March 2009
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Also in this issue:
* Eagle in Paradise
* Bird box how-to
* Burning a mountain bog
* Twister rips old-growth longleaf


Let it snow
This male cardinal is weathering the March 1 winter surge that blanketed parts of Georgia from Columbus through Athens with 1-7 inches of snow.

Us 'n YouTube
The Georgia Wildlife Resources Division has its own YouTube channel, joining more than a dozen wildlife agencies across the country that are taking advantage of this popular medium to promote conservation. Georgia's growing playlist features videos on bat research, prescribed fire and coastal issues. Wildlife Resources Assistant Director Todd Holbrook called the addition an exciting move for the division in education and outreach. "Social media reaches a generation of Georgians who don’t always get to hear our conservation messages that have been distributed through more traditional outlets,” Holbrook said. Take a peek!

WILD Facts
Cedar waxwings are one of the most handsome songbirds migrating through Georgia right now. Slightly smaller than a cardinal, these beige, silky-feathered birds sport a crest as well as a dark facial mask and yellow tail tips. Some individuals also have waxy red tips on their wing feathers. Although cedar waxwings live throughout our state in the winter, they head north toward their breeding territory in the spring. Their summer range extends from the North Georgia mountains to across our nation’s midsection and into Canada. If you listen closely, you may hear their high-pitched, lisped trills (listen in) as they travel in flocks, searching for berries and other fruit.
In education
The importance of sandhills will become clearer for Georgia teachers -- and their students -- through a new Wildlife Resources Division campaign boosted by a Wal-Mart Foundation grant. The project has two parts. First, team with educators to translate technical information explaining sandhills and other Coastal Plain habitats into lesson plans and related K-12 curriculum resources. Second, hold an advanced Project WILD workshop to train teachers about the habitats and how to relay key information to students. Wal-Mart has given $33,145 through The Environmental Resources Network Inc., or TERN, which supports Wildlife Resources' Nongame Conservation Section. The technical and Project WILD work is planned for this year. E-mail here for details. The sandhills campaign marks greater awareness of one of the state’s most biologically diverse habitats.


Up close
Swallow-tailed kite
Elanoides forficatus
Family: Strikingly marked raptor kin to Mississippi and white-tailed kites. Swallow-tails have also been called fork-tailed kites, scissor-tailed kites and swallow-tailed hawks.
Looks: White head, chest and underwings give way to long, curving black wings and a v-shaped tail. Wingspan: up to 48 inches.
Habitat: In the Southeastern U.S., breeding range is limited to riparian habitats in the Florida peninsula and along large lower Coastal Plain river systems in Georgia and about five other states. The Altamaha River system is Georgia's hotspot.
Status: Population appears stable, if limited. Swallow-tailed kites once nested in 21 states but abruptly declined in the early 1900s probably due to shooting, land-use changes and logging of tall loblolly pines and other big river-bottom trees favored for nesting. (The species has high nest site fidelity; it doesn't colonize other areas easily.) The kites now nest in a handful of Southeastern states. U.S. breeding population estimated at 800-1,200 pairs. State-listed in Georgia as rare.
Wide-ranging: Winters in South America, with Georgia birds leaving in August for lands as far south as Brazil. Some return to South Georgia in March. Florida has the largest U.S. population. In late summer 2008, a few swallow-tailed kites were spotted circling over fields in Atlanta-area counties, a rare sight.
Fast food: Often eats on the wing, nabbing insects such as June bugs and dragonflies in flight. Occasionally snatches small snakes or young birds from trees.
Aerial acrobats: These kites rarely flap their wings, but soar in looping to tight circles, turning their tails almost 90 degrees to help stay on course.
Georgia research: A Swallow-tailed Kite Initiative by the Nongame Conservation Section monitored 203 nests from 1999-2006. Altamaha River floodplain nests appeared more successful than those in smaller river systems such as the Satilla. Some kites were tracked by radio and satellite telemetry.
Next: Preservation of areas capable of supporting kites, including roosting and nesting sites, is critical. Forestry and other private lands are crucial.
Quotable: "What a show it put on -- often soaring with the many red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks we have up here, and occasionally fighting with them." Vicki DeLoach of a swallow-tailed kite seen for days last August in Cherokee County.
Legislative update
Two bills aimed at regulating the take and trade of freshwater turtles in Georgia are dead until 2010 after failing to make it out of either General Assembly chamber by March 12. The so-called crossover day -- the 30th day of the 40-day session -- is when bills must pass at least one chamber to be considered that session. Senate Bill 203 and House Bill 603 were introduced to protect turtles from commercial harvest born by Asian demand and a global pet trade ("Insight sought on turtle harvest," July-August 2008). Thirteen of 19 freshwater species in the state can be killed or sold without limit. Most turtles in international markets come from the Southeast. SB203 and HB603 would have removed freshwater turtles from the "unlucky 14" -- a list of wildlife that can be harvested without limit -- and let the Board of Natural Resources govern their take, possession, transport and sale. Landowners could have harvested turtles from their ponds but within limits that stemmed the trade that worries conservationists.
* S.C. turtle legislation.
* Florida measures proposed.
* Ban called for in eight states.

Ranger reports
Skullduggery? Toru Shimoji of Smyrna was sentenced last month in federal court on misdemeanor charges involving the illegal possession of wildlife skulls. A search of Shimoji’s home turned up more than 45 skulls of endangered and other protected animals ranging from songbirds to primates, lions and even a whale. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigation, which included the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in serving the search warrant, began in December 2007 when Shimoji bought the carcass of an endangered snow leopard from an undercover agent over the Internet. In addition to forfeiting all wildlife seized, he was fined $15,000 and placed on probation for two years.
Out with the owl: The owner of a mounted owl earned a written warning Feb. 25 from Cpl. Eric Sanders. The owl was confiscated.

Nongame in the news
* Savannah Morning News: "Whale tranquilized, cut free of entanglement," about historic use of sedation to help free an entangled right whale. (March 12)
* Audubon Magazine: "Bad news, good news," about status of bobwhite quail and how quail conservation is not "a single-species issue." (March-April issue)
* Tifton Gazette: "Injured eagle to be released Sunday," about Auburn's Southeastern Raptor Center release at Paradise Public Fishing Area of rehabilitated bald eagle found hurt there in the fall. (March 7)
* NBC Nightly News: "No whale of a time for these guys," about right whale disentanglement efforts including DNR along Georgia, Florida coasts. (March 2) Newscast. Longer online version.
* Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Natural beauty still has its spots," Charles Seabrook column about a botanically rich Grady County tract that the Georgia Land Conservation Program and others are trying to acquire. (March 1)
* Cedarcrest Connection (Marietta-area magazine): "Sniff, wag, sit, snake!" DNR release about conservation dog used by Project Orianne to find eastern indigos. (pages 14-15, March issue)
* Savannah Morning News (and others via AP): "Tybee beach too tough for turtles," about need to till renourished Tybee Island to suit nesting for loggerhead sea turtles. (Feb. 27)
* Barrow County News: "Young artists needed for contest," Linda May WILD Fact about Give Wildlife a Chance and Youth Birding Competition T-shirt Art contests. (Feb. 27)
* Coosa Valley News: "DNR to help ease kestrel housing crunch," DNR release about partnership including Flint Energies EMC to put up needed Southeastern kestrel boxes on state lands in Taylor County. (Feb. 24)
* Augusta Chronicle: "Turtle traffickers continue to target South Carolina," about Asian markets' impact on S.C.'s wild turtle populations and legislation to curb the trade across state lines. (Feb. 22)
* Foster Folly News (Washington County, Fla.): "Want to help the painted bunting?" about a University of North Carolina Wilmington project monitoring painted buntings and needing volunteers in Florida. (Feb. 19)
* CNN: "Volunteers, scientists guard endangered whales," about a Whale Watch Survey Team scanning for right whales in Florida. (Feb. 19)
* Naturally Fayette blog: "New birding boot camp geared to teens June 14-19," DNR release about camp TALON (Teen Adventures Learning about Ornithology and Nature). (Feb. 18)
* The (Kings Bay) Periscope: "Environmentalists visit Kings Bay," about Weekend for Wildlife trip to the naval  base. (Feb. 16)
* Red and Black: "UGA wins $6.7 million grant to research in Appalachia," about National Science Foundation grant to group headed by UGA to study climate change and urbanization impacts in southern Appalachians. (Feb. 16)
* Augusta Chronicle: "Seagulls make return to area," about ring-billed gulls flocking to Augusta area. (Feb. 14)
* Boston Globe: "Record number of entangled rare whales this winter," about five whales seen tangled in fishing gear off Georgia, Florida. (Feb. 13)
* Firstcoastnews.com (Jacksonville, Fla.) (and others via AP): "Right whale freed from ropes off coast of Georgia," about a successful disentanglement. (Feb. 13)
* The News-Reporter (Washington, Ga.): "Income tax checkoff, license plate purchases provide funds for wildlife conservation projects," DNR release about nongame fundraisers. (Feb. 12)
* The Atlanta-Journal Constitution: "Key to reviving Georgia’s chestnut trees may lie in the past," about senior biologist Nathan Klaus' work using records to document the historic range of chestnuts. (Feb. 11)
* WSAV-TV (Savannah, Hilton Head): "Wal-Mart Foundation grant will spur sandhill education," about donation to TERN supporting DNR sandhills education initiative. (Feb. 9)
* Dawson Times: "Land conservation program surpasses 100,000 acres," about the Georgia Land Conservation Program reaching the acreage milestone since 2005. (Feb. 3)
* Chattanoogan.com: "Georgia tax checkoff provides for wildlife," DNR release about the Give Wildlife a Chance state income tax checkoff. (Feb. 3)

Upcoming "Outdoors"
"Georgia Outdoors" is shown on GPB channels at 9:30 p.m. Fridays, noon and 6 p.m. Saturdays, and 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays (except when other programming intervenes). Click for schedule on GPB Knowledge.
* Monuments of the Past, 7:30 p.m. March 24.
* License to Fish, 9:30 p.m. March 27, noon and 6 p.m. March 28, 7:30 p.m. March 31.
* Ocmulgee River Watershed, 9:30 p.m. April 3, noon and 6 p.m. April 4, 7:30 p.m. April 7
* Kayaking, 9:30 p.m. April 10, noon and 6 p.m. April 11, 7:30 p.m. April 14

Calendar
March 20-21: Fitzgerald Wild Chicken Festival, downtown Fitzgerald.
March 24-25: Georgia DNR Board of Natural Resources committee meetings (1 p.m. March 24), monthly meeting (9 a.m. March 25), DNR board room, Atlanta.
March 28: Earth Hour, World Wildlife Fund event turning out the lights for an hour starting at 8:30 p.m.
April 4: Open house at Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Newtown.
April 25: Kickoff to highlight new exhibits, including amphibian display, Georgia Southern University Center for Wildlife Education. (912) 478-7482.
April 25-26: Youth Birding Competition. Ends at Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center, Mansfield.
April 27-29: Georgia Water Resources Conference, UGA Center for Continuing Education, Athens.
April 28-29: Georgia DNR Board of Natural Resources committee meetings (1 p.m. April 28), monthly meeting (9 a.m. April 29), DNR board room, Atlanta.
May 15-16: Wet and Wild Amphibians workshop (four sessions) 6:30-11 p.m. May 15, 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. May 16, Georgia Southern University Center for Wildlife Education.
June 20-26: Paddle Georgia 2009 (Coosawattee and Oostanaula rivers).
Submit items.

Photo credits (from top):
** Right whale disentanglement. Wildlife Trust
** Cardinal in snow. Linda May/Ga. DNR
** Rhododendron burning in bog. Kristina Summers/Ga. DNR
** Swallow-tailed kite. Todd Schneider/Ga. DNR
** Naturalist Wilson Baker eyes longleaf pine storm damage in Thomas County. Phil Spivey/Ga. DNR
** Red-cockaded woodpecker. Phillip Jordan
**Tyler Eads, with eagle, of Auburn Raptor Center and DNR's Matt Henry. Bert Deener/Ga. DNR 
** Bluebird house with hole guard. Terry Johnson
** Frog from "NATURE Frogs: The Thin Green Line." Andrew Young/Thirteen/WNET New York
** Sawnee EMC putting up martin house pole. Andy Wentworth/Ga. DNR

Georgia Wild
volume 2, issue 3

   Georgia Wild is produced by the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division and focused on conserving nongame species, those not legally trapped, fished for or hunted. The newsletter is delivered free to subscribers. Subscribe or see archive issues.
   Wildlife Resources' Nongame Conservation Section conserves and protects Georgia's diversity of native animals and plants and their habitats through research, management and education. The section receives no state funds, depending on grants, donations and fundraisers such as nongame license plate sales, the Give Wildlife a Chance state income tax checkoff and Weekend for Wildlife. Call (770) 761-3035 for details on direct donations. The nongame plates -- the bald eagle/U.S. flag and ruby-throated hummingbird -- are available for a one-time $25 fee at all county tag offices, by checking the wildlife license plate box on mail-in registration forms or through online renewal.