Nest Box Intrigue

Warning! There is a slightly gross photo at the end of this post.

I opened up another egg that I found left inside a birdhouse again. Although, I don't think this one is nearly as gross as the merganser egg.

In the photo on the left are nests found in one Gilbertson Bluebird Box. From left to right we have a black-capped chickadee nest, a house wren nest and an eastern bluebird nest.

It's the time of year to start cleaning birdhouses. One of the people I birdscape for had a Gilbertson Bluebird Box that had been used at least twice this summer. When I put it up last spring a black-capped chickadee moved in right away. Before I had a chance to clean it out after the chicks fledged, a bluebird pair moved in and built a new nest on top of the old chickadee nest--this is not supposed to happen, bluebirds are supposed to want a cleaned out box, but again birds don't read the same books I do. When I went to clean out the nest box the other day I discovered a HUGE pile of sticks on the inside--house wrens. The last time I checked the nest box, there were bluebird chicks inside so I knew that meant the wrens hadn't damaged the bluebird eggs. Since house wrens have a tendency to make several nests using all but one as decoys, I figured this was a decoy nest. I know that you're supposed to check nest boxes once a week, but I don't regularly visit this client's house and I really wasn't expecting a third brood in the nest box so I hadn't bothered checking it after the bluebirds left the box.

I took the box down and looked inside and found feathers lining a small pocket inside the box, could the wrens have actually raised a brood in the box? I looked at the layers of feathers and sticks inside the box, as I was looking it over I noticed an aroma--a familiar aroma. I knew I had smelled it before, but couldn't quite remember. Then it hit me--pelicans! Now, none of the birds that nested in the box don't eat fish, so that wasn't the smell, I was smelling death. I started picking through the feathers among the sticks and found cardinal feathers, bluebird feathers, ruffed grouse feathers, a downy woodpecker feather and then a small wad of teeny tiny bones held together with some dark matter and realized what I'd been smelling, very old death. Looks like one of the wren chicks didn't make it. Who knows the reason, it could have been deformed at hatching, it could have gotten an illness, it's tough to say. It could also have been that there weren't that many eggs and none of the wren brood survived.

I dug out the rest of the wren box and got down to the bluebird nest that was a nice and neat little cup of grass and pine needles. There were no shells or dead chicks so all the young bluebirds made it out of the nest which was a relief to discover. I made it down to the bottom of the box to where the original chickadee nest had been. The chickadee nest looked more comfortable than the bluebird nest, a cozy cup full of moss and fur. Apparently one of the eggs didn't hatch. When I checked the box while the chickadees were nesting, the chicks were so crammed in there that I never saw the egg.

After the fun I had opening the merganser egg, I decided to check out what was inside the left over chickadee egg. I carefully pried open the shell and found a gross brownish yellow liquid, with what looked like a partially formed chick on the inside. Perhaps this was the last egg laid and didn't get brooded as long as the other eggs so it never fully formed or maybe something went wrong internally as the egg was developing, again you really can't say why it didn't hatch. It just one of those things that happens and one of the reasons why birds try to have some many chicks in the season since so many never make it.

So if you haven't cleaned out your birdhouses yet, now is the time to do so. First check and be sure no one is till using the box there is a chance some bird is finishing up a final brood. Even if you haven't seen any activity around the nest box, it's still a good idea to open it up and clean it out. You can check and see what is going on, maybe you have had something else move in the box for the summer like a flying squirrel, a wasp nest or on rare occasions a bat! After you take out the contents of the box it's good idea to clean it out with a mild bleach solution and then let the house dry out in the sun. Many people take their houses in for the winter to keep mice from moving in or some people leave them up for birds to roost in at night during those cold winter months. If you go for that option, you will have to clean out the nest box again in March on the off chance that house sparrows have started nesting early. Once house sparrows get hold of a bluebird house, they won't let anyone else use the box ever.

And so on a final note, it occurs to me that I should leave a photo of the house that the birds used. This is a Gilbertson Bluebird Box and it's one of my favorites to use, since it's easy to clean and open up. House sparrows and starlings seem to not care for the design of the house but tree swallows, bluebirds, chickadees and wrens really like it.

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

These are some of the stairs that help you go down some of the river bluff in Frontenac State Park. At the time, it seemed like a fun idea to go down the steps and watch the migrants in the tops of the trees. However, when you finish chasing those fall warblers and decide to ascend the stairs you realize what a foolish undertaking this was.

I was hoping for some shorebirds on the sod farms around Dakota County and maybe some migrants over the bluffs but the birding today was not the best. I think I just got way too spoiled last winter with the great gray and northern hawk owls. I did see a large flock of common nighthawks flying south along the bluffs which is so odd to see at 10am. Turkey vultures were everywhere and those are always fun but really there wasn't much else. Where are all the birds?

There was a general lack of shore birds along the sod farms so I took the opportunity to check out a structure that I've noticed growing all summer in a field south of the Empire Substation. It turns out to be the Minnesota Cambodian Society Buddhist Temple. It's such a strange thing to see all these quaint Minnesota farms and then in the middle of it a gorgeous Asian structure. The drive around the temple was pleasant and relaxing and did reveal a few dicksissels.

I think Minnesota birders are busy with the State Fair (yes, it is that big of a deal in Minnesota) and many of us are curious to see if anything from the hurricane down south brings any odd birds to our state.

Maybe they should try falconry?

Now it's always been my understanding that a good healthy racing pigeon can be too fast and out maneuver a peregrine, but apparently that's not the case with Scottish pigeons.

Below is an excerpt from an odd little article in The Scotsman about the great sport of pigeon racing being in danger as membership levels are dropping to an all time low. Perhaps membership is low because people are finding falconry way more exciting than pigeons?

PIGEON racing will die out in Scotland within 20 years if the number of birds of prey continues to soar at recent record levels, experts warned yesterday.

The number of sparrowhawks and peregrine falcons, which feed on pigeons, have hit unprecedented levels, and an estimated 120,000 racing birds are being killed in Scotland every year.

"It is also devastating for our children and grandchildren when they see sparrowhawks attacking and eating our pigeons in the garden. It is a family sport and they become attached to the pigeons as pets, so to see them being eaten alive is just horrendous.

"What has been happening is sparrowhawks are attacking our pigeons in the garden and the peregrines are terrorising them while they are flying during races, which is forcing them to go to the ground where they are being eaten by other predators, such as foxes.

"We are not saying we want rid of every single raptor, but Scotland now has more than 50 per cent of Britain's peregrine population and we want the law to be changed so that we can trap and kill the ones which attack our pigeons."

Gill Reilly, a pigeon fancier from Edinburgh, says the sport is facing a bleak future. "I used to have 40 pigeons but now I have only 15 left," he said. "There are hundreds of pigeons getting lost at every race now. Last week, 60 fanciers liberated 180 birds, but only 11 returned, which used to be just unheard of. I have lost some real beauties and now I just feel like leaving the sport."

Loons and West Nile Virus

This just in from Carrol Henderson from the MN DNR:

West Nile Virus has been discovered as the reason that an entire family of four common loons died on Sandy Lake near Zimmerman, Minnesota in early August.

Local homeowners on the lake had spent a great summer enjoying their first ever family of loons nesting on Sandy Lake. They used an artificial nesting platform that had been placed by Dalton Hoehn and friends. The loons raised two chicks, and by early August the chicks were nearly full-grown. Then on August 6 Dalton noticed that the loons were acting and swimming in a listless, disoriented manner. When he took a boat out to check on the loons they were swimming in small circles, and one could not right itself. Three of the four loons died within a five hour period. Then on August 10, Dalton noticed that the fourth loon, one of the chicks, was acting listless, and it was dead by the next day. Mr. Hoehn notified Jan Welsh who is the Project WILD wildlife education coordinator at the Department of Natural Resources and she picked up the dead loons which had been frozen by Mr. Hoehn. The four loons were referred to Nongame Wildlife Program Supervisor Carrol Henderson who arranged for laboratory analysis. DNR Wildlife pathologist Joe Marcino got results back today that two of the loons he analyzed had died of West Nile Virus. He said that this disease is virulent enough to kill all of the birds in a short period of time.

This is the first time that loons have been documented to die from West Nile Virus in Minnesota. Residents of the Zimmerman area should take precautions to use repellent to reduce the possibility of mosquito bites at this time of year. Residents of other lakes should keep track of their loons to see if this is a problem in other parts of the state and notifiy the DNR if more dead loons are found, according to Carrol Henderson, DNR Nongame Wildlife Program supevisor.

Stupid or Smart?

So, we have this very pretty art deco feeder at the bird store that I have wanted to hang outside my window but couldn't because of the massive amounts of pigeons that I get coming to my feeder. The photo at left is one that flew in while I was leaning out the window. They really do know that I'm a softy even if they do irritate me and will fly right over anytime I move near the bedroom window hoping against hope that I'm putting seed on the ledge. I like pigeons in small doses, but one quickly turns into thirty and they can put more seed away than a squirrel and are much noisier. I usually have to go with weight sensitive feeder to keep them off...which usually work, although I did have one pigeon figure out a Yankee Whipper by putting one foot on a food port, the other on a perch and then flapping like mad while it ate.

Anyhoo, I'm trying out a Twirl-a-Squirrel a motorized baffle that will calibrate your bird feeder's weight and then spin the feeder whenever anything squirrel size lands on it. A customer told me that she has one and her pileated woodpecker is heavy enough to set the TaS a spinning so I thought I would try with my pigeons.

This morning I woke to the sound of the motor spinning the feeder and I smiled knowing it was doing its job. Two minutes later the motor went off again. Another two minutes later the motor went off again...and again...and again. One pigeon just kept after it and after it. I sleepily wondered if it was that stupid that it couldn't figure out that it wasn't worth going to the feeder when Non Birding Bill pointed out that the bird was probably trying to wear out the battery. Surely they couldn't be that smart? That's an awfully small head governing an awfully big body. It shall be interesting to see where this goes.

Birdchick's Guide to MN State Fair

I've already been to the state State Fair twice this year. Last night I did something I never thought I would ever do in a million years. One of our friends is a caterer for touring rock bands and she's currently doing the Motley Crue tour so a group of us got free tickets and backstage passes at the State Fair Grandstand. I'm really grateful the concert was this time of year and not during spring migration when I'm trying to pick out warbler songs because I seriously doubt I will be able to hear a parula for at least a week. During the concert the band kept telling us to make some noise and I thought of all the times I have heard owls at the state fair grand stand when it's abandon in the winter so in their honor I hooted barred and great horned owl calls every time we were prompted to "make some noise". This is something I will never need to do again, but I have to say that there was something exciting in watching the boys put forth all their efforts into entertaining the crowd and literally feeling their music penetrate your body and rumble your lungs.

But their are lots of things to do at the State Fair that are not so hardcore and even bird related so here are some of my picks.

DNR Building

Last Chance Forever has shows going on with live birds of prey. I fondly remember walking to a restroom in the area and having a Harris Hawk fly over my head as I worked my way through the crowd. Some of the show's content gets a little too touchy feely for my taste, but it's easily overlooked when you see these cool birds flying around.

The Raptor Center has a booth in the building with their education birds and are happy to answer questions about Minnesota birds of prey. The birds are not flying but you can get fairly close to get some good photos. TRC is also open on the St. Paul Campus for those walking by. The upside is that the restrooms are open and it's air conditioned so if you need a break it's a great place to hang out.

The Minnesota Ornithologists' Union has a booth with a huge sign begging the crowd to "Ask Us About Birds". A great place to visit and ask everything you ever wanted to know about birds but were afraid to ask. I'll be working there Tuesday, August 30 from 9am - 1pm so if you're in the area, stop by and say hello.

Poultry Barn

The first weekend at the state fair is a rabbit exhibit in the Poultry Barn. If you have the time, head to the 4-H Barn to see the bunny agility tests. The bunny show is only during the first weekend at the state fair in the Poultry Building. If you are unable to make it, you can view a video of the bunny agility tests, when you click on the above link there's a column of related content and a video you watch of the rabbits going through their courses. And for those interested, Cinnamon greatly disapproves of bunny agility tests.

During the second weekend of the State Fair you can see every type of barn yard fowl available from the expected chickens and ducks to the unexpected turkens. If you've never seen a Cayuga Indian Runner, this is one of your few chances.

Education Building

Audubon Minnesota has a booth in the Education and is has tips on all sorts of things you can do for birds. All Seasons Wild Bird Store set up a display on the booth of items you can place in your yard that are very bird friendly and squirrel and raccoon unfriendly.

Crop Art
I love the seed art that is found at the Ag-Hort-Bee Building. There are professionals who make stunning portraits from bird seed (right) to the beginners who make portraits from seed of their favorite stars. My personal favorite is the Jackie Chan (photo at the top of the blog entry) crop art that showed up two years ago. If you can't make it, here's a taste of what you're missing.

New Fair Food I'm Planning to Try:
Spaghetti and Meatballs on a Stick
Chocolate-dipped Potato Chips
Chocolate-covered Sunflower Seeds

Foods That Always Never Disappoint Me:
Porkchop on a Stick
Cheese Curds
Fair Fries with Malt Vinegar
Elephant Ear
Roasted Corn Cob

Foods That Seem Like a Good Idea at the Time but Haunt You Later:
Scotch Egg on a Stick (I love it, but it doesn't love me)
Cream Puffs (excess dairy on a hot day is not a good idea)

Foods That Disappoint
Deep Fried Twinkie on a Stick (overly sweet and greasy)
Deep Fried Snickers on a Stick (hot, greasy, mushy chocolate--not as exciting as it sounds)
Teriyaki Ostrich on a Stick (I'm not opposed to eating birds, but this reminds me of mystery meat that they served in middle schools)

Busy Birdchick

Today I caught up on loads of work and then joined Carrol Henderson for a birding seminar for a Multiple Sclerosis Camp at Courage Center. Today was one of those days that a bird guide dreads. Due to seasonal movement and time of day, there were no birds. And I don't mean just house sparrows or starlings, I mean the woods were silent. I led a small group on a walk and focused on evidence of birds like a wren house and some woodpecker holes since there were no birds to observe. One of the campers was concerned that the wheelchairs were keeping the birds away, but that wasn't the case it was just a lull in birding activity. Carrol did bring some stuffed birds from the DNR offices for people to practice focusing with optics and luckily he brought a barred owl (pictured above with campers and Carrol Henderson on the right) which greatly irritated a nuthatch, chickadee, chipping sparrow and cardinal. The campers did get to see a little mobbing action going on. They said they would invite us back next year and I recommended that we do the walk at 9am instead of 3:30pm. I also came up with an idea of maybe offering a class on bird feeding tips for people with mobility issues.

One of the campers was a volunteer at the Minnesota Zoo which has one heck of an outdoor butterfly exhibit. She was telling me that this year they were having to order more butterflies than usual through the summer to replenish the exhibit. Keepers were curious until one day they discovered a house wren inside the exhibit happily chowing on some of the butterflies. The wren had made its way through a tiny hole in the butterfly cage netting. They sowed it up but sure enough a bird that only needs a one inch hole to fit through found another way in.

The Great Minnesota Get Together has begun and I did my first radio interview tonight on KFAN with Rob Drieslein and Mike Kurre (below). The State Fair is HUGE here. All the stations are out and it's a great way to get some publicity. I was on for the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. It turned out that Rob writes for Outdoor News. As we were talking during the radio interview I suddenly realized which one he was. If you're familiar with the publication there's one writer who really dislikes cats and that is Rob. It was fun to put a live person to the byline. We had a fun talk and they are friends with Stan Tekiela. We got side tracked from the MOU several times, but fortunately Non Birding Bill was in the audience giving us hand signals and getting us back to topic. I love the State Fair, nest Tuesday morning I'll be working the MOU booth and Labor Day I will be out with KARE 11. I can't wait to see what fun new fried foods on a stick we try this year.

How To Bribe a Birdchick

Not that I'm easily bribed, but if anyone ever wanted to bribe me, green tomatoes are the way to go. It must be my Hoosier upbringing but I'm a sucker for fried green tomatoes. That's one of the reasons I spent the night at the birdscaping client's home--their gigantic garden of green tomatoes. I was offered the run of the garden and when I woke this morning to the dawn chorus I scampered outside to get my treasured booty. As soon as I grabbed my first one I was smartly squirted in the face by a hidden water scarecrow--which I think I took rather well considering my lack of coffee when the incident took place.

I finished most of my birdscaping project and sat down and had a lovely dinner. Afterwards in the garden I hooted a duet with a distant barred owl while I could hear David Bowie playing lightly from the stereo in the kitchen. Bowie and a barred owl, does life get any better than that?

Best Alarm Clock

Today I'm doing a birdscaping project. When you're someone like me and you've done just about everything you can in your own space to attract birds, working in someone else's yard is like a blank page. I've worked this yard before but some red squirrels have moved in and have gotten a little too cocksure about their ability to get to the feeders. I heard one of the best phrases a person in my line of work can hear: "You are my birdchick. You have free reign to do what is neccessary to take care of my birds." This just brings out the artist in me. They don't know how close they were to getting an osprey platform!

I've decided to make a day of it, so Non Birding Bill and I spent the night out here and I had the best alarm clock this morning filled with a pileated woodpecker, tufted titmouse, eastern bluebird, white-breasted nuthatches, eastern peewees topped off with some young black and white warblers working on their song.

Ivory-billed Woodpecker Job

First, on a side note, my trusty Saturn wouldn't start on Saturday. Due to warranty issues and whatnot we couldn't get the car fixed until Monday. And what was the problem? A crank sensor. What the heck is that? No one believes me when I tell them that was the problem, but it was.

Anyway, here is probably the equivalent of a Willy Wonka Golden Ticket for Birders. A job opening for 12 people to work for Cornell to look for the ivory-billed woodpecker. As much as I would love to go for this job, I just do not have a body built for humidity.

FIELD RESEARCHER–The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is seeking 12 motivated
Field Researchers to search for Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in Cache River
and White River, National Wildlife Refuge (NWRs), Arkansas from 31 Oct
2005 through 30 Apr 2006. Incumbents will be required to work
independently, under general supervision, using a variety of systematic
and adaptive sampling protocols to search for ivory-bills in the
bottomland hardwood forests of east-central Arkansas. Required to follow
and adhere to all safety and field protocols and procedures. Position
will require living in eastern Arkansas with housing and some meals
provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This rare opportunity is for
a top-quality person to apply their field and birding skills toward the
conservation of North Americas most critically endangered bird.
Incumbent is responsible for providing their own travel to and from
Arkansas. This appointment is for approximately 6 months.
Qualifications: High School Diploma and training in field research
techniques required. Bachelors degree in biology/natural resources or
related field and 1 year of experience, or equivalent, preferred.
Minimum of two years experience in field research required. Must have
excellent auditory and visual bird identification skills; excellent
navigation skills; boat/canoe experience. Moderate physical work is
required, as well as the ability to lift 50+ pounds. Must be willing to
work under varying climatic conditions (heat, cold, dust, etc.) and
capable of enduring difficult field conditions. Work hours will vary and
may be lengthy during this field season. Knowledge of bottomland
hardwood forest ecosystems and/or woodpecker ecology helpful. Experience
using GPS, GIS databases, and basic data entry is a plus. A valid
drivers license is preferred. All application materials must be received
by Tuesday, 30 Aug 2005. Visa sponsorship is not available for this
position. Located in Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University is a bold,
innovative, inclusive and dynamic teaching and research university where
staff, faculty, and students alike are challenged to make an enduring
contribution to the betterment of humanity. Apply on-line at
http://www.ohr.cornell.edu/jobs. Cornell University is an equal
opportunity, affirmative action educator and employer.