Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
animals to feed their growing of spring, who won't begin to l y from the nest
until they are nearly two months old. As the parents work to usher in the next
generation, my woods will quiet. The busy parents will softly hiss, meow, and
coo, often composing duets. But then the real noise begins, for l edgling owls
screech like frightened children all night long.
As much as I tire of night screams of young owls, I was thrilled to learn
that two pairs of predators as formidable as great horned owls could i nd
enough food and shelter to live among my family and our neighbors. Their
presence would directly benei t our garden by keeping the nonnative eastern
cottontail rabbits on edge. What was more, I knew that the owls were only
one of many top predators that kept an eye on the streets and yards where I
lived. As the owls hunted the night, Cooper's hawks, red-tailed hawks, and
bald eagles hunted the day. There were smaller owls as well—saw-whet and
screech—that hunted mice and large moths. Some predators that hunted here
in the past were gone. At least at the moment there are no pumas, grizzlies, or
wolves. But coyotes, black bears, and bobcats have all put in appearances.
And this is my yard, not the wilderness!
My home provides shelter for more than a pair of large and powerful
owls. The forested back acre I own provides a canopy, native groundcover,
and brush piles adequate for two pairs of Pacii c wrens and a pair each of
spotted towhees, Pacii c-slope l ycatchers, and western tanagers. Three spe-
cies of salamanders and two species of frogs seek shelter in the duf and
deadwood that enriches my soil. Garter snakes hunt these amphibians and
the slugs that are famously abundant in our cool, wet climate. The trees that
live and die here house and feed a nice assortment of woodpeckers, chicka-
dees, creepers, swallows, bats, and nuthatches. Fringing shrubs supplement
my bird feeders with native berries, nectar, nuts, and bugs for busy gros-
beaks, thrushes, juncos, and sparrows. The more I look and listen, the more
my yard reveals. Though a key i nancial investment and a personal haven for
