News from LFP Stewardship Foundation, September 2011

		Helping Local Birds and Wildlife
Birds, indeed all wildlife, have four basic needs to survive: Food, Water, Safe spaces to hang out, and Places to successfully raise their young. Food is fairly easy to provide. Plant, or keep, native trees, especially evergreens-the bigger the better. Plant native fruiting trees and bushes. Dogwood, Crabapple, Hawthorne, Serviceberry, Snowberry, Twinberry, Elderberry, Nine Bark, Quince, berry crops, and even many of the maples are good sources of food. Many birds eat the bugs that come to the flowers, some even nibble the flower buds; eat the fruit once it is ripe; and find bugs in the leaf litter in the winter. Don't use pesticides: you will kill or starve the bug-eating wildlife. And of course, bird feeders with black-oil sunflower seeds, and suet feeders will make your yard even more inviting. Water can be hard for wildlife to find during our dry August's and our cold spells. Free running water is a great magnet, and can be as simple as a dripper into a garbage can lid, or as complex as a recycling stream. As long as standing water is changed once a week, there is no danger from mosquitoes. In the winter, invest in a birdbath heater to keep the water liquid and drinkable during freezing spells Safe spaces to hang out can be provided by trees, bushes and shrubs of varying sizes and densities, and minimum amounts of grass. Birds have evolved by being able to locate food: some find it on branches, others on trunks. Some find it by using trees and shrubs as launching posts-others find their food in the leaves and bark beneath trees and bushes. Places to successfully raise their young can require a little more thought and planning. Interestingly, dead trees can provide more places for many species to raise their young than live trees. If you have a dead or dying tree, make it into a snag. You'll be helping a number of native birds, and it is a great place for wildlife viewing. Leaving logs and branches on the ground will provide hiding places for ground nesters. Placing nest boxes, with the correct sized holes for native species, at the right heights will benefit our local birds, and bring you the wonder of watching babies grow and thrive. Leave a small, controlled area of blackberries, or add a brush pile in a back corner. Leaving a space of tall grass or weeds from March until Labor Day will also help wildlife. And build an indoor-outdoor run for your cats-belling them isn't enough-they hunt by stealth. With a little effort and planning, we can invite wildlife into our lives.

It's Wild Out There!
Going Wild at Grace Cole Nature Park

There has been an increase in wildlife presence in Lake Forest Park recently, and it is not limited to the parks; though Grace Cole Park Nature Park and the associated wetland/stream/forested areas are particularly blessed in that regard.

For several years occasional sightings of black-tailed deer have been claimed in Lake Forest Park, but recently nearly everyone seems to have seen several deer locally, resulting in some impressive still photos and videos being captured. These local mammals use the stream and wooded corridors to travel to various areas of our City, including Grace Cole Park, the wetlands along 28th Ave, NE, down the Brookside Creek corridor and along McAleer and Lyon Creeks. We may need to become innovative about how we protect some of our favorite plants from these hungry browsers.

Another wild animal seen and heard in Grace Cole Park is the coyote. Recent encounters bring to our attention the importance of these wild animals not becoming friendly with or dependant upon people. The rule is Never Feed Wild Animals as feeding them causes them to become dependent on people and to be more prolific. The sad truth is "a fed wild animal is a dead wild animal". This applies to raccoons and squirrels, as well. We also need to be aware that unprotected pets and livestock are prey to carnivorous wild animals.

A welcome sound this spring came from the new amphibian habitat ponds which the City installed in Grace Cole Nature Park. It was the chirp of the tiny Northwest Chorus Frogs! Formerly their highly vocal presence was common, but for at least four years there had been total silence from their realm. Now there is hope the few heard this spring will multiply to again serenade evening visitors to, and neighbors of, the park.

Anyone who walks the new trails, which the City contracted with Volunteers for Outdoor Washington to build in Grace Cole Nature Park, will be aware of the burrows of Mountain Beaver. These rarely seen, nocturnal and tail-less mammals are not beavers at all but are considered instead to be living fossils, perhaps an off-shoot from the evolutionary progression of squirrels in the very distant past. They do not show a close physical resemblance to any other currently living mammal. They enjoy eating young, tender vegetation, are particularly fond of ferns, and maybe English Ivy. If your tulips are planted within the short distance which they venture from their burrows, the Mountain beavers may find them irresistible. Remember, they were here first!

During work parties at Grace Cole Nature Park volunteers have encountered Red-backed and Long-toed Salamanders. They prefer dark, moist places and sometimes are found under logs or wood piles. While trail-building the crew exposed a nest of tiny shrew inside a decomposing stump. These encounters remind us that families of these very diverse species are widespread and find desirable habitat very close to our own homes.

Listen and look for the many types of birds in the Park, and near your home. Here in Lake Forest Park they will include Pileated woodpeckers, sporting their large impressive red crest. They drill the large oval nest openings in dead snags to accommodate their large heads and bodies. The raucous call of the Pileated is distinctive. Other woodpeckers you'll see at the park are the Hairy and the Downy which look very similar to one another except that the Hairy is the much larger of the two. If your eyes are sharp
you may spot a small Brown creeper cruising spirally around the trunk of a tree searching for insects and larvae. He's only 5 ½ inches long, including his rather long, stiff tail, which helps him brace against the tree trunk.

The small Chestnut-backed and the Black-capped chickadees depend upon dead snags for their homes. Their young, shortly after fledging, haven't learned to fear you and will let you pass very closely as they rest on a low branch, in the spring and early summer.

Not all of our local birds nest in the trees. The Spotted towhees, the Juncos and various sparrows build their nests on or near the ground utilizing the cover provided by dry brush, such as that of Sword fern or low bushes. Some of the ground dwellers may raise as many as three consecutive broods in a season, so may still be nesting into June. Consequently, activities which disturb the forest floor should be planned to avoid disturbing their nests.

Birds of prey, such as Sharp-shinned and Red-tailed hawks, come to hunt. The Barred owl is frequently heard and seen during the day and evening. If you're getting too close, when they have young, they may let you know by emitting a "hissing" sound. They may also do a fly-over near your head if you don't heed their warning to keep your distance.

Each spring, at least one pair of Mallards raises a family on the big pond at the end of the boardwalk at the Park. They are frequently seen along the roadside as well.

Other important winged inhabitants of our forests are Little Brown Bats. You may never see them, but if you visit the forest or even walk past Grace Cole Park at dusk or later, you may sense they are there, as they zip by, catching mosquitoes, moths or other insects. The Little brown bats can live under the loose bark of snags. They can eat several times their weight in a night, using their special "radar" to catch food on the fly. This makes them effective deterrents to the mosquito population.

This year, two groups of elementary school children released their tiny Coho salmon fingerlings, which had been reared in their school aquariums, into the large pond at the end of the board walk in Grace Cole Nature Park.

Salmon release at Brookside Elementary

This pond which seeps from the sandy hillside behind it is the source of Brookside Creek which flows by Brookside Elementary school and then joins McAleer Creek in Animal Acres Park. A few weeks after their release a few of the fingerling salmon were found to still be there, using the pond as their home. As they grow they move on downstream to larger habitat.

These are only a few of the creatures you can find in Grace Cole Nature Park or in another forest near your home. We hope you will all take the opportunity to walk through our beautiful City of Trees and our parks to enjoy, close-up and often, the abundant local wildlife.

Fall Backyard Habitat Classes

at Woodland Park Zoo

At this series of five classes, you'll learn from experts from Seattle Audubon, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington Native Plant Society and Woodland Park Zoo about how to design your wildlife habitat, attract birds and other wildlife to your backyard, select and care for native plants, manage your backyard sustainably, coexist peacefully with the wildlife you attract, and get your yard certified as a Backyard Habitat with National Wildlife Federation.

Cost: $25 per person each class / $100 per person for the five-part series if you register before 4:00 pm on Thursday, September 22nd.

"Wildlife Garden Design and Management"
Thursday, September 22nd from 7pm to 9pm.

"Attracting Birds to your Backyard"
Wednesday, October 5th from 7pm to 9pm.

"Fall Plants and Planting"
Saturday, October 15th from 9am to 11am.

"Preparing your Backyard Habitat for Winter"
Saturday, October 15th from 1pm to 3pm.

"Bats and Nocturnal Wildlife"
Tuesday, October 25th from 7pm to 9pm.

For more information or to register, visit the zoo's website: www.zoo.org/backyardhabitat or contact Jenny Mears, the Woodland Park Zoo's Community Engagement Coordinator at 206-548-2557

Join us for the last Park Volunteer Program Work Party of the Year

Date: Friday, September 23rd

Locations: Animal Acres/Eagle Scout, Lyon Creek, Blue Heron and Horizon View Parks.

Time: 9am - noon

Info: Volunteers will be weeding, clearing paths and doing a general clean-up in each park. There will be a team leader in each park to oversee the work. Volunteers should bring gardening gloves and hand tools.

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact:

Linda Holman at lhholman@comcast.net .

Fall Work Parties at
Grace Cole Nature Park

Dates: Saturday, October 22nd and November 19th

Location: Grace Cole Nature Park

Time: 9am - noon

Info: Volunteers should bring a lunch and water. Some tools and gloves will be provided. Please dress for the weather and wear long sleeves, long pants and sturdy shoes. Minors can contact Mamie Bolender, mamiejb@hotmail.com for a release form that must be signed by a parent or guardian.

The Grace Cole maintenance group has groomed the trails cleaned the boardwalk, removed quite a few blackberries, roots and all, taken out the silt fence below the new trail construction. We'll be able to do some planting now, since the rains have come and will likely be continuing. We need to re-vegetate areas which had the Ivy removed.

For more information, please contact Mamie Bolender at 206-364-4410.

The LFP Stewardship Foundation Newsletter is committed to keeping you informed about environmental concerns and opportunities in LFP WITHOUT inundating your inbox.