Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Most of you Blog readers would never guess that New York State is 67% forested............. "Much of this region’s(New England, Mid Atlantic and southeastern) forests grow on former croplands that were fallowed around the Great Depression in the 1930's".......... "The mixed hardwoods that are native here can live on for hundreds of years".............."Most of these eastern woodlands are around 100 years old, what ecologists would call middle-aged"............. "There’s precious little young forest and brushy habitat for songbirds that need it for nesting or foraging"............"Some of these birds—especially the golden-winged warbler and the Wood Thrush are in steep decline"............"To combat these bird population crashes, Conservation Groups like Audubon New York and The Nature Conservancy are working with landowners to knock some of these dense forests back into an earlier succession state that favors certain birds and the insects they eat"................ "Absent human influence, this wouldn’t be necessary"............."Storms, fires, insects or other disturbances would topple older trees here and there, letting sunlight to the ground and opening habitat for the species that live there"............"The idea is to create 5 acre patches that are unlike a working monoculture farm field or pasture"..........."Instead, creating a native, natural field, thick with waist-high goldenrod and grasses, interrupted here and there with patches of maples and young ashes, with those surrounded by shrubs and dogwoods"..............The perfect undergrowth, where grassland warblers and thrushes can nest and raise their young, out of sight from predators"

›
habitat for songbirds< https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__r20.rs6.net_tn.jsp-3Ff-3D001WXfYs69taDwn3XUK6y5IiAkMC6EkSf1owj...
Monday, November 25, 2019

Raccoons and Porcupines – and Porcupines and Porcupines – shacking up together?"............... "True roommates or just accessing a shared entrance to a complex of spaces beneath tree roots or rock outcropping?"............"See below for recent evidence from a game camera of two porcupines and two raccoons, repeatedly loitering around the same rock crevice entrance".............."Interesting to note that Uldis Roze's excellent new book, The North American Porcupine, reported that only 12 percent of his study animals shared space, and then only on a temporary basis, with clear signs of irritation such as squawking and showy urine trails"..........."Is the example of potential co-habitation below a sign from the heavens: the dawning of a new and kinder age?"

›
< https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__r20.rs6.net_tn.jsp-3Ff-3D001WXfYs69taDwn3XUK6y5IiAkMC6EkSf1owjygLyK6oeNbA8jBoJ9A7PY...
Thursday, November 21, 2019

"The 4500-strong, pure-bred, native Yellowstone bison herd are nature's lawn mowers".............. "Every spring, a “green wave” spreads through Yellowstone, as grass ripens at higher and higher elevations"............"Deer and elk take heed, “surfing” the wave to keep up with the freshest grass"............ "Bison don’t follow the “waves” of ripening grass"............."Rather, they stay put — and the areas where they do, become “grazing lawns” where the grasses keep regenerating"....................."By trampling and nibbling away in such massive numbers, the bison herd keeps the plants shorter, and denser, forcing them to keep growing and re-growing"............ "This, intense grazing gives the bison a steady supply of fresh, nutritious grass"............"When we had 50 million bison roaming North America, circa AD 1500, our grasslands were in a “Perpetual Spring” of health!"

›
https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://www.abcfoxmontana.com/news/state/study-yellowstone-bison-nature-s-lawn-mowers/arti...
Wednesday, November 20, 2019

"Alien/Exotic Asian Carp are decimating the Mississippi River’s Native Fish population"—"Are the Great Lakes next?"............."Asian carp were introduced to the United States in the 1970s as an agricultural fish used to combat algae in catfish ponds".............."They escaped into the Illinois River during the floods of the 1990s"..............."Ecosystems have a delicate balance in which native organisms work in harmony, each occupying their own little niche".............."When an alien organism (without their natural predators present) enters the system and occupies a native’s niche, the native species tends to be the loser"............."Not only is it a fast-growing fish physically, but the Carp population itself grows very quickly".............."A female can lay well over a million eggs a year, with no known predators present"..............."The carp are voracious feeders and breeders and eat all the plankton that other fish rely on"............."Analysis of nearly 20 years of population data suggests the carp are out-competing natives such as yellow perch, bluegill, and black and white crappie".............."A mature Asian carp can grow up to 50 kg and consumes about 40 per cent of its body weight daily"................."In competition for food and space, the Asian carp has a significant size advantage over native fish species"

›
https://phys.org/news/2019-11-links-asian-carp-mississippi-river.html NOVEMBER 16, 2019 Study links Asian carp with Mississippi Riv...
Tuesday, November 19, 2019

"Mountain lions use wildlife passages across highways"................" While researchers don’t have evidence that they use the underpasses to hunt, they found that mountain lions use the underpasses more often in the seasons when deer are crossing".............."Coyotes particularly appear to be using the underpasses to hunt"..........."They often use underpasses more often used by rodents, rabbits, squirrels and other small prey"............."While it’s just a hypothesis, coyotes may even be using these bottlenecks to ambush their prey"................I say keep building the wildlife crossings,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,While the probability of being eaten might rise for prey species, enough get through the connectors to help spread their genes and expand their populations,,,,,,,,,,,,,with carnivores of all types being helped in the process to eat well and also spread and multiply

›
https://wildlife.org/wild-cam-do-predators-ambush-at-underpasses/ Wild Cam: Do predators ambush at underpasses? By Joshua Rapp Lear...