WindStar Wildlife Garden Weekly
Connecting People
To Nature Through
Education July 30, 2007
Official
Publication of WindStar Wildlife
Institute
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What's
Next?
WE HEAR nearly every week about another
new species of plants or animals that have invaded the U.S.
and are replacing natives.
Skip Snow, a federal biologist in Everglades
National Park, says he has been spending more and more time
studying the remains of the park's birds and animals,
extracted from the stomachs of captured or road-killed Burmese
Pythons, the latest--and most spectacular--addition to a
growing list of biological interlopers.
He has found everything, from small
mammals--Cotton Mice, Cotton Rats, rabbits, squirrels,
opossums, Raccoons, even a Bobcat, and recently the hooves of
a deer. Plus, wading birds and water birds, Pipe-billed
Grebes, coots, egrets, limpkins and at least one big
alligator. The South Asian snakes, which can top 200 pounds
and 20 ft. probably entered the park as discards or escapees
from the bustling global trade in exotic pets.
"Year-old, footlong pythons in a few years
can reach room-spanning, cat-munching size, prompting some
owners to abandon them by the roadside. That practice may not
pose an ecological problem in Detroit," Mr. Snow said, but in
a near-tropical Florida park, "it is an unfolding nightmare."
Tom Patrick
Founder &
President
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like your approach of training wildlife habitat advocates and
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We are glad to partner with WindStar Wildlife Institute in
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He Always Gets His 'Pest'
Armadillo
By Gary
Corsair
THE VILLAGES, FL
- Gary DePalma has pulled a rattlesnake
out of a construction trailer, rescued ducks from
chimneys, coaxed bats out of golf cart tunnels,
and captured 986 Armadillos-yep, he counted-but
Lake County's premier critter catcher still gets
an occasional surprise.
"I've seen
quite a bit, but I haven't seen everything," says
DePalma, a 52-year-old Leesburg, FL resident who's
been a licensed wildlife nuisance specialist for
nearly 11 years.
DePalma never
knows what to expect when his phone rings-often in
the middle of the night. He just knows that the
person on the other end of the line probably views
him as a last resort.
"I got a call from a
hotel in Lake County. A nice hotel. They had flea
problems," he recalled.
Fleas? In a hotel?
DePalma, part Sherlock Holmes, part Marlin
Perkins, knew exactly which... Read
On
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Giant Squid Invade Monterey
Bay
By Paul
Rogers
IT
SOUNDS like
something out of a monster movie.
A mysterious sea creature, up
to 7 ft. long, weighing up to 100 pounds. It hunts in
packs of hundreds, flying through the water at 25 mph,
changing color. With a parrot-like beak and arms covered
with thousands of sharp barbs, it attacks and tries to
eat nearly anything it sees, including fish, scuba
divers, even its own kind.
But it's not a creature of
Hollywood. It's real. And it's reached the Monterey Bay.
The Humboldt Squid, also known as the Giant Squid or
Jumbo Squid, traditionally has lived in warm waters off
South America and Mexico, where fishermen call it
"diablo rojo," or "red devil."
For reasons
that still aren't entirely clear, large numbers of the
scrappy cephalopods have been steadily expanding
their... Read
On |
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He appears like he is looking directly
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Find more nature products in
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Wildlife Photo of the
Week
Roseate Spoonbill taking flight
by Arthur Morris
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Bears Show More Restraint Than
Ferocity
Lynn Rogers sits beside one of
his research subjects
"Not all bears are Yogi and Gentle
Ben."
"A bear gives no warning before it
attacks."
"Don't go into the woods. There
are bears in there."
By Lynn Rogers,
Ph.D. THESE are the
warnings I grew up with. Everything I read and
heard portrayed wild bears as brooding, hungry, and
short-tempered. Books and magazines told and
retold of killings, noting little distinction between
black bears and grizzlies.
I discovered from my childhood
pets (snapping turtles, snakes, etc.) that wildlife
danger is often exaggerated, but I had no experience to
help me understand bears.
My experience with bears began 30 years
ago, in 1967, when I started working with black bears as
a student aide for the Michigan Department of Natural
Resources.
On my first day, when my boss told me
that a treed bear had descended and run right past him,
I couldn't imagine a threatened bear coming that close
without attacking. I knew there had been bear
incidents in national parks, I knew people had even been
killed, and I was apprehensive.
My apprehension soon turned
into...Read On
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Splashing In
A Stream Can Be
Educational
By Scott Shalaway
THERE'S no better way to cool
off on a steamy summer day than to lie in the riffles of
a clear, cool stream. And curious naturalists are sure
to discover an amazing array of aquatic
life.
Fish, crayfish, and a variety of
aquatic insects such as Water Striders and Whirligig
Beetles are common and familiar, but a surprising
variety of other invertebrates occur in freshwater. Add
a few kids, and you've got a great learning
opportunity.
Stream bottoms teem with
life. The simplest technique for collecting samples of
these organisms requires two or three people. The only
equipment necessary is a minnow seine or even an old
window screen, a plastic bucket, and perhaps a hand
lens.
The kicker stands about 10 ft.
upstream from the collectors, who hold... Read On
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 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
President
Redhead Duck by Leisa's Images
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Myersville, MD
21773
301-293-3351
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