Merlin

Sitting in the local park I heard a hawk or what I thought to be a hawk.  Hawks do not sound like Crows, but Crows can mimic hawks.  After listening to the BirdWeb.org bird sounds.  It was a Merlin! 


I've said that there was a Merlin flying around here and actually saw one in my yard a few years ago - swooping down from a treetop and picking up a Junco for lunch.  He flew right in front of me and then turned and flew up between the trees. Watching him was an awesome sight because it appeared that the bird was going to plummet straight into the ground before he picked up the unsuspecting Junco.

The Merlin was sitting in the tree top above the nearby ravine.  I could not see his coloring as the sun did not light him from my position on the ground.  He was sitting on the top of the tree calling and calling for several minutes before he flew back into trees around the ravine.

Recent visitors

Varied Thrush are visiting along with Chickadees and Oregon Junco's. Nearly one week before the snow came there were flocks and flocks of Gulls moving West of North Yelm. The Gull flock held about 50+ in each days passing West where one flock a day were spotted for 4 days.

Pending Questions Ignored

I just found out today that Mr. Klein blogged me back in December 2010. Thank you, Mr. Klein.

The front page of the newspaper this morning highlights the 2010 Washington Census, which declares Yelm's growth since the 2000 Census.

"Thurston County’s fastest-growing city was Yelm, which saw its population jump 108 percent, to 6,848 from 3,289 in 2000."

Read more at the Tacoma News Tribune, February 24, 2011, 2010 Census: 252,264 in Thurston County, MATT BATCHELDOR; Staff writer. http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/02/24/1557366/252264-in-thurston.html#ixzz1EtSmIFUM

For those of us who have been familiar with Yelm before the year 2000, we knew that the Census figures for 2010 would reflect growth. Back in December, I posted a pending question that was emailed twice to the City of Yelm. One email went out directly after the post. Another email went out about two weeks after that date. Still no answer. I think the City of Yelm is ignoring its Urban Growth Area and its residents.

Pending Question:
What mapping information is being used by your GIS Dept. to identify
Critical Areas of Oak Prairie's in the City of Yelm and its Urban
Growth areas?

I still don't know the answer.

Thurston County Rate of Urbanization and Forest Harvest c. 2002 vs. Rate of Urbanization and Prairie Oaks 2010 Yelm

I have viewed documents since that time, however, that pertain to Yelm and the surveys conducted which included oaks on the Yellem Prairie. No that isn't a typo I spelled Yellem correctly. You can view a few of those historical accounts here. These are handwritten documents from the 1800's that can be found at the BLM. Once you get to the site, be sure to right click the documents to view the larger image.

Update: See Recommendations of Washington State Dept. of Fish and Wildlife

Exerpt below:
PDF

Specific recommendations include the following:

• Do not cut Oregon white oak woodlands except for habitat enhancement.
• Allow only early spring, low-impact cattle grazing.
• Allow low-impact recreation (hunting, fishing, hiking, mushroom and acorn collecting).
• Selectively harvest individual oaks to improve stand age-class and structural diversity.
• Thin encroaching conifers in oak woodlands west of the Cascades and along the Columbia Gorge; do not remove conifers from mixed stands east of the Cascades.
• Retain large, dominant oaks and standing dead and dying trees.
• Create snags when thinning oaks or conifers instead of removing trees.
• Leave fallen trees, limbs, and leaf litter for foraging, nesting, and denning sites.
• Retain contiguous aerial pathways.
• Conduct prescribed burns where appropriate.

Other oak enhancement activities include the following:

• Planting Oregon white oak acorns and seedlings.
• Using alternatives to oak fuelwood.
• Selling or donating oak woodlands to conservation and land trust organizations.
• Purchasing contiguous or notable stands of oaks by local, state, and federal agencies.
• Moving toward the elimination of grazing on state-owned oak woodlands.
• Designating large, contiguous oak and oak/conifer stands as critical areas.
• Encouraging aggressive oak enhancement/regeneration measures by local, state, and federal agencies.

Suggested Citation:
Larsen, E. M., and J. T. Morgan. 1998. Management recommendations for Washington’s priority habitats: Oregon white oak woodlands. Wash. Dept. Fish and Wildl., Olympia. 37pp.

Since when is a highway considered low impact recreation?
Why would local authorities choose to ignore state recommendations or better yet why would state authorities choose to ignore its OWN recommendations?

See also: Thurston County Rate of Urbanization

Critical Area Ordinace FAQ's March 2, 2011

2010 Report Prairie Oak Burns

Mason McKinley
South Puget Sound Prairie/Oak Program Manager
(360) 584-2538 (Phone)
(360) 965-9445 (Fax)


2010 Report on Prairie Oak Burns

• RENEWAL Thurston County

What is the Cascadia Prairie-Oak Partnership?

CPOP is a nascent umbrella group, which would provide a formalized framework for what is now a loose association of working groups (Oregon Oak Communities, South Sound Prairies (WA), North South Prairies (WA), Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team (GOERT, Canada). The focus of these groups is to work together to share expertise, develop resources, coordinate planning, and implement effective conservation actions. All groups are interested in seeing CPOP provide initial coordination and information-sharing services at the ecoregional scale (e.g. listserv, website, conferences, workshops). Combining these groups while also maintaining the local focus of subgroups, allows us to improve efficiency (e.g., conservation planning and research) and coordinate prairie-oak conservation at larger landscape scale.

Hannah Anderson
Cooperative Conservation

Program Manager

handerson@tnc.org
360-701-8803 (phone)

360-956-9445 (fax)

Western Screech Owl

Flying from Yelm Creek deciduous treed area in Yelm over the roadway NW what I thought to be a Western Screech Owl.

BirdWeb

Nesting

Monogamous pairs form long-term bonds. Western Screech-Owls are secondary cavity nesters, making use of natural cavities, old Pileated Woodpecker or Northern Flicker holes, and nest boxes. They nest at heights from 5 to 30 feet from the ground. They do not add material to the nest. Pairs typically hatch one brood per year. The female incubates 3-5 eggs for 33-34 days while the male brings her food. Once the young hatch, the female broods for about three weeks while the male brings food to her and the owlets. The young leave the cavity and venture onto nearby branches 7-10 days later. They stay close to the nest for a few nights while they develop their ability to fly, and they continue to remain near the adults for about five weeks after their first flights.

Migration Status

Western Screech-Owls do not migrate, and pairs are resident on their territories year round.