The eNature Observer, Volume 105,

[Guest guest]

here is a lil forward fer y'all..and not full of the depressing doom and

gloom i usually send!!!

 

 

The eNature Observer, Volume 105, April 4, 2002

 

 

1. Pop Goes the Cuckoo

2. Life Is Short, and Then It Dries

3. Ask an Expert: Lizard Ticks and Lyme Disease

 

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1. Pop Goes the Cuckoo

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What's the only bird that has been likened to a popcorn popper? A week-old

Yellow-billed Cuckoo! During their extremely rapid development, young

Yellow-billed Cuckoos sprout feather sheaths that are literally bursting with

fully formed feathers. About a week after hatching, these quills burst open

in a process that has been likened to watching popcorn pop.

 

While most birds take a month or more to complete the process from egg-laying

to fledged young, this species accomplishes the whole process in about 18

days. What's the rush? Cuckoos are masters at locating localized outbreaks of

insects, such as grasshoppers and caterpillars (including tent caterpillars).

When they find plentiful prey, they hastily build a stick nest, which may be

so loosely constructed that the eggs are visible through the nest bottom. Two

or three large eggs are produced and hatch in about 10 days. At hatching, the

chicks sprout pin feathers, which soon cover their bodies with 2-inch-long

quill-like sheaths. When the fully formed feathers " pop " from the sheaths,

the juvenile cuckoos, which resemble a slightly short-tailed version of the

adult, then spend two or three days climbing around in the tree that contains

the nest before taking their first flight. Within two weeks of hatching, they

may embark on their first migration to their winter home in South America.

 

Click here to learn more about cuckoos and other birds in their family.

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-- Bay Area Highlight - Bay Nature Magazine --

 

What is living under the surface of the Bay?

 

Where can I see carpets of wildflowers this spring?

 

How do I hike Mt. Tam without getting into my car?

 

What creatures roamed the Bay Area ten million years ago?

 

Find out through Bay Nature-the first magazine to explore the natural world

of the San Francisco Bay Area. Arriving in full color every quarter, Bay

Nature feeds your curiosity about the Bay Area's wildlife and inspires you to

go out and experience it directly. Each issue brings magnificent original art

and photography along with provocative and informative articles so you can

see the world around you with new eyes.

 

" A must-read magazine. " - Sunset

 

" Delightfully informative and inspiring. Bay Nature will get you outside into

our glorious Bay Area landscapes. "

Ernest Callenbach, author, Ecotopia and Ecology: A Pocket Guide

 

Subscriptions to Bay Nature are $19/year; online

http://www.baynature.com

or by calling (925) 372-6002.To learn more about the magazine, visit

http://www.baynature.com

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2. Life Is Short, and Then It Dries

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A dried-out, unassuming depression in the ground for most of the year, a

vernal pool bursts into life with the onset of winter rains. Suddenly, a

myriad of creatures -- fairy shrimp, aquatic snails, beetles, frogs,

salamanders, dragonflies, and many others -- appears as if out of nowhere and

gets down to the business of life, while the water lasts. A succession of

plants (owl's clover, meadowfoam, goldfields), blooms along the pool's margin

as the water recedes, often forming dense concentric rings of color. By

summer most pools are dry again, the fairy shrimp are gone, and only parched

clay remains to mark the spot.

 

The animals that inhabit these short-lived pools have evolved life cycles

that allow them to complete an entire generation in a matter of weeks, and to

endure the intervening months of drought before the pool fills again. The

Vernal Pool Tadpole Shrimp (http://www.sacsplash.org/critters/leppac.htm) is

one such creature; when the pool fills, these crustaceans hatch from eggs

that have been dormant since the previous spring. They develop and grow to

adult size (about 1 1/4 inch in diameter) in about five weeks, at which point

they mate. The new eggs sink to the muddy bottom of the pool and develop a

hard protective coating that encases them during the dry months ahead.

 

The best place to see vernal pools is in California, particularly among the

foothills along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There are

also vernal pools scattered about many other regions of

the United States (check the list of vernal pools outside California to see

if there is one near you - http://www.vernalpools.com/non-california.htm).

Because of the unique nature of the vernal pool environment, many of the

animals and plants that inhabit them are found only in association with these

pools. A large number of the vernal pool plants and animals of California are

endangered species, slowly dying out as the pools are destroyed to make way

for agriculture and development.

 

Click here to learn more about endangered species of California.

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-- The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is too wild to waste. --

 

The vote on drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

is imminent! Please support the National Wildlife Federation's efforts to

prevent oil exploration within the refuge. Donate $25 or more and receive a

Polar Bear Plush toy.

 

https://www.nwf.org/donationpages/donationpage.cfm?sourceCode=ENXPLBBV

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3. Ask an Expert: Lizard Ticks and Lyme Disease

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Q. My cat recently brought home a lizard that had what looked like ticks all

around its neck. My son said that all the lizards have these ticks. My

question is: can my cat (or my son) get Lyme disease from catching these

lizards?

 

A. No, in fact, having some lizards around actually reduces your local

incidence of Lyme disease! Here's how it works: Lyme disease is a bacteria

that is carried in the blood of certain mammals; ticks get the bacteria when

they take a blood meal from an infected mammal. Ticks usually take blood

meals from several animals as they grow, which gives them a chance to get the

bacteria from one host, then pass it to another.

 

Lizards (at least Alligator Lizards and Western Fence Lizards) are immune to

the disease; they have compounds in their blood that kill the bacteria. Once

a tick has taken a blood meal from a lizard, it can no longer get or pass on

the bacteria for the rest of its life. So every tick that bites a lizard is

immune from the disease, and can no longer help spread Lyme disease, even if

its next host is an infected animal. What this also means is that for every

lizard that your cat kills, your local risk of Lyme disease increases.

 

Click here to see a close-up image of the type of tick that carries Lyme

disease.

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Click here to Ask an Expert.

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