Archive for April, 2007
Niles Daily Star, MI - Mar 22, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007 10:32 AM EDT
It happens to me every year. I have great intentions of getting my bird houses in tip top shape, however, as spring starts to creep in, there always seems to be more immediate projects.
I assure myself that the weather is still too nasty for birds to start housekeeping but then all of a sudden, it’s too late. They’ve either shunned my unkempt houses or, worse yet, moved in to ones that are so ill prepared that death to the babies is imminent. Birds are on a tight schedule and don’t wait for nice weather to do their thing.
This year, I’ve reformed and am just finishing up maintenance chores. I’m none too early, either. A screech owl has already laid claim to the wood duck house across the creek. Bluebirds are vying for the houses along the driveway and a Carolina wren is checking out the clay pot house hanging from the cabin eave.
Any day now, the tree swallows will arrive to squabble with the bluebirds over housing rights and just maybe this might be the year purple martins find the martin house down at the pond acceptable. Martins are scheduled to arrive here in southern Michigan around April 10, but typically scouts sneak in several weeks earlier to scope out the housing situation. The time to give your birdhouses attention is right now.
Going beyond cleaning and repair, there’s one critical thing that’s very often overlooked - predator protection. Without some form of protection from predators you are suckering the birds into a death trap. Lots of critters out there are really fond of omelets and chicks and if they are not thwarted nesting success drops to near zero. In this area the primary nest box predators are squirrels (both red and fox), raccoons, snakes and ants.
Be sure the nest box is far from adjacent trees or limbs for squirrels can leap as much as 20 feet horizontally. If the box is mounted on a tree wrap a three-foot wide strip of sheet metal around the trunk below the house. It’s still not squirrel proof from above but better than nothing. A camo paint job makes the sheet metal less obtrusive.
For nest boxes mounted on a pole or small tree, a predator guard is essential. Don’t even consider the saucer type squirrel guards, raccoons navigate past them with ease. I like the “stove pipe” style which, when properly installed and maintained, defeats all predators. However, most commercial ones billed as raccoon guards are only six inches in diameter and I’ve seen ‘coons shinny right up those.
Better is a section of eight-inch diameter stove pipe from the hardware store. For aesthetics, I get black ones and spray on blotches and streaks of gray, brown and green paint in a camo pattern.
To attach the stove pipe to the pole I make a cone shaped cap of sorts from galvanized steel hardware cloth with quarter or three-eighths inch mesh. Screw on a strip of the hardware cloth around the top of the pipe with about five inches extending beyond the pipe. Cut out pie shaped wedge sections from the cloth to allow you to bend the screen inward and shape it around the nest box pole.
Be sure the screen sections overlap to block snakes. Use a hose clamp (from the automotive store) to tightly clamp the hardware cloth to the pole. In the process, insert several layers of thick cloth around the pole behind the clamp with plenty left hanging out. Keep this saturated with ant poison to prevent ants from invading the nest box. It has to be recharged regularly but it’s much preferable to putting the pesticide directly into the nest area which cannot be good for the chicks. Mount the guard as high as possible so critters can’t jump up past it.
You now have a do-it-all predator guard. The stove pipe fends off squirrels, ‘coons, cats and such. The hardware cloth clamped tight to the pole blocks snakes and the pesticide soaked cloth eliminates ant issues. The bird family is now secure. Carpe diem.
April 10th, 2007
kitsapsun.com
By Joan Carson
April 1, 2007
“That corner on the barn’s lean-to looks like a good place to put up a swallow house.” That observation was made as my spouse and I sat in the living room. For whatever reason, the view from one window made the barn and its attached structure stand out.
A birdhouse would face northwest, but it would receive sunshine most of the day. The area surrounding it was open, not closed in by trees or other buildings. This would allow the swallows to make their swift approach to the house without any interference.
There was a time when putting up a house for swallows was simple. That isn’t always the case anymore. Four swallow species will nest in man-made nest boxes or on structures built for human use. Barn swallows nest in barns, carports, garages, gazeboes and other outbuildings. Tree swallows and violet-greens nest in birdhouses. Purple martins use artificial gourds and nest boxes.
This column is primarily on the violet-green swallow because of two letters. One was from a reader who wanted to put up the correct house for violet-greens. The other was from a reader who had a helpful hint to pass on to anyone constructing that house.
Starlings are a problem for birds that nest in birdhouses. They will take over any house that has an entrance large enough to allow them in. The major problem for swallows is the growing house sparrow population. This bird, that isn’t native to North America, will move into any birdhouse with an entrance hole no smaller than 1-1/4 inches. It kills the young of any bird already occupying the house. Swallows have suffered the most because that size entrance hole was standard in most birdhouses. The problem was solved for chickadees and nuthatches because they can use an entrance that is 1-1/8 inches wide.
A new design for the swallows was searched for and it was the late Hugh Prescott that came up with one. His entrance design keeps house sparrows out of swallow houses. It doesn’t have a round entrance. His original design called for an oblong opening that is EXACTLY 7/8 inches high and two inches wide.
The height of the opening can’t vary at all if house sparrows are to be kept out. They have larger heads than the swallows and can’t squeeze through an opening this tight. When it comes to the width, it is important to make it wide enough for the swallow’s broad shoulders.
Walter J., from Port Angeles, wrote to tell me how he makes the correct entrance hole. It sounds simple, but that’s good.
“For two years now, I have made violet-green swallow birdhouses with an entrance hole 7/8 inches high … I drill two 7/8 inch holes and then join them.”
We have used Prescott’s design for years. It is why we have nesting violet-greens. A similar design has a different entrance shape, but works equally well. It resembles a horizontally stretched diamond. The top-to-bottom measurement in the center of the diamond is the same, 7/8 inches. It is 3-1/2 inches wide. The house’s opening should be set to one side, not centered. It should be about three inches from the bottom of the house.
Both designs are box-shaped. They are 11 inches wide, 6-1/2 inches high, and 5 to 6 inches deep. They can be pole-mounted on a building or on the underside of a ceiling or roof. In that case, they don’t need their own roof. Where a roof is needed, it should be hinged to allow for cleaning.
For information, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Nesting Swallows, P.O. Box 532, Poulsbo, WA 98370.
April 9th, 2007
timesonline.co.uk
Chris Ayres in Los Angeles
A Californian condor has laid an egg in Mexico for the first time since the 1930s, with scientists watching like hawks in the hope that it will hatch any day.
The birth of a condor, one of the largest species of birds on Earth and featured on the coats of arms of several South American countries, would help to reintroduce the massive scavengers to the skies of Mexico several decades after being wiped out there.
The egg — which belongs to a seven-year-old female named Condor 217, born in the Los Angeles Zoo — was found in an abandoned eagle’s nest on a clifftop in the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir National Park, about 100 miles south of the US-Mexico border on the Baja California peninsula.
Condors do not reproduce until they are several years old.
“This is a momentous occasion,” said Mike Wallace, a field scientist at the Zoological Society of San Diego, who helped to find the egg. “We are all excited.”
A young condor cannot fly until it is six months old and it will roost and hunt with its parents for the first two years of its life.
Condors are the largest flying land birds in the western hemisphere, with wingspans up to 3m (10ft) They mate for life and one bird in captivity survived to the age of 77. Like humans, condors blush in response to emotions — their way of communicating with other birds.
Scavengers by nature, condors will fly up to 150 miles a day in search of carcasses. Because of the birds’ size and their ability to rip through hides, they can feed on much larger animals than other scavengers, often eating so much they can no longer lift themselves off the ground.
The population of Californian condors has been devastated by a shortage of seals and otters to feed on.
The use of poison to kill grizzly bears in the 1800s, along with hunting, egg collecting and power cables, also severely affected world populations. By the 1980s there were only 22 condors left but thanks to a captive-breeding programme the worldwide population now stands at 280.
More than 100 of these condors now fly free in the skies above parts of California, Nevada and Utah. Working with the Mexican Government, biologists reintroduced captive-bred condors to Mexico five years ago.
Another species of condor, found in the Andes, is also under threat, but its numbers remain in the thousands.
After discovering the condor egg, scientists climbed up to the nest and took photographs and measurements, shining a bright light through the shell to find out its age: 45 to 50 days old. Condor eggs typically incubate for 57 days, meaning the chick could hatch any day. There is a risk that the egg is dead but Mr Wallace said that he did not smell any sulphur and was reassured that its parents were still tending to it.
“We are all sitting on pins and needles waiting to see where the situation is going,” he said.
Big bird, giant appetite
— Only one egg laid at a time and incubated
— Average life expectancy is 60 years
— 10ft (3m) average wing span of fully grown bird
— 55mph (88 k/mh) top speed in flight
— 15,000ft (4,600m) altitude to which condors soar
— 2-3lbs (1-1.36kg) of meat can be consumed in one go by 25lb birds Source: San Diego Zoo
Source: San Diego Zoo
April 5th, 2007
Chicago Daily Southtown, IL - Mar 28, 2007
March 28, 2007
The issue: New report says cost to repair the shuttered Cook County toboggan slides has increased dramatically.
We say: The forest preserve district must study all of its options and find a way to reopen the slides. Despite the report’s gloominess, it appears there are several practical alternatives. The slides — particularly Swallow Cliff — are too valuable an asset to remain closed.
Trying to reopen the popular Swallow Cliff toboggan slides in Palos Township has been an uphill battle. But we’re not giving up the fight, and it’s good to see the local Cook County commissioner, Elizaeth Doody Gorman, isn’t either.
The latest development concerning the slides’ fate occurred last week when a new report showed that fixing and reopening Swallow Cliff and the county’s other slides would cost $3.7 million. That’s $2.2 million more than previously had been estimated.
After months and months of debate about the slides, the only thing that’s been accomplished is that the costs have gone up.
The report laid out prices for several options. Repairing just the six slides at Swallow Cliff would cost $1.3 million. Removing the Swallow Cliff slides and the eight others throughout the county would cost about $900,000. Refrigerating the slides to allow them to be used all winter — not just on days when the snow is deep enough — would be $21.5 million. And landscaping the massive hill at Swallow Cliff for sledding would be about $320,000.
Slides introduced kids to the wonders of forest preserves
The report noted that traditional toboggan slides are disappearing in many areas because variable weather conditions don’t always make their existence practical. From 1998 to 2004, the Cook County slides were open only 44 times, earning just $54,927. The condition of the slides has kept them closed since 2004.
That the slides were allowed to deteriorate to the point of being shut down speaks volumes about the way Cook County government has operated. The slides, on the days they were running, were one of the Cook County Forest Preserve District’s most popular attractions and served to introduce kids of all ages to the wonders of the forest preserve system. But rather than make our ulcers worse dwelling on past mistakes, it’s best to look to the future.
There have been discussions about possible year-round uses for the slides. Gorman, of Orland Park, is trying to keep that idea alive and noted the existence of an Astroturf-like surface that could make the slides useful in all seasons. That’s an idea worth exploring. There has been talk of refrigerating the slides to keep them operable more often or even using a snow-making apparatus, similar to what ski resorts use to stay open in winter, but those options appear to be too expensive.
The county has considered privatizing the slides and other recreational features, another idea that should continue to be studied. A private company may be wary of taking over decrepit toboggan slides, so it might be worth it for the county to fix the slides and recoup the cost through their sale or a cut of the revenue a private company can generate.
Looks like money is available in forest preserve treasury
We also believe the forest preserve district shouldn’t give up just yet on the idea of repairing and running the slides itself. With what money? you ask. Well, the Todd Stroger administration didn’t think twice about moving $13 million from the forest preserve surplus of $22 million into the county budget recently. Obviously, there’s money in the kitty. And a lot more could be had by cutting the obvious wasteful spending in the district and fixing the recreational features well enough to be able to justify charging reasonable revenue-generating fees.
The bottom line is the Swallow Cliff slides need to be reopened. There appear to be several ways to accomplish this. But disinterested leadership and excuse-making won’t help the cause. We realize there are many matters that need attention in county government, but one of the forest preserve district’s missions is to provide outdoor recreation. Swallow Cliff should be the district’s signature feature.
Â
April 2nd, 2007
Next Posts