IN THIS ISSUE
- Looking for twinleaf
- Operation Oystercatcher
- Living with (or near) snakes
- The amazing appeal of mealies
 White flowers and leaves with matching wing-link lobes mark twinleaf. (Ryan Hagerty/USFWS)
If you’re in northwest Georgia this spring, the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance would welcome any sightings of twinleaf.
What: Jeffersonia diphylla is a spring ephemeral that is most conspicuous when it flowers – on sunny days in late March-early April, with blooms lasting up to two weeks – and fruits (also in April). But twinleaf’s namesake leaves, each with two angel-wing-like leaflets up to 7.5 inches long, make the plant easier to identify.
Where: In our state, twinleaf is found only in Walker and Dade counties. It grows in moist, deciduous hardwood forests where the limestone bedrock is near and sometimes on the surface.
Why: Although abundant in northern and midwestern states, twinleaf is critically imperiled in Georgia. There are only eight known populations here. The draft 2025 State Wildlife Action lists it as a species of greatest conservation need.
How to report: Send GPS locations and clear images to gabiodata@dnr.ga.gov or upload the observation to iNaturalist.
If you didn’t know … Native Americans used twinleaf medicinally to treat ailments such as urinary infections and rheumatism, as well as sores and ulcers. However, the plant is also now considered potentially poisonous. In 1792, noted Philadelphia botanist Benjamin Barton named Jeffersonia diphylla after his botanical contemporary (and later U.S. president) Thomas Jefferson.
 Flame flower in bloom (Pierre Howard)
ALSO IF YOU SEE ...
Previous plant hunts that are still in effect include flame flower (Macranthera flammea), tawny cottongrass (Eriophorum virginicum) and Porter’s goldenrod (Solidago porteri). Details on the latter two are in the September Georgia Wild.
 This video clip shows a cannon net being used to trap American oystercatchers last month (DNR)
With the countdown to migration ticking, a DNR-led crew tried one last time in late March to capture American oystercatchers on a shell rake near Cumberland Island.
This time, it worked.
As DNR Program Manager Tim Keyes radioed the command “Fire, fire, fire” the blast of a cannon-powered net sent a 40-by-25-foot cloud of brown mesh arcing over about 50 oystercatchers on the thin island. The big black-and-white birds erupted as well, but the net settled on 32.
Keyes was pleased. Most of the oystercatchers were 2- to 3-year-olds and only three had been banded. Now that all sport color-coded leg bands for identification, “We’re interested to see where they get resighted,” he said.
The goal of trapping, banding and following oystercatchers is to refine population estimates and better understand which parts of their life cycle conservation initiatives should focus on.
The crow-sized birds with golden eyes and long bills the color of a tropical sunset were in decline in the early 2000s. However, rangewide efforts coordinated by the American Oystercatcher Working Group to study and restore the species have resulted in a stable or possibly increasing population.
A key next step, Keyes said, is combining the extensive banding and nesting data in an integrated population model that can more clearly estimate populations, trends and demographics to guide future work.
That database now includes details – and more to come – from the oystercatchers caught, recorded and released near Cumberland just in time for spring migration.
 DNR's Blake Marin, left, and Tim Keyes band a young oystercatcher (Max Nootbaar/DNR)
AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHERS/AT A GLANCE
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Found on barrier islands, shell rakes and oyster beds on the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast, with a western population from Baja, California, to Chile.
- Prey almost entirely on shellfish, although they also eat crabs, worms and other marine animals.
- Listed as a species of greatest conservation need in Georgia’s 2015 and draft 2025 State Wildlife Action Plan.
- In Georgia, a mix of oystercatchers breed, migrate through and live year-round. About 120 pairs of nesting birds fledged 35 chicks here last summer, six from shell rakes that had been raised about 6 feet above sea level using timbers, shell and mesh. Those six fledglings in 2024 were more than the state’s entire coast produced in 2023.
- The Georgia trapping crew included DNR and White Oak Conservation staff.
 Cottonmouth? Nope, brown watersnake, a nonvenomous species. (John Jensen/DNR)
The weather is warming. Georgia’s two remaining rattlesnake festivals just wrapped up. It’s that time of year. If you’re outdoors, you may see a snake. One or more.
For some people, that’s exciting. For others, it’s unnerving.
No matter the group, here’s helpful advice from DNR state herpetologist Daniel Sollenberger for those encounters.
- Don’t try to handle it. Give snakes the space they need.
- Want to identify a snake? Do so from a distance. (Learn more at georgiawildlife.com/georgiasnakes.)
- Respect the reptile. All snakes fill important roles in nature, from eating rats, snails and slugs to serving as prey for species varying from hawks to other snakes.
- Only seven of Georgia’s 47 native snake species are venomous. All nonvenomous snakes are protected by law. Venomous snakes are protected on most public lands.
- For a venomous snake in an area where it represents a danger to people or pets, contact a licensed wildlife specialist. Many bites occur when a snake is cornered or captured and defending itself.
Remember, if you see a snake a) odds are it’s not venomous and is protected by law, and b) there’s no doubt it wants nothing to do with you. Let it be.
“Adult snakes you see have been living alongside you in your area for years and just got unlucky and were spotted that day,” Sollenberger said. “Any snake you have the opportunity to see, you also have the opportunity to walk away from.”
 For many who feed birds, mealworms are golden. (Terry W. Johnson)
By TERRY W. JOHNSON
Mealworms mean many things to many people.
To an angler, they are a great bait to catch everything from trout to bass and even catfish. To wildlife rehabilitators, they help sustain injured and orphaned birds. To millions of others throughout the world, they are an important source of protein.
And to those of us who feed birds in our backyards, they are an ideal food for attracting a range of songbirds.
Who would have ever thought that this larvae of the mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor), an insect pest that plagues grain storage facilities, would become the focal point of multimillion-dollar enterprises?
With that context in mind, let’s look closer at the art of feeding mealworms to hungry wild birds. ...
Read Terry’s column for more on the appeal of mealworms.
Terry W. Johnson is a retired DNR program manager and executive director of TERN, friends group of the Wildlife Conservation Section. Check out past columns and his blog. Permission is required to reprint a column.
 Prescribed fire is one habitat management tool a new Conserve Georgia grant will help fund. (Hal Massie/DNR)
This year’s Conserve Georgia grants commit more than $24 million in Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program funding to projects varying from a new wildlife management area in Talbot County to an expanded WMA near Augusta, an acquisition including seven miles of the Pinhoti Trail and large-scale habitat management on other state lands. Learn about all 12 grant recipients.
On a smaller scale, six wildlife-viewing proposals landed grants of up to $5,000 from the DNR Wildlife Resources Division’s Wildlife Viewing Grants Program. These projects also range statewide and include a gopher frog head-start project at Chehaw Park and Zoo in Albany, scopes and binoculars for wildlife walks at a Carroll County reserve and signage for chimney swift towers along Athens trails.
 Flashback to a golden eagle diving on a wild turkey in Burke County in March 2021 (Special to DNR)
A golden eagle’s takedown of a wild turkey caught on a trail camera near the Okefenokee Swamp turned heads in Outdoor Life last month. Yet it’s just another example of golden eagles tackling turkeys – see this 2021 attack in Burke County – and other animals that weigh as much, such as foxes and young mountain goats.
Training to help recognize and respond to invasive species is being offered to coastal Georgia cities and counties. The work by DNR Wildlife Conservation Section staff and partners in the Coastal Georgia Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area focuses on invasives that local governments are most likely to deal with and which pose threats to infrastructure, ecological services and public safety.
 Avoid exclusions April-July and keep Georgia "sky puppies" like this tri-colored bat safe. (Pete Pattavina/USFWS)
If you have bats in a building, don’t try to remove them by exclusion from now until August. It’s bat maternity season, and with the pups too young to fly, you could trap them inside to die. Instead, call a licensed nuisance wildlife control operator.
Georgia-rare ravens may be nesting again in Tallulah Gorge (“Nest@Gorge,” May 2024). DNR staff recently spotted a pair of ravens visiting last year's nest on a cliff section at the northeast Georgia state park, a site visible from a trail overlook.
 Finelined pocketbook mussels are a priority species in the draft Wildlife Action Plan. (Ani Escobar/DNR)
Quick hits:
Names in the news: DNR Game Warden 1st Class Adam Kimbrough has received the 2024 Law Enforcement Torch Award, an annual agency honor that encourages the professional development of new game wardens. Kimbrough is assigned to Banks County and also regularly patrols Lake Lanier. Wildlife Conservation Section biologist Amaad Blades will lead a talk about fireflies at the Monarchs Across Georgia Pollinator Symposium, May 17 at the State Botanical Garden in Athens. One of the American oystercatchers netted last month near Cumberland Island (article above) had been banded in North Carolina last summer by Kristen Johnson, who was also part of the recent catch-and-release in Georgia and will soon join DNR to work with – you guessed it – shorebirds.
WHAT YOU MISSED ...
In the previous Georgia Wild:
- Right whale winter
- More time for plan feedback
- Familiar indigo, rare egg find
- Food scarce for early hummers
 "The Incredible Power of Forests: Appalachian Forest," Nature Lab (The Nature Conservancy)
Hummingbird chick mimicking poisonous caterpillar? Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute via The Wildlife Society
"Rare right whale sighting in Gulf off Fort Myers caught on video," Fort Meyers (Fla.) News-Press (via SeaTrek Charters of SWFL)
"Invasive tegu in Georgia: Seen one of these large lizards?" Savannah Morning News. Also: "Invasive tegu spreading through Florida, Southeast" (Fox Weather).
"DNR: Clean bird feeders to prevent disease spread," WANF-TV (ch. 46, Atlanta)
"Boaters: Watch for sea turtles, manatees along Ga. coast," WJXT-TV (ch. 18, Jacksonville, Fla.)
"Bearly awake and already hungry: black bear warning," WAGA-TV (ch. 5, Atlanta).
"DNR announces new wildlife viewing grant projects," WTOC-TV (ch. 11, Savannah). Also: "Chehaw Park & Zoo receives viewing grant" (The Albany Herald).
"Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program announces 12 grant conservation projects," DNR. Also: "Okefenokee water trails, Panola Mountain score funding" (Axios Atlanta); "Polk to receive $1.5M for Pinhoti Trail" (Coosa Valley News).
"After Helene, recovery for endangered woodpeckers remains a priority," The Augusta Chronicle-Herald
"Comment period extended for State Wildlife Action Plan," Grice Connect
"Georgia Southern’s treasured eagle mascot Freedom passes," Georgia Southern University and others
"Bird flu outbreak; what it means for backyard bird feeders," The Associated Press
"DNR: What to do when you see a snake," WALB-TV (ch. 10, Albany) and others
"Hummingbird migration: When, how to care for them," Athens Banner-Herald
"Nesting owls delay tree removal," The Current
(+video) "New buoys listen for right whale sounds off Mass. coast," CBS News
 An orca and its prey off North Carolina (Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute/NOAA permit 26919)
Aerial surveys for North Atlantic right whales occasionally spot other whales in the Southeast. But a killer whale eating a bluefin tuna? That’s a treat. On March 13, the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute survey team photographed the orca above 14 nautical miles off Kitty Hawk, N.C. While this was the institute’s first orca since its right whale surveys were expanded to North Carolina five years ago, killer whales have been seen near the Outer Banks before (and as far back as 1709). Orcas also have been documented farther south, including off the Florida Panhandle (video). And they do prey on tuna, even on some caught in commercial fishing.
MASTHEAD CREDIT
American oystercatcher (DNR)
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