Happy winter, Habichatters!
This season’s collection is about persistence, fortitude, and the things that do unseen work in our lives. Our native plant profile this month focuses on Maryland’s oaks – all of them! We admire the tenacity of this tremendous tree and want to share it with you. Our native animal profile contemplates the unseen and unheard world of the shrew, a truly undervalued group of modest mammals who have some surprising secrets. While we shine light on the unseen things, let us also contemplate the bright winter lantern of the moon, and how it connects to Maryland’s wildlife (and check in for how to grow your own moon garden). As all this quiet activity is happening, wildlife biologists are hard at work too; read about how the Natural Heritage Program wades through winter waters to track torpid wood turtles.
And for you reptile fans who have been eagerly awaiting our new herps poster series,
they are now available online!
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Team Habichat
“Leaf Lace” by Martha Johnston, Submitted to the 2016 Maryland DNR Photo Contest. “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
- Albert Camus
In This Issue:
Moon Mythology and Maryland’s Wildlife: Winter Moons
Learn how the full moons receive their nicknames, and maybe consider creating our own. This modern folklore gives us an excellent opportunity to learn more about both the night sky and Maryland’s wildlife!
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Native Plant Profile: Maryland’s Oaks
What’s your favorite tree? If you’re any of Maryland’s thousands of native animals, your answer may be an oak! Maryland boasts 22 species in the oak genus (Quercus), 21 of which are native.
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Native Animal Profile: Shrews
Many gardeners have been known to shriek as they see a small, brown, furry thing scampering through their garden, provoked by weeding or a shovel in the soil. Often the thing has dashed away so quickly, we can’t see it well enough to understand what it was.
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Natural Heritage Program Spotlight: Winter Work - Wood Turtles
A wildlife biologist’s work is never done, even in cold winter temperatures. Some species studied by our herpetology team lend themselves to tasks best completed in fall, winter, and early spring. Among them is the wood turtle, Glyptemys insculpta, perhaps one of the most charismatic of Maryland’s turtle species. Wood turtles are also one of the most rare – ranked as imperiled at the state and global levels and currently a candidate for federal listing under the Endangered Species Act.
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You can also
Download and Read the Entire Issue Offline
We want to hear from you!
Letters, e-mail, photos, drawings. Let us know how successful you are as you create wildlife habitat on your property.
Write to Me!
Sarah Witcher
Maryland Wildlife and Heritage Service
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
580 Taylor Ave., E-1
Annapolis MD 21401
[email protected]
410-260-8566
 | Habichat, the newsletter for Maryland's Stewards of Backyard Wildlife, is published by the Wildlife and Heritage Service, Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The facilities and services of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources are available to all without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, or physical or mental disability. This document is available in alternative format upon request. |
