Subject: [Tweeters] freshwater leaches and a few birds, Olympia
Date: Apr 2 15:42:44 2008
From: Robin W Baird - RWBaird at cascadiaresearch.org
hello all,
I'm trying to find information on freshwater leaches found around Olympia, in terms of whether they are native/non-native, what they may feed on, and in particular whether they feed on amphibians (salamanders, frogs)? In the process of trying to catch and identify a frog in a nearby pond I scooped up two leaches (currently in a jar). We have two small artificial ponds on our property set up for birds/amphibians, and I'm wondering whether putting the leaches into one of the pond is a good idea, in terms of trying to make them a more complete ecosystem (and whether they'll feed on/kill the small population of northwestern salamanders we have in the ponds, which are already suffering from predation losses from the GREAT BLUE HERON that has been visiting our backyard in the last two weeks).
I get the digest version so if people could cc me directly if they send responses back to the list (hoping to decide what to do with the leaches quickly!)
Speaking of birds, yesterday we had our first BANDTAILED PIGEONS of the year, a pair of them feeding in the yard (off South Bay Road, Olympia), and a MARSH WREN in our neighbor's yard. We have a live video feed from inside a chickadee nest box in our yard, and in the last two weeks a CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE has been using the box daily, mainly removing wood chips from the box. As of yesterday it seems to be satisfied with the level of chips in the bottom of the box and its behavior has changed, now moving into and out of the box frequently and sitting at the entrance, I think trying to entice its mate into the box. Today was the first day we saw two different birds use the box within a few seconds of each other.
Thanks,
Robin Baird
Olympia
rwbaird (at) cascadiaresearch.org