PKPS MEETING 9:00 AM May 8th, 2010 Our Hosts: Steve and Kathy Wakeman, located, 3104 W. Summerbend Ct. Peoria DIRECTIONS: Travel North on N. Knoxville (Rt.40) going past Northpoint Shopping Center and over 474/Rt. 6 overpass, to the second Stop Light. Turn left (Alta Rd.) to Trailsedge Subdivision. Turn right into Subdivision, turn left onto Dahlia Ct. and then turn right onto Summerbend Ct. 3104 is the 2nd Home on the left. Mr. Gary Ward will speek about Bee s and Their importance to plants and wildlife and Humans. It sounds like this will be a must attend meeting so we may learn more about Bee s other than they sting. If anyone has a bit of news that they want in the Newsletter, please let me know. My cell phone is 645-4459, and my email is: Buggs844@comcast.net Birthday Babies: Jean Barclay Joyce Gettys Terry Maltas Volume 14, Issue 04 May, 2010 Special points of interest: Always bring your lawn chairs to the meetings. Perhaps a pen and paper to jot down notes. Membership dues are due Tid-Bits of info article. Membership Meetings for 2010 Inside this issue: Pond/ water Feature of the month 2 CLUB DUES WERE DUE IN APRIL, only $20.00 Please give cash/check to our Treasure or send to: JEAN CLARKE 6934 N. St. Mary Rd PEORIA, IL 61614 REMEMBER : PKPS IS GOING ELECTRONIC. Only way to get your Newsletter will be online. Give us your email address. Hard copy upon request. Through The Fish Eye BATS Friend or Foe? Tid Bits of Info - Rock and Boulders from Denese Bevard PKPS Meeting Locations 5 Cover 6 3 4 7 8
Page 2 Pond / Water Feature s If you want to see these beautiful flowers in color, go to: www.pkps1.com Its our web site folks, give it a shot, also, print your newsletter in COLOR! I do!
Volume 14, Issue 04 Page 3 THROUGH THE FISH EYE BATS, FRIEND OR FOE Research by Ron Kramer Bats are flying mammals in the order CHIROPTERA (pronounced/kar roptere/). The forelimbs of bats are webbed and developed as wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as the flying squirrels, gliding possums and colugos, glide rather than fly, and only for short distances. Bats do not flap their entire forelimbs, as birds do, but instead flap their spread out digits, which are very long and covered with a thin membrane or patagium Chiroptera comes from two Greek words, cheir hand and pteron wing. There are about 1,100 bat species worldwide, which represent about twenty percent of all classified mammal species. About seventy percent of bats are insectivores. Most of the rest are frugivores, or fruit eaters. A few species feed from animals other than insects. Bats are present throughout most of the world and perform vital ecological roles such as pollinating flowers and dispersing fruit seeds. Many tropical plants depend entirely on bats for the distribution of their seeds. Bats range in size from Kitti s Hog-nosed Bat measuring 29-33 mm (1.14-1.30) in length and 2g (0.07 oz) in mass, to the Giant Golden-crowned Flying-fox, which has a wing span of 1.5 m (4 ft 11in) and weighs approximately 1.2 kg (3 lb) EYES Although the eyes of most microbat species are small and poorly developed, leading to poor visual acuity, none of them are blind. Vision is used to navigate microbats especially for long distances when beyond the range of echolocation. It has even been discovered that some species are able to detect ultraviolet light. They also have a high quality sense of smell and hearing. Bats hunt at night to avoid competition with birds, and travel large distances at most 800km, in their search for food. FEEDING The teeth of microbats resemble insectivorans. They are very sharp to bite through the hardened armor of insects or the skin of fruit. Mammals have one-way valves in veins to prevent the blood from flowing backwards, but bats also have one-way valves in arteries. One species of bat has the longest tongue of any mammal relative to its body size. This is beneficial to them in terms of pollination and feeding their long narrow tongues can reach deep into the long cup shape of some flowers. When their tongue retracts, it coils up inside their rib cage. The majority of food consumed by bats include Insects Fruit and Flower nectar Vertebrates Blood Almost three-fourths of the world s bats are insect eaters. Each of these bats is able to consume one third of its body weight in insects each night, and several hundred insects in a few hours. This means that a group of one thousand bats could eat four tons of insects each year. If bats were to become extinct, the insect population would reach an alarmingly high number. The types of insects consumed by bats cab be divided into two categories: aerial insects, and ground dwelling insects.
Page 4 TID BITS OF INFO Feed tree peony's with a fish emulsion fertilizer Apply first fertilization to your lawn around Mother s Day Apply an acid fertilizer to your azaleas and rhododendrons This is the time to prune your forsythia, lilac and any other spring flowering shrub after they have finished flowering Set out tomato plants around the middle of May. You can do it earlier, if you are prepared to cover in case we have a late frost. The last average frost date for our area is May 15th. By Ron Kramer, and Denese Bevard
Volume 13, Issue 2 page 5 PKPS MEETING LOCATIONS AND SPEAKERS
Prairieland Koi & Pond Society Ron Kramer President/Editor 1408 S. 14th Street Pekin, IL 61554 Phone: 309-645-4459 E-mail: buggs844@comcast.net We re on the web!!! www.pkps1.com It s All For the Hobby Officers Ron Kramer- President/ Editor 309-645-4459 Sheldon Bevard Vice- President, Health Advisor 346-1526 Jean Clarke Treasurer 691-6721 Directors Allen Kruger Senior Director Web Master (217) 737-3646 Lori Kruger Director Ways & Means, Special Events (217) 737-3625 Directors Rick Moreland Director, Food and Beverage 694-5057 Karen Dickerson Secretary 309-642-6463