• Why acorns = awesome
• Be on the watch for whoopers
• Keeping Georgia tops in aquatics

Out my backdoor

Why acorns = awesome

By Terry W. Johnson
   Acorns rank as one of the best wildlife foods. Yet while the stately oaks rooted in yards across our state have long been recognized for their beauty, their importance as a valuable food plant for backyard wildlife is still largely unappreciated.
   With more than 30 species of oaks native to the Peach State, regardless of where you live, there is an oak that will grow in your backyard.
   And acorns draw wildlife like a magnet draws iron filings. Approximately 150 species of wildlife eat acorns, a long list varying from white-tailed deer to eastern towhees (pictured).

Read the rest of Terry’s column to learn which acorns wildlife favor, tips for planting oaks and more!

Terry W. Johnson is a former Nongame program manager with the DNR Wildlife Resources Division and executive director of TERN, the Nongame Conservation Section’s friends group. Column archives.

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Be on the watch for whoopers

Endangered cranes migrate through state – some with help

By Elliot Ambrose
   As winter approaches, migratory birds around the nation are acting on their instincts and heading for warmer climes. For young whooping cranes being reintroduced into the eastern U.S. by Operation Migration, however, the first trip south for these endangered birds requires a bit of human assistance.
   “There are no parent generations in the eastern flyway to teach the young cranes how to migrate” said Joe Duff, Operation Migration co-founder and CEO. “They just don’t exist, and haven’t existed since the 1870s.”
   Using an ultra-light aircraft as a stand-in for a natural mother (video), Operation Migration has been leading young whooping cranes on their first southward migrations from Wisconsin to Florida since 2001. Depending on the weather, the flight can take from 44-100 days as it winds through a number of pre-set stops and flyovers, including in southwest Georgia's Clay and Decatur counties.
   Cranes that have completed the guided migration then make the journey unaided, choosing their own route and habitat for the winter months. Some young whoopers also are released to migrate with older wild cranes, a process called Direct Autumn Release. A number of birds migrate through or even overwinter in Georgia.
   But this week, 2014's aircraft-led flock of seven cranes had to take a new route.
   Facing an arctic blast of record cold and already stalled for weeks, Duff and the migration crew decided to drive the birds from Wisconsin's Dane County to Tennessee. The flight will be resumed in the Southeast, where weather conditions are generally milder. (Check this blog and "crane cam" for updates.)
    The cranes are bound for their winter home at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, just south of Tallahassee. This migration will bring the total eastern population to 104. The objective is to build a flock with at least 25 breeding pairs.
   The whooping crane, named for its distinctive call (listen), is one of North America's most imperiled bird species. Numbers dropped to only 15 during the 1940s due to overhunting and habitat destruction. The work of Operation Migration is part of a larger initiative of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, a consortium of agencies and organizations working to re-establish a migratory population in eastern North America.

Follow the journey

   Operation Migration’s website features migration maps and timelines, as well as live camera feeds of the cranes in flight. There is also a listing of flyover dates and locations and a field journal blog.

Shootings threaten successes

   Nine whooping cranes have been shot in the eastern U.S., including three birds killed in December 2010 near Albany and two found dead later that winter at Weiss Lake on the Georgia/Alabama border.
   Dale Richter, board chair of Operation Migration and a business owner in Albany, said one of the cranes killed was a successful breeding mother.
   “With such a limited population to begin with, the shootings are a really big setback to the program.”
   Richter attributes the shootings, which violate federal and state laws, to uninformed gun owners or vandals.
   Even approaching or feeding a wild whooping crane is strongly discouraged, as exposure to human contact diminishes the bird’s natural fear of humans, an important survival mechanism.
   Whooping crane sightings can be reported online.

On the books

   In 2008, Richter and his son Taylor, then 10, petitioned Georgia legislators to pass Senate Resolution 864, declaring November as Whooping Crane Month in Georgia. The resolution recognized the work of Operation Migration and the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership to save the endangered species.

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Wildlife tags at work

Keeping Georgia tops in aquatics

   Georgia is swimming in freshwater aquatic species. We rank in the top five states nationwide in the number of native mussels (127 species), fishes (265) and crayfishes (70).
   But there’s a downside: Georgia also ranks among state leaders in imperiled aquatic species. About two-thirds of our freshwater mussels are extinct, endangered or threatened with extinction. About 30 percent of our freshwater fish species and 45 percent of crayfishes fall into similar categories.
   Since 1998, DNR’s Nongame Conservation Section has worked through the Aquatic Conservation Initiative to determine the status of Georgia’s aquatic species and create conservation plans for those in decline.
   In the recent fiscal year, this included:

• Developing 193 conservation status assessment maps  to provide consistent information on rare species petitioned for federal listing and others.
• Reviewing with 40 experts the status and conservation needs of 251 rare species for the revised State Wildlife Action Plan, a comprehensive strategy guiding DNR and partners’ conservation efforts.
• Teaming with the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute to survey South Chickamauga Creek near Ringgold, a hard-to-sample stream with rare species such as the snail darter.
• Exploring the status and distribution of imperiled mussels in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River basin, work that documented Apalachicola floaters in Lake Blackshear and the Flint.
• Completing a blackbanded sunfish survey with Valdosta State University that probed the species’ south Georgia range and discovered a new population ("Rare fish sought, found," July 12, 2012).
• Monitoring sicklefin redhorse in Brasstown Creek with Young Harris College, research that recorded the most upstream record in Brasstown for this fish (below), a candidate for federal listing.

   Conserving Georgia’s fishes, mussels and crayfishes can save those on the brink of extinction, help keep others from reaching that point and preserve water resources they, and we, need now and for the future.
   Eagle and hummingbird license plates play a critical role in this effort. The Nongame Conservation Section receives no state funding for conserving aquatic or other nongame species. Wildlife tag sales and renewals, the agency’s number one fundraiser, provide direct support for projects and matching funds for grants.
   Without the tags, scientists working to conserve our rare aquatic species would be swimming upstream.

Wildlife tag how-to

At your county tag office (4 easy steps):

1. Ask for an eagle or hummingbird plate.
2. Pay the fee. Wildlife plates cost only $25 more than a standard peach plate. The total cost is $25 for the plate, plus the standard $20 registration fee charged for all tags and any applicable ad-valorem taxes.
3. Receive a temporary tag from the county.
4. Watch the mail for your wildlife tag. It can arrive as soon as within a week! 

Buying a car: Many Georgia car dealers offer the option to purchase a tag when you buy a vehicle. Simply ask them to upgrade you to a wildlife tag when you're asked what kind of tag you want.
 
Renewing: Got a wild tag? Keep it! Annual renewals provide great support: $20 of the $25 fee goes to wildlife. You can renew at your county tag office, or online in most counties. Renewing costs only $25, plus the standard $20 registration fee and any ad-valorem taxes. Most counties time renewals with your birthday.

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Georgia Wild is free, sent twice monthly (except December through March) and focused
on rare, endangered and other nongame wildlife. Nongame includes wildlife not legally fished for or hunted,
plus Georgia's native plants and natural habitats.

Volume 7, issue 16         Georgia Wild archives

Georgia Wild copyright © 2014. Wildlife Resources Division Nongame Conservation Section. All rights reserved.