery store contained two baby Copperhead Snakes.
 
"I ALMOST had a heart attack recently. My son got me a potted plant for my birthday so I put it on my kitchen counter. After a few days it was warm enough to plant outside. It was in a plastic pot wedged into a decorative glass outer container. After planting the flower, I got a knife to get the plastic pot out of the glass one. When I wedged the knife around the sides, something moved.
 
"I told my son it looked like a snake, so he took the liner out. To our surprise, there was not one snake, but two baby
Copperheads.  I almost died!
 
When we took the plastic pot out, there was a piece of cardboard up the side. There must have been eggs in the holes of the cardboard that hatched out when it got hot.
 
"Take my advice and don't bring purchased plants inside. First check them out. This could have been really, really bad. The plant was purchased at a grocery store"--Susan Hancock, TN
 
 
An Environmental Icon's Unseen Fortitude
 
Desert GoldBy David A. Fahrenthold
RACHEL CARSON would sit in a study and write on days when she felt well. In a bedroom with a dogwood outside the window, is where she would lie down and write on days when she felt worse.

On her sickest days, as Carson struggled with cancer and radiation therapy, she came back to her brick house on Berwick Road in Silver Spring, MD and couldn't write at all. Instead, an assistant read her words back to her, allowing her to edit even when she couldn't sit up.

"She had such a sense of responsibility, that it was all on her. It had to succeed," said environmental activist Diana Post, giving a tour of the house this week. "Once she took something up, she couldn't put it down until it was finished, and finished well."

Carson's book "Silent Spring," published in 1962, led to the banning of... More
 
 
Songbirds Herald The Arrival Of Spring
 
Winter Wren
By Kathy Reshetiloff
FOR 9 SECONDS (I timed it) the trill went on, a collection of notes with no chorus. This was, I found out much later, the song of the tiny Winter Wren. It was one of the many songbirds I heard last spring and hope to hear again this year. (Winter Wren)
 
As I hiked through the Mid-Atlantic states, my ears could not keep up with multiple songs as so many different birds competed to belt out a quick, high-pitch trill or low cackle. It was truly an amazing experience.
 
And this event occurs every spring! The neotropical songbirds migrate from southern wintering grounds to northern breeding areas, dragging spring (sometimes unwillingly) with them. Mornings may still be a little cold to us, but the birds know better and begin to sing.
 
Birds are nomads in the animal world, ceaselessly traveling with... More
 
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Fawn   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!
 
Sincerely,
Tom Patrick
President                                                          
 
 
 
 
Desert Gold  
 
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     Myersville, MD 21773
     301-293-3351
   
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