A life bird for me – the Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus)

Last week, I was in Vancouver, Canada, visiting my family.  My sister mentioned that Snowy Owls had been sighted near Boundary Bay, about 20 miles south of Vancouver, so we went out to see them.   For those of you who are Harry Potter fans, Harry’s owl Hedwig is a Snowy Owl.

Snowy Owls breed on the Arctic Tundra, and typically winter there.   They nest on the ground, and fiercely defend their nests from predators, even wolves.  Snow Geese, which sometimes nest near on the ground near the Snowy Owl, appear to derive some protection from predators because of the presence of the Snowy Owls.

The Snowy Owl’s  primary food source is lemmings, but they also eat mice, voles, ducks, hares and fish.  A Snowy Owl can eat 1600 lemmings in a year.   They have been known to follow traplines in the north, eating the animals that are caught in the traps.  They swallow small prey whole, and their strong stomach juices digest the flesh.   Bones, teeth, fur, etc., which are not able to be digested, are regurgitated in pellet form 18 to 24 hours after feeding. Every few years, Snowy Owls fly south in large numbers in what is known as an irruption, possibly when Arctic food sources are scarce.  

Unlike most other owls, they are easy to spot.  For one thing, they don’t roost in trees, preferring to perch on logs in the open.  Secondly, they are diurnal, so are seen during the day.  Plus, they are stunning white birds with yellow eyes, about 2 feet tall, with a 5 foot wingspan. 

There were hundreds of people watching the owls.  I enjoyed being with so many other nature lovers, most of whom were respectful and well-behaved.  But there are always a couple of jerks who feel that getting a good picture is so important that it is acceptable to get too close and harass the birds.   It was refreshing to see people telling off these idiots.

In a two hour period, I saw more owls than I’ve seen in the rest of my life.  It was a wonderful nature experience to start out the year.

Pecha Kucha, Nature and You

Interested in horse racing? You should have heard Shirley Couteau’s talk on the Preakness Race at Pimlico, Maryland.  What about biomimicry – you know, that’s when a bullet train is designed to be as aerodynamic as the beak of a kingfisher, or a 6” drone is modeled on the physiology of bats.

Or what about Amelia May’s look at how man has constructed beautiful buildings from nature’s materials – rocks, mud and twigs – that last hundreds of years.

A crowd of almost 100 people heard those talks and much more at Pecha Kucha Nature Night last night. Rob Hartwell spoke about the success of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River’s shad restoration in the Potomac River; sturgeon restoration is the next project.

Up next was Kate Norris with a presentation about her love of Hawaii, and closer to home Judy Gallagher talked about springtime in Woodbridge. The shared aspect of these disparate presentations, aside from the passion of the speakers, is that they were all six minutes long.

Uranium Mining – A risky proposition for Virginia

by Bryanna Altman

The Virginia General Assembly is expected to vote  this  year (2012) on whether to lift a 30-year moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia.  Nuclear power is generated using uranium, a metal mined in various parts of the world. Nuclear power produces huge amounts of energy from small amounts of fuel, without the pollution you’d get from burning fossil fuels.

The United States is the world’s largest producer of nuclear power, accounting for more than 30% of worldwide nuclear generation of electricity.  In 2010 the country’s 104 nuclear reactors produced over 20% of total electrical output.  It is expected that 4-6 new nuclear reactors may come on line by 2020.

A company called Virginia Uranium, Inc. wants to mine a deposit known as Coles Hill site in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, the only economically viable source identified in Virginia (National Academy of Sciences report). Virginia Uranium says tests indicate there are about 119 million pounds of uranium, worth as much as $10 billion, below the surface.  It is the world’s seventh-largest known deposit, or enough to supply all U.S. nuclear power plants for about two years or Virginia’s demands for 75 years.  

Virginia Uranium, Inc. executives also stated the company is owned by locals who care about their community and would never risk polluting it. But behind Virginia Uranium Inc. are two Canadian corporations, Virginia Energy Resources and Sprott, which hold a 49.8% interest in Virginia Uranium, Inc.  

Virginia proposes end to participation with multi-state Commission aimed at protecting Potomac River

The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB) is an interstate agency created by the individual statutes of its member jurisdictions – Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Federal Government participation was approved by Congress in 1940.

The ICPRB promotes collaborative watershed-based services aimed at improving and protecting water quality and quantity in the Potomac River basin. The ICPRB provides services that directly benefit Virginia, including technical and managerial support, watershed-based initiatives with an intergovernmental focus and public education.

Virginia’s cost for continued participation with the ICPRB is $151,500. The return on this investment is significant. In 2011, the total cost benefit to Virginia provided by ICPRB services totaled $529,000. (Click here for supporting documents.)

According to Fairfax Water Authority (FWA), “Northern Virginia, an economic engine within the Commonwealth, would be adversely impacted by Virginia’s withdrawal from the ICPRB.” FWA has expressed concern that “withdrawing Virginia’s membership from the ICPRB could have serious consequences for regional cooperative water supply operations and could jeopardize the reliability of the Potomac River as a water supply source during droughts.”

Nokesville Christmas Bird Count

Together a team of nearly 30 volunteers recorded 81 species at the Nokesville Christmas Bird Count on December 26 2011 (species list below the fold). Previous counts ranged from 82 species in 2008 to 86 species in 2009.

Some species seen previous years were noticeably absent, including Red-breasted Nuthatches, Purple Finches, Horned Larks and Bobwhite. Sadly the Brewers Blackbirds, known to frequent a farm on Fleetwood, were nowhere in sight.

Highlights of the day include 12 bald eagles seen at the Prince William County landfill. The Bald Eagles were watching/hunting the 1000+ gulls, mostly ring-billed, foraging through uncovered trash. One Raven was also seen at the landfill, with 2 others at MCB Quantico and 2 in Fauquier County.

A Screech Owl was in Fauquier County along with Barred Owls, which were also seen at Merrimac Farm. Woodcock were seen at MCB Quantico and in Fauquier County. There were many Eastern Bluebirds, with an impressive flock of 50+ at the Rte 234 Wetland Mitigation Area.

2011 Bluebird Trails at Chinn Park & Merrimac Farm, People Helping Wildlife

A Very Special Spider

While walking in Julie Metz Wetlands earlier this week, I spotted a brown mass on a leaf.  It looked like a large bird dropping, and I thought it could also be a half eaten frog or toad.  I whipped out my trusty camera with macro lens and took a picture.

To my surprise, it was a very special spider called the Bolas Spider, in the genus Mastophora.  Bolas Spiders are so named because they capture their prey by using a sticky blob of silk called a bola on the end of a silk thread.  In the non-spider world, a bola is a weight on the end of a rope, used by South American cowboys as a sort of lasso.  The cowboy entangles the cow’s legs with the rope and weight, stopping the cow from running away.

The Bolas Spider creates her bola, and also secretes a pheromone of a particular moth species to attract a moth.  When the moth approaches, the spider cocks her leg and swings the bola.  If the bola hits the moth, the moth sticks to it, the spider reels in the bola and the moth, and wraps the moth up in silk webbing for her later dining pleasure. 

Occoquan Reservoir – A Rare Gem Worth Protecting

It may seem to most folks, if they think about it at all, that the Occoquan Reservoir is doing fine. It is true that major improvements were made in the 1970’s when Fairfax County down-zoned 41,000 acres and purchased 5,000 acre on the north side of the reservoir to prevent pollution. Also, the UOSA sewage treatment plant replaced the numerous polluting plants then in existence on the reservoir.

So why should we spend more effort (and money) to further improve the water quality of a reservoir that’s doing ok? Because ok is not good enough- the reservoir’s health is still far from what it could be, and what it once was.

Sedimentation input results in knee-deep mud along the bottom of the reservoir that reduces water capacity and aquatic diversity, the clarity of the water is poor, aquatic grasses grow unchecked that inhibit fish stocks and diversity, and on and on.

The reality is that more work still needs to be done. The challenges are somewhat different now, but they still need to be addressed, now more than ever.

Going Native! Part II

Merrimac Farm a model for homeowners to emulate

In my last blog, I explained how going native – homeowners using native plants to replace some or all of their lawn – was beneficial to the environment, and listed a couple of web sites with ideas to help them get started.

Today’s focus is on a program right here in Prince William County that can provide homeowners with information, ideas, and hands-on experience in working with native plants.

Prince William Conservation Alliance has begun a conservation landscape project at Merrimac Farm, a 302-acre Wildlife Management Area located in Nokesville.  It includes more than 100 acres of contiguous wetlands protected by 200 acres of hardwood forests and upland meadows, at the headwaters of the Occoquan Reservoir.

Yesterday (9/24), more than a dozen enthusiastic volunteers gathered for a work day to spread compost in preparation for the first planting day on October 15. 

Bugs are our friends: Green Lacewing

If you have seen a pale green, almost translucent insect with golden eyes, either flying around or perched on a leaf, it’s probably a Green Lacewing.  These delicate creatures are harmless, but their larvae are voracious predators, devouring soft-bodied pests such as mealy bugs, scale, spider mites, caterpillars, whitefly, leafhoppers, pest eggs and aphids.

The female lays 200 or more eggs on a plant leaf and stem, each suspended on a hair-like stalk.  After several days, the eggs hatch, and the larvae feed insatiably on insect pests.  One lacewing larva can eat as many as 600 aphids during the 1 to 4 weeks before it pupates.  After about 5 days in the pupal stage, an adult lacewing emerges.  The Green Lacewing in this photo was found at Merrimac Farm.

You can help create an environment where lacewings thrive.  A garden with flowers  will attract adults, who survive primarily on nectar and pollen.  Lacewings like high humidity, which is the norm for our Virginia summers.  They also need a place to overwinter, under loose mulch, leaf litter or under rocks.  As you can see, you don’t have to do much to provide the proper habitat for the Green Lacewing, and you will be amply rewarded with a natural solution to your insect pest problem.