Sharing Your World with Wildlife
Achievement 5
For Bear Cub Scouts Earning the World Conservation Award

The following information should help you in your earning the achievements. Remember, you are to complete four of these requirements:

REQUIREMENT A - Choose a bird or animal that you like and find out how it lives. Make a poster showing what you have learned.

Task: Investigate one of the animals found on our website www.dnr.maryland.gov

REQUIREMENT B - Build or make a bird feeder or birdhouse and hang it in a place where birds can visit safely.

Task: Visit our wild acres site for bird feeder and birdhouse plans: www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/wildacres.asp#tips. You will also learn about what you can do to create habitat for wildlife in your backyard.

REQUIREMENT C - Explain what a wildlife conservation officer does.

Task: In Maryland Wildlife conservation officers are called Natural Resource Police (NRP). You can learn more about what they do at www.dnr.state.md.us/nrp/ or by contacting your local NRP office listed in your phone book.

REQUIREMENT D - Visit one of the following: Zoo, Nature Center, Wildlife Refuge, Game Preserve (Wildlife Management Area).

Task: Maryland has many Wildlife Management Areas and Nature Centers. For a complete listing of these sites visit www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/all.html

REQUIREMENT E - Name one animal that has become extinct in the last 100 years. Tell why animals become extinct. Name one animal that is on the endangered species list.

Task: After reading the information provided here, mark on a state of Maryland map the location of an endangered species. (You may have an adult help you find the site). Make a list or poster describing things your troop can do to help endangered species.

One animal that has become extinct in the last 100 years is the Passenger Pigeon. It looked very similar to the Mourning Doves you may see in your backyard. Unlike the Mourning Dove, Passenger Pigeons needed large amounts of unbroken woodlands in which to live. These woodlands were being cut down as the East Coast of the USA was being developed. This bird could not adapt to the changes in its home so it could no longer reproduce or find its basic needs in order to survive. Maryland had flocks of Passenger Pigeons. If you were growing up in the 19th century, say around the time of the Civil War, you would have seen flocks of these birds. Forty years later, at the start of the 20th century only one bird remained.

Animals become extinct when they no longer have the right kind of habitat in order to survive and raise their young. Habitat consists of food, water, shelter and space. Here are three different animals that are on the endangered species list that you can find in Maryland:

1) Bewick's Wren is a small brown bird found in Garrett County. It likes to live in open woodlands, fencerows, thickets, and old over -grown buildings. The reason for their decline is unclear. Some suggest it is changes in the habitat, which allow for more competition from house wrens and Carolina wrens for living and nesting sites. Read more about the bird at www.dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/bewick.html

2) The Delmarva Fox Squirrel is found in Maryland's Eastern Shore counties. This squirrel is larger and has a more creamy white color than the gray squirrel you see in your neighborhood. Loss of habitat, which for the Delmarva is old hardwood stands along streams and bays, caused it to become endangered. Wildlife biologists have been working since the 1970's to restore this animal by reintroducing them in suitable, restored habitat. A good place to view these squirrels is the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge just outside of Cambridge in Dorchester County. Find out more by visiting www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/nhpdelfox.html

For Additional Information, Contact:

Maryland Wildlife and Heritage Service
Attn:  Marilyn Mause
Gwynnbrook WMA
3740 Gwynnbrook Ave
Owings Mills MD 21117
410-356-0941
E-Mail: customerservice@dnr.state.md.us

Delmarva Fox Squirrel photograph provided by the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge; Bog Turtle photograph provided by Scott A. Smith; Red Fox illustration courtesy of Wade Henry; Bewick's Wren illustration courtesy of Michael O'Brien.

3) The Bog Turtle is a small black turtle with an orange head patch, found in Carroll, Baltimore, Harford and Cecil counties. This turtle likes to live in wet meadows. You may have seen stories about this creature on TV as several scientists in Maryland are studying how to keep them from going extinct. If you have a chance to visit the Baltimore Zoo, check out the bog turtle display; it is a lot of fun. The main reasons for their decline are loss of their habitat and illegal collecting for the pet trade. Read more about the bog turtle at www.dnr.maryland.gov/irc/bogturtles/introduction.html