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Come back to this page each day to read another entry from Frederick R. Gehlbach's almanac of suburban natural and unnatural history, "Messages from the Wild," which chronicles the world of a forested ravine in central Texas.
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Bewick's and Carolina wrens respect each other's separate stage space when nesting, but in fall and winter I may see a Bewick's wandering in the woods. This small, gray fellow inhabits savanna, shrubland, and yards with plantings, while its larger, rusty cousin is a forest elf. A city street two hundred feet from my house and our forested commons isn't crossed by Bewick's wrens in spring and summer or by Carolina wrens any time. I think Bewick's is the more venturesome, because it is a successional species that must prospect for new transitional or patchy habitat or a suburban surrogate, as its present home slowly vanishes during reforestation. |
Frederick R. Gehlbach is Professor Emeritus of Biology and Environmental Studies at Baylor University. His ecological studies have taken him from New Zealand to Slovakia and, in the Americas, from Alaska and Newfoundland to Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. His research interests include the life-history strategies of small owls, small burrowing snakes and urban wildlife ecology.
From MESSAGES FROM THE WILD: AN ALMANAC OF SUBURBAN NATURAL AND UNNATURAL HISTORY by Frederick R. Gehlbach, Copyright © 2002. Courtesy of the University of Texas Press.
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