Nature News
August 29, 2025
Nurturing Nature
By: Carol Suits
Liberty Wildlife Volunteer
Kid Stuff
To: All kids who help nature!
Look closely at nature to understand it and discover ways to help! Our Kid Stuff logo shows a girl looking closely at a grasshopper using a magnifying glass. Do you think she got curious about grasshoppers and found a way to help them? I do!
Binoculars help us see things by either making them bigger or closer. They are great for finding wildlife far away.
Do you know how to use binoculars? It’s easy and safe if you do these things:
- Always have the strap around your neck.
- Never walk or run while looking through binoculars!
- Move the eye pieces and lenses so you see clearly.
- First look with your eyes, then bring the binoculars up to your face.
Magnifying glasses help us see small animals or bugs or plants up close.
Use your magnifying glass to discover little things you might not see with just your eyes.
Practice moving your magnifying glass toward your face and further away from you. What happens to the thing you are trying to see? Does it get bigger? Smaller?
Practice looking for wildlife all around you, then write or draw what you see.
Join a Liberty Wildlife Kids' Program!
Explore nature’s wonders through meaningful and fun activities!
Be a Superhero!
Grades K – 3
Visit with our animal ambassadors
Listen, explore, and learn about nature
***
Be a Nature Explorer!
Grades 4 – 6
Discover fun ways to help wildlife
Sign up now for fall sessions! For more information and to apply please contact
Carol Suits carols@libertywildlife.org
Puzzles and Downloads!
Happy end of August! Enjoy a puzzle to wind down for the day! Plus download Nature News: Kids’ Stuff to save the fun for a future date!
Is a Bird a Mammal? (And other interesting bird facts)
By: Claudia Kirscher
Liberty Wildlife Volunteer
- Even though birds are warm blooded, they are not mammals. They are members of the Aves class. Birds have feathers, wings, beaks with no teeth, and lay eggs. They feed their young by regurgitating partially digested food.
- Mammals (Mammalia class) have hair or fur, give birth to live young, and feed their young with milk from mammary glands. Mammals have paws, hands and hooves. The only mammals that lay eggs are the platypus and the echidna. Their eggs are soft; however, they do have fur and nurse their young.
- The chicken is the most common species of bird found in the world.
- The ostrich has eyes about the size of a billiard ball (larger than its brain).
- A woodpecker does not sing, instead it will drum its beak against a tree or other object. Other woodpeckers can identify which bird it is by the sound of the drumming.
- The bird with the most feathers is the whistling swan, with up to 25,000 feathers. Hummingbirds, on the other hand, are so small that they have fewer than 1,000.
- Male ducks do not quack, typically it is the female who quacks.
- A group of geese on the ground is gaggle, a group of geese in the air is skein.
- The wandering albatross has the longest wingspan of any living bird, 11-plus feet.
The wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) has the largest wingspan of any living bird. The largest known specimen of the species, a male caught and measured by the Antarctic research ship USNS Eltanin in the Tasman Sea in 1965, had a wingspan of 11 ft. 11 in.
- When a hawk has eaten its fill (in falconry terms when it’s “crop is full”) it won’t want to hunt. Another way of saying it’s eaten its fill is to say it’s “fed-up.” The phrase has moved from a bird who doesn’t want to hunt anymore to a person who doesn’t want to do something anymore.
- A falconry hawk has a leash (called a “jess”) to stop it from flying away. When the bird is on the falconer’s arm, he’ll put part of the jess “under his thumb” or “wrap it around his little finger” to keep control of the bird; both phrases have become part of our everyday use.
- Birds can sleep with one eye open and half of their brain awake (called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep ) and it allows birds to detect approaching predators while resting. They can also do this while flying during migration.
- Though it looks like a bird’s knee is bending backwards, what is bending backward is actually its ankle. Below its ankle is an extended foot bone, leading to the toes. A bird’s real knee is usually hidden by feathers.
Good luck on your next Trivia game ! !
National Geographic; How Stuff Works; Wikipedia; Allabout birds; factretriever
Photos from: platypus
What Gives?
By: Gail Cochrane
Liberty Wildlife Volunteer
Nature lovers often feel compelled to help the beautiful animals we see outside our homes. We can help provide food, shelter and water. Native trees and shrubs provide nesting sites and shelter, and the fruits and flowers of native plants are food for many types of wildlife. Native plants host insects that are important protein for birds and reptiles. Planting some natives in your yard is an excellent way to help wildlife.
Going a step further, we can provide seed feeders. Feeders attract local birds, as well as migratory visitors. But feeding stations can create issues. Arizona Game and Fish’s website provides information on the legality of providing food for wildlife.
It is an absolute no-no to feed wild mammals, even unintentionally. Wildlife habituated to neighborhoods and people can become nuisance animals, and end up euthanized. So, no feeding the mammals, not even by leaving pet food out overnight, or leaving your garbage unsecured, or your little pets alone out there.
It is however, perfectly legal to feed birds and tree squirrels, provided the seed is in an enclosed yard and off the ground. Seed accumulating on the ground will attract rodents and you don’t want that. A population of rodents will quickly attract other critters such as coyotes and snakes. Feeders with platforms attached will capture falling seed.
You can also provide a water source for animals in your yard. AZGF points out that large water sources can attract unwanted wildlife such as javelinas and predators (coyotes and bobcats). Better to aim for smaller water sources that are easy to keep clean. Diseases can spread among large concentrations of birds.
Last month I wrote in NN about an individual who found the bird seed he was scattering (on the ground) was attracting rattlesnakes that he then had to relocate away from his home. AZGF informs us that all snakes in Arizona are protected by law. Unless the snake presents a clear and immediate danger to humans or pets, it should be left alone. If there is danger, a snake relocation should be performed only by a person with a Wildlife Services License. There are a number of these services in the Valley. And, you must have a valid Arizona hunting license to legally kill, collect or possess most rattlesnakes. Some rattlesnake species, mostly found in SE Arizona, carry further protection. Harming the Arizona ridge-nosed rattlesnake, Twin-spotted rattlesnake, the Banded rock rattlesnake and the Massasauga will lead to fines or criminal charges. It’s best to just leave snakes alone. Generally, they will move on of their own accord, unless you are providing a smorgasbord of rodents by putting bird seed on the ground.
Maybe you like to feed hummingbirds. This is a terrific way to attract a dynamic and gorgeous bird. But guess what? Hummingbird feeders often attract ants! Here are a couple of ideas. Try hanging your feeder with fishing line. Ants have a hard time negotiating that twisty thin line. People also have success with ant moats. You can make your own using the bottom of a plastic bottle hung above your feeder and filled with water. Add a couple of drops of oil to the water to deter mosquitos! Stay informed and enjoy your wildlife watching! There is nothing like it.
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