Jac's Wildlife Blog: Onto the next one

The Shrikes have now moved on and so must I. My role as Captive Technician for the Wildlife Preservation Canada Eastern loggerhead shrike breeding programme is now over and the wild Shrikes are making there way down to the South Western States in America. Soon we will start seeing the arrival the Northern Shrikes (Lanius exubitor meaning "Butcher watchman") - a slightly larger cousin of the Eastern variety that occupies the same habitat but over the winter. This species is not endangered and spends the summer further North in arboreal forests.

But even though the endangered Eastern Loggerhead shrikes aren't here, there's still lots to be done! I've relocated to Tamworth near Napanee (Ontario) to help Shrike Biologist Jon restore some fast diminishing shrike habitat. The problem here is invasive red cedar. Shrikes need open areas of short grassland to hunt prey and avoid aerial predators that nest in big trees, but the red cedar is fast growing member of the Juniper family and is quickly turning grassland in forest. The reason for this is partly due to a lack of a lack of grazing cows to keep the shrubs down. Farmers that used to ranch cattle here can no longer afford the ranching way of life, "there's just no money in it" one local farmer told me. Large scale cattle ranches have out competed the farmers here, now a lot of the cows seen on the Napanee alvars are owned by hobby farmers.

We are tackling the cedar with a brush saw. They are safer than a chainsaw and don't require the same expensive safety gear.

I've also been helping out local Design business Bon Eco http://www.bon-eco.com/index.html with an art installation for the town.

Designed by Hans Honnager at Bon Eco, these silhouette ice hockey players - inspired by classic silhouette garden ornaments -are now painted black and will soon be on the corner of Concessions road, Tamworth.