What’s Your Watershed IQ?

Do you know that if you live in the White Clay watershed, all of the water that leaves your property eventually reaches the Wilmington Riverfront? The White Clay watershed is a 107 square mile area that extends across the Pennsylvania-Delaware border. It is a part of the larger Brandywine-Christina basin which ultimately drains out to the Delaware Bay.

This past summer, two local high school students and a University of Delaware student set out to ask a few general questions regarding our local waterways to pedestrians enjoying a beautiful day along the Wilmington Riverfront. Watch below to see how they responded. Challenge yourself and see if you can do any better!

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRq2Waj4rVg&feature=youtu.b[/embed]

How did you do?

A watershed is simply an area of land that drains to a body of water; so everything we do on land impacts our local waterways. While much of the water we see moves across the land as surface runoff, it’s also moving unseen underground, deep beneath our feet. Unlike townships, counties, and states, watersheds have no political boundaries, only geographical ones. This is beneficial in that it brings local residents together for a common and uniting cause, such as improving water quality. It can also be problematic if we don’t work collaboratively with our neighbors, both upstream and downstream, to collectively improve upon conditions that lead to polluted waters.

When you sit down this Thanksgiving weekend for your turkey dinner you are in a watershed. Remember - no matter where you live, work, or play, you are always in a watershed. Click here to learn your watershed address.

Newark Becomes the 78th City to Earn a Community Wildlife Habitat Certification

168 public and private spaces in Newark have been declared by the National Wildlife Federation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. To achieve that designation, a yard must provide four things for wildlife: food, water, cover and a place for animals to raise their young.

Enough private gardens and public spaces have been certified in Newark that the city itself is now a Certified Community Wildlife Habitat. Newark is only the 78th city to be certified and the second in the state of Delaware, after Townsend.

Read more about the City of Newark certification in this article in the Newark Post Online.

Learn how to create a wildlife friendly garden or register your current garden here.

Migrating Songbirds in our Watersheds

2014 October 9

By Andrea Bennett

The Yellow Warbler, Setophaga petechia. (Photo courtesy of Bert Filemyr, Delaware Valley Ornithological Club)

It’s fall migration season, and if you go out for a walk near a stream in the woods, you may see migrating songbirds, such as the Yellow Warbler, Setophaga petechia. After a summer in North America, this brilliantly colored bird – all yellow with streaks of red on its breast – is on its way back to Central and northern South America to spend the winter.  Through the spring and summer months, Yellow Warblers look for spots in woods near streams and wetlands to build their nests here in the mid-Atlantic region.

Like many migrating birds, Yellow Warblers eat insects. So if  no-see-ums get under your skin, hope that a Yellow Warbler comes to nest nearby. These birds also feast on gypsy moth larvae, plant lice and other pesky pests, so having songbirds in your neighborhood can put a significant dent in the insect population.

Unfortunately though, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey the number of songbirds in North America has been decreasing since the 1960s. Our world is a dangerous place if you’re a songbird: tall buildings, TV and radio towers, power lines, high voltage wires, pesticides, and predators all pose threats. Another critical threat to the migratory bird populations is the decrease in woodland habitat caused by expanding development near waterways where the birds feed and raise their young.

But here’s the good news: there are lots of relatively easy things we can do to help preserve the bird population. Since songbirds often fall prey to outdoor cats, consider keeping your pet cat inside or outfitting your family’s feline with a “cat bib” for outside roaming without harming birds. Consider non-pesticide methods of controlling pests, or limiting pesticide use to when it’s absolutely necessary. And we can make our manmade environment more bird-friendly too. Adding bird deterrent structures to buildings and communication towers can help birds find a safer route.

If you happen to live near a stream, you can help our songbirds even more by developing riparian buffers.  EPA and states work together to plant and protect stream channels and corridors, which not only provide habitat for birds and other wildlife, but also improve water quality.  Together, we can help insure that these beautiful winged “insect terminators” come back to our neighborhoods every summer.

About the Author: Andrea Bennett is a biologist with EPA.  Andrea enjoys birding, kayaking and playing the mandolin and she is a member of her local watershed protection team.

Editor's Note: The opinions expressed here are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.