Columnist Paula Del Giudice: Tag — but nobody’s it

Wednesday, May 14, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

WELL, I won't be taking for granted that I will be drawing a deer tag this year. The Board of Wildlife Commissioners met in Reno over the weekend and decreased the number of tags available to deer hunters this year by a hefty number.

Those bonus points a hunter obtains when he or she doesn't draw a tag will be adding up this year, it appears. Meanwhile, the freezer is looking pretty empty in our household -- no one drew a tag last year and we only shot one deer in 1995.

Now if the stars all line up, maybe that elk tag will come through.

Though you may already have applied for tags and there's nothing to do but wait, you might want to think about hunting deer somewhere else this year. I'll bring you the details when they are available from NDOW.

For the birds

Last Saturday was National Migratory Bird Day, marking the celebration of spring migration and the return of millions of birds to their nesting areas.

While the weather continued to feel more like summer in Las Vegas, in Reno where I spent the weekend attending the Nevada Wildlife Federation's annual meeting, it seemed more like spring. It was a treat to sleep with the window open, knowing that cool breezes would be blowing.

I was awakened to the sound of a woodpecker and could hear the chi-CA- go of a lonely California quail. After awhile, the geese added their delightful music. Outside on my stepdaughter's deck was the nest of a family of house finches -- mother, father and three babies. Joining the parents in flight was a yellow-chested warbler -- probably a yellow warbler. This diminutive fellow spent the winter either in South America or Mexico.

It was for him, and others like him, that National Migratory Bird Day came into existence five years ago. Though Rachel Carson sounded a wake-up call to America 35 years ago when she wrote Silent Spring, depicting the nation's problems with harmful pesticides, 800 of our nation's migratory bird species still are imperiled as a result of loss of habitat and the misuses of common pesticides.

The deaths of 20,000 Swainson's hawks in Argentina last year highlighted the problem. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, working with the Argentine government, received a commitment from a major chemical company, Ciba-Geigy, to limit use of the pesticide responsible for the deaths and to expand education and training efforts among Argentine farmers.

In Nevada, there are several birds on the Partners in Flight "WatchList." The WatchList was introduced in the autumn of 1996 to draw attention to species of U.S. migratory birds most in need of conservation action.

Nevada's WatchList birds include the Long- billed Curlew, Lewis's Woodpecker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Loggerhead Shrike, Brewer's Sparrow, Sage Sparrow and the Yellow- headed Blackbird.

Turkey dinner

The Southern Nevada Longbeards Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation will hold its first Wild Turkey Super Fund Conservation Dinner and Auction Thursday at the Gold Coast Hotel. Festivities will get under way at 6 p.m. with a "Gobbling Hour" featuring cocktails. Dinner begins at 7:30 p.m.

The dinner will feature games, raffles, live auctions, silent auctions and prizes, not to mention a prime rib dinner. The cost is $80 per couple, with singles costing $60. Jakes (ages 17-under) are $15. Dinner tickets include the cost of a NWTF membership.

The National Wild Turkey Federation is a national nonprofit educational conservation organization comprised of state and local affiliates that support scientific wildlife management on public, private and corporate lands. It also supports "traditional sport hunting" and every citizen's right to enjoy clean air and water in an esthetically pleasing outdoor environment." Membership includes a bimonthly issue of Turkey Call magazine and The Caller tabloid.

Wild turkeys began their successful introduction in southern Nevada following releases at the Mason Valley Wildlife Management Area in Yerington in late winter 1987. They are now hunted in several areas in Nevada.

If you're interested in the Thursday night banquet call Brett Johnson, NWTF/SW Regional Director in Moab, Utah, at (801) 259-WILD (9453).

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