While its occurrence in not infrequent, the concealment by darkness, shadow, and paucity of vocalizations is so complete its presence goes largely undetected. Park superintendent Michael Seigh says artificial inland environments like Jordan Lake are especially appealing to the endangered birds. The common raven in California is not so common after all, according to a team of scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey and other research institutions involved in new genetics research. DNA sequence data revealed a deep genetic split between common ravens from the southwest United States compared to the rest of the world, according to a journal article in the December 22 issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Biological Sciences. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has received more than 300 nominations for sites to include in birding and wildlife-viewing trails that will stretch from the Mexican border to the tip of the Panhandle.
More water means more birds.
And more birds make more bird-watchers and hunters happier. The Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area is reorganizing its wetlands to incorporate the Sapp tract, a triangle of land at the south end of the area. The 550 acres were purchased in January 1995 after the rest of Eagle Bluffs was developed. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is funding the reorganization as part of its mitigation efforts to restore wildlife habitat along the Missouri River. A recent conversation with Pat Schlarbaum, a member of the Iowa Wildlife Diversity Program of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, got us thinking about the number of eagles spotted in Lee County throughout the years.