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HABITAT - the arrangement of food, water, cover, and
space - IS THE KEY.
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successful you are as you create wildlife habitat on
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Reader's Survey.
Write to Me!
Marilyn Mause, Wild Acres Program, DNR Wildlife &
Heritage Service, Gwynnbrook WMA, 3740 Gwynnbrook Ave,
Owings Mills MD 21117
customerservice@dnr.state.md.us |
In This Issue
Native Plant Profile: Goldenrod
Maryland Wildlife: Eastern Cottontail Rabbit
Autumn Journals for Children
Safflower Seeds for Bird Feeding
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Habichat Reader's Survey
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 Native
Plant Profile... Goldenrod
(Solidago)
Family: Aster
Flower: Generally yellow, ranging from lemon yellow to
butter yellow. There are a few species that are white, (Silverod,
S. bicolor). Flowers are small yellow-rayed blossoms massed in
clusters.
Leaves: Long and narrow some species have smooth edges
some are toothed. They can also be feathered-veined or parallel-
veined.
Height: 1 to 5 feet depending on species
Bloom: July to October
Fruit: Small, dry seed covered by fuzz that allows it to
become air-born
Form: Most Goldenrods can be placed in the following
categories:
Soil: Species are found in all types of soil, wet to dry,
poor to rich
Sun: Most Goldenrod species prefer sun, there are some
that will grow in partial shade (ZigZag Goldenrod, S. flexicaulis)
(Anise Scented Goldenrod, S. odora)
 Habitat: Roadsides, thickets, clearings, fields and open
woods.
Propagation in the Wild: Seed and can spread by rhizomes
producing the classic clumps of Goldenrods most people view in the
outdoors.
Identification of Goldenrods: Very diverse, hybridizes
frequently, making identification challenging. It is helpful to look
at the form of the plant and leaves when deciding what species you
are viewing.
Wildlife
Value: Research in N.Y. has shown that 138 species of insects rely on
goldenrod for food, shelter and reproduction. Forty species of Gall Flies lay
their eggs in goldenrod stems. Praying Mantis rely on Goldenrod as plants to lay
eggs on and hatchlings hide in clubs of the plants. Although the flowers are
small they bloom in mass, providing an essential nectar source for many
beneficial insects in late summer and fall. Insect eating songbirds will prey
upon insects attracted to the flowers. The following birds will consume the
seeds: Carolina Chickadee, Goldfinch, Junco, Tree Sparrow, and Downy Woodpecker.
Butterflies such as Monarchs, Hair-Streaks and Painted Ladies are frequent
visitors to the plants. White-throated Sparrows will use clumps of goldenrods as
shelter.
Did you know? Solidago means to make whole, a
reference to goldenrod used in herbal medicine for a variety of
ailments. In the early part of the 20th century goldenrod was
nominated to be our national flower since it is found over most of the
U.S. Goldenrod does not cause hay fever! It does bloom the same time
as ragweeds, the plants that do cause the problem. The pollen of
goldenrod, heavy and sticky is carried by insects and is not
air-born. There are over 60 species of Solidago found in
North America.
Remember if you decide to plant goldenrods for your late summer-
fall garden, purchase plants from nurseries that propagate what they
sell.
Maryland Wildlife: Eastern Cottontail Rabbit
(Sylvilagus floridanus)
The most common rabbit found in the wild in the eastern United
States is the Eastern Cottontail.
Size: Length of adults is 14 ½ " to 18 ¼", long ears are
2" to 2 ¾", white cotton looking tail is l ½". Hind Foot is about 4”
long.
Weight: 2 to 4 pounds
General description: Dark brown, mixed with gray is the
overall color of the fur. Rabbits molt in the spring to a brown
color, and in October molt into a fur that contains a mixture of
gray and brown. They have a short tail that is white below with the
top brown. All under parts of the animal are white. Sexes and young
are the same coloration except young have shorter ears and have a
yellow-brown fur.
Mating and Breeding: From February to September in
Maryland, male rabbits, called bucks, will mate with as many
females, called does, as possible. Cottontail males will fight each
other for females, and perform dances to attract the female. The
female will produce, on the average, three to four litters of young
each year. Four to five rabbits are the average litter size. Young
are born naked and blind 30 days after the female has mated. Females
make a shallow depression in the ground and uses its own fur to line
the nest. Young are nursed at dawn and dusk. The female mates again
right after birth. Young leave the female at about five weeks. They
then become capable of breeding at 2 months of age.
Lifespan: Can live as long as five years in the wild. Most
live about one to two years.
Food Habits: Herbivores. In the spring and summer rabbits
eat a variety of tender vegetation, from grasses, clovers, vegetable
crops and blackberries. In the winter they will eat twigs and bark
of young trees.
Habitat: Edges, meadows, brushy areas, thickets,
backyards, especially those with brush piles.
Home Range: 5 to 8 acres
Senses: Cottontails have excellent sight with their large
eyes, excellent hearing and smelling.
Behavior: Usually hop, but can leap up to 10 feet. Will
stand on its hind feet to view areas. When being chased they circle
their territory and will jump sideways to break their scent trail.
Can swim. In the winter time they will take shelter in a groundhog
den, but do not dig a den. Cottontails are solitary except when
mating or raising young, although rabbits in the winter time will be
seen chasing each other around as though playing.
Vocalizations: Cottontails make a variety of sounds. They
cry to warn of predators. Females will grunt to warn others to stay
away and both sexes will squeal.
Did you know? Cottontails serve as an important food
source for a variety of predators, including hawks, owls, fox,
weasels and coyotes.
 Autumn
Journals for Children
Nature Journaling with your children can be rewarding. Autumn is a
wonderful time to start keeping a journal.
Decide ahead of time what to focus on for each day’s journaling. For
younger children get blank paper for them to use. Later you can place
this in a binder or scrapbook. Older children will find a book of blank
pages suitable. Have pencils available as the preferred writing tool. Be
sure to include some basic nature field guides for children, and a small
magnifying glass or lenses to help observe parts of plants and insects.
And although not necessary, binoculars are helpful to observe songbirds.
Take a mini field trip to your backyard, or local park. Allow the
children to explore and observe prior to writing. Then ask the children
to write down what they saw. What was their favorite wild thing? Ask
them to write about what they want to share with others. Older children
can record the date, time, location and weather for each day's
observations.
During the autumn season, the children can include include leaf and tree
bark rubbings in their journal. Record the day the leaves began to
change color and how many days it took for all the leaves to change.
Keep a record of how many birds are coming to the bird feeder. Record
and sketch how the plants look on the day of the first frost.
Journaling will improve your children’s observation skills and help them
appreciate nature. You will discover children enjoy exploring and
observing the natural world.
 Safflower
Seeds for Bird Feeding
Safflower is one of our older cultivated seeds. Seeds of this
plant are found in ancient Egyptian tombs. It’s an annual, which
produces a multi-sided, hard white seed when hulled. Safflower,
until recently, was grown primarily for oil and dyes. Once imported
from Japan, its seed is grown commercially in the western US, where
it does well in arid conditions. The seed was found by bird feeding
enthusiasts to be attractive to a number of songbirds and squirrels
generally do not like this seed.
Try safflower seed in a mixture of sunflower seed to reduce
squirrels coming to a feeder. Once the birds get used to the
safflower, go to entirely safflower seed. This often causes the
squirrels to look elsewhere for food. You will continue to attract
cardinals, chickadees, grosbeaks, nuthatches, titmice, and
woodpeckers. Some backyard bird feeding folks claim using safflower
reduces starlings and House Sparrows. However, there are indications
from others that in some areas these species learn to like the seed.
Putting safflower seed on an open platform feeder is a good way
to attract cardinals to your backyard bird watching site. Placing
the seed in a tube feeder should attract chickadees, titmice and
woodpeckers.
Acknowledgements:
If you enjoyed this issue of Habichat, you might want to check out
our online back issues and clickable listing of Habichat articles.
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/wildacres.asp#habichat
Here is a listing of phone numbers, web sites and organizations that you might find helpful or interesting in your search for ideas to manage your wild acres.
DNR Online... Inspired by nature!
www.dnr.maryland.gov
Project FeederWatch is a winter-long survey of birds that visit feeders at
backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North
America. FeederWatchers periodically count the highest numbers of each
species they see at their feeders from November through early April.
FeederWatch helps scientists track broadscale movements of winter bird
populations and long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance. Project
FeederWatch is operated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in partnership
with the National Audubon Society, Bird Studies Canada, and Canadian
Nature Federation. http://birds.cornell.edu/pfw
National Wildlife Federation - Details on their backyard habitat program www.nwf.org or call them at 1-800-822-9919.
Native plants - The Maryland Native Plant Society offers information dedicated to protecting, conserving and restoring Maryland's native plants and habitats, visit them at
www.mdflora.org.
Maryland Cooperative Extension offers home and garden information, tips publications, plant problems, Bay issues, and other links at
www.agnr.umd.edu/MCE/index.cfm
Their Home and Garden Information number is statewide and can be reached at
1-800-342-2507, and from outside Maryland at 1-410-531-1757.
Bioimages, a project of
Vanderbilt University, provides educational information to the public on
biologically related topics, as well as a source of biological images for
personal and non-commercial use.
http://bioimages.cas.vanderbilt.edu/
Maryland's "Becoming an Outdoors - Woman Program "- One of the topics covered in the three-day workshops is Backyard Wildlife. For more information on this program contact
Patty Allen at
410-260-8537, or
send e-mail to:
pallen@dnr.state.md.us
For a free wildlife & native
plant newsletter, visit the WindStar Wildlife Institute at
www.windstar.org
and subscribe to the WindStar Wildlife Garden Weekly e-newsletter. You can
also visit this website to learn how you can become a certified wildlife habitat
naturalist.
For more information on butterflies - visit the North American Butterfly Association at
www.naba.org
Warm season grasses and wild meadows for upland nesting birds visit Pheasants
Forever at www.pheasantsforever.org or e-mail:
pf@pheasantsforever.org
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