Nature Notes from Sue

 Greetings, I came across this Coyote over the weekend.  It may surprise some of you to know that Coyote are present all around the County.  Humans have caused the perfect scenario for the Eastward expansion of the Coyote's range.  First, we removed their main predator, the Gray Wolf.  Then we created suburbia where there is a plentiful food supply of feral and domestic cats, geese, rabbits, fawns, etc.  Coyotes actually are omnivores and will eat insects, berries and other fruits too. If you raise chickens, you should secure them at night as these are easy pray for Coyote.  Please keep your cats indoors for their safety as well as the safety of baby birds that are everywhere now. Finally, the rules here at my blog are changing in August.  If you subscribed to have the posts sent directly to your email box, this will be ending.  I am working on a solution where it will come to your email box, but it will come directly from me.  Stay tuned as I test this out. Sue

 Greetings, Wild turkey are probably more common than you think!  It is hard to believe this bird was heading toward extinction 100 years ago.  Their habitat is oak/beech/hickory forests.   Check out this photo of a female Wild Turkey with 5 poults in a backyard in Ellicott City.  This photo was taken yesterday by Dave Savin.  The photo was sent to me to confirm breeding of this species in the Savage NW block in the MD Breeding Bird Atlas. As a reminder, this project is mapping the distribution of breeding birds every 10-square miles across the State and DC.  If you see turkey with young, please snap a photo and send it to me with the date, time and location.  This is a hard bird to confirm and it usually is just being in the right place at the right time when you just happen to see them.  I don't need a National Geographic cover photo!

 Greetings, It is not every day I find a Red-headed Woodpecker nest.  Last week however, I found two in two days.   July 2nd, I was conducting my weekly Breeding Bird Atlas survey in my assigned area of Woodbine.  Imagine my surprise when I turned the corner of A. E. Mullinix Rd., a red, white & black colored bird flew right in front of me and landed in a Walnut tree.  I stopped right there on the road with excitement, a Red-headed Woodpecker (RHWO)!  The bird then flew down to a fence post right along the road and I was able to get a look and a photo, but disappointed that it did not have any food in its bill.  Those of you familiar with A. E. Mullinix Rd. know that it is without a shoulder and parking is very difficult.  A car came up behind me and I had to move on.  All I could think was that bird had no reason to be there if it wasn’t breeding.  I know at this time of year, RHWO’s are feeding their young now.  I was prepared to park over a mile away (where I had permission) and