Page 16 - Sentinel October 2017

WILD LIFE Continued from page 15 what about them weighing less than me? Because of some-
thing like whirling disease, a
doors courtesy of a dog door. neurological disorder that has
killed thousands of deer and
And that said, if you need a laugh or two for the day, check out elk here, their normal popula-
the raccoon being a dog’s best friend. tion of 700-800 was reduced
to approximately 100 recent-
Ain’t happening here: ly. But then Hurricane Irma.
https://quizzclub.com/interesting-fact/this-saved-raccoon- And then a few days ago, one
shares-home-with-two-dogs-and-believes-she-is-a-dog- appeared and looked thirsty.
too/?shortener=3sw8njhz9&shdate=2017-09-19&abc_ There is very little fresh wa-
s=3sw8njhz9&abc_pos=0 ter there. It is salt or brackish. The refuge manager offered him
a bottle of water. He drank four bottles before skittering away.
This year we are being
inundated, and happy for The key deer have survived for thousands of years, just like
it, with the Painted Lady chickens.
butterflies on their migra-
tion path to Arizona, New And the darn chickens! How do they survive hurricanes? On
Mexico, and northwestern Kauai, Hurricane Iniki basically wiped away the island. The
Mexico. Apparently, the chicken coops were blown out of existence. And now? Free
wet summer increased range chickens!
the egg laying – so many
plants, and so little time. La Nina, which is occurring, is theo- On St. Thomas, one family survived by catching and eating
rized to boost the migrations numbers to our benefit. These chickens. They were rewarded by being flown to Puerto Rico
“ladies” look somewhat like monarchs, but are much smaller. in time for Hurricane Maria. So, is there a difference in chicken
They love flower gardens,but wild flowers such as aster, yar- flavors from one island versus another?
row, sunflowers, along with Lavender, catch their attention for
these prolific pollinators. Who Knew? (and not a political commentary)
Consider this possibly to be a regular section in A Walk on the
Hurricane Calamities Wild Side.
I cringed with the horrific
stories about people, pets, Colorado is in the top five butterfly diversity states.
and wildlife coming out
of Houston and then Flor- Another Who Knew: With a birthday gift certificate in late
ida, and now, who knows August, I went shopping on the Duncraft bird supply site. I
what else with all these was amazed to find out that hummingbirds are omnivores and
disasters? require something besides nectar or sugar and water. Protein!
But not steak.
Other than contributing
to the pet and wildlife The description from Duncraft of the Hum-Bird hummingbird
rescues, we took in Hur- feeder says it best:
ricane Hailey on a few
hours’ notice, she being Encourage adult hummingbirds to nest nearby because they
one of the first survivors need to feed their young protein every 20 minutes -- and hum-
to come out of Houston. mers can eat more than 100 fruit flies a day! Over a period
She had been tied to a tree of three weeks, this handy feeder incubates your ripe fruit and
and barely had her nose above water before a neighbor saw her. vegetable pieces to produce fruit flies and nourish humming-
Her legs and feet were covered with horrific red spots from fire birds. It deters bees and wasps, while adult hummingbirds can
ants. Her snout and head were peppered with bumps from fly rest on the wraparound perch to save much-needed energy.
bites. She was not trained at all.
And it’s a great way to get rid of your too ripe bananas other
Today she was adopted into a fabulous pack with two other res- than making another loaf of banana nut bread, by putting it in
cue dogs, of course each with her own story. One puppy sister this feeder. Within 10 days, the fruit flies are flaunting them-
looks like she came out of the same litter, so now Hurricane selves.
Hailey is very, very happy.
Duncraft also sells another version that accommodates a stack
Having been to Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys, I have been of more round fruit and veggies. Yeah, I bought that, too. I
particularly concerned about the diminutive key deer there. If
the strong winds here that cause me to almost lose my balance, Continued on page 18

Page 16 - October 2017 Perry Park Sentinel