Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy

There was a great interview/discussion on bats on the NPR/Diane Rehm show this past Monday.

In case you missed it, here’s the link:
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-11-07/declining-us-bat-population

Click on “listen” in the left corner – Audio starts up about 30 seconds in so don’t give up on it (like I did at first) – just let it play and it’ll get rolling at about 30 seconds in.

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-11-07/declining-us-bat-population

The Fascinating World of Bats ― Wednesday, October 12, at the Carver Center in Purcellville, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. 

Leslie Sturges of the Save Lucy Campaign will describe the fascinating and enchanting world of bats, our only flying mammal, and how important they are. 

She will also introduce the seven species of bats, some of which are common and some of which are rare, that call Loudoun County home. 

This free adult program is sponsored by Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy. 

The Carver Center is located at 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 

Questions: contact Joe Coleman at jcoleman@loudounwildlife.org.

Last May I was listening to a program on WAMU (88.5 FM) and The Animal House came on — the topic of the day was Stink Bugs.

The program is really well done and with Stink Bugs starting to enter homes again for hibernation, I thought this would be good timing to share it with you.

Click here to listen to the program: http://wamuanimalhouse.org/taxonomy/term/382/0

Oh what would Dr. Seuss say! Well, he may have said something like,

“I like Green Frogs in our pond,
They sing like banjos all day long.

I watch them as they hop and play,
I see them do this every day!”

Ok, I’ll leave the rhyming to Dr.Seuss – but I did want to share some neat shots of the eggs that they laid in our little front yard pond.

Earlier this year, a snapping turtle showed up in the pond and the Green Frogs were clearly concerned. (I thought it was neat but I can see their point). After the turtle departed however, their activities returned to normal, and one day, as I peered into the pond, I saw a very large mass of eggs.

By a quick estimate, the mass must have had at least 800 eggs! These eggs did not go unnoticed though by the Wood Frog tadpoles and other creatures in the pond and many were gobbled up. (See, there are those that do like green eggs! even though these weren’t really green, they’re more brown)

The eggs that went uneaten hatched within a few days and the tadpoles are now in the leaf litter eating various things in the pond. They will take about 2 years to develop into frogs and only few will make it to adulthood, but it was fun to document their beginnings.

Having a backyard pond is a great way to watch wildlife and learn about nature — all sorts of animals walk, hop and fly in!

As the summer heats up and babies fledge, we wanted to send over this reminder to watch out for hummingbirds that can get trapped in your garage or shed when you leave the door open. 

The following was posted to the VA-Bird Listserv and provides a good reminder of how these little birds can get into trouble fast:

Yesterday I went into our shed and heard a funny buzzy noise between the window and indoor shutter.  I opened the shudder to find a female hummingbird cowering on the sill.  I picked her up and released her outside.  We’ve had wrens and phoebes indoors before and even a Magnolia Warbler (twice).  This was my first hummer.  Must remember to  keep the door closed from now on. John Spahr

If you find a hummingbird trapped in your garage or shed, and it is very weak, call the Wildlife Rescue League at 703-440-0800. In some cases, you can offer it some hummingbird nectar (1/4 cup white sugar dissolved in 1 cup warm water) but in other cases it may need to be treated for dehydration and a rehabber will be your best bet.  The Wildlife Rescue League will call you back with instructions.

In Canada, they celebrate National Beaver Day on the last Friday in February but here in the US, it’s celebrated on April 7th.

Here’s a wonderful YouTube video done by the BBC that has great footage of dam building and other activity. :
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyNA62FrKCE&feature=related

If there are human/beaver conflicts going on near you – the beavers don’t need to be evicted. 

There are all sorts of solutions to protect trees and even address any unwanted flooding from dam activities. Check out our Beaver Solutions page for a video.

Here are some fun beaver facts that you can use to amaze your friends:

- Beavers are the second largest rodent in the world
- Beavers mate for life
- Dams made by Beavers prevent flooding disasters and create valuable wetland habitats
- Beavers live in suburban settings wherever there is flowing water like creeks, streams, rivers

Here’s a short video telling about our Virginia Opossum:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNtlMfrhbE4&feature=channel

Here’s an exciting sighting from Joe Coleman from last week.  What a great encounter!

From Joe:

A Long-tailed Weasel with a bad case of mange on its rump just walked through the woods in front of our house. 

At one point it pursued a squirrel up a tree but didn’t catch it.  Unfortunately, I did not have my zoom lens on my camera and it was gone before I was able to change lenses. 

While I’ve seen them around one of my neighbor’s farm ponds (about a 1/4 mile from my house) this is the first weasel I’ve had in the yard.

American Woodcocks are really interesting birds and they have an incredible courtship display.  Here it is described by the experts at Cornell:

He gives repeated “peents” on the ground, often on remaining patches of snow in the early spring. After a time he flies upward in a wide spiral. As he gets higher, his wings start to twitter. After reaching a height of 70-100 m (230-328 ft) the twittering becomes intermittent, and the bird starts chirping as he starts to descend. He comes down in a zig-zag, diving fashion, chirping as he goes. As he comes near the ground he silently lands, near a female if she is present. Then he starts peenting again.

They are classified as shorebirds (like sandpipers) but live in uplands areas, preferring young brushy forests.

Looking at their markings, you’ll notice their amazing camouflage – blending in seamlessly to the forests’ branches, leaves and bark.

Woodcocks are ground nesters so this camouflage is especially important to the females as they raise the young.

Another interesting characteristics is that they have long flexible beaks that allow them to hunt for earthworms (their favorite food) and rough tongues that help them catch their slippery prey.

People do hunt woodcocks.  Through this activity, a number of common names have been given to this bird.  A few of them are: timberdoodle, bogsucker, night partridge, brush snipe, hokumpoke.

Woodcock populations are declining due to habitat loss but we know of a few places in Loudoun where we can enjoy these neat birds and have a field trip lined up if you’d like to join us.  Information is below:

An Evening with Woodcocks — March (date, time, location TBD based on woodcock activity).   Registration Required. A likely spot will be found to witness the incredible courtship display of the Woodcock, one of our most fascinating avian residents. We will watch and listen for the Woodcock’s “peeent,” and once we know they are around, the date, time, and location will be announced. Questions or to register: Sign Up On-lineor contact Laura McGranaghan at lmcgranaghan@loudounwildlife.org.

One of the organizations that we partner with, Audubon Society of Northern Virginia, has a really nice program called Audubon at Home:

http://www.audubonva.org/index.php/audubon-at-home

To help kick off another year of Audubon at Home, ASNV is holding an Audubon at Home Orientation Meeting on Sunday, March 6, from 1:00 – 3:30 PM at the National Wildlife Federation building in Reston (directions available online).

They’ll cover the basics of creating native habitat on your property, getting your habitat certified as a Wildlife Sanctuary, and — for those who want to have even more impact on habitat restoration in our region — how to become an Audubon at Home Ambassador.

Ambassadors play a key role in Audubon at Home by providing on-site guidance to homeowners and other in creating native habitat.

They will be including two new Audubon at Home on-line resources on the website at the end of this month. These will include Top 10 Native Plant Lists for trees, shrubs, wildflowers, deer-resistant wildflowers, and ground covers and a Frequently Asked Questions page.

The Top 10 lists offer native plant recommendations for a range of growing conditions, with a focus on plants that are adaptable to urban/suburban conditions and that provide benefits to wildlife. The Frequently Asked Questions page will address common questions about habitat gardening and related topics.

Contact Cliff Fairweather at 703-438-6025 if you have any questions about the program.