Urban wildlife | Wild Muse

Category: Urban wildlife
- Poland’s wolves trot across key wildlife overpasses
  
  Posted at 3:04 pm by DeLene
  
  Jun 24th
  
  Critically endangered Central European wolves have learned to use wildlife overpasses that span the major A4 autostrada in western Poland. The first hard evidence of regular overpass use by three separate wolf packs was recently documented by Dr. Robert W. Mysłajek of the Association for Nature, ‘Wolf.’ a Polish organization, and Dr. Sabina Nowak. The pair plan to formally announce their findings at the upcoming IENE 2012 International Conference in Potsdam-Berlin, Germany. {1}
  
  This video, supplied by Mysłajek, clearly shows several wolves loping and trotting across the wildlife overpass, while the sound of vehicular engines ebb and flow in the distance:
  
  The wolves appear to be using the overpasses during the cover of night and the light of day. A highway as large as the A4 is a major obstacle for the movement of predators such as Poland’s wolves, bears and lynx, as well as other wildlife. Which is why it is exciting that these particular wolves are using these particular overpasses. Continue reading →
  
  Posted in Biodiversity & Conservation, Endangered species, Predators, Urban wildlife, Wildlife | Tagged animal behavior, carnivores, critical linkages, gray wolf, predator restoration
- Road salt’s second sting
  
  Posted at 4:41 pm by DeLene
  
  Feb 1st
  
  This is an article I wrote that published in the Charlotte Observer and Raleigh News & Observer’s Sci-Tech pages on Nov. 14, 2011.
  
  Marbled salamander, photo courtesy of Jim Petranka.
  
  A sure sign that winter has arrived is when drivers spot chunks of road salt in their lanes. It’s safe to say drivers appreciate ice-free roads, but … ever wonder where all that salt ends up?
  
  In North Carolina, the Department of Transportation spreads, on average, 256,249,901 pounds of salt on state-managed roads each year.
  
  UNC Asheville biologist James Petranka decided to investigate what this seasonal onslaught means for our native amphibians. Because amphibians breathe through their skin and are highly susceptible to environmental contaminants, Petranka wondered if flushes of road salts to their breeding ponds kill them.
  
  The salt, he learned, didn’t kill the amphibians outright, though it does harm their growth as juveniles. Perhaps more alarming, he found the road salt is causing problems in the food web.
  
  Mimicking nature
  
  The effect of road salts on lakes and streams is documented, but it’s understudied in pools that form seasonally, and seasonal pools are where amphibians prefer to breed in late winter and early spring. After reading a scientific report on road salt effects upon wood frogs and spotted salamanders in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, Petranka couldn’t get his mind off what might be unfolding in the mountainous woods of Western North Carolina that surround his office. Continue reading →
  
  Posted in Biodiversity & Conservation, Eco, Science and nature writing, Urban wildlife, Wildlife | Tagged Charlotte Observer, ecology, human relationship to animals, pollution
- (Review) Suburban Howls, by Jon Way
  
  Posted at 7:58 am by DeLene
  
  Sep 11th
  
  Suburban Howls, by Jon Way
  
  Suburban Howls: Tracking the Eastern Coyote in Suburban Massachusetts is a documentation of research on coyotes done by Jon Way while he was at Boston College and earning a PhD. He tells anecdotes about coyotes he caught during the multi-year study of coyotes in Boston and its surrounding suburbs as well as Cape Cod; and he tells anecdotes about the frustrations of working in an urban area. While it’s fascinating to learn about the life histories of the animals he studies, it’s equally heartbreaking to learn about their deaths at the hands of hunters, drivers of cars, and in one rare case a poisoner.
  
  Way’s writing is at times detached, in the way you might expect a wildlife biologist to discuss their animal subjects. But these moments are few and far between. The bulk of the book is emotionally charged. It’s a rare look into the inner mind and emotions of a scientist going about his research. He’s not shy at disclosing snags he hit with the Massachusetts state wildlife agency and a zoo he was initially partnering with. Continue reading →
  
  Posted in Biodiversity & Conservation, Book reviews, Natural History, Predators, Urban wildlife | Tagged animal behavior, animal encounters, coyotes, coywolf, mammals, published research
- Pic of the Day: 28; Newnans Lake, Florida
  
  Posted at 9:41 am by DeLene
  
  Aug 12th
  
  I shot this image at sunrise one spring morning in 2005. I was visiting the lake every three days to count birds for a project in my general ecology class. The small study consisted of comparing the species diversity present at man-made and natural water bodies around town. One morning, I watched two red-shouldered hawks copulate on a telephone wire near to my observation site. Another morning, at one of the man-made water bodies (a retention pond near a Home Depot) I spotted a rare wanderer, a greater white-fronted goose, hanging out with about 300 muscovy ducks. The local paper ran a story on it (the print version ran under the headline, Goose on the loose). Local records for the county revealed it was only the 10th sighting in 100 years of this species. If you click on the news link above, you can view the goose.
  
  Pic-28: Newnans Lake, Florida. © 2005 DeLene Beeland
  
  Posted in Birds, Pictures, Urban wildlife, Wildlife | Tagged Pic of the Day
- Q&A with landscape ecologist Tom Hoctor
  
  Posted at 10:53 pm by DeLene
  
  May 24th
  
  Tom Hoctor
  
  Tom Hoctor is a landscape ecologist and conservation biologist who directs the Center for Landscape Conservation Planning at the University of Florida. Tom earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard University and his doctorate at the University of Florida. He’s recently undertaken the challenge of contributing to work on the Florida Wildlife Corridor. He’s also a friend of mine, from my hometown in Gainesville, and a kick-ass bird watcher. I asked him to answer a few questions for an ad-hoc series I hope to do here on Wild Muse that will explore the work of scientists, conservationists and their inspirations.
  
  Florida has a unique history of settlement, development, and exploitation of natural resources. What do you think are the biggest defining conservation problems the state faces?
  
  Sea level rise is likely the biggest problem that will define Florida’s future. Given the size of Florida’s coastal human population, and the extremely flat topography, Florida stands to be impacted more than any other state by sea level rise, and even a 1 meter rise in sea level could have catastrophic consequences. It is already extremely difficult to balance continued development with environmental conservation in Florida, but sea level rise will greatly complicate this balance with the potential shift of millions of people away from the coasts to currently rural inland areas that are extremely important for conservation. Continue reading →
  
  Posted in Biodiversity & Conservation, Urban wildlife, Wildlife | Tagged bears, critical linkages, mammals, panthers
- Mesopredators gone wild
  
  Posted at 8:12 am by DeLene
  
  May 15th
  
  Red fox, Vuples vulpes.
  
  Are we headed toward a world full of foxes, skunks and raccoons — but empty of lions, tigers and bears? Maybe. It’s a fact that many of the planet’s large carnivores are in dire straits. Where I live in the eastern U.S., we no longer have cougars or eastern wolves, top predators that used to range across the East several hundred years ago. Cougars are now geographically restricted to just the southern tip of Florida, where about 100 Florida panthers live in marginal habitat. And eastern red wolves are now confined to a tiny speck of land in North Carolina, where about 100 live in a managed population. Both species are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. In their absence, entire ecosytems have changed.
  
  Ecologists have long struggled to quantify what happens to an ecosystem when the top predators are lost. Continue reading →
  
  Posted in Biodiversity & Conservation, Endangered species, Natural History, Predators, Urban wildlife | Tagged carnivores, ecology, ecosystem restoration, gray wolf, jaguar, mammals, published research, red wolf, trophic cascades
- Coywolf encounter in Connecticut?
  
  Posted at 2:47 pm by DeLene
  
  Jan 5th
  
  Eastern coyote, possible coywof, seen in a backyard in Connecticut. © 2009 Janet DeMaio, published with permission
  After writing a post about coywolf research, I received an email from a citizen in Connecticut whose daughter had spotted an animal in her yard that they suspected was different than a normal run-of-the-mill coyote. I asked her to write about her encounter, and told her I’d post her story on Wild Muse. The email said her animal encounter took place “about 40 miles from the MA border, in Wallingford, CT.” Janet also included two photos, published here.
  
  Here is Janet DeMaio’s story:
  
  It was the morning of Nov. 6, 2009 and we were getting ready for work and school. We live in a home that has about 2 acres of land, the backyard faces a wooded area that leads to Mt. Biesek behind our house. Since we have lived here we have seen deer daily, coyotes, wild turkeys and even a copperhead now and then. However, on Nov. 6th it was 6:30 A.M. and as my daughters were getting ready to go to the bus stop my husband noticed an animal sitting in the backyard facing the woods. Continue reading →
  
  Posted in Predators, Urban wildlife | Tagged animal encounters, carnivores, coywolf, human relationship to animals
- Winter arrival at my feeder
  
  Posted at 9:08 am by DeLene
  
  Nov 20th
  
  Dark eyed junco
  
  When the new day comes, I wake bleary-eyed and stumble to the kitchen to make coffee. Then, with steaming mug in hand, I watch the wild birds dip and sally their way to our seed feeder. This morning, we had the usual suspects: tufted titmice, brown-headed nuthatches, Carolina chickadees, Carolina wrens and a pair of cardinals. But then I saw a new arrival scrounging for seeds beneath the feeder melee: a dark-eyed junco. Some migrate south from Canada, and others are year-round residents of North Carolina’s higher elevations. But they don’t come down to the Piedmont until the colder months arrive. To me their entry on the feeder scene marks the arrival of winter to our little patch of the Piedmont.
  
  Posted in Birds, Urban wildlife | Tagged seasons
- Birding break
  
  Posted at 2:36 pm by DeLene
  
  Oct 28th
  
  Male American redstart
  
  Yesterday morning, I slipped away from work with a friend and took a stroll in an urban wooded area. My friend is a much savvier birder than am I. While I enjoy watching the birds that come to a seed feeder outside my home, my friend actually knows where to go and at what time of year to see specific birds and migration events. I was at the Univ. of Florida for work, and so we went to Lake Alice, Continue reading →
  
  Posted in Birds, Urban wildlife | Tagged animal encounters
- Naming species, to know a place
  
  Posted at 8:48 am by DeLene
  
  Aug 22nd
  
  Winged elm (Ulmus alata) showing characteristic "corky wings." © 2002 Steven J. Baskauf, Vanderbilt Univ.
  
  As a young college student, I took many courses in architecture and interior design. We were often challenged to create models that conveyed a “sense of place.” How do edge conditions create a unique space? What factors must meld to form a sense of place? My classmates and I struggled over these questions into the wee hours of the morning in a cramped design studio, cutting and gluing chip board to give physical form to our answers. That was ten years ago. Now that my life is more steeped in learning about nature than architecture, my answer to this question is framed differently. It is no longer edge conditions, planes and patterns of tectonic linear striations that define a place, in my eyes; it is the native plants and wildlife that infuse it with uniqueness, give it a sense of place.
  
  At my home, the eastern towhees and Carolina wrens lead off the morning with lilting “drink your teeeaaaa” and “cabbage, cabbage, cabbage” calls. Today, Canada geese honked from the skies when they passed over the golf course behind our house. Continue reading →
  
  Posted in Birds, Urban wildlife, Wildlife | Tagged humans and nature
- Search for:
- Recent Posts
- Categories
  - Biodiversity & Conservation (87)
  - Wildlife (82)
  - Predators (61)
  - Endangered species (50)
  - Science and nature writing (46)
  - Natural History (42)
  - Book reviews (41)
  - Pictures (20)
  - Eco (16)
  - Urban wildlife (10)