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Red Mulberry sources; Dragonfly Days



Hi C-birders,

Just returned from the third annual Dragonfly Days festival, hosted by the
Valley Nature Center in the LRGV of Texas. While at the VNC
http://www.valleynaturecenter.org/
I picked up two brochures that seemed of interest to birders back here in
NC. First was "Providing and Maintaining Nesting Habitat for Chimney
Swifts". We've been discussing swifts on this list a fair amount recently.
The brochure has been replicated on-line at
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/nature/birding/chimneyswift/chimneyswift-index.htm
(that URL ends in "-index.htm" in case the end gets cut off in anyone's
e-mail programs)

The second brochure is "Woodpecker Damage: A Simple Solution to a Common
Problem", something else we've discussed here before. It isn't on-line
yet, but apparently will be: it's listed under "coming soon" at
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/nature/birding/topics/projects.htm

The festival was, of course, great fun. In addition to 26-plus species of
dragonfly and damselfly, we saw lots of usual LRGV residents, including
Green and Ringed Kingfisher, nesting Gray Hawk, lots of nesting Black-
necked Stilts, Great Kiskadee, Couch's Kingbird, Green Jay, etc. There was
also a surprising variety of landbird migrants still moving through, given
how slow things have gotten here in NC; at one point, at one of the VNC's
drippers, we had Magnolia, Canada, and Mourning Warblers all in one
binocular view! We also saw Chestnut-sided, Tennessee, and Wilson's
Warblers, American Redstart, Ovenbird, and Common Yellowthroat at the VNC
that day, plus Eastern Wood-Pewee and an Empidonax (silent, of course) of
some kind. Added a Blackburnian the next day at the Mercedes Tract of the
LRGV NWR. I took my friend Bill Haley of the Tennessee Aquarium on a quick
post-fest trip to La Sal del Rey, another LRGV NWR tract, where he got two
lifers: White-tailed Hawk and Long-billed Curlew. We also saw Wilson's
Phalarope, Snowy Plover, and Stilt and White-rumped Sandpiper there.

Back here in NC, a Great Blue Heron looked out of place flying high over
Ninth Street yesterday morning, going southwest to northeast. Could have
been coming from the Duke Gardens, en route to... where? Ellerbe Creek?
Hearing scads of Blackpoll everywhere I go, especially along Club Blvd.
And saw a Red-eyed Vireo in the yard of the new house, on which we close
tomorrow... And, unfortunately, a ton of Cedar Waxwings and American
Robins eating berries off what I'm pretty sure is a White Mulberry in the
backyard. Got some work to do.

Speaking of which, while I was gone, someone asked me where to buy Red
Mulberry (Morus rubra) instead of the nasty Chinese White Mulberry (M.
alba). Unfortunately, because so many people are willing to settle for
invasive species, it's difficult to find; I can't find any sources here
in NC. However, in a little web-surfing, I did locate some mail-order
sources. Be careful: most sell not only Red, but also White, and the less
invasive but still un-American Black Mulberry (M. nigra). Don't buy the
wrong one by mistake!

Best shot appears to be
http://www.shootingstarnursery.com/index.html
located in Kentucky, and will mail plants to you apparently.

Another one in Alabama:
http://www.classicgardens.com/default.htm

The NC Wildlife Resources Commission recommends a few more sources, and
for several other bird-friendly native plant species in addition to Red
Mulberry:
http://www.ncwildlife.org/pg07_WildlifeSpeciesCon/pg7f2c_3.htm
Their list includes two sources of Red Mulberry in Tennessee, at least.
Most promising is Native Gardens near Knoxville:
http://www.native-gardens.com/

I found several other sources in Florida, Oklahoma, Illinois, Ontario,
etc. but all appear to sell plants on location only, a long drive.
Probably better for all of us to pester our local suppliers to get their
acts together and sell native American species instead of the never-ending
string of Chinese, Japanese, and European weeds.

Good birding,

Josh


Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/