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Camas National Wildlife Refuge
About half of the Camas National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Idaho consists of lakes, ponds, and marshlands; the remainder is grass sagebrush uplands, meadows, and farm fields. Camas Creek flows through the length of the refuge. Mammal species that inhabit this refuge are coyote, pronghorn, moose, elk, porcupine, white-tailed deer, cottontail rabbit, muskrat, and weasel. Water management is a critical component of Camas Refuge operations. An extensive system of canals, dikes, wells, ponds, and water-control structures is used to manipulate water for the benefit of wildlife, with an emphasis on nesting waterfowl. Haying and prescribed fire are used to manipulate vegetation in some fields, and small grain crops are grown to provide supplemental feed for geese and cranes and to keep them from damaging private croplands. Geography The refuge has a surface area of . Bird habitat During migration, which peaks in March–April and October, up to 50,000 ducks and 3,000 geese m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in free association with three Pacific Island sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the most populous country in the Americas and the third most populous in the world. The national capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. and its most populous city and principal financial center is New York City. Paleo-Americ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow under atmospheric pressure, and can be thought of as artificial rivers. In most cases, a canal has a series of dams and locks that create reservoirs of low speed current flow. These reservoirs are referred to as ''slack water levels'', often just called ''levels''. A canal can be called a ''navigation canal'' when it parallels a natural river and shares part of the latter's discharges and drainage basin, and leverages its resources by building dams and locks to increase and lengthen its stretches of slack water levels while staying in its valley. A canal can cut across a drainage divide atop a ridge, generally requiring an external water source above the highest elevation. The best-known example of such a canal is the Panama Canal. Many ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Populus Trichocarpa
''Populus trichocarpa'', the black cottonwood, western balsam-poplar or California poplar, is a deciduous broadleaf tree species native to western North America. It is used for timber, and is notable as a model organism in plant biology. Description It is a large tree, growing to a height of and a trunk diameter over , which makes it the largest poplar species in the Americas. It is normally fairly short-lived, but some trees may live up to 400 years. A cottonwood in Willamette Mission State Park near Salem, Oregon, holds the national and world records. Last measured in April 2008, this black cottonwood was found to be standing at tall, around, with 527 points. The bark is grey and covered with lenticels, becoming thick and deeply fissured on old trees. The bark can become hard enough to cause sparks when cut with a chainsaw.Ewing, Susan. The Great Alaska Nature Factbook. Portland: Alaska Northwest Books, 1996. The stem is grey in the older parts and light brown in youn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swan
Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology), tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae. There are six living and many extinct species of swan; in addition, there is a species known as the coscoroba swan which is no longer considered one of the true swans. Swans usually mate for life, although "divorce" sometimes occurs, particularly following nesting failure, and if a mate dies, the remaining swan will take up with another. The number of bird egg, eggs in each :wikt:clutch, clutch ranges from three to eight. Etymology and terminology The English word ''swan'', akin to the German language, German , Dutch language, Dutch and Swedish language, Swedish , is derived from Indo-European root ' ('to sound, to sing'). Young swans are kn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Long-billed Curlew
The long-billed curlew (''Numenius americanus'') is a large North American shorebird of the family Scolopacidae. This species was also called "sicklebird" and the "candlestick bird". The species breeds in central and western North America, migrating southward and coastward for the winter. Description The long-billed curlew is the largest sandpiper of regular occurrence in North America. It is long, across the wing and weighs . Its disproportionally long bill curves downward and measures , and rivals the bill of the larger-bodied Far Eastern curlew as the longest bill of any shorebird. Individuals have a long neck and a small head. The neck and underparts are a light cinnamon in color, while the crown is streaked with brown. This species exhibits reversed sexual dimorphism, as in many sandpipers, the female being larger and having a much longer bill than the male's. Breeding The breeding habitat is grasslands in west-central North America. The species displays an elaborate cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short-eared Owl
The short-eared owl (''Asio flammeus'') is a widespread grassland species in the family Strigidae. Owls belonging to genus ''Asio'' are known as the eared owls, as they have tufts of feathers resembling mammalian ears. These "ear" tufts may or may not be visible. The short-eared owl will display its tufts when in a defensive pose, although its very short tufts are usually not visible. The short-eared owl is found in open country and grasslands. Taxonomy The short-eared owl was formally described in 1763 by the Lutheran bishop Erik Pontoppidan under the binomial name ''Strix flammea''. The specific epithet is from the Latin ''flammeus'' meaning "flammulated" or "flame-coloured". This owl is now placed with seven other species in the genus ''Asio'' that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. Eleven subspecies are recognised: * ''A. f. flammeus'' – ( Pontoppidan, 1763): the nominate subspecies, found in North America, Europe, North Africa and n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trumpeter Swan
The trumpeter swan (''Cygnus buccinator'') is a species of swan found in North America. The heaviest living bird native to North America, it is also the largest extant species of waterfowl, with a wingspan of 185 to 250 cm (6 ft 2 in to 8 ft 2 in). It is the American counterpart and a close relative of the whooper swan (''Cygnus cygnus'') of Eurasia, and even has been considered the same species by some authorities. By 1933, fewer than 70 wild trumpeters were known to exist, and extinction seemed imminent, until aerial surveys discovered a Pacific population of several thousand trumpeters around Alaska's Copper River. Careful reintroductions by wildlife agencies and the Trumpeter Swan Society gradually restored the North American wild population to over 46,000 birds by 2010. Description The trumpeter swan is the largest extant species of waterfowl, and both the heaviest and longest native bird of North America. Adults usually measure long, though large males can exceed in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tundra Swan
The tundra swan (''Cygnus columbianus'') is a small swan of the Holarctic. The two taxa within it are usually regarded as conspecific, but are also sometimes split into two species: Bewick's swan (''Cygnus bewickii'') of the Palaearctic and the whistling swan (''C. columbianus'') proper of the Nearctic. Birds from eastern Russia (roughly east of the Taymyr Peninsula) are sometimes separated as the subspecies ''C. c. jankowskii'', but this is not widely accepted as distinct, with most authors including them in ''C. c. bewickii''. Tundra swans are sometimes separated in the subgenus ''Olor'' together with the other Arctic swan species. Bewick's swan was named in 1830 by William Yarrell after the engraver Thomas Bewick, who specialised in illustrations of birds and animals. ''Cygnus'' is the Latin for "swan", and '' columbianus'' comes from the Columbia River, the type locality. Description ''C. columbianus'' is the smallest of the Holarctic swans, at in length, in wingspan and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goose
A goose ( : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera ''Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and '' Branta'' (the black geese). Some other birds, mostly related to the shelducks, have "goose" as part of their names. More distantly related members of the family Anatidae are swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller. The term "goose" may refer to either a male or female bird, but when paired with "gander", refers specifically to a female one (the latter referring to a male). Young birds before fledging are called goslings. The collective noun for a group of geese on the ground is a gaggle; when in flight, they are called a skein, a team, or a wedge; when flying close together, they are called a plump. Etymology The word "goose" is a direct descendant of,''*ghans-''. In Germanic languages, the root gave Old English ''gōs'' with the plural ''gēs'' and ''gandres'' (b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form taxon; they do not represent a monophyletic group (the group of all descendants of a single common ancestral species), since swans and geese are not considered ducks. Ducks are mostly aquatic birds, and may be found in both fresh water and sea water. Ducks are sometimes confused with several types of unrelated water birds with similar forms, such as loons or divers, grebes, gallinules and coots. Etymology The word ''duck'' comes from Old English 'diver', a derivative of the verb 'to duck, bend down low as if to get under something, or dive', because of the way many species in the dabbling duck group feed by upending; compare with Dutch and German 'to dive'. This word replaced Old English / 'duck', possibly to avoid confusion with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grain
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legumes. After being harvested, dry grains are more durable than other staple foods, such as starchy fruits (plantains, breadfruit, etc.) and tubers ( sweet potatoes, cassava, and more). This durability has made grains well suited to industrial agriculture, since they can be mechanically harvested, transported by rail or ship, stored for long periods in silos, and milled for flour or pressed for oil. Thus, the grain market is a major global commodity market that includes crops such as maize, rice, soybeans, wheat and other grains. Grains and cereal Grains and cereal are synonymous with caryopses, the fruits of the grass family. In agronomy and commerce, seeds or fruits from other plant families are called grains if they resemble c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Controlled Burn
A controlled or prescribed burn, also known as hazard reduction burning, backfire, swailing, or a burn-off, is a fire set intentionally for purposes of forest management, farming, prairie restoration or greenhouse gas abatement. A controlled burn may also refer to the intentional burning of slash and fuels through burn piles. Fire is a natural part of both forest and grassland ecology and controlled fire can be a tool for foresters. Hazard reduction or controlled burning is conducted during the cooler months to reduce fuel buildup and decrease the likelihood of serious hotter fires. Controlled burning stimulates the germination of some desirable forest trees, and reveals soil mineral layers which increases seedling vitality, thus renewing the forest. Some cones, such as those of lodgepole pine and sequoia, are pyriscent, as well as many chaparral shrubs, meaning they require heat from fire to open cones to disperse seeds. In industrialized countries, controlled burning ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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