Tag: werc

Residents of Almaden Valley have recently been suffering from an invasion of wild pigs. These creatures have severely damaged a local golf course and many private yards, leaving lawns looking like a rototiller was set loose upon them. Needless to say, golfers and homeowners are dismayed, angry and frustrated at the extensive damage.

Thanksgiving feast: Succulent turkey and savory pumpkin pie are a wonderful holiday treat for human celebrants, but this turkey vulture prefers his pumpkin au naturale, no whipped cream necessary. Because vultures are not vegetarians, the pumpkin was given to Zorro (WERC's non-releasable animal ambassador) for mental, rather than nutritional, enrichment. Just like most of us probably wouldn't enjoy eating meatloaf day after day or watching the same television show over and over, the educational animals at WERC also get bored without variety.

The South County is growing by leaps and bounds. Many residents commute to jobs in San Jose and parts north. Why not build new homes and businesses in the Coyote Valley, that empty stretch of U.S. 101 between here and there?

Halloween seems to bring out the creativity in pet owners who make the cutest, cleverest and funniest costumes for their dogs, big and small, to parade around in. There are even costumes for feline pets, but I wouldn't try putting one on my own cats unless I planned to look like a flesh-torn zombie afterward.

Every September I look for the white-crowned sparrows to arrive. A small flock takes up residence each fall in an overgrown Lady Banks rose that covers the side of my neighbor's garage. They join the house finches, chestnut-backed chickadees and lesser goldfinches at my feeders. White-crowned sparrows are distinctive, with a narrow white stripe on the top of their heads, black stripes on either side of the white “crown” and broad white eyebrows.

School's out! At least it is for seven barn owls that attended the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center's “summer school” this year.

This has been a difficult summer for wildlife and the folks who care for them. Northern California is once again in the midst of a record-setting drought. The Santa Clara Valley Water District reports that Santa Clara County's reservoirs are at less than three-fourths of their average August capacity. As early as April, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that our temperatures in the coming months were expected to be above normal and our rainfall considerably below normal. That prediction has been accurate; despite some cool days this summer, we are in the midst of one of the driest, warmest seasons on record.

Morgan Hill is becoming THE summer destination for some really adventuresome wild animals. Just last month, I wrote about the yellow-bellied marmot who hitched a ride on a car from the Eastern Sierra to Morgan Hill. This month's adventure story is about a backpacking peregrine falcon who found our south Bay Area location a perfect spot for a little R & R (rest and recuperation).

Last week the California Council for Wildlife Rehabilitators reported a major positive step, albeit on a small scale, toward protecting wildlife from rodenticides.

As volunteers walked down the driveway after a day of feeding wildlife and cleaning enclosures at the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center, they were mystified to hear an unusual whistling-chirping sound coming from underneath a parked vehicle. Getting low on the ground and peeking up under the car, they were astonished to see a large face staring right back at them. Looking and sounding like a super-sized ground squirrel (which in truth, it is), it turned out to be a yellow-bellied marmot, normally a denizen of the Sierra and Rocky mountains. We quickly learned why they're nick-named “whistle pigs” - they whistle when alarmed by predators, such as wolves, foxes, coyotes, badgers, bobcats, golden eagles, hawks, owls, weasels, humans and dogs (one of which had just chased this particular marmot under the car).