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Post by oak181 on Mar 16, 2015 18:34:33 GMT -5
I saw FOS Tree Swallows today, also Eastern Bluebirds looking over a nest box and just before the BIG snow the Red winged Blackbirds came back. It must be spring. John
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Post by downylover on Mar 16, 2015 21:29:06 GMT -5
4 days until its official but they're all getting a head start! I had a chipmunk and 2 bunnies.
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Post by hazelrunmama on Mar 17, 2015 18:57:51 GMT -5
I saw a few red-winged blackbirds and robins along the road yesterday, and the redpolls all left.
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Post by Calamity Creek Gal on Mar 17, 2015 21:06:05 GMT -5
Sounds like spring is migrating north! I had been 'missing' my large group of Red-wings, Brewers and Cowbirds this winter. They usually arrive by late January. They've been around the last week or so. They are a lazy bunch! I just need to change the time I put out ground seed to later in the morning and that discourages them enough to move along!!
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Post by hazelrunmama on Mar 18, 2015 18:43:36 GMT -5
Saw a few Sandhill cranes today. Would like some of the Brewer's blackbirds if you can steer them this way, Lue! Think your bluebirds are going to use your box again this year, John?
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Post by naturelover on Mar 20, 2015 10:00:06 GMT -5
An ugly sign of spring showed up here yesterday: a tick on hubby's shoulder. Dang things- I hate them!
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Post by oak181 on Mar 21, 2015 12:33:45 GMT -5
Hazel--I have one BB nest started and 2 nests started of Tree Swallows. I think the new boxes will work out. John
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Post by hazelrunmama on Mar 21, 2015 22:36:18 GMT -5
That's marvelous, John!! whoot whoot! I haven't even seen any bluebirds yet this year--and they're usually back by now. Marilyn, we've been seeing ticks for a couple of weeks now--even before all the snow melted!! Tough li'l buggers, that's for sure!
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Post by naturelover on Mar 22, 2015 9:00:01 GMT -5
John, happy to hear of your nest boxes getting used. It will be exciting to see the progression of nest building to fledging.
Hazel, you've had ticks that early? Wow! Yuck!!
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Post by hazelrunmama on Mar 23, 2015 18:50:07 GMT -5
It's been a rather warm(ish), dry March, so the ticks were out early.
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Post by Calamity Creek Gal on Mar 23, 2015 21:18:50 GMT -5
Hazel--I have one BB nest started and 2 nests started of Tree Swallows. I think the new boxes will work out. John It sounds like all the work you did at the end of last season is paying off! Congrats!! Hopefully no snakes this year.
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Post by hazelrunmama on Mar 24, 2015 12:33:09 GMT -5
whoot whoot!! Our bluebirds arrived today finally! About 2 to 2 1/2 weeks later than usual--I was starting to worry about them! They always nest here, but it's just the one pair...two pair at max and that only rarely.
Is there such a thing as a snake baffle to ward off reptilian raiders? Would something like tanglefoot deter them?
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Post by Calamity Creek Gal on Mar 24, 2015 21:35:13 GMT -5
I think you mentioned tanglefoot in a post with John last fall and when he redid his trail he incorporated that or something else suggested to deter the snakes.
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Post by oak181 on Mar 25, 2015 4:35:32 GMT -5
I added a snake baffle to the mounting post of the nest box. I used 4 inch A/C duct work, 4 feet long. Put a cap on one end, drilled a 3/4 inch hole in the cap, so the bafffle would fit over the post. I will let you know how it works. This method was suggested to me by a Herpetologist at Western Kentucky University. The duct wobbles on the post so a snake can't cling to it and the cap prevents the snake from crawling up the pole. I considered Tanglefoot, but thought it could also entrap birds plus I didn't want to deal with removing a snake.
A first for me was seeing a pair of Bluebirds using a woodpecker hole in a tree for a nesting site.
John
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Post by oak181 on Mar 25, 2015 10:06:03 GMT -5
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