WindStar Wildlife Garden Weekly
Connecting People
To Nature Through
Education May 7, 2007
Official
Publication of WindStar Wildlife
Institute
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Eagle Scout Project
I'M PLEASANTLY surprised at the
support and enthusium expressed last week at WindStar's Spring
Clean-up. All of the teenagers (and some of their
parents) showed up to support Nick Selock of Myersville, MD
who is working on his Eagle Scout designation. Nick's
project was to plan and manage the day's activities including
installing a new wildflower meadow. In the process, they
spread 45 bags of mulch, layed three pallets of fieldstone
around the pond and sanctuary area, plus tilled the meadow
area and seeded the wildflowers and warm-season native
grasses. Thanks to everyone who took
part.
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Foreign Invaders Threaten
Gardens, Woods
Nutria are large
rodents that look like Beavers with long, thin
tails.
By Jim Minick
ALIEN
INVASIVES don't fly into your backyard from
Neptune, nor do they have three eyes or beam hostages up
into their UFOs. But sometimes they do strike fear into
the hearts of those who recognize them. Or they
should.
Alien invasives, those in
our backyards, woods, and waterways, are non-native
plants, animals and insects that get a root-, claw-, or
foothold on our land. They may appear innocuous, but in
reality they prove harmful to human health, the
environment, and our economy. By some estimates,
invasives cost the United States over $100 billion a
year.
Yet every spring, the annual
crop of gardening catalogs arrives full of photographs
inviting us to buy these plants. You can purchase
Russian olive shrubs, mimosa trees or even bittersweet,
a vine that scales trees and smothers them.
One catalog boasts that it...More
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Keep Birds Safe from
Windows
Applying Featherguard
Feathers To Window
WINDOWS,
particularly large picture windows and patio doors, can
pose an unintentional deadly threat to songbirds.
Window strikes (as they are commonly
called) happen when a bird flies directly into the pane
of glass in your window. These accidents often cause
injuries and sometimes death.
Here are a few successful solutions
you should try to help reduce bird strikes around your
home. After you read these tried-and-true tips,
please be sure to share this information with your
neighbors, friends and family.
- Leave your windows
dirty! Birds fly into windows
because they see a reflection and think the reflection
is an actual object such as a tree or birdfeeder. By
leaving your windows dirty, you reduce
reflections--and you have a great excuse for not
cleaning your windows! It is also helpful to
position bird feeders, houses and baths so that they
are not reflected in large windows. But, we realize
many of you simply can not stomach the thought of
having dirty windows so read on...
- Place a screen over... More
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Mad Bluebird
Flags
Large Flag is 27" x
37"(h)... $19.95
Garden Flag is 12" x 17"(h)...$9.95
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
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Wildlife Photo of the
Week
Close-up of Downy Woodpecker by Arlene
Ripley
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Capturing the Moment In A
Photograph
By Doug Kreutz
WE
LIVE in a region rife with wild critters-from
little lizards and warbling songbirds to cunning
coyotes, bounding deer and lumbering Black
Bears.
Catching a glimpse of such
creatures can be wondrous. Capturing one in a photo can
preserve the moment. Ah, but that photo part is easier
said than done. So we've asked some professionals to
share their top tips on making good wildlife
pictures.
Our experts include George Andrejko, a
photographer with the Arizona Game and Fish Department;
Rory Aikens, a department information officer and avid
photographer; and Tom Whetten, operator of a wildlife
photography tour business called Tom Whetten
Photography.
Step 1: Be
ready
Have your camera handy-at home, in the
car, on the trail. Wildlife won't wait. If you spot a
cardinal in the backyard, a coyote in the park or a
javelina in the desert, you're most likely to get a good
photo if your camera is within easy reach... More
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Snake-ridden Island Is For
Birds
Poisonous Cottonmouth Snake by
author
By Blake de Pastino
SEAHORSE KEY, FL--On a
remote Florida island crawling with venomous snakes, a
scientist believes he has discovered an unusual truce
between predator and prey.
The
tiny island of Seahorse Key on the central Gulf Coast is
renowned among researchers for its teeming numbers of
poisonous Cottonmouth Snakes.
"The population
of Cottonmouths on Seahorse Key is large and dense-I
mean a lot of snakes," said Harvey Lillywhite, a
University of Florida biologist who has been studying
the island. About 600 vipers slither around the 165-acre
(67-hectare) island, Lillywhite estimates-in some areas
with an average of 22 Cottonmouths on every palm
tree-covered acre.
Scientists have
long puzzled over... More
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 NOW
AVAILABLE
NEW!
WindStar National
Master Naturalist
Course
More
Info
Register
PLUS! WindStar
Wildlife Habitat Naturalist
Course
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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!
Tom Patrick
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10072 Vista Ct.
Myersville, MD
21773
301-293-3351
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