Fall 2002 Table of Contents

Snippets Winter survey coming soon WDFW’s annual Backyard Winter Bird Feeding survey starts again in November. If you’ve participated in this survey before, you’ll be receiving your 2002-03 winter survey materials in the mail soon. If you’d like to join the more than 1,000 volunteers across the state who help collect this valuable data, write to “Winter Backyard Survey,” WDFW, 16018 Mill Creek Blvd., Mill Creek, WA 98012, or send e-mail to thomppat@dfw.wa.gov. The surveying is easy: count birds by species that you see at your winter backyard feeders during several two-week long count periods from November through March, and fill in the data sheets provided. Next spring you send in your data sheets to help WDFW learn more about species population shifts from year to year. Fall "To Do" list from your wildlife family You or your spouse/partner may be making those fall “to do” chore lists for or with each other at this time, as daylight hours shrink and temperatures drop. Here’s another “to do” list from your local wildlife “family” that you may find easier to check off: • Leave some dead flowers on your flowering plants to provide seeds for some us birds and other animals. • If you must rake leaves off lawns, just pile them under some shrubs or other nooks and crannies to provide homes for insects that we birds love to eat; leaves make great mulch to help store moisture and keep weeds down, anyway! • Keep that dead or dying tree right where it is (unless, of course, it’s truly a hazard to you) so we can feast on the insects in the rotting wood or make winter roosts or dens in its cavities. • Give yourself and your mower a rest for at least a portion of your lawn so we’ve got a patch of taller grass to hide and forage in. • Save a little of that wild blackberry thicket for us — it makes great winter cover and we don’t need much! • Pile up any brush or rocks you clear around your place to give us another option for nests, dens, and shelter. • Take it easy on yourself and let go of the “perfect” garden image. We wild animals like less tidy, “fuzzy” places more because there’s usually more food and shelter there. Get yourself a comfortable chair, sit back, and congratulate yourself on having made a home for wildlife and haven of relaxation for yourself! Crossing Paths Electronically? Four years ago, in the fall of 1998 when we were seeking ways to trim costs, we asked you about shifting this newsletter’s format to an electronic one via the Internet. At that time, although 51% of you used the Internet, only 29% said such an electronic version of the newsletter alone would be satisfactory. The most cited reason for that difference was the need for notification of the newsletter’s availability on WDFW’s website. Since then we have maintained this printed and mailed newsletter, but have posted each edition on our website, too, for those who like to scan it that way. Now we’re considering that all electronic shift again, since we are beginning to build e-mail lists for notifying particular interest groups about issues, events, and yes, newly available newsletter editions. We suspect that now, four years later, well over 51% of you use the Internet and e-mail, whether at home, the office, or at the public library. We’re guessing that many of you are already on “listserves” or e-mail distribution lists for various interests. And in the interest of saving paper and energy, when you need or want a paper copy of something you see online, you print it out yourself. That’s what we’re banking on, anyway, if we start producing “Crossing Paths” electronically next year, at least by the fall 2003 edition. Unless, of course, we hear back otherwise from too many of you. If you have strong opinions on this one way or another, let us know. Either drop a note in the mail to Newsletter Editor Madonna Luers, WDFW, 8702 N. Division St., Spokane, WA 99218, or e-mail at luersmel@dfw.wa.gov. If you support Crossing Paths electronically, go ahead and send us your e-mail address now so we can start building a distribution list, if we decide to go that way. (WDFW will not – and cannot – use your e-mail address for any other purpose.) Time for a sign? If you need a replacement or additional Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary sign, you can get one (or up to two) at the Mill Creek or Spokane WDFW offices for just $3.00 each if you pick it up and $4.00 if mailed (plus postage if you request mailing.) Tell Your Friends: Personalized Plates Help Wildlife The Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary program, along with other non-game functions of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), is funded by the sale of Washington state personalized motor vehicle license plates. These distinctive plates — in your choice of unclaimed word(s) up to seven letters — cost an extra $46 for the first year and an extra $30 for each subsequent year. You can pick up an application form at any state licensing or WDFW office, or by contacting the Department of Licensing at P.O. Box 9042, Olympia, WA 98507, 360-902-3770 (telephone menu option #5).

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