The bevy of beautiful birds and animals that come to the backyard at various times make it difficult to choose the first to begin this series. I have to begin with The Northern Mockingbird. It is, after all the State Bird of Texas. And it is truly ubiquitous. Backyards and front, the streets and lanes and the parks all have one or several of this gutsy little song birds perched high up on the top branches of a sycamore or a telephone pole singing their hearts out. They are brilliant mimics and can imitate the song of many other song birds in the area.

The Northern Mockingbird is found all over North America from Canada through the USA and into Mexico, and the islands in the Caribbean Sea. The Mockingbirds stay year round, and only in particularly harsh winters do they migrate to the Southern States and return in the spring.

The Northern Mockingbirds are usually about 8 or 9 inches long, their feathers are gray on their backs and white in the breast and belly. The wings are gray, black and the underside is white, the tail is long and slender. When the bird sets off in flight it is a flurry of black, white and gray. The beak is small, sharp and colored gray black. The legs are black and the talons are also black. Their eyes are bright orange and gleam in the sun as the bird swirls his head around in a characteristic manner. These birds are very observant and aware of any incursions into their space, regardless of the species, man or bird.

Mockingbird males are very territorial and lay claim to trees and are fearless in defending their claim on it. They can often be observed chasing off not merely members of their own species but bravely seek to attack hawks and eagles. Jim Baines the Bald Eagle photographer has a favorite photograph of a Male Mockingbird determinedly trying to chase off a Bald Eagle, a brave and singularly ineffective struggle and gutsy beyond measure.

Mating season with Mockingbirds can be a display of song and flight. When the male seeks to impress the female he does looping dancing flights and sings the songs of numerous other birds. The greater his repertoire the more appealing he is as a potential mate to the female of the world of Mockingbirds. Theirs is a courtship replete with music and dance.

Once a mate has been chosen by the female, the couple begins nest building in earnest. In mid February and they gather small twigs, bits of dry grass, dried leaves and lint and threads when available. The female allows the male to do most of the nest building work. She then lays the eggs, a light blue green color, the clutch is between three and six. The female broods for 2 weeks until the chicks emerge. For the next 2 weeks the chicks are totally helpless and rely on their parents for food. Both parents work hard to feed the chicks. Once the chicks have some or most of their feathers grown they venture out of the nest hop onto the nearby branches, and even on to the ground. Soon they begin flying close to the nest initially and then further out.

The diet of the Mockingbird is insects, spiders and even very small snakes. As the colder months come the birds switch their diet from insects to berries and seeds. There is a confident cheeriness to Mockingbirds. They sing as they look for food, sing when seeking a mate and sing for the sheer joy of it. People have been known to complain about their singing being a “nuisance” but that is way beyond my comprehension. The songs of Mockingbirds cover the range of songs of most of the other birds in the area. They are often heard singing their little hearts out, cheerfully and in an unmistakable celebration of being alive in this glorious world.

The Northern Mockingbird is the state bird of, not just Texas, but also of Florida, Arkansas and Mississippi. There is a belief in the South that Mockingbirds are special and to kill one of them is a sin. This theme is expounded on in Harper Lee’s book “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Occasionally Mockingbirds become pets and there is documentation that Thomas Jefferson, the father of the US Constitution owned a pet Mockingbird. Jefferson called his pet Mockingbird Dick. Clearly these birds have graced our skies and our yards for eons and have been enjoyed and appreciated for a long time. In Texas they continue to charm and delight us on a daily basis.

The Buddha said:  “Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.”

Happy Holidays to all of you and may we all have the wisdom to live as The Buddha suggested.

Year End reflections :

2011 is rapidly winding down and and easing away. It has been an interesting, stimulating, challenging year for me. I have spent the year with what I have called my American Icon Series. The animals and birds that I have written about, photographed and painted were at one time plentiful in North America. The European invaders and settlers described each of these species in detail. The rapidity of the expansion of settlements placed enormous pressure on the natural landscape and many a species was driven to the brink of extinction. Some of these were showcased in my blogs in 2011 and each of these was brought back from the edge of extinction by the concerted efforts of a lot of dedicated people. This journey of learning and documenting these species is winding down.

In 2012 I will be embarking on a different journey altogether. This one will not require going very far. I will be focusing on the birds and animals that visit my backyard, observing, learning, reading and writing, photographing and painting these visitors. The birds that come to the feeders for a quick snack or a full meal. The ones that fly in for a drink of water and the others that come and splash and bathe in the little pond.

The squirrels are an everyday presence, harassing the birds, teasing the juveniles, eating pretty much anything set out for them and then reaching for the bird food, they are a definite presence in my yard. The wild hares are still visiting but are much more circumspect, tentative and cautious. They get hungry and thirsty and venture in clearly hesitant and quick to flee at the first sign of danger.

I plan to observe and learn about each species, read and write about what I have gleaned, photograph and paint some of them. My goal for 2012 is to get acquainted with the the energy, the activity , the life and death struggles that are being played out in my backyard. This will be a time to live in Mindfulness

Let me end with a quote from Sylvia Boorstein : “Mindfulness is the aware, balanced experience. It isn’t more complicated than that. It is an opening to or receiving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it.

Wishing each and everyone a very happy New Year and may 2012 heap upon you all good health and happiness.

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Shyamala Rao

It is December 2011 and I have been writing about one species of animal or avian of North America every month of this year. Each of these species went to the very edge of the abyss, the brink of extinction and was then pulled back to thrive and slowly and painfully increase in numbers. Many of these have been written about extensively by Conservationists. I chose 12 different species for my series “ American Icons “ 2011. I have read about them, to inform myself, written about them and painted them over the past year. It has been a joyous journey of discovery and education of each of these 12 species. They have become family members to me. It has been a time of renewal of hope and faith. We humans make a lot of mistakes during our stewardship of the planet but we have also shown courage and wisdom in recognizing some of our missteps and changing course as needed. This makes me optimistic about the future.

The choice of animals and birds for this series “American Icons” has been strongly influenced by Jane Goodall’s book “Hope for Animals and their World.”

American Icon Series: The Red Wolf                                                    by                                                   Shyamala Rao

The Red Wolf, Latin name Canis Lupus Rufus, was found all across the North Eastern United States. Red Wolves were present from New York in the North to Florida in the South. The Red Wolf is genetically closely related to the Gray Wolf and to the Coyote. In 1970 the Red Wolf was declared extinct in the wild in the United States. The remaining fourteen animals were taken into captivity and the numbers have increased slowly until today we have 200 of these mammals in captivity and a 100 have been released into the wild and are being monitored closely. The Red Wolf population is very fragile and is still on the Endangered Animal List.

The Red Wolf is a beautiful creature, a full grown adult weighs about 75 pounds and it has beautiful rust colored fur, a sweet face with a broad forehead, almond shaped eyes, an alert and inquisitive demeanor. This slender, elegant, graceful and swift apex predator was once seen all over the Eastern and south central United States. The numbers swiftly declined with the advent of Europeans to the USA, expansion of farmland and the mistaken belief that this mammal is a threat to livestock. Red Wolves eat Raccoons, hispid cotton rats, muskrats and do not as a rule seek sheep, goats or cows. They were feared and vilified perhaps from the time of the story of Red Riding Hood. There is no record of a Red Wolf eating a human ever in the entire United States. This fact has not prevented them from being shot, poisoned, hunted, trapped and ruthlessly destroyed with relish and delight. Their hunters truly believed these mammals were a danger to livestock and to humans. As has been documented by numerous biologists taking out an apex predator means populations of raccoons and rats grew exponentially.

The Red Wolf lives in the classic packs of all wolves, a breeding pair, with the offspring of prior seasons and the current pups of the season when they are being observed. They hunt alone rather than in packs, feed the pups in the den by returning there and regurgitating the kills. The wolves become sexually mature at 21 to 22 months of age and have one litter per year. The number of pups each year is between 2 and 4 occasionally there may be 5 or 6 pups, but this is rather the exception. The pups stay with the pack until they are at least two years old. The males leave earlier than the females.

In the wild Red Wolves mate with Gray Wolves and with Coyotes, if other Red Wolves are unavailable. Apparently Red Wolves, Gray Wolves and Coyotes are genetically completely alike and indistinguishable. The Conservation program for Red Wolves has been successful in breeding Red Wolves in captivity. In 1970 a Red Wolf Breeding program was set up in Point Defiance Zoo in Texas. Since 1976 repeated attempts have been made to reintroduce Red Wolves to the wild. It has been a slow painful process with many missteps along the way. At present thirty facilities are participating in the Red Wolf Survival Program. From the time of declaration of the Red Wolf Extinct in the United States in 1970 to the present time when there are a total of 300 alive in North America. These smart sinuous glorious ancestors of domestic dogs are still definitely at risk for extinction but so many people have expended so much effort to bring them back from the very brink. The animal had been declared extinct in the wild in 1970. It has taken immense dedication and hard work to increase the numbers and the attempts to reintroduce into the wild have been having mixed results. Red Wolves are gorgeous and extremely elegant creatures and have been historically significant. Literature is replete with stories of infants taken into the care of a Female Red Wolf and then suckled and nurtured into becoming a healthy toddler. Remus and Romulus, the founders of Rome were suckled by a Red Wolf. Mowgli was adopted by a Wolf and cared for by the wolf

until he was able to enter a village and become a member of the Human Community. Somehow these stories seem to have been trivialized by the fear and misinformation about wolves. So even though neither humans nor livestock are the preferred prey of Red Wolves somehow this became the source of the fear and the reason for hunting them into extinction.

Fortunately the Red Wolf is not extinct and has been successfully brought back into viable numbers thanks to dedicated naturalists, biologists, conservationists , environmentalists and legislators have all worked together to keep the Red Wolf in our consciousness and in our environs in North America.

American Icon Series: The Red Wolf

The Red Wolf, Latin name Canis Lupus Rufus, was found all across the North Eastern United States. Red wolves were present from New York in the North to Florida in the South. The Red Wolf is genetically closely related to the Gray Wolf and to the Coyote. In 1970 the Red Wolf was declared extinct in the wild. The remaining fourteen animals were taken into captivity and the numbers have increased slowly until today we have 200 of these mammals in captivity and a 100 have been released into the wild and are being monitored closely. The Red Wolf population is very fragile and is still on the Endangered Animal List.

The Red Wolf is a beautiful creature, a full grown adult weighs about 75 pounds and it has beautiful rust colored fur, a sweet face with a broad forehead, almond shaped eyes, an alert and inquisitive demeanor. This slender, elegant, graceful and swift apex predator was once seen all over the Eastern and south central United States. The numbers swiftly declined with the advent of Europeans to the USA, expansion of farmland and the mistaken belief that this mammal is a threat to livestock. Red Wolves eat Raccoons, hispid cotton rats, muskrats and do not as a rule seek sheep, goats or cows. They were feared and vilified perhaps from the time of the story of Red Riding Hood. There is no record of a Red Wolf eating a human ever in the entire United States. This fact has not prevented them from being shot, poisoned, hunted, trapped and ruthlessly destroyed with relish and delight. Their hunters truly believed these mammals were a danger to livestock and to humans. As has been documented by numerous biologists taking out an apex predator means populations of raccoons and rats grew exponentially.

The Red Wolf lives in the classic packs of all wolves, a breeding pair, with the offspring of prior seasons and the current pups of the season when they are being observed. They hunt alone rather than in packs, feed the pups in the den by returning there and regurgitating the kills. The wolves become sexually mature at 21 to 22 months of age and have one litter per year. The number of pups each year is between 2 and 4 occasionally there may be 5 or 6 pups, but this is rather the exception. The pups stay with the pack until they are at least two years old. The males leave earlier than the females.

In the wild Red Wolves mate with Gray Wolves and with Coyotes, if other Red Wolves are unavailable. Apparently Red Wolves, Gray Wolves and Coyotes are genetically completely alike and indistinguishable. The Conservation program for Red Wolves has been successful in breeding Red Wolves in captivity. In 1970 a Red Wolf Breeding program was set up in Point Defiance Zoo in Texas. Since 1976 repeated attempts have been made to reintroduce Red Wolves to the wild. It has been a slow painful process with many missteps along the way. At present thirty facilities are participating in the Red Wolf Survival Program. From the time of declaration of the Red Wolf Extinct in the United States in 1970 to the present time when there are a total of 300 alive in North America. These smart sinuous glorious ancestors of domestic dogs are still definitely at risk for extinction but so many people have expended so much effort to bring them back from the very brink. The animal had been declared extinct in the wild in 1970. It has taken immense dedication and hard work to increase the numbers and the attempts to reintroduce into the wild have been having mixed results. Red Wolves are gorgeous and extremely elegant creatures and have been historically significant. Literature is replete with stories of infants taken into the care of a Female Red Wolf and then suckled and nurtured into becoming a healthy toddler. Remus and Romulus, the founders of Rome were suckled by a Red Wolf. Mowgli was adopted by a Wolf and cared for by the wolf

until he was able to enter a village and become a member of the Human Community. Somehow these stories seem to have been trivialized by the fear and misinformation about wolves. So even though neither humans nor livestock are the preferred prey of Red Wolves somehow this became the source of the fear and the reason for hunting them into extinction.

Fortunately the Red Wolf is not extinct and has been successfully brought back into viable numbers thanks to dedicated naturalists, biologists, conservationists , environmentalists and legislators have all worked together to keep the Red Wolf in our consciousness and in our environs in North America.

                                    The Black Footed Ferret                                                         by                                          Shyamala Rao

The Black Footed Ferret has a Latin name Mustela Nigripes. It is small mammal which belongs to the class of animals that includes badgers, otters, polecats, minks and weasels. The Black Footed Ferret ranged in the North American Prairies and lived over a full third of this continent. The Black Footed Ferret lived alongside the giant herds of American Bison and the large herds of Prairie Dogs. The Black Footed Ferrets evolved to keep the population of the Prairie Dogs in control. As the population of the Prairie Dogs declined the numbers of the Black Footed Ferret diminished substantially. By 1960 the Black Footed Ferrets were estimated to have lost 98% of the lands they once roamed in. Places where they had raised their kits and thrived in. for centuries.

The Black Footed Ferret is a small carnivorous mammal. It grows to a maximum size of twenty to twenty five inches in length. The Ferret has a tail which is about six inches in length. Adults when full grown weigh a little less than two pounds. They have an elongated attractive face with large black eyes, and Jane Goodall describes them as “tiny in size, mighty in courage and utterly enchanting. They are covered with fur which has white roots and black and brown ends. The face is almost all black and their feet are completely black.

The Black Footed Ferrets spend most of their time underground and some biologists estimate that the animals spend 95% of their time in their underground burrows. They usually find the burrows of other animals and reside in them. Black Footed Ferrets’ eat rodents, birds and prairie dogs. Black Footed Ferrets mate in the spring in April and May. Their gestation period is forty days. They have up to three or four kits in each litter. In the wilds the Black Footed Ferrets live for about four years. In that four year life span the female may have a total of three litters.

As their habitat disappeared the bison and the prairie dogs disappeared and the Black Footed Ferret which is a reclusive animal was seen more and more infrequently. In 1937 the Black Footed Ferret was declared extinct in Canada. In 1967 the Black Footed Ferret was put on the endangered species list. In 1996 the Black Footed Ferret was declared extinct in the wild in the USA.

A concerted effort by biologists and conservationists has led to a slow return in numbers and reintroduction into the wilds and the hope is for the status to be downgraded to a threatened species.

Conservation and the Black Footed Ferret:

This agile, lively and gutsy little carnivore, the Black Footed Ferret was declared extinct in the wild in Canada in 1937 and in the USA in 1967. They had roamed all across the North American Prairies for eons and shared their habitat with the Bison and the Prairie Dog. As the North American prairies disappeared the Prairie Dogs and the Black Footed Ferrets declined in numbers. The decline in the numbers of the secretive and seclusive Black Footed Ferret went quite unnoticed by biologists.

In 1981 biologists made a surprising and welcome discovery of a population in the wild of Black Footed Ferrets in Wyoming. Biologists began studying this population. The numbers began declining fast and by 1986 there were only twelve left of this group of Black footed Ferrets in the wild. They were taken out of the wild and placed with the others for captive breeding in zoos.

In 1991 the biologists began reintroduction of Black Footed Ferrets into the wild. Several different reintroduction techniques were experimented with including soft and hard releases. The recovery plan was gradually developed and the goal was to have them back in the wild in all of the states in North America that they lived in before becoming extinct in the wild. By 2010 the saga of reintroduction has become a success story and the species will now be listed as threatened rather than endangered.

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