BEAR SIGHTINGS NOT UNCOMMON THIS TIME OF YEAR, EVEN IN METRO ATLANTA

SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. (May 8, 2008) — A black bear sighting in Roswell this week sparked concern among local residents. The sighting, though a seemingly rare experience for metro Atlantans, comes as no surprise, given that seasonal bear activity is increasing. This time of year, young male bears are roaming and often stumbling into what’s considered non-traditional bear range, including urbanized areas and suburbs.

When most people think bears, they immediately think mountains. Yet, a black bear sighting in an urban area, especially during the springtime, isn’t altogether unusual.

That’s because during the spring and summer, young male bears on their own for the first time are experiencing territorial competition with other adult male bears. Adult males typically force these young males out of familiar and traditional bear range-territory. As a result, young males continue to roam as they try to establish their own territory, which sometimes temporarily leads them into neighborhoods or other more heavily populated urban areas.

In an effort to curb the instinctive alarm residents in these areas may experience when a bear is sighted, Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (WRD) biologists want to inform residents of the increased possibility of black bear sightings this spring and summer and educate them on how best to react.

“If a black bear is sighted passing through an area, the best thing to do is to leave it alone,” said Adam Hammond, WRD wildlife biologist. “Residents should never approach a bear and never, under any circumstances, feed a bear. Even worse, attempting to ‘tree’ or corner a bear in a certain area often compromises both the safety and welfare of the bear and the safety of the residents in the surrounding area.”

If left alone, these young male bears, often referred to as “transient” bears, will eventually make their way back to traditional bear range. Traditional bear range in Georgia is defined as three areas: the north Georgia mountains, the Ocmulgee River drainage system in central Georgia and the Okefenokee Swamp in the southeast.

It is possible that residents in north Georgia may see even more bears as WRD biologists in this part of the state receive numerous reports of bear sightings, indicating that this portion of the bear population is healthy and may be experiencing range expansion.

“Unless there is evidence of aggressive behavior, or if a bear is continually getting into garbage or other non-natural food sources (i.e., birdseed, compost piles, grills and pet food), there’s no real cause for alarm,” Hammond said.

While there’s no way to prevent a young male bear from wandering into a neighborhood, there are a few things people can do to prevent the bear from taking up residence. The following tips are recommended to help lessen human-bear conflicts:

· Never, under any circumstances, feed a bear. Such activity is unlawful.

· Keep items, such as grills, pet food or bird feeders off-limits to bears. Clean and store grills when not in use. Keep pet food indoors and take bird feeders down if bears are in the area.

· Convert to ‘bear-proof’ garbage containers, or store garbage in the garage or other enclosed area until pick-up day.

For more information regarding black bears, visit www.georgiawildlife.com or contact a WRD Game Management office. The public also can visit their local library to check out a copy of an informational DVD entitled, “Where Bears Belong: Black Bears in Georgia.”

***********

3rd YOUTH BIRDING COMPETITION RATES ‘AWESOME’

MANSFIELD, Ga. (May 8, 2008) - Brad and April Brown dared go where few parents of five children 7 and younger would: to a two-day birding event, the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division’s Youth Birding Competition May 2-3.

But after a full day of birding Saturday, May 3, the McDonough family had logged about 30 species and as many memories. “It has been a really awesome experience,” said Brad as the Browns relaxed during the evening banquet and awards ceremony at Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center.

The third annual statewide bird count sported plenty of highlights, including the most ever:

Participants: 126, ages 3-18.

Bird species spotted or heard: approximately 200.

Money raised for conservation in Georgia: $3,642.

Flyboys member Luke Simmons, 15, listed a black-bellied whistling duck and a roseate spoonbill as unexpected finds for the Watkinsville team. Another highlight: The Flyboys’ four teens searched out birds from Jekyll Island to Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Mansfield to compile a competition-record 133 species and win the high school division.

Other division leaders included in middle school, the Thunderbirders from Watkinsville (129 species); elementary, Home School Hummers from Suwannee (112); and, pre-elementary, Birds of a Feather from LaGrange (82 species).

Birds of a Feather and the Thunderbirders won their divisions in fund-raising, collecting $523 and $1,419, respectively. Brown Thrasher Boys & Girls from Decatur topped the elementary category at $135. Nutty Nuthatches from Bainbridge led among high-schoolers with $367. The money will go to a variety of conservation groups, including American Bird Conservancy, Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center and the Jekyll Island Banding Station.

There were also 195 entries for a first-time T-shirt art contest. Grand prize went to Kelly Redford O’Mara, a senior at Darlington School in Rome. The night of the banquet, some 200 people were wearing sky-blue shirts printed with O’Mara’s painting of a blue-gray gnatcatcher.

Art winners took home gift certificates to Michael’s. Awards for the birding teams ranged from binoculars to field guides donated by event supporters such as Eagle Optics, Atlanta Audubon Society, Georgia Ornithological Society, Identiflyer, Softscribe and The Environmental Resources Network, or T.E.R.N.

Earlier in the evening, participants enjoyed a bald eagle program by Charlie Elliott wildlife interpretive specialist Pete Griffin as judges Tim Keyes, the competition organizer and a Wildlife Resources Division biologist, and expert birder Giff Beaton pored over teams’ species checklists.

Jasper County High School science teacher Elizabeth Proctor sat with some of her students she had convinced to take part. The team, dubbed Birdzilla, counted 46 species from Friday night through Saturday, learning “a lot” in process, Proctor said.

Members Megan Studdard, 16, and Ashley Stowe, 15, recalled hearing an owl and calling in a Chuck-will’s-widow the night before at Charlie Elliott. “I liked trying to find the owls at night,” Studdard said.

Owls also figured into a Youth Birding Competition highlight for Tim Keyes. He heard 3-year-old Delaney Matthews of the Blairsville Bird Brains assure her mother that “hoo hoo ho-hoo is an owl,” a barred owl to be exact.

“It was fantastic!” Keyes said.

The 2009 Youth Birding Competition is scheduled for April 25-26. Buying a nongame wildlife license plate or making a donation via the Give Wildlife a Chance state income tax checkoff supports this and other conservation education efforts in Georgia. Sales of the bald eagle/American flag and ruby-throated hummingbird license plates provide vital funding for Wildlife Resources’ Nongame Conservation Section, which receives no state funding.

YOUTH BIRDING COMPETITION RESULTS

Pre-elementary division

Birds of a Feather from LaGrange - 82 species; $523.20 raised Love Bugs from McDonough - 33 species; $125 raised Marshbay Bluebirds from Braselton - 16 species Song Birds from Shady Dale - 24 species

Elementary division

Blairsville Bird Brains from Blairsville - 41 species Brown Thrasher Boys & Girls from Decatur - 38 species; $135 raised Chaotic Kestrels from Jackson - 58 species Coot Club from Mansfield - 54 species
Hatchet Hawks from Demorest - 27 species
High Fliers from Braselton - 42 species
Home School Hummers from Suwannee - 112 species Wood Thrushes from Atlanta - 63 species

Middle school division

Dragon loons from Flintstone - 44 species Eagle Eyes Girls from Augusta - 60 species Golden Eagles from Flowery Branch - 25 species Gross-beaks from Macon - 62 species; $118 raised Thunderbirders from Watkinsville - 129 species; $1,419.72 raised Victorious Vireos from Athens - 68 species; $440 raised

High school division

Birdbusters from Clarksville - 34 species Birdzilla from Monticello - 46 species
Cardinals from Marietta - 53 species; $100 raised Eagle Eyes Boys from Augusta - 81 species Flyboys from Watkinsville - 133 species
Free Birds from Lakemont - 79 species
Magnificent Frigatebirds from Stone Mountain and Macon - 121 species; $279.19 raised
Nutty Nuthatches from Bainbridge - 105 species; $367.25 raised Potato Chips from Rome - 113 species

T-shirt art contest winners

Pre-elementary: turkey vulture by Clareese Spahn, kindergarten, Albany Elementary: barn swallow by Emily Butler, fifth grade, Milton Middle school: belted kingfisher by Jackson Pittard, eighth grade, Savannah
High school (and grand prize): blue-gray gnatcatcher by Kelly Redford O’Mara, 12th grade, Rome

**********

WEB CAM OFFERS INSIGHT INTO OTHER ATLANTA FALCONS

ATLANTA, Ga. (May 8, 2008) - The public can again follow the private lives of downtown Atlanta’s most prolific peregrine falcons.

A Web camera at www.georgiawildlife.com provides frequent updates on two adult peregrines and their three nestlings from a 51st-floor nest outside the offices of the McKenna, Long & Aldridge law firm. These protected raptors, which typically mate for life, are one of two peregrine pairs nesting in Atlanta. The down-covered nestlings pictured in the high-level planter home are almost 4 weeks old. They fledge at about five weeks.

Jim Ozier, a Nongame Conservation Section program manager with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), said public fascination with the falcons demonstrates “a high level of interest in wildlife conservation.” “People particularly enjoy success stories, and the restoration of the peregrine falcon is an inspiring example,” he said.

Peregrines were removed from the federal list of threatened and endangered species because of a successful population recovery effort, but the birds are still listed as rare by the state of Georgia.

The DNR has peeked in on the falcons’ nests for the last four years, thanks to McKenna, Long & Aldridge and a grant from The Garden Club of Georgia.

“Watching the baby falcons is truly an exciting annual event — from birth through the transition from down to feathers, then learning to fly and to hunt, and finally ending with our couple sending their young off in the world to find their own cliffs on which to dwell,” said Clay C. Long, founding partner and past chairman of the law firm.

To see the peregrines, go to www.georgiawildlife.com and click “Conservation,” then “Species of Concern” and the falcon Web cam link. Frequently hit your computer’s refresh, or reload page, button: The images are updated every few minutes.

***********

SANDHILLS INVENTORY DOCUMENTS UNIQUE HABITAT, RARE SPECIES

SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. (May 8, 2008) - A survey of an unusual Coastal Plain habitat in Georgia will provide new information about rare species such as the gopher tortoise, Georgia’s state reptile.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division began the sandhills inventory in 2006 to assess the conservation needs of rare plants and animals in these areas, and hopefully preserve and restore the biological integrity of one of the state’s most bio-diverse habitats. The project is scheduled for completion by early 2009.

Sandhill environments are areas of deep sandy soils that generally feature a mix of longleaf pine and scrub oak species, especially turkey oak, in a low, open-tree canopy with drought-tolerant shrubs, grasses and cactus along the ground.

“Sandhills have a stark beauty and unique species assemblages that make them fascinating places to work. They are like mini-deserts found in a humid, sub-tropical climate,” said Matt Elliott, a program manager with Wildlife Resources’ Nongame Conservation Section.

The data collected will provide a reference for future research. The inventory includes soil conditions, location and population estimates of rare or keystone species, and groupings of plant species.

One example is the gopher tortoise, which is listed as a threatened species in Georgia and protected by state law. The species has experienced a high rate of decline because of habitat loss, disease and the illegal collection of the tortoises for food. Capable of living up to 60 years, the tortoise has evolved to survive in the sometimes-harsh sandhills environment.

Habitat suitable for gopher tortoises must have well-drained sandy soils for digging burrows, herbaceous food plants, and open sunny areas for nesting and basking. Periodic natural fires play an important role in maintaining tortoise habitat by opening up the canopy and promoting the growth of plants the animals eat. The sandhills inventory will help biologists preserve this kind of habitat.

Other protected species found in sandhills habitat include the endangered indigo snake, the pocket gopher, mole skink, sandhills golden aster, sandhills rosemary and Bachman’s sparrow. Many of the animals have adapted to the sandy soil and exacting climate by creating or retreating to burrows in the ground. Similarly, many sandhills plants can tolerate low moisture and nutrient levels, and are not found in other types of habitats.

The vegetation of sandhills can vary depending on factors such as the depth of the sandy soil and the area’s fire history and topography. In some places, sandhills may have stands of longleaf pine and wiregrass groundcover; in others, a mix of scrubby oaks whose dwarfed height belies their old age.

Survey plots for the sandhills project are scattered throughout the Coastal Plain. Some concentrations are along the Fall Line - a geological boundary that cuts across the state from Columbus to Augusta - and adjacent to rivers such as the Alapaha, Ohoopee and Altamaha.

More than 100 plots have been checked using a combination of geographic information system (GIS) and on-the-ground research. The GIS review involves examining aerial photographs and soil maps for characteristics indicative of intact sandhills habitat and then verifying the information through detailed inventories of the vegetation in 20-by-20-meter plots, as well as broader searches for plant species and counts of gopher tortoise burrows.

Many of the survey plots are on private property. The cooperation of private landowners has been key.

Buying a nongame wildlife license plate, either the bald eagle or ruby-throated hummingbird versions, is also important to such conservation research in Georgia. The Nongame Conservation Section, which works to conserve natural habitats and species that are not legally hunted or fished, receives no state appropriations, relying instead on federal grants, donations and fundraisers like license plate sales and the Give Wildlife a Chance state income tax checkoff.

The nongame plates are available for $25 at all county tag offices, by checking the appropriate box on mail-in forms or through online renewal at http://mvd.dor.ga.gov/tags.

###

login to post comments