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September 4, 2006
IF YOU LIVE IN Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, DC, or West Virginia, you have another opportunity to see Michael L. Smith's photo exhibit at the Taneytown History Museum, 24 E. Baltimore Street, Taneytown, MD. The exhibit was scheduled to close this month, but due to high interest, will continue into October. As you perhaps know, Michael is an internationally known wildlife photographer who made the famous "Mad Bluebird" photo. Admission is free and the museum is open Friday, Saturday and Sundays.
(A Lizard Frog sits on a lily pad in a small pond Bob Princell built in his front yard on his half-acre wildlife habitat.)
By Kevin Howell
MONON, IN-- Three years ago, with little else to do but recover from his heart surgery, Bob Princell sat looking out the window of his home on Bedford Bay north of Monticello.Watching birds, squirrels and other critters scamper about in his yard and out on the water, a growing interest in nature developed as he passed the hours away.
Today his yard is filled with plants, water ponds and feeders. Since the beginning of Princell's fascination with the natural world and hours of research into habitats, his knowledge of attracting wildlife with his plantings has grown immensely.
"I started studying up on it and reading about it, and learned I was doing a lot of things wrong (to attract wildlife)," said Princell. He learned he was trying to be "too neat" in what he planted and how he cared for his plants.
"You need to leave stuff alone, and instead of...Read On
By Electa Draper
MANCOS, CO-- Aspen forests in Colorado and throughout the West are fading from the landscape, dying faster and in more places than previously expected and for reasons scientists don't understand.In every Western state, aspen mortality is increasing, U.S. Forest Service ecologists say. In the past two years, large-scale die-off of thousands of acres has been documented for the first time in Colorado by aerial surveys of prime aspen country on the Western Slope.
"The aspen is in universal decline in the Intermountain West," aspen researcher Wayne Shepperd said from the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins. "I haven't seen anything like this before in 37 years in the Forest Service. But it's suddenly very noticeable."
The aspen, the most widely... Read On
By Tom Stienstra
FROM THE LOOK in the hunter's eyes, California's No. 1 game warden knew something was violently wrong."I think these guys illegally killed a bear," the hunter said, and then produced the license plate number from the suspects' vehicle that he had spotted.
Todd Tognazzini, honored this month as California's Game Warden of the Year, knew he had a case. This was in the foothills of remote San Luis Obispo County, where Tognazzini and a young trainee he was mentoring set up a checkpoint. Bears are extremely rare in the central coast mountains of California, and it is illegal to shoot or hunt them at any time.
The license number was tracked to an Enterprise rental car out of Las Vegas. The trainee figured it was a dead-end... Read On
By Robert Nolin
WE HUNT THEM for fun and profit. On occasion they try to eat us.Two species, upstart human and ancient Alligator, share one habitat in a wary co- existence.
(Todd Hardwick captures an alligator in a lake behind a homes in North Miami Beach, FL. Photo by Wilfredo Lee / AP)
Life along the fault line of swamp-turned-suburbia can be mapped out in the scars of the professionals who hunt or wrestle the scaly reptiles. Or in cold- sweat clashes, like a diver's underwater battle with a hungry gator, or an accountant's tug-of-war with the reptile that snatched his puppy.
There are approximately 1.5 million gators in Florida. Some 18 million humans are steadily encroaching on their turf, experiencing more confrontations with the prehistoric creature whose bite can register more than 2,000 pounds of pressure.
Gator encounters can be as amusing as a flummoxed suburbanite staring at a big lizard in the backyard pool, or as horror-show scary as children and dogs being yanked into the murk by the beast's unforgiving jaws. In one week in May, three women in Florida were killed by Alligators.
Wildlife officer Chris Ehrismann said Alligators are...Read On
Do those flying objects at your lights at night annoy you?
Try taking a closer look sometime and you may see beauty you can't believe. Just the names of them alone will fascinate you. This is a Nessus Sphinx Moth photographed by Leisa Royse of Frankfort, Ky
For more nature photographs, see
the Gallery on WindStar's web site
and Nature's Best Photographs Album in the American Wildlife Blog.
Mad Bluebird Mugs
Set of 4 (12-oz. each)
$29.95 Order NowUsually he's 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. This is one of the most famous nature photographs ever created and originally was seen in a National Geographic Society birding book.
Here it has been reproduced on 12-oz. porcelain mugs that are microwave and dishwasher safe. Makes a terrific gift!
What Have We Done To Our Wildlife?
"I WAS DRIVING north on Route 27 this week approaching the Acton Medical Center, Action, MA," says Pauline Goller. "There was a huge tree on the right casting a shadow onto the road. My eyes were blinded from the sun when I notice a brownish figure in the shade of the tree. Not knowing what it was, I stopped, looked and saw that it was a mother deer and her baby. I couldn't believe it! They were obviously trying to cross the street, but were cowering out of fear. I stayed still and noticed that no cars were approaching from the other direction.
They were able to successfully maneuver, cross the street safely and jump..." Read On(Doe and fawn by Dan Addison Photography)
Cicada Killer Wasps Kill Butterflies
"IS ANYONE else having problems with cicada killer wasps? This is the first year that I noticed them," says Cathy Gilleland. "Despite their name and the usual description of their habits, the ones here are targeting butterflies. I've watched them cruising around the popular butterfly areas in my garden, attacking butterflies and hummingbird moths. I find piles of butterfly wings on the ground. With butterfly populations down for so many reasons, this is a stress that they didn't need!
We have many cicadas, so I was wondering if this behavior was..." Read OnSpeeding Cougar Gains Attention
"I ENCOUNTERED what I believe to have been a Cougar/Mountain Lion while on a camping trip in western Illinois approximately nine miles east of the Mississippi River," says Ralph Douglas. "The animal ran past me within several feet on my left side, too fast to get a identifying look but I could feel the rush of air as it passed by me. It was light brown (doe skin) in color and roared, not a scream, as it passed. It ran into thick brush and roared again, and disappeared.
I was so startled I froze until..." Read OnHarbinger of Fall?
"BEFORE there were clocks, time was simpler, I think. Seconds, minutes and hours simply didn't exist. Days were measured, of course, by the rising and setting of the sun. Months by the phases of the moon and the spinning of the stars. And seasons by the happenings of things natural. Today, a cricket somehow found it's way into the house.
As I watched it ricochet wildly around the living room, I thought that this was a harbinger of fall." says Jack Lewnes. Read OnIf 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."
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!
(Some 600 American Bison roam the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Oklahoma--the descendants of 15 brought there in 1907 in the first effort to save bison from extinction. Photo by James Ownby)
Tom Patrick
WindStar Wildlife Instituteemail: wildlife@windstar.orgphone: 301-293-3351web & blog: http://www.windstar.org
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