published by the national wildlife federation
W H E N CARNIVORES COME CALLING
HOM EOW N E R S w ho li v e i n a r e a s w he r e pr e dator s r a nge c a n st ill h av e sa fe, wildlife friendly yards. • Written by Mark Cheater •
Coyote watercolor illustration by Casey Perez
feature: when carnivores come calling
WHEN IT COMES TO PREDATORS
visiting her backyard, Susan Gottlieb’s attitude is the more, the better. “I don’t feel threatened at all by them,” she says, referring to the coyotes, bobcats, hawks, owls and other predators that frequent her 1-acre NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat® in Beverly Hills, California. Gottlieb and her husband Dan have lived in their canyon home since 1985, gradually replacing the previous owner’s landscaping of ivy and tropical plants with vegetation native to the region that requires less water and attracts wildlife. The couple also created rock gardens, installed birdbaths and nest boxes, and hung bird feeders. In the process, they’ve transformed their home into a haven for local wildlife—complete with taloned and toothed creatures. In recent times, Gottlieb has seen Cooper’s hawks looking for smaller birds at her feeders and watched a bobcat stalk the many ground squirrels on her property. And on a few occasions, she has looked out a window and seen coyotes prowling the yard. The couple’s tolerant attitude toward predators on their land works well for them, but, experts caution, it is not a mind-set every certified habitat owner should emulate. By encouraging large predators to visit, homeowners potentially could be setting themselves up for conflicts—putting not only their property and pets at risk, but the predators as well. The good news is that it is easy to avoid such difficulties. “Certain simple behavioral changes on our part can minimize the already small risk that these animals will show up and cause problems,” says NWF Naturalist David Mizejewski.
The town council passed an ordinance a few years ago that forbids residents from putting out their garbage until the morning of pickup unless they have bear-proof containers. “It has been extremely effective,” adds Arnold. “In the last two or three years, we’ve had very few problems with bears.” That solution, observes Mizejewski, is a good example of how people can avoid conflicts with potentially dangerous wild animals. “NWF encourages people to manage their property to benefit wildlife, but certain species don’t need our help and attracting them is not a good idea,” he says. ”It’s extremely rare that someone gets injured or killed by a wild animal. But every time it does happen, it feeds paranoia and encourages the idea that wildlife needs to be killed off where people live.” Valerie Matheson has plenty of experience in the challenges of balancing public perceptions and wildlife protection in populated areas. She is the urban wildlife conservation coordinator for Boulder, Colorado, a city adjacent to large natural areas in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Both bears and mountain lions regularly venture out of these habitats and amble into the community’s neighborhoods. In the most recent period for which she has records—April 2010 to March 2011—Matheson logged 30 reports of mountain lions and 128 bear sightings in Boulder. One problematic encounter involved a female mountain lion with two kittens that kept coming into someone’s backyard every night in 2009. The cats were attracted by a pond with running water that the owners had installed in their certified habitat—a reliable place to get a cool drink in a relatively dry part of the country. “The homeowners took a lot of pride in making their backyard as wildlife friendly as possible, and they were not discriminatory in which wildlife they attracted,” Matheson says.
Consider the case of John Magee, who lives in Middleburg, Virginia, not far from the Blue Ridge Mountains and well within the expanding range of black bears. One night last spring his wife woke him up when she heard a bear outside raiding the bird feeders in their NWF certified habitat. (Bird feeders provide a rich and easily tapped source of protein and fat for bruins, and they are especially attractive to the creatures in spring when natural food sources can be scarce and in the fall when the animals are putting on fat in preparation for denning.) “We have a bedroom window that looks down on the bird feeders, and there was this huge bear. I tapped on the window, and it looked at me and wandered off into the night,” says the landscape designer. “At first, we were both very excited and thought it was a really cool thing to look outside to see this huge black bear—it was a beautiful animal,” Magee recalls. “But bears kept coming back to our yard. One morning, my wife saw [bear] paw prints on the kitchen window. That’s when she said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to do something.’ She started emailing me photos of other people’s kitchens that had been ripped apart by black bears. So I said, ‘Okay, okay, I’ll quit feeding the birds.’” Indeed, avoiding problems with black bears in a yard often is as simple as removing bird feeders. Magee reports that he hasn’t seen a bear on his property once since he removed his. “Taking down a bird feeder doesn’t mean a homeowner has ruined his or her certified habitat,” says Mizejewski. “Feeders should be viewed only as supplements to the natural foods a person provides for wildlife by cultivating native plants.” It’s always been a problem, especially in a season without a good berry crop, that bears would come down and go through feeders and garbage cans,” says Philip Arnold, the community habitat team leader for Montreat.
“By encouraging large predators to visit, homeowners potentially could be setting themselves up for conflicts-putting not only their property and pets at risk, but predators as well.”
The neighbors were not pleased, however, and Matheson was called in to rain the pond and turn off the fountain in order to disrupt this pattern of the lions coming in on a regular basis, and they did that. As far as we know, it worked.” To protect people and pets, Boulder’s policy is to discourage mountain lions and bears from coming into town. “Even though human injuries from a bear or mountain lion are rare,” Matheson says, “they do happen and the probability increases with proximity to them.” She points out that there has been only one person attacked by a mountain lion near Boulder in the past decade—a child hiking with his family on city-owned property in the mountains. (The boy’s father saved him, and the youngster recovered from his injuries.) But there have been many instances of community residents losing pets to lions. “When pets are taken, people get really upset, as you would expect,” Matheson says. But it’s not just the dog or house cat that she is concerned about. “There’s also the safety of that wild animal. When bears become habituated to people, it’s very hard to get them to move on. If they are tagged and get in trouble again, that animal will have to be destroyed, and we don’t want to do that.” Matheson knows it is impossible to keep large predators out of the city completely. “Boulder is in bear and lion habitat,” she says. “The best we can do is make things as uninviting and unappealing as we can for them.” In some wetter and warmer parts of the nation, residents may receive unwanted visits from a cold-blooded predator, the alligator. Such encounters occur most often in Florida, where the reptile’s numbers are estimated at about 1.3 million. But face-offs there, even during spring mating season when the reptiles are more active, are still relatively uncommon, considering the large numbers of both gators and people in the Sunshine State. As in other places, homeowners can take simple measures to avoid major problems, such as not leaving a pet unattended outside or putting up a fence to keep out unwelcome visitors. These kinds of measures are particularly important, Florida officials say, for people who live near ponds, marshes or other watery places. “Remember, alligators are very opportunistic feeders that like to take easy meals,” says Tony Young, a spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Despite such warnings, most wildlife experts agree that potential problems with predators should not prevent people from creating or sustaining backyard habitats. “Even if you live in an area where those animals are more common, you can still have a beautiful, safe, wildlifefriendly garden,” says Mizejewski. “There’s absolutely no reason you should settle for living in an unnatural environment in order to prevent conflict with an occasional unwelcome animal visitor.” ◊
Photo by Matt Knoth
H o w T o Av o i d T r o u b l e If you live in or near predator habitat, don’t intentionally feed these wild animals. You’re not only inviting trouble for yourself, you’re also potentially harming the predators by habituating Them to humans and providing them with an unnatural diet. Consider the following common-sense steps: • Don’t leave pet food—or human food—outside. • Don’t let your pets roam outside unattended. • Don’t leave any uncovered trash outside overnight. • Don’t put meat and other strong-smelling food scraps in an outdoor compost pile. • Do buy bear-proof garbage cans. • Don’t put bird feeders outside when bears are active (mid-March through mid-November). • Don’t plant berry-producing shrubs or fruit-bearing trees too close to your house.
NWF Priority: Protecting Habitats for Predators Throughout its 76-year history, NWF has a long record of successful efforts to protect habitat for grizzlies, Florida panthers, bald eagles and other North American predators. Most recently, working with ranchers and federal authorities, the Federation has secured more than 620,000 acres of prime habitat in the Northern Rockies through its Adopt-a-Wildlife-Acre program.
T H E CA S E F OR
S U M M E R F E E D E R S • Written by Laura Tangley •
Illustration by Mattias Adolfsson
feature: the case for summer birds
The Case for Summer Bird Feeding Feeders help nurture our feathered friends during the warm months while providing hours of bird-watching pleasure.
Should you take down bird feeders for the summer? Conventional wisdom may say the only times of year to put out food for birds are fall and winter, when natural foods seem scarce. But feathered creatures will visit feeders all year long, and summer can be the most rewarding time of all to watch them. “Some of my greatest backyard bird-watching moments have been in summer, when parent birds brought their fledglings to introduce them to my feeders and baths,” says Wisconsin naturalist George H. Harrison, the author of seven books about backyard birding. “I’ve seen fuzzy, rotund baby chickadees, redcapped downy woodpecker young and spot-breasted American robin chicks, many begging for food from overworked parents.” Summer is also the time to spot species not present during winter and to admire the birds’ colorful breeding plumage. Rose-breasted grosbeaks in the East and blackheaded grosbeaks in the West, for example, migrate to the Tropics in winter but are active at feeders in the United States during summer. Many hummingbird and oriole species—also missing from northern regions in winter—flock to sugar-water feeders across North America during the warmer months. Other seasonal regulars include bluebirds, American robins and some buntings and sparrows. For the majority of these and other species, the natural food sources they find in your yard are the most important foods of all. “Feeders should be seen only as supplements to the natural habitat you provide by cultivating native plants,” says NWF Naturalist David Mizejewski. During the breeding season, most birds nurture themselves and their offspring with insects—often only particular kinds of insects that eat only particular native plants. Chickadees and warblers, for instance, rely on caterpillars for 90 percent of their diet during spring and summer. University of Delaware entomologist Doug Tallamy has found that the number and diversity of caterpillars and and other herbivorous insects decline when nonnative plants displace natives, posing potential threats to some of your favorite backyard birds. Don’t forget to provide water during the warm months. On hot, dry days, birdbaths, pools and ponds will lure a wide variety of summer-only birds for a dip, which is essential for maintaining healthy feathers. Indigo and lazuli buntings, gray catbirds, brown thrashers, redeyed vireos and red-winged blackbirds are just a handful of likely bathers that may be hundreds or thousands of miles away later in the year. Keeping birdbaths and feeders clean is particularly important in summer. Be sure to change the baths and other standing water daily to keep it fresh and to prevent mosquito larvae from hatching. Switch to allweather suet during hot weather so it won’t melt or spoil, and place suet feeders in the shade. Check all feeders regularly, and throw out any wet or moldy birdseed.
Photograph by Bird Watching Club
Change the nectar in hummingbird feeders at least every three days. Following these few simple rules should be a small price to pay for the pleasures summer feeding can provide. “Perhaps the greatest advantage of summer bird feeding is that warmer temperatures encourage up-close and personal viewing,” Harrison says.
“FEEDERS SHOULD BE SEEN ONLY AS SUPPLEMENTS TO THE NATUR AL HABITAT YOU PROVIDE BY CULTIVATING NATIVE PLANTS” “If you have a patio or deck near the feeders or baths, birds will become accustomed to your presence and will eat and bathe only a few feet away while you enjoy the calls and songs masked during winter by windows and walls. In my experience,” he adds, “there is no better wayto enjoy a summer day.” ◊
Change the nectar in hummingbird feeders at least every three days. Following these few simple rules should be a small price to pay for the pleasures summer feeding can provide. “Perhaps the greatest advantage of summer bird feeding is that warmer temperatures encourage up-close and personal viewing,” Harrison says. “If you have a patio or deck near the feeders or baths, birds will become accustomed to your presence and will eat and bathe only a few feet away while you enjoy the calls and songs masked during winter by windows and walls. In my experience,” he adds, “there is no better wayto enjoy a summer day.” ◊
Blue Jay
American Goldfinch
nuts, seeds, fruit, buds, fat, smalls insects, peanuts, sunflower seeds
seeds, small insects, hulled sunflower, nyjer seeds
Northern Cardinal
Tufted Titmouse
fruit, seeds, caterpillars, and other insects, safflower seeds
grubs, other larvae, insects, spiders, fat, seeds. suet
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
fruit, seeds, caterpillars, and other insects, safflower seeds
earthworms, berries, grubs, caterpillars, hulled sunflower seeds
Illustrations by: Irene Dimdi, Patty from PA, Deidre Wicks, Sharon Morgio, Sherri Strikwerda, Amy Holliday, and Jenny Nieh
Cater i n g to
Butterfly Royalty • Written by Doreen Cubie •
Image by Cavellini
feature: catering to butterfly royalty
“Climate change may disrupt the chemistry of milkweeds; gardeners can help monarchs by planting more of these critical host plants” LIKE MANY COLORFULL SONGBIRDS that have wintered in the Tropics, monarch butterflies are returning to backyards across much of the country after migrating hundreds or thousands of miles from coastal California (monarchs that spend summer west of the Rocky Mountains) or central Mexico (those that summer east of the Rockies). One key to the success of these widespread and beloved butterflies is the species’ special relationship with milkweed plants. As most wildlife gardeners know, monarchs lay their eggs only on milkweeds. The caterpillars hatch, eat the leaves and, in the process, ingest cardenolides, powerful toxins found in milkweed sap. The poison does not harm caterpillars but makes them—and later adult butterflies—unpalatable to potential predators, a critical defense mechanism. Several studies have shown that monarchs with high levels of cardenolides are less likely to be preyed upon by birds. A few years ago, Stanford University ecologist Rachel Vannette began investigating whether climate change might disrupt the age-old association between milkweed and monarch. Then a graduate student at the University of Michigan, Vannette and her advisor, Mark Hunter, studied five different genetic families of common milkweed. (Milkweed plants, even those of the same species, vary genetically and can be grouped into families, or genotypes.) They grew the plants in open-air chambers, exposing them to elevated amounts of carbon dioxide designed to mimic Earth’s atmosphere in the future. Although most of the plants grew slightly larger, the composition of plant leaves changed dramatically. “Most of the milkweed families decreased their production of toxins,” Vannette says, some by as much as 50 percent. Milkweed leaves also became tougher when exposed to extra carbon dioxide. “Caterpillars would have a harder time chewing the leaves,” she says.
MILKWEED FOR MONARCHS Though Vannette and other scientists remain uncertain what these findings might mean for monarchs in the future, “we speculate that it won’t be good,” she says. And while there isn’t much an individual can do about the potential problem, there is a simple way to help today’s monarchs: You can grow more milkweeds in your garden. “There is a milkweed for every situation,” says John Schneider, who owns Wildtype Design, Native Plants and Seed, Ltd., a nursery in Mason, Michigan. Of the slightly more than 100 species native to North America, here are five that are commercially available and easy to grow. All are perennials indigenous to the eastern twothirds of North America, except for showy milkweed, found from the central states west to California and Oregon. All five are also deer and rabbit resistant and support a variety of other insects, including several species that, like monarchs, depend on milkweed for survival. • Whorled milkweed usually tops out at 2 feet tall. “It prefers really dry and sandy soils,” says Schneider. The white flowers, which appear between July and September, also entice native bees. • Butterflyweed has orange flattopped flowers that attract many other butterflies in addition to monarchs, including tiger, spicebush and pipevine swallowtails. • Common milkweed has purplish flowers that bloom from early to mid-summer. The plant can be aggressive, so should be planted with caution. • Swamp milkweed prefers wet conditions in the wild but also does fine in average garden soil. Franklin says this species is a favorite of egglaying female monarchs. ◊
nwf view: turning screen time into green time
G eocach i ng : a high tech treasure hunt • Written by Doreen Cubie •
POWELL FR ANKLIN, JR., AND HIS WIFE JENNIFER were looking for a way to pry their young daughter Emma away from computers and televisions and get her outdoors more often. “My generation was probably the last one to grow up playing outside all the time,” says Powell. Indeed, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, U.S. children between the ages of 8 and 18 now spend an average of 7.5 hours a day indoors in front of an electronic screen. Two years ago, when the Franklins discovered geocaching—a type of high-tech treasure hunt—they found the ideal solution. “It’s a great way to enjoy the outdoors while spending time together as a family,” says Powell. Participants use a smartphone or handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) device to navigate to a hidden container called a geocache. Once they find it, they sign a logbook in the container and later go online to share their experiences. “Geocaching is a great way to marry screen time with green time,” says Lindsay Hauswald Legendre, manager for NWF’s Be Out There® movement. According to the activity’s website, geocaching.com, some 1.9 million geocaches have been placed outdoors by participants worldwide, with some 5 million people seeking them out. Geocache trails, a series of caches placed at intervals and united by a theme, also are growing in popularity.
NWF launched Ranger Rick’s® Geocache Trails two years ago. Today nearly 80 of these wildlife-oriented routes are located across the country in parks, nature centers, campgrounds, zoos and even aquariums. All of them are family friendly and easy for newcomers to navigate, and most can be accessed year-round. “There are three to eight geocaches on every Ranger Rick trail,” says Legendre. “Each one includes mysteries to solve and nature-related activities to do along the way.” Each also offers kids an opportunity to hone their navigation skills while learning about the natural world. The Franklins began laying out their own Ranger Rick’s Geocache Trail in Tennessee’s Natchez Trace State Park in 2011, after Emma, now 9 years old, read an article about the program in Ranger Rick®. “She was the catalyst,” says Powell. With the support of Walter Pope, the park manager, and with funding from the Friends of Natchez Trace, the Franklins set up the course on the park’s Pin Oak Trail. The 1.5-mile path winds through rolling deciduous woods where geocachers sometimes spot wild turkeys and beavers in the nearby lake. Last year, the Powell’s trail won the grand prize in a geocaching contest sponsored by NWF. To some people, the activity may seem like an unusual way to get children outdoors. But Robin Schepper, a senior advisor for the Bipartisan Policy Center’s nutrition and physical activity initiative, begs to differ. “We know technology is not going away. So the question becomes, how do you use it to get kids into the woods? This is one effective way,” says Schepper, who frequently takes her two young sons geocaching near their Colorado home. The Franklins know it works. “We have met several family caching teams on our trail, and they always have big smiles on their faces,” says Powell. And now when the Franklins go geocaching, they take a new member of their family. Newborn Abby goes in a harness, as she and her family navigate through nature with the aid of a GPS.
Images left to right: supplies laid out for a geocaching adventure, a geocache peeping out of a tree stump, a tupperware serving as a geocache.
National Wildlife April 2013 Special spring edition
national wildlife foundation 速 www.nwf.org