Queen Elizabeth II turns 90 on Saturday, June 11, and that’s reason enough to celebrate, but one company has gone a step beyond the cake to celebrate Elizabeth’s love of corgis.

Spoonflower, a website that lets users design, print and sell their own fabrics and wallpaper, has put together a collection of 90 corgi dog pillows and one life-sized body pillow of her royal majesty.

The sea of corgis, plus the queen, is, of course, a clever way of promoting the website and encouraging folks to make pillows and other objects featuring their own pets, but there is an altruistic side of this, too. The website hopes to present the corgi herd to Queen Elizabeth, but supposing that she doesn’t want or need 90 pillows, the site also is considering auctioning the stuffed dogs and donating the proceeds to one of the Queen’s favorite charities.

Sounds like a pip of an idea to me.

To help commemorate the day, and the corgis, Spoonflower also has come up with a list 12 Queen and corgi related facts:

• The Queen has owned more than 30 corgis (but none, as far as we can tell, with a name longer than two syllables).
• Pembroke Welsh corgis are her favorite breed.
• She has loved corgis since she was a small child, after first encountering those owned by the children of the Marquess of Bath.
• The first corgi she ever owned was called Dookie, which her father, the future King George VI, brought home for his daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, in 1933.
• Elizabeth, age 7, picked Dookie from a choice of three Corgi pups, reportedly because of his longer tail – “So that we can see whether he’s pleased or not.”
• When still young princesses, Elizabeth and her Margaret, invented the “dorgi”, by cross breeding Elizabeth’s corgi, Tiny, with Margaret’s dachshund, Pipkin.
• On her 18th birthday in 1944, the future queen was given a corgi named Susan.
• She was so fond of Susan that she took her on honeymoon after marrying Prince Philip in 1947.
• Susan founded a corgi dynasty, producing at least 10 generations of royal corgis.
• Susan became one of several royal corgis to bite royal servants, when she nipped Leonard Hubbard, the Royal Clockwinder, as he was entering the Royal Lodge Windsor in 1954.
• Holly and Willow, the Queen’s current corgis, are the last two remaining of a once 13-strong pack.
• Holly and Willow seem likely to be the Queen’s last corgis, after the announcement last year that she had ended her breeding program.

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You can buy a lot of things on Craig’s List, but not wildlife, or so a Ukiah woman learned when she tried to sell a young fawn for $300.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports that the woman, 28-year-old  Lacy Jean David, of Ukiah, found the fawn near Hopland, then decided to sell it a few hours later. California Department of Fish and Wildlife officers posed as buyers and then arrested the woman when she tried to complete the transaction.

Fortunately, such attempted sales are rare, officials said, as well as illegal. David allegedly told officers that she thought the deer was orphaned and wanted to help it out. She said she found it alongside a road in the early morning.

Young animals can often be found by themselves, but they rarely are abandoned or orphaned. As the young grow older, the parents may leave them to forage for food, or may allow the children to wander on their own and learn how to forage for themselves. The parents always are nearby.

Taking a wild animal from its natural setting and away from its family can end in tragedy. Humans generally are not good substitutes for animal parents, and the shock of being removed from its home can stress an animal. That combined with inappropriate care can lead to the animal’s death.

The fawn apparently is doing well at a wildlife rescue facility in Lake County. A decision on what to do with the fawn has not been made. If it’s old enough to manage on its own, it may be released back into the wild. It may also have to live the rest of its life in captivity if it’s not able to manage on its own.

If you see a young animal on its own, take no action unless the animal appears to be seriously injured or in danger. That includes taking in kittens that you think may have been abandoned. Keep an eye on the animal and call a wildlife rehabilitation center to report the animal and receive instruction.

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Our Garden produces around 14,000 pounds of vegetables and fruit each year, but this is the first time it has produced baby birds.

Last year, the California Bluebird Recovery Program installed nesting boxes at Our Garden in Walnut Creek, and this year we had our first family born there. Five to six oak titmouse chicks hatched in mid April and will likely leave the nest in the next week or so.

Although we were hoping to help out with bluebird recovery, we’re happy to have any cavity nesters take advantage of our hospitality. Cavity nesting birds are struggling as areas for them to nest have become limited, partly due development removing their traditional nesting spots, complicated by higher competition among all birds for the remaining spots. We might compare it to the housing market for humans — too many buyers, not enough houses. And while humans can always find an apartment to rent, cavity nesting birds can’t.

The oak titmouse is a feisty little bird, a rather nondescript brown with a topknot. The mother bird will aggressively defend her nest, eggs and chicks, hissing, splaying her tail feathers and charging intruders. The chicks are born naked and helpless, but in three week’s time their eyes will have opened, they will have sprouted feathers and will be ready to leave the nest.

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Last year the California Bluebird Recovery Program installed six nesting boxes at Our Garden in Walnut Creek, with the hopes of helping out the bluebirds that have had a rough time of it in recent years.

That first season, the only sign that the bluebirds were around was a lone feather left in a box — a possible sign that one of the bluebird pairs was considering moving in and had put a down payment, so to speak, on the property. But by the end of nesting season, the only living creatures using the boxes were paper wasps.

But Wednesday, March 30, I made the rounds of the boxes, carefully opening them up to see if this year would be any different than last. I slowly opened the first box, the one that had the feather last year, and discovered a few seed pods and blades of grass. It was nothing close to a nest, but it did show some activity. Earlier this month, I had cleaned all six boxes, removing a few paper wasp nests and spiders, and prepared them for occupation. Since then, something had taken a slight interest in the box.

I walked over to the second and slowly loosened the screw that would allow me to raise the side of the box, much like opening a garage door. I lifted it up slightly and was stunned to see a lot of material inside. I raised the side a bit higher. Things were coming into better view. It was a nest, and pretty a good one at that. As I inched the side up higher, a bird suddenly shot from the hole in the front.

I felt inside and counted six tiny eggs. I held my phone up to capture a photo of the cozy, comfy interior, and then I sent the photo the bluebirds coordinator. It was a nest and there were eggs, but we first thought the nest looked more like it belonged to the white-breasted nuthatch. When I was able to get a picture of the rather angry mother bird, we learned it was an oak titmouse. The other boxes were empty. I am disappointed the bluebirds haven’t discovered the boxes yet, but it’s cool to have another cavity nesting bird moving in.

The Western bluebird is a small, beautiful bird with a hue that any interior designer would envy. They live in the Bay Area, but many people have never seen one. The birds are cavity nesters, meaning they build their nests inside of tree hollows or nesting boxes built and erected by kind people.

Urbanization is to blame for most of  the decline in bluebirds. Their natural nesting sites are disappearing or being usurped by more aggressive cavity nesting birds.

The California Bluebird Recovery Program promotes the conservation of all cavity nesting birds, especially the Western bluebird. The association has county coordinators who organize the construction, placement and monitoring of the boxes.

Last year during a class at Our Garden, the demonstration garden established by the Bay Area News Group in conjunction with the Contra Costa Master Gardeners, I saw pairs of bluebirds swooping through the garden and perching atop our barn owl box. I contacted the bluebird group and it generously arranged for the installation of the boxes.

Although we haven’t attracted a bluebird pair, the oak titmouse is pretty cool, too. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes them this way: “Nondescript save for its crest, the oak titmouse might not wow many bird watchers at first sight. But these vocal, active birds characterize the warm, dry oak woods from southern Oregon to Baja California—they’re ‘the voice and soul of the oaks,’ according to one early naturalist. Mates pair for life, and both partners noisily defend their territory year-round.”

It will be another couple of weeks before we know if any of the eggs hatch. Until then, you’ll find me pacing and biting my nails.

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EagleCam, a camera trained on the nest of two American bald eagles, Liberty and Justice, has attracted a legion of followers across the globe as viewers awaited the hatching of two eaglets. The blessed event occurred over the weekend.

The webcam was established by EarthCam, a global leader in delivering webcam content, technology and services. EarthCam was founded in 1996 and now maintains a number of live streaming and time-lapse construction cameras that serve a diverse audience. Animal lovers have been flocking to Liberty and Justice’s EagleCam for a few weeks, waiting for the big event.

The eagles have been nesting and raising eaglets in the same Washington, D.C. area for the past 11 years. The webcam lets viewers watch the interaction between the adults and the chicks. It’s pretty spectacular and makes me long for the days of the Goose Cam on top of the old Contra Costa Times building.

The nest is located along the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. EarthCam teamed up with the Earth Conservation Corps to install the camera.

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Recently I published a letter in my column from Linus Eukel, executive director of the John Muir Land Trust, about the group’s efforts to purchase and preserve an important section of land, Carr Ranch, near Moraga.

Carr Ranch has more than 600 acres of varied terrain and spectacular views. More importantly, it is a vital watershed to ensure clean drinking water, and is a critical habitat for a number of endangered species. Once preserved, it will serve as an amazing ecological resource, and a new recreational area as it will be open for hiking and the like.

I jumped at the chance to support this effort and John Muir Land Trust, which in the past 27 years has protected 2,500 acres of land that might otherwise had been lost to development or neglect. These folks have a track record not only of helping preserve these spaces and protecting wildlife, but in getting various groups together in partnerships that benefit everyone.

The land trust is working to raise $100,000, and this week Linus sent an update on how things are going, which you can read in my column . He also sent along some of the letters the group has received, which proves once again that my readers are the most generous and caring people around.

The campaign continues and if you have not had a chance to send in a donation of any amount, you can do so on the trust’s website. Here are the some excerpts from folks who’ve already contributed.

“We saw your plea for funding the Carr Ranch Project near Moraga in today’s Mercury News. Though we live in the South Bay region and are not likely to benefit from public access to this area, we certainly are supportive of preserving watershed and open space. We are sending a small contribution to help in your efforts and we wish you success in your endeavor.”

“After reading an article in the San Jose Mercury News by Joan Morris, I felt it my duty to send a check to help with the call to raise funds for the Carr Ranch project. The property sounds like a wonderful investment. I can’t wait to visit. My husband and I like to walk, hike and enjoy the wonders of nature. Thank you for all you do.”

“I’m so happy to be a small part of what you are doing for the land.”

“I read Joan Morris’ column today. I am so glad to know of another great place we (potentially) can all access. Good luck to your work.”

“My Dear Eco-Heroes: Saw the ‘call to help’ in today’s Mercury News column with Joan Morris and when I saw ‘donations will be matched by other sources’ I humbly wrote the enclosed check. I no longer can donate as I wish due to limited income and wish your  Land Trust people miracles as you strive to help our home planet, Earth. I send you blessings of gratitude.”

“Dear Joan: We are ardent followers of your column. In fact, you published a ‘vacation story’ from Shirley about our cats, Angel and Punkin’, in your July 2, 2015 column.

“We are also longtime supporters of the John Muir Land Trust and are very pleased to see that you are running a fundraiser in your column to help save Carr Ranch. We would like to help kickoff this valuable effort with a gift of $1,000, and encourage our fellow Contra Costa citizens to join us with their donations. We are all so fortunate to be able to live in our semi-urban neighborhoods and yet look out and enjoy the lovely vistas of our rolling countryside and protected wildlife havens.  Let us maintain them for our own inner peace and for the education and enjoyment of our children.

“It is a pleasure to show our appreciation to our community in return for the many benefits we have received.

“Patrick & Shirley Campbell Foundation”

Check out the view:

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Mourning doves have a well-earned reputation for being really lousy nest builders. Some actually manage to assemble a nest, although most other birds would find it greatly lacking. Other mourning doves just find something that is roughly nest shaped and maybe — maybe — add a couple of twigs or a blade of grass.

We can help our hapless bird friends by building nesting baskets for them. Ideally, they should be mounted before breeding season starts, but it wouldn’t hurt to put some out now. Here are the instruction via the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Nest Watch program: mourning-dove.

No one knows exactly why mourning doves are such pitiful nest builders. It would seem they’re intent on being good parents once the little squabs arrive but not too concerned with setting up the nursery.

Alex Nepacena of Concord saw a courting pair in his yard, then found an egg nestled in the palm of his work glove. Others have seen nests built, and I use the term loosely, with a couple of twigs on a flat surface or precariously perched on a rafter or in a rain gutter.

Criticize their home building skills, but don’t knock their parenting abilities. They are good eggs when it comes to raising their young. They have to be. Mourning doves are the most hunted game birds in North America, with about 20 million of them being killed each year during hunting season. Yet the population remains strong and steady at around 350 million.

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Good news for those who love nature and wildlife, and like to be out among them. The East Bay Regional Park District board of directors have approved $2 million in contracts to extend the San Francisco Bay Trail and clean up debris from two sections of the McLaughlin Eastshore State Park.

“This beautiful park is a tremendous asset not just for the East Bay, but the entire region,” board member Whitney Dotson said in a news release. Dotson’s ward includes most of the 8.5-mile shoreline park. “We’re excited to be moving ahead with these long-awaited improvement plans.”

The improvements will include the removal of the “big dirt pile,” a 53-foot high pile that has been an eyesore at the park for more than a decade. The pile was created from earlier excavation projects before the park district took over the property. The contract calls for the removal of debris, toxic soil and invasive plants, and the grading of the pile, which will be lowered by 15 feet and spread into small hills to create a buffer zone between the park and Interstate 80. Crews then will seed the hills with native grasses, which will create and improve habitat for shorebirds and other wildlife, and improve views of the Bay.

The other contract will complete work already done on Albany Beach. Under an earlier project, the beach and Albany Neck were cleaned up and animal habitat was restored. The project has improved bird roosting islands, tidal pools, an oyster reef, shoreline stabilization and trail improvements. The second and final portion of the project will complete restoration at Albany Beach, including beach and dune enhancements, a non-motorized boat launch, restroom, parking and about a mile of the Bay Trail west of Golden Gate Fields.

Questa Engineering of Richmond will design the last two phases of the Albany Beach restoration and O.C. Jones & Sons of Berkeley will tackle the big pile of dirt in the Brickyard Cove area.

The park extends from the Bay Bridge to Richmond, and includes 1,854 acres of uplands and tidelands along the waterfronts of Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, Albany, and Richmond.

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In honor of National Puppy Day on March 23, I have a guest columnist to help puppy owners understand what their pups are thinking.

Christina Russell is president of Camp Bow Wow, a growing pet care franchise. She says that nonverbal communication accounts for 93 percent of the way dogs communicate, and that while many people assume a puppy “knows he was bad” when he’s done something wrong, the puppy is just reacting to our body language and tone. Here are her tips on how to gauge what your pup is thinking.

Acting Out/Bad Behavior: Puppies do whatever they can for a reward (food, toys, pets, or any type of attention), including things we may not appreciate, like chewing, barking, and going to the bathroom in the house. These activities are self-rewarding because pet parents are often quick to react to these behaviors, giving them instant gratification.

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Ever wonder where all those cute cat photos on the Internet come from? A digital cloud provider says cat owners are giving us a steady supply, taking an average of four or five photos of their lovable fur babies a day, and sharing them on social media or texting them.

MiMedia Inc., a cloud content provider, looked at 1,000 of its customers and their habits regarding photos and videos of their pets. The results? Cat owners’ frequent snapping of pictures takes up 3.03 GB per year. Dog owners, on the other paw,  take an average of two photos a day, expending 1.31 GB of data storage in year.

While Fluffy’s parents were spending their gigabytes on pictures, only 7 percent of them were taking more than two videos a day. Rover’s mom and pop, however, were more video-centric with 10 percent of dog owners taking more than two videos of their pooches a day.

Although I maintain it’s because cats are more often in repose than dogs and therefore easier to photograph, MiMedia correlates gigabytes to love, saying that cat owners must love their pets more than the dog lovers. Hmmm, what do you think?

Other results of the study:

• 30 percent of cat videos are over 11 seconds; 40 percent of dog videos are.
• Both cat and dog lovers like to share the cuteness. About 42 percent of all dog and cat videos and photos are shared on social media. However, we’re more keen on texting the pictures (70 percent) to friends and family.
• Cat lovers salaries range from $50,000 to $74,999; dog lovers are higher paid, in the $75,000 to $99,999 a year.
• Of those participating in the study, a little more than a quarter (27 percent) of cat owners are female, while 31 percent of dog owners are of the female persuasion.

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