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Re: love in the air; a cat solution; an exotic plant?



On Wed, 14 Feb 2001, shantanu phukan wrote:
> 
> And speaking of love in the air, just four days ago (February 11) I
> heard my first Pine Warbler of the year singing from a Loblolly Pine.
> I wonder if the last three days hushed it up again. Does anyone know
> if birds will be fooled by warm spells and start singing unseasonally
> early, or if their internal clock makes them difficult to fool?

Actually, I've been hearing Pine Warblers on warm days all through the 
winter. The piney woods on Duke's west campus between Bio Sci and the 
Bryan Center are usually well populated with them, as are the woods near 
my house. I've also heard territorial-type songs from White-throated 
Sparrows, and I've been told by a fellow grad student who studies such 
things that Song Sparrows sing all through the winter. Carolina Wrens 
sing year-round, of course, and I think I've heard Carolina Chickadees 
being fooled by warm winter days.

On the other hand, one species I can't ever remember having heard singing 
in the winter is Yellow-rumped Warbler. I heard them sing in NC for the 
first time last spring, March I think.

Noticed something while reading the Independent recently: Independent 
Animal Rescue. They have ads in the back every week beseeching adoption 
of cats and dogs, always with cute photos. In reading the fine print, I 
noticed that they also take care of colonies of stray cats: not only 
feeding them, but also spaying and neutering and giving them 
vaccinations. The adults continue eating birds, but they stop having 
kittens, so in the long run the avian and other wildlife mortality, as 
well as cat suffering and disease transmission to pets, is greatly 
reduced. They are looking for donations so that they can afford these 
practices; I'd bet that a donor who knew of a colony of strays that 
needed spaying and neutering, for instance the one near Mason Farm, could 
convince them to check the situation out...

Lastly, during yesterday's walk, I found an interesting plant. Looked 
like a dead vine with milkweed pods on it. A friend offered a possible 
identification. I then found that, if his identification were correct, 
the plant is a dangerously aggressive European invader. The ID has yet to 
be 100% confirmed, but if it is, are there authorities in NC to deal with 
such occurrences, that would want to know about an invasion in progress? 
I know that TLC and other such folks take action on their own lands, but 
this was on state-owned Gamelands, do they worry about such things?

Thanks,

Josh

Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/