Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy

The spring reading selection has been selected!  Our next book is a collection of essays titled Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer.  Yes, it is about mosses – and also the interconnectedness of all living things. 

You can learn more about our nature book club and sign up to be a part of it by visiting our Book Club page.
 
Although our reading group has increased to 25 participants, we have yet to gather much interest in attending meetings. Hopefully when the weather improves and the days are longer we will have more in attendance. 

Stay tuned for the date of the next meeting which will be scheduled for a date in April, location TBD. As soon as it’s been set, the information will be posted on the website. In the meantime, enjoy this great book!

I received an email the other day from a woman asking about a resource that would match up local birds to bird houses and plans for making them. She was looking for something to be able to do with her children so that they could learn about nature and wildlife while providing nesting sites for birds.

This is a really fun topic, not only because it’s fun to set up a new bird house and see the life stories that play out but also because it gives us a chance to look at the world from that bird’s viewpoint and consider the habitat and the features around us that will attract certain birds versus others. It makes us ask questions like: is this a safe spot to raise my young? will it be warm enough or too hot? where will the babies fly to for their first flight from the box? is there food and water around?

But I’m getting ahead of myself…. in terms of books that are great for bird houses and plans, there are two that I’ve found that are particularly good. The first is called Woodworking for Wildlife: Homes for Birds and Mammals. It was put together by Carrol Henderson and published through the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.  I like this book the most because it is organized by bird or mammal (versus by type of house). 

So, for example, there’s a chapter on Eastern Phoebes and in that chapter the author provides and summary of the types of food the bird eats (e.g. insects, berries or seeds), the type of habitat it prefers, places that they like to build their nests and other specifics like the sound of its call and identifying marks. There are also full color photos throughout the book that include pictures of nests, eggs and fledglings.  Then, at the back of the book they have all the plans and instructions for building the nestboxes and platforms and the specific birds that will use each design are listed.

I’ve used this book to make all sorts of houses from woodpecker houses to screech owl houses and of course bluebird nestboxes. It’s really well done. Almost all the birds listed in this book are native to our area as well so it’s a great resource.

The second book that I’ve found on this is called Birdhouses and Feeders You Can Make, by Paul Gerhards. This book is primarily a book of plans and indeed it too has houses for birds that are local to Loudoun. There’s a table in the front that lists the different bird species and their particular needs and then for each plan they list which bird uses the box or platform type.  The nice thing about this book is that it also has feeder plans so you can get into building those too if you want.

These are fun activities to do over the winter. Best time to have your nest boxes up is by the first week of March or so, so that the birds will find them just as they’re starting to nest. Something to keep in mind is putting up predator guards as well (such as stovepipe guards to keep raccoons and snakes out as well as noel guards).

If you have bird houses or plans you’d like to share please let us know and we’ll post pictures and plans here. Also, I’m going to start doing some posts on general info on our local Loudoun birds and appropriate houses for them so stay tuned for that too.

I watched an excellent NOVA program last night called The Lord of Ants.  It’s about the life of E.O.Wilson, one of my personal heroes and sources of inspiration. It’s called The Lord of Ants because of the research on ants that Wilson focused on but Wilson did more than just study ants, he made the linkage from ants to biosystems and teaches us about how life connects to life on our planet and the habitats that we have to protect. 

It’s recognized that we are currently going through a mass extinction and in this program he describes the impact (no, it’s not the end of the world, but the species and diversity of the world will change). With science, rather than emotion, E.O. Wilson makes a call for action in the hopes of saving diversity.

In addition to being really informative and inspiring, there are a couple of things that I especially liked about this program. First, it’s told by him in the present day so it’s current and real. The second is that the program weaves together not only stories that he tells about past research but also present day research that links the past with the present.  He then takes that to the next dimension: turning data into action, turning information into a discussion around the need to protect and preserve habitats. This is something that we strive to do through Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy so I especially grooved on that.

Another part of the program that I really loved was where he points out how you and I can get involved here at the local level. Environmental monitoring programs and activities like a BioBlitz that we do here locally are shown to connect into this big picture tying education and monitoring to conservation. He also talks about the Encyclopedia of Life, which I did a blog post on a week or so ago, and his vision for that.

E.O. Wilson is certainly one of the greatest naturalists of our modern days. I encourage you to check out this NOVA program next time it’s on or watch it online through the link above (it’s just an hour and is not dry at all) and pick up a book or two of his – they are both fascinating and often poetic.

For those who have not seen our winter issue of the Habitat Herald newsletter, it’s been posted to our website both as individual articles that you can download and share as well as the full issue. 

You can find this issue as well as all of our past issues on our Habitat Herald Archives page. 

The Habitat Herald has all sorts of great articles on local Loudoun wildlife, plants, ecosystems and other elements in nature. It also provides updates on our different projects and reports from our monitoring activities.

Many thanks to Liam McGranaghan for writing the lead article on Golden Eagles! (Yes! we do see them in Loudoun!)

I came across this website while reading one of my magazines, OnEarth, recently and it seems really interesting.  The website is called Encyclopedia of Life and was first conceived in 2003 by E.O. Wilson, arguable one of the greatest naturalists of our time.

The goal of the site is to “grant each of the documented 1.8 million species on earth a page featuring a detailed summary of everything known about it: it’s scientific name, habitat and geographic range and distribution, what it eats and is eaten by, and where it is found in the evolutionary tree of life.” So far there are around 170,000 pages set up so it’s coming along.

One of the neatest things about this site (besides great information that we can get on our local Loudoun species) is how it pulls together the pages. There isn’t some poor webmaster sitting there typing all these different pages. Instead, it uses automated indexing similar to how Google functions, to pull in web pages into a standardized format, enabling standalone databases around the world to talk to each other and extract the data. Pretty cool.

Anyway, I wanted to share this with you in case you hadn’t come across it yet since it’s such a good resource as we learn about our local Loudoun wildlife and their habitats.

Yup, there’s a new identification book out by David Sibley but it’s not a bird book…this time it’s on Trees! As far as I know, this is the first non-bird book that David has written and indeed, I think it will be really useful. Sure, there are pros and cons to the guide, as there with every one out there, but overall I like it.

He starts the book with general terminology for tree identification, has drawings of the different types of leaves, flowers and bark we will encounter, and then gets right into the families and species of trees themselves.

Each section starts with an overview of the family and then the pages that follow go into the details of each species, including range maps, drawings of the leaves (in different seasons), flowers and fruit. He also includes drawings of the bark and trunks and shapes of the trees and includes general characteristics on the species that aid with identification.

I also really like that for each species he indicates if it’s native to the US and if not, where it came from. In many cases,  he shares interesting information such as survival tactics used by specific trees or information on how people have used the tree in years gone by.

One thing that would have been nice with this book is an identification key - the way David intended this book was for you to flip through it looking at the drawings to narrow down the identification. This is ok if you already know the family but trickier if it’s a completely unknown tree.

Definitely a neat tree book to have on-hand though as we try to identify them through the seasons! Oh, and in good naturalist form, he includes a full checklist of the different species at the back of the book so we can check off our sightings

Amazon has a short video clip with David talking about this book and how it can best be used in the field. Click on the link here to see it: The Sibley Guide to Trees.

One of the things I love to do when I go for a nature walk is to look for the “stories” of the wildlife that live in the area that I’m walking through. I’ll confess, it often takes me a long time to walk a short distance because there’s so much to investigate, so many “clues” to see!

This time of year can be especially fun for looking for wildlife tracks and signs – there’s mud or snow to look for tracks and trees and shrubs are mostly bare making it easier to see signs.

So head on out and look for some tracks….perhaps some bird prints in the snow or a mammal track?

Ask yourself some questions…how big are the tracks, what direction are they going in? what would have brought that animal to this spot? Is there food or water nearby? If it’s a mammal track, can you tell if they were just passing through or did they dally there awhile?

You can also look for other signs – perhaps there’s some scat nearby or some feathers or fur or some chewed twigs and or a nest or burrow? Are there shells from nuts or seeds?

The stories will come together as you pull together these great clues, and you may even see the animals as you look for the clues. The other day, I was out taking a stroll and was quietly taking a photo of the deer print above when I heard a commotion coming towards me. A herd of about 9 deer was coming my way…

I was just as surprised to see them as they were to see me so I stood still as they passed by, resisting my urge to get a great leaping deer shot. I then came across a network of trails through the snow, smaller than a deer would make, that leads down a bank to a stream. My guess here is that raccoons and maybe opossums are using this trail. I’ll watch for more tracks and signs.

You can see more wildlife scat, tracks and signs photos from this nature walk on our Loudoun Wildlife Facebook page.

If you enjoy wildlife tracking, there are some great resources that you can use to make your identifications. One really handy book that’s small enough to take on a walk is Animal Tracks of Maryland, Delaware & Virginia by Tamara Eder. It also has a fun running rabbit drawing at the bottom of each page that moves when you flip the pages quickly as well as a ruler on the back cover for measuring the tracks. There’s no scat in this book though. The best overall resource for both scat and tracks is Mammal Tracks and Signby Mark Elbroch – complete with color photos.

You can also come along on our general nature walks. Our field trip leaders are great at helping identify tracks and signs. Check our Programs and Field Trips calendar for upcoming walks.

Our winter issue of the Habitat Herald is out!  It was mailed to members of Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy in early January and has been put out in places around the county (libraries, community centers) where we’ve gotten permission to do so.

If you know of places where we should be putting out copies of the newsletter, please let us know. There are some really great artices in the Habitat Herald each quarter on various aspects of Loudoun nature, wildlife and habitats and and we definitely want to be sharing them with anyone who is interested. 

If you haven’t seen this latest issue, you can download it here: Habitat Herald Winter Issue.  Feel free to forward this to others who would enjoy the articles and other information provided here too.  The lead article for this issue is Golden Eagles, which talks about when we see them here in Loudoun, their migratory patterns and more! 

We also have a great article on Jefferson Salamanders, which will start migrating to vernal pools across the county in the coming weeks (yup, in the winter!). Senia Hamoui wrote another great children’s story for us…..this one is on Owls. And, we have some other really interesting articles on plants (Staghorn Sumac) and insects (the Six-spotted Tiger beetle).

At the last LWC Nature Book Club meeting, readers selected our next book:  Bringing Nature Home – How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by Douglas Tallamy. 

By the simple act of planting native plants (and the not so easy removal of invasive plants) we can each be a conservation activist and do our part in saving the eco-system and protecting biodiversity. 

Our next meeting will be February 4, 2010, location TBD.  We encourage everyone to read this important book and to dedicate themselves to cultivating native plants.

Our future endeavors:  meet once a quarter, write a regular column in Habitat Herald including what we are reading and other recommended books by members, encourage a book swap, share information on speakers and upcoming book events.  We also considered a book discussion board on LWC’s Facebook although this is problematic as not everyone uses Facebook. 

To participate in the book club, visit our Nature Book Club page. After you sign up, our Book Club coordinator, Donna Quinn, will be in touch with more details.

We’re very excited to say that the Loudoun Wildlife Nature Book Club is kicking back off again with Donna Quinn jumping in to coordinate it!

The book that we are reading now is a great one by Jane Goodall called Hope for Animals and their World.  Short essays make up the book so you can jump in anywhere and read a few sections.

The next meeting will be on November 5th at 7:30pm in Ashburn. If you’re interested in coming, please sign up online and Donna will provide more information and directions for the meeting spot.

If you can’t attend this meeting but would like to receive information on future books that we select and meet-ups, just sign up online and we’ll make sure you’re in the know.