Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy

The winter issue of the Habitat Herald is hot off the press! We’re assembling our team of labelers and sorters and will be mailing this next issue to all Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy members during the first week of January.

Here’s a quick preview of what’s inside:
- A Update on Citizen Science in Loudoun County
- Part II of our Woodpeckers of Loudoun article
- A great write-up on our Birds of Loudoun Atlas project
- Persimmons - a really interesting native tree
- Upcoming programs and field trips through April
- Adventures of Zoom and Compass….a story of a red bird
- and lots more!

If you’re not yet a member, you can join online. Your membership will be good through December 2009!  ($20 for an individual, $30 for a family) and, it is tax deductible as allowed by the law. 

If you join soon we can get this latest issue of the Habitat Herald out to you in our next mailing - if you join after we have our mailing party then you’ll receive a copy of this issue in your New Member Information packet. The Habitat Herald is a member benefit and is published each quarter.

Habitat loss is a primary driver for the decline in the diversity of species and in many cases, animals are hit by the losses twice - with breeding grounds and wintering grounds impacted. It’s important for us to be aware of the status of different species as well as the state of their habitats so that we can change our activities and behaviors. The choice of what we save and what we destroy is ours.

The photo here is of a Loggerhead Shrike that has been seen in Loudoun for the last few years. The Loggerhead Shrike is a threatened species and this bird is the only individual we have come across in Loudoun. If you know of locations in Loudoun where they are (or if you identify other animals or plants in Loudoun that are on the threatened/endangered species list) please do let us know.

For those interested in finding out which species in our area are threatened or endangered, there’s a great list compiled by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries called Virginia Species of Concern.  You can download a copy here.

In this episode we are joined by Spring Ligi and Joe Coleman to talk about the Loudoun Bird Atlas Project that we just launched.  This is a significant endeavor, collecting data on more than 295 bird species over the course of the next four years to find out where the birds are breeding and over wintering. Having this data will provide excellent insights into bird habitats and priorities for conservation.

You can read more about our Bird Atlas Project here. As project materials are produced over the coming months, we’ll add them to the web page so you can take a look at the map of Loudoun with the count blocks, download data collection sheets and more.

The Birds of Loudoun checklist, which was completed as a first step in this project, can be downloaded here. It’s a great tool to take into the field to keep track of the diversity of species that you come across.

To listen to this episode, click the play button at the top of this post and it will play now or Right Click Here to Download (select “Save as Target”).

The American Bird Conservancy, the Piedmont Environmental Council, and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries have made available an excellent, detailed, 28-page guide entitled Managing Land in the Piedmont of Virginia for the Benefit of Birds and Other Wildlife. 

This second edition now covers the entire piedmont of Virginia and provides specific habitat recommendations for implementation in agricultural, grassland, scrubland, forest, savanna and wetland habitats, as well as in developed urban and suburban areas such as backyards.

The guide is available for free download at

http://www.acjv.org/documents/VAPiedguide8_08.pdf
 
We’ve looked the guide over and are very impressed with its readability and its up-to-date information on managing various kinds of habitat including grasslands, wetlands, and even suburban (they call them developed) communities.  Definitely worth the download!

The fall issue of our Habitat Herald newsletter just came back from the printer and will be mailed to all Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy members in the next week.

This is another robust and interesting issue filled with great articles on local flora and fauna as well as updates and activities. Here’s a quick preview of what’s inside:

- Part 1 of a 2-part story on the Woodpeckers of Loudoun County
- Insect Id: The Camel Cricket
- 12th Annual Butterfly Report
- Native Plant…Poison Ivy…
- The Adventure of Zoom and Compass..Spiders, Spiders…Oh My!
- Christmas Bird Count and Snickersville Hawk Watch updates
- Programs and Field Trips planned for the next few months as well as programs offered by our partners

If you’re not yet a member of Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, you can join now and get 15 months for 12…your membership will be good through December 2009!  ($20 for an individual, $30 for a family).

If you join soon we can get the Habitat Herald out to you in our next mailing - if you join after we have our mailing party then you’ll receive a copy of this issue in your New Member Information packet. The Habitat Herald is a member benefit and is published each quarter.

At our last get together, the idea of having a free choice meeting was discussed. We decided to give it a shot and so, at our next meeting, each person can come and talk about the book of their choice. That way, all of us can learn about a number of different nature titles!

You need not prepare a lenghty treatise- just a few words about the book will be fine- did you like it? strengths? weaknesses? That sort of thing.

To sign up for this get together, please visit our book club web page.

If you’re reading a book on nature, we’d love to know what it is and what you think of it! Feel free to post it here, come to the meeting, or both.

Next Meeting:
October 9, 2008, 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. at Rust Sanctuary in Leesburg (please sign up via our web page above so we can contact you if the date, time or location changes)

This book, published by the Virginia Native Plant Society, is a fantastic collection of about 200 short articles on the wildlife and wild habitats of Virginia. Each article is about 2 pages long, making it a great book to pick up and put down while gaining a feast of information.  The articles are written in a very conversational style, as if you were sitting down with a friend.

Because John Trott was a local resident, the information in this book really hits home as we learn about the animals and plants, their behaviors and their lives, right here in Loudoun.  The articles were originally printed under the column “All Things Wild and Wonderful” in the Loudoun Times Mirror, Fauquier Times-Democrat and Clark Times-Courier.

We selected this book for our summer book club meeting.  Read any articles that interest you and then join us for a short discussion of the interesting facts and insights we each picked up. 

With so much great information, local to our area, this book is definitely a must for any Virginia naturalist’s collection.