2014 #3 NatureWILD Magazine

NatureWILD Magazine for Young Naturalists in British Columbia

Volume 15 Issue 3 2014

Common Acorn Barnacle

The smallest of the small!

Leatherjackets for Fall

Invasive Species Part 2 www.ync.ca

“Young Naturalists Observe and Conserve�

Inside...

3 Rodent Code 4 Acorn Barnacle

6

Invasive Species Part 2

8 Leatherjackets 10 Smallest of

the Small

12 Nutcracker 14 Ask Al 15 NatureWILD News 16 Woodpecker word Questions? Comments?

Vanessa Lee, President info@ync.ca Kristine Webber, Executive Director kristinewebber@ync.ca

Hello Young Naturalists I hope you have all had lots of ‘exploring time’ outdoors during this wonderful sunny summer. Now it’s time for more exciting adventures with your family on YNC Explorer Days. Parents, you can now follow YNC on Facebook! Search Young Naturalists' Club of BC or go to www.facebook.com/youngnaturalistsclubbc for news and information.

Later this season we will be asking you what you like best about YNC and what new things you’d like to be able to do with YNC. Look out for the survey coming your way!

Vanessa Lee, YNC President

Find the YNC on Facebook! www.facebook.com/youngnaturalistsclubbc YNC is an exciting nature discovery and environmental action

program that invites young people ages 5-12 years to have fun discovering nearby nature on Explorer Days with local experts, learn about native wildlife and plants in NatureWILD Magazine and take part in environmental actions to protect their habitat with the Action Awards program. For more information: www.ync.ca.

Tammy Keetch, Clubs Coordinator coordinator@ync.ca

Thank you to our sponsors and

Karina Russell, Membership and Office Coordinator info@ync.ca

supporters who share our vision that all children be connected with nature.

NatureWILD Editorial Committee Content Editor: Daphne Solecki Production Editor: Monica Belko Editorial Assistants: Ruth Foster, Tricia Edgar Contributor: Al Grass

NATURE

VANCOUVER

1620 Mt. Seymour Rd. North Vancouver, BC V7G 2R9

www.ync.ca 2

RR Donnelley We acknowledge the financial assistance of the Province of British Columbia

ISSN: 1492-7241 NatureWILD is printed on SFI certified paper by Benwell Atkins an RR Donnelley Company,Vancouver.

e d o C t n e Rod The

Rodents are part of the scientific group known as Order Rodentia. All the animals in this group have one pair of always-growing incisors (sharp teeth in the upper and lower jaws). These teeth have to be kept short by gnawing or chewing food.

You can find rodents all over BC - maybe even in your own backyard or neighbourhood park! See if you can uncover some rodent types by cracking the Rodent Code... (answers on page 15) 1

_ _ _

_

2

_

_ _

ab c d a b c d

e

f g h

e f g h

rat

i j k l

squirrel

m n o p

vole _

3

_ _ _ 4

_

_ _ _

__ _ _

_

mouse

5

_ _

_

_ _

6

7

_

_ _

_

lemming

s t

u v w x

y z y z

__ _ _

chipmunk

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

m n o p

u v w x

_ _ _ _

_ _

k l

q r

marmot _

i j

q r s t

beaver

8

The Code

9

_

_ _ _

_

_

_ _ _

porcupine

3

The Weird Life of the

Common Acorn Barnacle (Balanus glandula)

By Sheila Byers

Barnacles. Drawing

by Peri Coleman.

I hope that many of you had the chance this summer to explore the fascinating algae and animals that live in the intertidal areas of BC beaches. Perhaps, while climbing over rocks, you came across the common acorn barnacle. Its whitish-grey colour camouflages (hides) it well and you might not have noticed it until you slipped and fell, ending up with a scraped and bloody leg.

“Ouch - that hurts!” is perhaps not the best introduction to this interesting species!

Barnacles on a rock. Photo by Monica Belko.

The common barnacle has a very hard volcano-shaped casing with interlocking plates that protect the soft animal inside. But when you think about the pounding of the waves at high tide and the exposure to hot sun or cold winter rain or snow at low tide, it stands to reason that the barnacle needs some tough protection.

Early naturalists thought the barnacle was a type of mollusc because the barnacle’s shell-like casing looked so much like the shells of clams and snails. Then one naturalist carefully studied the developmental stages of the barnacle and realized this idea was wrong. What lives inside this tough shell-like casing is a peculiar-looking shrimp-like animal with a lot of legs – definitely NOT a mollusc that generally has only one big muscular foot. The barnacle is a crustacean, like crabs and shrimp, but all we get to see is its six pairs of legs sticking out of the top of the casing (and that only happens when the barnacle is under water).

That’s odd! Why would legs normally used for walking or swimming not be underneath the animal? Well, it turns out that the barnacle lives upsidedown inside its casing - that makes it easier for the barnacle to use its legs to collect food. Perhaps even more weird is that in order for the barnacle to get into this position, it actually cements its head to the rock. Once glued down the barnacle is stuck there for the rest of its life!

4

Underwater barnacles using their legs for feeding. Photo by Cathy Harris.

Strange as it may seem, the protective casing and glued-down head that support the upside-down legs allow the barnacle to survive in its intertidal habitat. When the tide is out, the barnacle tightly closes the trapdoors at the top of its casing to keep the moisture inside and prevent its body from drying out. As it can’t move around the barnacle has to be patient, waiting for the tide to come back in and bring the nutritious food that it needs. The barnacle is so aware of its environment that it quickly senses when it is surrounded by the incoming tide. It at once opens up the trapdoors and extends its feathery legs into the seawater to begin filtering out tiny plankton carried along the seashore by the current. There’s no time to waste, it has only a short time to eat as much as it can before the tide goes out again.

All life on earth must reproduce to make sure that their species survive. The common acorn barnacle has a very special way of reproducing because its head is stuck to a rock and it cannot move. So, if the barnacle can’t move around to find a mate how does the sperm get to the egg to fertilize it?

The Lifecycle of a Barnacle

The barnacle has solved this problem by having the longest penis, relative to body size, of any animal in the world (an estimated eight to ten times the length of its body) to reach out to find a mate. How amazing is that?

Source: The Zimnes Project.

A barnacle penis.

Photo and exclusive reproduction rights granted by Chris Neufeld.

Another peculiarity of the barnacle is that adults may eat some of their own young. When a barnacle reproduces, thousands of tiny larval forms called nauplii are released into the seawater and become part of the plankton. As the nauplii grow they metamorphose (moult) into cypris larvae. When the adults use their legs to filter food from the plankton, they may accidentally pull in nearby nauplius and cypris larvae.

A nauplius. Photo by Minami Himemiya.

Cypris larvae that don’t get caught will look for a suitable place on the rocky sea bottom where they, in turn, can anchor themselves. These larvae are known to be attracted by the ‘smell’ of their own parents because that is the sign of a good location for barnacles to survive. However, that only works if the nauplius or cypris larvae aren’t eaten first!

Sheila Byers is a Museum Interpreter at the UBC Beaty Biodiversity Museum and the author of Explore the Rocky Shore at Stanley Park (published by Nature Vancouver), a waterproof guide you can take to the beach. Sheila has written several articles for NatureWILD including Here come the Worms and Zombie Worms and Whales – Who’s Eating Whom?

A cypris larva.

5

Invasive Species - Part 2

by Sue Staniforth, Invasive Species Council of BC

In the June NatureWILD we found out about invasive plants and why they are a problem. So – what can each of us do to keep these invaders under control and protect native BC species?

Take Action!

Become an Invader Ranger! And how do we do that?

Know the Enemy

For instance, lamium, ivy and periwinkle are lovely in hanging baskets. Shrubs like holly and butterfly bush A burdock infestation near are beautiful to look at. a stream. Photo by J. Randall, BUT- once they escape NatureConservancy. from our gardens, these invasive plants spread wherever they find themselves and muscle out native species. Learn to recognize “bully” plants that are living in your nearby parks and woodlands (every region is different).

Check out the Neighbourhood

A tall patch of Japanese Knotweed.

Explore your backyard, school ground and local parks looking for invasive plants. Make a list or take photos of what you find, and report your sightings to your local regional weed committee (see end notes).

Inspect

On a road trip, inspect cars, trailers and boats when leaving a weed-infested area or lake.

Remove any plants you see - don’t help out these hitchhikers! Seeds and pieces are experts at hiding in tire treads, hooking onto on bumpers, and attaching to mud flaps, trailers, and boat motors.

Prevent

Don’t be a weed spreader... check your socks, hiking boots, shoe laces, clothing, bicycles, and camping gear for plant materials, especially burrs and other seeds. Check out your dogs and cats too – they are great “burr collectors” - remove any you find and bag them up in the garbage.

Don’t even THINK of putting them in the compost. Many ‘invaders’ can grow even after composting!

Puncturevine spikes stuck in a bike tire. Photo by L. Scott..

Whack the Weeds

If you want to ‘WHACK’ invaders, pull them out by their roots - or, if they are too big or too many to tackle at one time, cut off the flowers or seeds. Ask before you whack!

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Clipping back plants in the marsh.

Puncturevine spikes.

Bag’ Em!

Carefully collect ALL plant parts that you remove, including seeds, flowers, stems and pieces of root and put them in plastic bags: these invaders are really good at spreading around.

Often one tiny piece of root can start a new plant.

IMPORTANT NOTE: BE CAREFUL!

Wear gloves and make sure you know about the weed that you’re whacking... some invaders like the puncture vine in the Okanagan have spiny seeds that are sharp enough to puncture bike tires! Leafy spurge has a milky juice that can irritate your skin, while the sap of giant hogweed can cause severe burns.

Pulling out Giant Knotweed.

Photo by Ruth Foster.

Act

Join your local adopt-a-park group of volunteers working to pull out invasives and restore native plants.

Red-flowering Currant.

Think Ahead - Be Plantwise!

Cleaning up the plants.

Big-leaved Lupine.

Photo

by Franz Eitzinger. (http://

When planning what to grow in your garden, go for native plants such as red elderberry, whose fruit and flowers are great food for butterflies and birds; purple lupine for beautiful flowers loved by bees, and red-flowering currant, a native shrub that flowers early in the spring to feed hungry hummingbirds!

creativecommons. org/licenses/bysa/2.0/de/deed.en)

Check out the PlantWise program (http://bcinvasives.ca/ resources/programs/ plant-wise/) and the Grow Me Instead guide (http://bcinvasives.ca/documents/ GMI-Booklet_2013_WEB.pdf) for a list of problem plants and great choices to grow instead.

What Else Can You Do? - Tackle Invasive Plants and Get Paid!

There are Communities Pulling Together weed-pull events across BC: groups that complete a successful weed-pull can even receive a $200 honorarium! There are 13 regional committees in BC who look after invasive species in their regions: check the web site to contact the group in your area and see if your club can participate in a Community Weed Pull. www.bcinvasives.ca/partners/committees See more at: http://bcinvasives.ca/resources/programs/ community-weed-pulls/volunteer-groups

Commit to being invasive-free in your garden!

Thanks for being an Invader Ranger! Send an email to info@ync.ca and tell us about your invasive species projects!

7

Leatherjackets for Fall

By Brian Herrin

A crane fly. Photo by L. Shyamal.

Leatherjackets – just what you need for fall. Or maybe not, in this case!

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

Amazingly enough, the leatherjackets I want to tell you about are the thick skinned larvae of those large but delicate Marsh Crane Flies you often find sitting on the lawn or a house wall in the fall, or blundering in through a window. Who would imagine those fragile flies hatched from such tough looking larvae?

The Marsh Crane Fly is quite large (up to 30 mm) and looks mosquito-like with its two large wings, long narrow body and long mouthparts. That’s why people sometimes call it Daddy Long Legs, Harvestman, Giant Mosquito, Mosquito Hawk or Mosquito Eater. However, Crane Flies are not mosquitoes, spiders or harvestmen and they do not eat mosquitoes. If they do eat at all they prefer sipping flower nectar.

The long mouthparts of the crane fly project forward, which make it look dangerous but it cannot bite at all and is completely harmless. It has only one pair of wings like any other Dipteran (from the scientific Order Diptera) such as a fly or mosquito and has two, very easily seen, ‘balancers’ (halteres) found just behind the wings (see the closeup photo on the next page). These halteres look like a little stem with a knob at the end and they act as a balancing and guidance system when it is flying.

A leatherjacket.

Photo by Rasbak.

(http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

These halteres don’t move when the crane fly is at rest but as soon as it takes off they spin and move so rapidly that you can hardly see them. The rapid motion with the heavier knobs at the ends act as a gyroscope, and sensors at the bottom in the body give the insect information about how it is positioned in the air and how fast it is moving. (All flies - Hover Flies, Horse/Deer Flies, Robber Flies, etc., and mosquitoes have halteres but they are not as easy to see as on the crane fly.)

The crane fly lays black, shiny eggs at night in the early fall. The eggs need lots of moisture - in fact they will collapse within minutes if the relative humidity is less than 100%! They are laid close to the surface of the soil and the leatherjackets (larvae) hatch out in about two weeks.

8

A leatherjacket.

Photo by Rasbak.

(http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

The leatherjackets come up out of the ground to feed on the crowns and tender roots of grass plants in the evening after dew has fallen. By winter they are still eating but more slowly. When spring comes, they again eat a lot and grow rapidly until they are about 4 cm long. In mid-May they stop eating and get ready to pupate.

Pupation takes most of the summer until, in late August and September, the pupae wriggle themselves to the top of the soil. Soon after sunset, the delicate adults emerge from the pupal case. They mate immediately and sometimes pairs can be seen attached at the back end of their abdomens with the claspers of the blunt-ended male holding the slender pointed female. After mating, the female uses her pointed abdomen to deposit the eggs within the damp grass close to the soil where the fall rains can keep them moist until they hatch and the cycle starts all over again.

Crane flies are slow flying - easy prey for many birds, spiders, frogs, and even other insects such as the Baldfaced Hornet which can bite off the crane fly’s head, legs and wings in mid-air and take the body back to feed its own young. The larvae are also easy to catch so they too are eaten by birds and mammals that don’t mind their tough brown skins - those ‘leather jackets’ they are named after!

So, this fall keep an eye out for these ‘gentle giants’ who may be found sitting on walls of houses throughout the warm day or flying in the cooler, damper evening.

They can be caught by hand safely and easily and you can then observe those amazing halteres in action by holding the insect gently by its body so the wings can move. Another fall phenomenon for sure! halteres

A crane fly and halteres close-up.

Photos by Alvesgaspar. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

Editor’s note: I was surprised to learn that this long-legged fly is an introduced species from Europe; it entered eastern Canada sometime in the ‘50s, arriving in Vancouver in 1965. They are not a major pest as they can be quite easily controlled by good lawn care.

Brian Herrin is a teacher of children and adults, and loves all small creatures. He has written about springtails, mason bees, dustmites and many others for NatureWILD.

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Do you like small furry animals?

A Deermouse. Photo by 6th Happiness. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

Here are:

The smallest of the small!

BC’s smallest mammals are shrews, voles, mice and bats.

What is that tiny animal scurrying through dry grass?

It could be BC’s smallest mouse , the Deermouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) whose body is just 10 cm long, with a long, multi-coloured tail. Deermice have different colours of hair just as people do, but they always have a white belly and white feet. They have large beady eyes and large ears so they can see and hear well. They are known for their jumping ability and they can climb easily, tunnel through snow or through needles on the forest floor and find shelter everywhere from mattresses to tree cavities to burrows in the ground. During the day they stay safe in nests made from of grass, moss, roots and thistledown. At night they come out to feed on whatever they can find – seeds, nuts, fruit, berries, insects and tasty treats from inside houses.

The smallest vole in BC is the Southern Red-backed Vole (Myodes gapperi) 7 to 11 cm long.Voles look a bit like Deermice but with smaller ears and a short furred tail. Their soft fur is mostly grey but reddish on the back from head to tail. They are agile jumpers and climbers, and hop rather than run. They are small enough to hide under rocks and logs, and stay safe in underground passages as they move around looking for leaves, fruits, berries, nuts and seeds. They build balllike nests under the roots of stumps, logs, brush piles or high in a tree.

A Southern Red-backed Vole.

They are fierce little animals and like to be alone. They make a chirplike bark when disturbed and gnash or chatter their teeth. They fight with other voles and other species as well. Only a mother and her offspring are friendly to each other.

The smallest bat in BC is the Keen’s Long-eared Bat (Myotis keenii). Its body is 6 to 9 cm long, even smaller than mice. Keen’s Bats hunt at night being especially active just after sunset and before dawn. They eat flying insects such as mosquitoes and midges but prefer spiders and moths.

They usually spend their summers in forests but they have been found roosting in rock cracks, tree cavities, and even in buildings. They hibernate from October to April in caves.

Although they are found in BC and also Washington and Alaska, these little bats are hard to study and not a lot is known about them.

10

A Keen’s Long-eared Bat. Photo by Tim Gage. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en_CA)

The ‘smallest of all-est’ in BC is the American Pygmy Shrew (Sorex hoyi) at 5 cm long (about the length of your first finger).

Pygmy shrews are the smallest mammals native to North America and the second smallest in the whole world (after the Kitti’s Hog-nosed Bat or Bumblebee Bat [Craseonycteris thonglongyai]). These wee greyishbrown shrews are hunters and they eat ants, flies, spiders, earthworms, beetles, grubs, and caterpillars.

The amazing thing about these tiny creatures is that they have to eat three times their body weight every day! They have to capture prey every 15 minutes or so, day and night; if they go without food for a full hour they may die.

An American Pygmy Shrew.

Source: www.savethecrowsnest.com

Pygmy shrews are very agile and can jump as high as 10 cm, twice their own height! They make many different sounds – purrs, whispers, squeaks and high-pitched whistling sounds. They defend themselves by sending out strong smells from their scent glands. This smell is strong enough to put off most predators

s O

A Kitti’s Hog-nosed Bat or Bumblebee Bat. Photo by Jeffrey A. McNeeley. Source: Walker’s Mammals of the World, Sixth Edition (1999) p.321

Pygmy Shrew

BC’s smallest mammals are really small!

Use your imagination and this diagram to help you envision just how tiny these little animals are.

5 cm (average size, without tail)

Keen’s Long-eared Bat

l 6 cm (smallest size)

j

8 cm (smallest size, without tail)

7 cm (smallest size, without tail)

9 cm (to largest size)

Deermouse 10 cm

(to largest size, without tail)

Southern Red-backed Vole

11 cm (to largest size, without tail)

Sources: E- Fauna British Columbia; Encyclopedia of Life; Wikipedia; BioKids - Kids’ Inquiry of Diverse Species; Ministry of Environment, BC.

11

Nutcracker and the Whitebark Pine Nutcracker liked pine seeds.

He especially liked the seeds from the Whitebark Pine. With his strong beak he pried open the cones and ate the seeds. All summer long he liked nothing more than eating those pine seeds. Every day he would turn up there.

“Hello, Pine Tree. What have you got for me today? he said. And it was always pine seeds. Result?

“My favourite!” he said.

But winter was coming and soon there would be no more seeds for him to take from the cones.

Well, Nutcracker was a clever bird and he had an idea. “I’ll collect some seeds now and hide them away to last me through the winter,” he said.

He spent all day picking out seeds, one at a time and flying off to hide them.

A Clark’s Nutcracker. Photo by Monica Belko.

He hid them in between tree roots, he hid them behind stones, he hid them in hollow logs, and he hid them under fallen leaves.

“They’ll be safe there” he said, “and I shall have a lovely feast when winter comes.”

But other animals liked pine seeds, too. Very soon Squirrel, Chipmunk and Mouse had snuffled them out and whisked them away. When Nutcracker came back to eat one, they had all gone!

“Oh, said Nutcracker, who felt very put out. “Perhaps I’m not as clever as I thought.”

12

Every day he flew back to the pine tree to see what it had for him. But every day, there were fewer and fewer seeds. Very soon, they would all be gone.

“Time is growing short,” he said. “If I’m to hide enough seeds for winter, I must carry more than one at a time, but I don’t see how. My beak is only so big.”

He flew back to the pine tree and picked out a seed, then he tried picking another one. He discovered he could carry more than one at a time. It turned out that he had a special pouch underneath his tongue just right for carrying seeds. He crammed his pouch full of seeds and flew off.

“But,” he thought, “I need to find a better hiding place.”

“I’m certainly too clever for Mouse and Chipmunk and Squirrel,” he said. “I’m going to bury the seeds in the ground where they can’t find them. And – I am going to bury them in a place where the snow will cover them. I will be the only one who knows where they are.”

He jabbed little holes in the soil with his sharp beak, and placed a seed in each one. Then he flew back to the Whitebark Pine and did it all over again. And again.

And again.

When the cold weather came, whenever he was hungry he went to one of his hiding places. “Hello, hiding place, what have you got for me to today?” he said.

And it was always pine seeds. Result!

Nutcracker was never hungry.

In fact, he hid so many seeds he did not need to eat them all. So when spring came, those seeds started grow and grow. One day they would become tall trees which would make more pine cones full of tasty seeds.

So maybe, just maybe, Nutcracker was even cleverer than he knew.

Cones and needles of a Whitebark Pine.

Photo by Walter Siegmund. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

Note: In Manning Park, Clark’s Nutcracker and the Whitebark Pine have a very special relationship in which each depends upon the other for survival. This is described by Dick Cannings, BC’s foremost bird expert, in his book An Enchantment of Birds: Memories from a Birder’s Life, © 2007. See also NatureWILD, Fall 2009.)

13

Have a Nature Question?

ASK AL Hello Al, I live near the Shuswap River. Painted Turtles breed here but have to cross a busy road to get to a good place to lay eggs. I was told that the turtles then have to bring water to cover their eggs so they won’t dry out. Do the turtles take water to their eggs, and if they do, then how do they do it?

Jane (NatureWILD reader) The Western Painted Turtle sometimes nests more than 100 m from water. The female uses her legs to dig a nest in sand or soil about 15 cm deep. She lays 6 – 19 roundish eggs about 3 cm long and then covers them up so well that predators like skunks can’t discover her nest and eat the eggs.

As to the question of turtles bringing water to their eggs - this is fascinating. I found nothing about this in the literature; however something interesting did come up which may partly explain the ‘water’ question. Apparently female turtles will urinate on the soil to soften it and make digging easier.

Did you know? – A baby turtle is called a hatchling.

Al Grass has worked as a career park naturalist and ranger throughout BC. Now he is a well-known nature tour leader and photographer. Al especially likes birds, insects and spiders.

send me more Al says “Please ur question is questions. If yo ill win ureWILD you w at N r fo n se o ch ncil! otebook and pe a Rite-in-Rain n c.ca ions to info@yn st e u q r u yo d n Se r Road 1620 Mount Seymou V7G 2R9 North Vancouver, BC

Turtle Crossing Sign - South Okanagan, near Haynes Ranch Historic Site, Road 22 Photo by Al Grass.

I don’t know who painted this sign, but it, and the thought, is lovely. It’s in a spot where turtles are sometimes seen crossing the road – very dangerous for them. Drivers can now keep a close watch for turtles.

Many thanks to the artist.

Perhaps someone can tell us who painted this lively sign.

Al Grass

WELCOME to two new clubs, one in the south and one in the north!

YNC Sunshine Coast YNC Nass Valley

British Columbia

YNC Sunshine Coast

14

Vancouver

YNC Nass Valley (located in the heart of

Nisga’a territory in Northern BC)

These new clubs join the other fifty YNCs around British Columbia.

For full information on all the YNCs go to www.ync.ca and click on ‘Find a YNC Club / My Club’

W r e I D u t a N NEWS L

Have any comments or questions?

Email the YNC at info@ync.ca

CONGRATULATIONS to two YNC Nanaimo members who achieved their Bronze level ACTION AWARD.

Passports to Nature

Harmony and Destiny (YNC Kelowna), Darien (Cowichan Valley Saturday Club) and Kasia (YNC Kelowna) earned their YNC caps.Yvette (YNC Burke Mountain) earned her T-shirt. Elissa (YNC Nicomekl) sent in her 6th and 7th passports and Sage (Stanley Park) sent in her 7th and 8th passports.

Well done, everyone!

Jake Breault Janel Van Dongen

Back in the spring...

In the summer...

Photo by D. Solecki.

YNC Vancouver went ponding in

Jericho and joined in to save the frogs at Ambleside park.

YNC Nelson did some

research on snow.

Woodpecker Word

together to install bat boxes.

Woodpeckers found in BC are Downy Woodpecker, Lewis’s Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker and Pileated Woodpecker.

YNC University Hill School released YNC Eastern Fraser Valley worked

salmon fry into Spanish Bank creek.

Photo by E. Nagy.

Photo by M. Porro.

Rodent Code Answers: 1 - Vole 2 - Rat 3 - Squirrel 4 - Mouse 5 - Beaver 6 - Marmot 7 - Chipmunk 8 - Lemming 9 - Porcupine

Photo by N. Brown.

15

Woodpecker Word Woodpeckers are found all over North America.

See if you can find them in this woodpecker wordsearch...

Do you know which woodpeckers are found in BC? (answer on page 15)

ACORN ARIZONA DOWNY GILA GOLDEN-FRONTED

HAIRY LADDER-BACKED LEWIS’S NUTTALL’S PILEATED

RED-BELLIED RED-COCKADED RED-HEADED THREE-TOED WHITE-HEADED

Next issue...

The Passenger Pigeon SKUNKS

Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to YNC, 1620 Mt. Seymour Rd N.Vancouver, BC V7G 2R9

Canadian Publication Mail Sales Agreement 40038882

A Hairy Woodpecker.

Photo by Mdf. (http://

creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

Have any comments or questions?

Email the YNC at info@ync.ca