The Nature of Things

Raccoons

 Are there more raccoons than ever before? The problem is that I have some difficulty in remembering ever before. During my lifetime, I am definitely seeing more raccoons with each passing year. I get many calls and emails from people experiencing the same thing. Research has shown that raccoon populations are rising dramatically within cities. The abundance of food would certainly be a major factor in the raccoons becoming city slickers. Raccoons are omnivores and will eat just about anything. A garbage can is a fast food restaurant to a raccoon. They thrive in cities where their major predator is the automobile. One study found that there are 50 times as many raccoons living in the city of Toronto than in an equal area of surrounding countryside.

Golden eagle

Scott Mehus of the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, with the cooperation of Audubon Minnesota, released a golden eagle fitted with a satellite transmitter near Waupaca, WI on February 16. By tracking golden eagles known to use the blufflands in winter, The Golden Eagle Project strives to understand migration patterns, breeding origins, and winter habitats of the golden eagles. The Project conducts an annual survey and has found consistent presence of golden eagles wintering in the blufflands of southeast Minnesota, western Wisconsin, and northeast Iowa. This year's January 21 survey recorded 129 golden eagles. The released bird, Golden Eagle 45 (also known as Jeanette), which was trapped in Waupaca County, is a large adult female weighing over 14 pounds. Jeanette had been feeding on deer carcasses in the area. A golden eagle released in 2009 migrated from western Wisconsin and spent the summer north of the Arctic Circle. The Golden Eagle Project is a partnership of the National Eagle Center and Audubon Minnesota, with support from Minnesota DNR Non-Game Division, Wisconsin DNR, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, with funding through Minnesota's Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund.

American Bird Conservancy

The American Bird Conservancy is selling a new, translucent adhesive tape, which tests show can significantly reduce bird collisions with glass windows and doors. Birds can't see glass and don't understand architectural cues, such as window frames, that alert people to the hazard. Experts estimate that up to one billion birds may die each year from collisions. Unlike some sources of bird mortality that predominantly kill weaker individuals, there is no distinction among victims of glass. Because glass is equally dangerous for strong, healthy, breeding adults, it can have a particularly serious impact on populations. Studies have shown that even small windows can be dangerous to birds that are accustomed to flying through gaps between trees and shrubs. To learn more about the ABC Bird Tape, go to abcbirdtape.org.

I’ve been reading

This from A Book of Bees by Sue Hubbell: “In an 1899 study, one Professor C.F. Hodge marked bees and watched them from daylight to dark. He reported, ‘No single bee that I watched ever worked more than three and one-half hours a day.’ In one case, he saw a worker bee crawl into a cell and he watched her remain lying there quietly for nearly five hours. In the 1950s, Martin Lindauer, an entomologist, followed up on these observations. In a rigorous study, he tagged great numbers of bees and found that they spent a lot of time doing nothing at all, or very little. One typical bee, during a hundred and seventy-seven observation hours, did absolutely nothing for seventy of them.”

BBRP Expo

The Bluebird Recovery Program Expo will be held on Saturday April 14 at Byron Middle School. It will feature the Minnesota Raptor Center, Tom Comfort speaking on the key factors in bluebird nestbox locations, Keith Radel talking on fledgling rate improvement and safety, Mike Jersek on buffalo gnat control on baby bluebirds, Kelly Applegate on purple martins, Roger Strand on wood ducks, and hot air from this hick from Hartland. Call 507-332-7003 or email jmmclm@localnet.com for information. Registration form found at

http://bbrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Expo-Printable-form1.pdf

Thanks for stopping by

“The most powerful thing you can do to change the world is to change your own beliefs about the nature of life, people, reality, to something more positive.”--Shakti Gawain

©Al Batt 2012