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O Become an X Kid
Teaching kids the benefits of insects in the natural world
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By Jim Anderson
Many years ago, like back before WWII, there was a butterfly called the Xerces blue, scientific name, Glaucopsyche xerces. It lived in sand dunes on the edge of San Francisco in California and — like the Monarch butterfly that must have milkweed for its babies to feed on — the Xerces blue caterpillars depended on specific plants growing there to eat.
Unfortunately, over the years, their habitat got smaller as the city got bigger and eventually the butterflies no longer had the food and shelter they needed to survive. The Xerces blue butterfly was last seen alive in the early 1940s.
Knowing that sad story and witnessing the extinction of Great Britain’s Large Blue butterfly while studying there, Robert Michael Pyle hatched the idea of forming an organization that would introduce people to saving the lives of butterflies and other arthropods. And thus, the Xerces Society came into being.
And what better than to name it after the ancient Greek word that means “Ruler over Heroes” as well as an American butterfly that also went extinct.
Rachel Carson, one of my most treasured heroes of documenting the threats to our natural world and author of “Silent Spring,” said this about our arthropod companions: “These insects, so essential to our agriculture and indeed to our landscape as we know it, deserve something better from us than the senseless destruction of their habitat.”
Currently, science writer and British journalist Oliver Milman chronicles the striking decline in insect populations around the world in his new book, “The Insect Crisis: The Fall Of The Tiny Empires That Run The World.” where he describes evidence of insectageddon, as some call it, and what trouble this could spell for us humans. So we need to get the next generation up to speed on what’s happening!
Right now, today, you have the privilege of getting involved with Pyle’s magnificent organization and have a lot of fun doing so. Xerces (pronounced “Zerksees”) is offering an online program entitled “X Kids” that you and/or your kids can take part in. All you have to do is go to the website or contact them at xkids@xerces.org, download the X Kids activity, and you’re in.
You will go on a nature adventure with Blue the Butterfly in a beautiful color booklet to meet other invertebrate and learn about their superpowers.
In that free booklet, thanks to the talented staff of Xerces, you will meet many, many other invertebrates to rub elbows with, and become familiar with what they do to make your life so much fun.
The activity was put together by the Xerces Ambassadors as well as LandPaths, which provides special guidance and Spanish translation. There are nine different activities, some of which will take about five minutes to do, while others could take from 30 minutes to an hour.
Anyone can be an X Kid. The activity was designed for kids 8 to 11, but I’m 93 and really looking forward to it. And it can be fun for individuals or a part of a classroom or homeschool activity. Can’t beat that with a stick.
So, don’t let this wonderful look into the world of nature go by without taking advantage of it, and, if you want to, please feel free to contact me at my email address: jimnaturalist@gmail. com, and we can chinwag about X Kids or any other part of the natural world around us.
In closing, if you want to enjoy the world of nature from a butterfly’s perspective, pick up a copy of Jo Brewer’s wonderful book, “Wings in the Meadow.” That will introduce you to what Xerces is all about.
Sue Anderson
Young Janelle Orsillo makes friends with a Lorguin’s Admiral, as shown below.
Courtesy Wikipedia
Sue Anderson
By Chris Williams
Courtesy Lay it out Events
Salmon run returns for its 32nd year!
Salmon Run 2022
This week, the Salmon Run returns for its 32nd year. The Salmon Run, and many other races, have been challenged during pandemic times. In 2020 the event switched to an online only format, while last year the race moved to Pronghorn Resort due to COVID. Similar to the salmon that make their annual journey, the race has overcome obstacles to return again this year to the Athletic Club of Bend. An on-line option is available as well.
Hailed as one of the earliest half marathons in the Northwest, the Salmon Run, put on by Lay It Out Events, is an opportunity to bust out the running legs and gauge those fitness levels. If a half marathon feels a little too soon, there are 5k and 10k options available.
The course flows through the Old Mill and up the infamous river trail before finishing at the Athletic Club of Bend. The 5k and 10k races will be relatively flat, while the half marathon picks up some elevation as racers climb out of the river trail and up toward the end of the 7th Mountain and Century Drive. There will be rewards for the top three male and female racers of each category, and plenty of beer at the finish line.
If there are junior racers in the family there is the Little Fry hatch run for children ages 3-10. This is a non-competitive race that emphasizes fun and exercise.
Participants can register up until race day, but it will be cheaper to do so beforehand. Race times are staggered by distance. The half marathon begins at 9am, 10k at 9:15am and the 5k at 9:30am. The Little Fry event will be the finale of the day beginning at noon. Stretch your legs and run into spring!
Salmon Run
Sat., April 23 9am-noon Athletic Club of Bend 61615 Athletic Club Dr., Bend $40-$60/Salmon Run $7 Little Fry
O Hey, What’s That Sound?
The tap-tap-tap of the woodpecker is a common occurrence this time of year
By Kelli Neumann
There are many examples of engineering marvels in the natural world which humans have yet to replicate. One of these astonishing feats is the skill of a woodpecker.
These incredible birds slam their head into trees at up to 20 times a second—the equivalent of going from zero to 26,000 mph. At this acceleration the skull can incur over a thousand G forces. Birds of the Picidae family are highly specialized to excavate wood with their beaks, with long, “wrap around” tongues to cushion their strong but compressible skull bones.
Their hyoid bone, a small thin bone at the base of the tongue, is elongated and extends around the front of their cranium. It serves as a kind of seatbelt. The position and structure of their body on a tree allows the woodpecker to absorb 99% of the impact strain generated by such intense hammering. Even so, their brain will heat up, which is probably why drilling is intermittent with frequent stops. They are perfectly designed for pecking and can drive people mad when their particular skill is practiced on someone’s house siding.
There are six species of woodpeckers in Oregon, including flickers and sapsuckers. Northern flickers are the most common and have a unique, neon orange coloration on the undersides of their flight feathers. Flickers feed extensively on the ground, consuming ants and beetles. Three species of sapsuckers are found regularly in Oregon: the Red-Breasted, Williamson’s and very occasionally a Yellow-bellied. These, true to their name, feed on a tree’s sticky, sweet sap as well as insects. A sapsucker’s excavation is perceived as a boon to many bird species and insects that can also utilize the nutrient-rich, viscous material flowing beneath a tree’s protective bark. The four “true” woodpeckers include the large Pileated, the diminutive Downy, the Blackback and the Threetoed woodpecker. These last two often inhabit recently burned forests and, in fact, have only three toes on each foot rather than the four-toed-zygodactyl foot arrangement of most Picidae.
Woodpeckers practice their craft for several reasons: feeding, communicating or nesting. In the late winter and early spring woodpeckers start to establish territories, announcing to other woodpeckers that their corner of the forest is taken by drumming. Drumming on a resonating surface likely confers the same signals as most sexual selection is aimed to impart: location and an indication of reproductive fitness. The louder the drumming, perhaps, the more “attractive” the bird. This means your chimney pipe or gutter with its deep resonating thrum is a wonderful find for a woodpecker establishing its territory. It may be annoying, but it is not usually damaging. Feeding damage is usually minimal unless you have a bug infestation. The local peckers are much more interested in excavating grubs from under the first few layers of tree bark than your home’s siding.
A woodpecker’s tongue is another of its marvels, often over a third of the bird’s overall length and serving as more than just a cushion for its brain box. A Flicker’s two-inch tongue is barbed at the end, made to snake into crevices and snag ants or other insects, while a Sapsuckers’ is capped with short bristles that help the bird “lap” up the slowly oozing sap. It is also theorized that sapsuckers have some sort of anticoagulant in their saliva that liquifies the sap to keep it flowing.
Our amazing woodpeckers get into the most trouble when they try to be our roomies, creating the cavities in which they will lay their eggs in the eaves of someone’s home. Most often these homemakers choose a dead snag tree, however, due to the elements that contribute to a successful nest site, a human home is chosen occasionally. In that case there are few things the original homeowner can do to deter an unwelcome feathered guest.
Bird abatement is a commonly requested service. Most techniques involve scaring birds away. One way is installing flagging, an erratic flapping material of some sort, often reflective, which birds are wary of. Another method is putting out effigies of local predators, such as owls or hawks. This can work well in the early stages, but sometimes birds will habituate to them as they eventually learn that there is no danger from them. Sounds can also be used with some effectiveness. Noises mimicking birds’ alarm calls warning of nearby predators, especially when only motion activated, may make birds decide an area is unsuitable. Preventing birds from coming in for a landing can also work. There are various devices for this, ranging from repulsive-feeling gels to spikes on commonly occupied perches. The best bet is to simply block the area being excavated with a material they can’t break through, like aluminum flashing.
It is illegal to kill the birds and it is also not very effective. If for some reason a nest site is favored, other birds will take advantage of an abandoned prime spot. Often mounting a nest box designed for cavity nesters nearby with the same aspect or position will save them the trouble of creating their own hole. If you happen to have a home that has been marked as prime territory, or you didn’t notice a nest being created, do not fear. Woodpeckers have an astonishingly short incubation period. Young will hatch in as little as two weeks and start flying away from the nest within a month. Once the business of raising a family has been accomplished, the cavity hole can be easily patched with a material that will discourage them from reusing the site.
Wood-boring birds are a marvel of physics. Even if they should darken your door, or roof, we hope you appreciate their beauty and stunning adaptations.
Sevilla Rhoads
The warp speed pounding of a woodpecker can sound like a power tool being used.
Cohort Meets Tuesdays
May 10 - June 21 6pm-8pm via Zoom
jessicajhill.com
BEND BHAKTI COLLECTIVE EARTH DAY KIRTAN 04/22/22
POTLUCK 6 - 6:45 pm KIRTAN 7 - 8:30 pm
Suggested donation 5 - 20$ No experience necessary No one turned away
Heritage Hall 1st Presbyterian Church 230 NE 9th ( near Franklin)
