BIRDS

[HemlockKing]

HemlocKing, Might I suggest that you make a way to open the boxes so when a bird is done nesting you can clean it out. A couple of drain hoes in the bottom and vent holes just under the roof too. If you put them in the woods you will get mice and flyers and some birds, but many birds prefer a box in an open area. Like to hear what uses them.

I drilled 3/16 holes all over just cant see them in the picture! I did not build a latch though, next time! They shouldn't be hard to open back up just 4 finishing nails on the top

[thecfarm]

A couple days ago a bald eagle flew in front of me on the way to work. Maybe 1000 feet. Probably the same one I saw on the ice the day before that. Seeing more and more eagles around here. Growing up I did not see many.

[HemlockKing]

 

 

[Walnut Beast]

Absolutely incredible and gorgeous picture 👍

[KEC]

I've been working on watering down the Red Squirrel population here. They eat the seed intended for the birds and later on they will eat bird eggs and nestlings. A few days ago I caught a squirrel and when I went to take it out of the trap a mink was trying to drag it away. He ran and hid when I got near but I left the squirrel (now out of the trap) for him and when I checked a while later the mink had taken his prize; likely under an old truck bed liner to eat in peace. A couple days later I put a squirrel out behind the house and the crows ate some of it. Then a Turkey Vulture started circling above, but before he could get any of it a Red-tailed Hawk  scooped it up and flew off with it. Nothing gets wasted !

[HemlockKing]

I've been working on watering down the Red Squirrel population here. They eat the seed intended for the birds and later on they will eat bird eggs and nestlings. A few days ago I caught a squirrel and when I went to take it out of the trap a mink was trying to drag it away. He ran and hid when I got near but I left the squirrel (now out of the trap) for him and when I checked a while later the mink had taken his prize; likely under an old truck bed liner to eat in peace. A couple days later I put a squirrel out behind the house and the crows ate some of it. Then a Turkey Vulture started circling above, but before he could get any of it a Red-tailed Hawk  scooped it up and flew off with it. Nothing gets wasted !

KEC, I have the same problems with red squirrel, feisty and curious little guys. I recommend having at least 4-6 bird feeders out but only put seed in 1 or 2 at a time and switch it up, the birds find the seed before the squirrel and by the time the squirrel figures out where it all was it’s gone. If that doesn’t work perhaps a pellet gun..

[Hilltop366]

Hemlock, it looks like you left you truck in one spot for more than a month and it rusted in place, I try to drive mine once a week so that does not happen. ;D

Looking at your woods and it looks like it could be in my backyard, wondering what part of NS your in? I'm in Yarmouth county a few miles from the ocean.

[HemlockKing]

Hemlock, it looks like you left you truck in one spot for more than a month and it rusted in place, I try to drive mine once a week so that does not happen. ;D

Looking at your woods and it looks like it could be in my backyard, wondering what part of NS your in? I'm in Yarmouth county a few miles from the ocean.

Haha! That old chev has been there for 25+ years. I was gonna haul it out to the junk yard but... I kind of like it where it is. I am I'm shelburne county, neighbours! You ready for this mess of a storm?

[Hilltop366]

Yes neighbours, thats why your woods look so similar, not much hardwood here until you get a few more miles inland. 

I'm not even bothering to put the plow on the truck, I'm thinking most will melt when it hits the ground, I probably just jinxed myself.

[KEC]

My preffered way to deal with the Red Squirrels is to put a long 2x4 in the trees where the squirrels will find it to be a handy catwalk and leave it for a while. Then put 4 sheet-rock screw in at angles to create a holder for an Oneida size 50 bodygripping trap. No bait or lure and  it is quite selective at catching squirrels and not other animals.

[SwampDonkey]

Haha! That old chev has been there for 25+ years. I was gonna haul it out to the junk yard but... I kind of like it where it is.

Some fella's see a gold mine in old iron around the yard. ;D

What storm you guys get'n? It's a little cooler here today, but 40 and 50's and sun for the next week here. Be mowing grass April 1. ;D

[SwampDonkey]

My preffered way to deal with the Red Squirrels is to put a long 2x4 in the trees where the squirrels will find it to be a handy catwalk and leave it for a while. Then put 4 sheet-rock screw in at angles to create a holder for an Oneida size 50 bodygripping trap. No bait or lure and  it is quite selective at catching squirrels and not other animals.

Box trap with an apple and you'll catch every squirrel in the yard within a week. Or rat trap with peanut butter if you want to do them in. ;D

[HemlockKing]

Haha! That old chev has been there for 25+ years. I was gonna haul it out to the junk yard but... I kind of like it where it is.

Some fella's see a gold mine in old iron around the yard. ;D

What storm you guys get'n? It's a little cooler here today, but 40 and 50's and sun for the next week here. Be mowing grass April 1. ;D

That's right!  ;D
Started out as rain last night then we got that cold north western wind and turned over night. Probably 5cm down and still going. Just a eastern NS event

[doc henderson]

2 days ago we had rain, sleet and big snow flakes.  yesterday a bit cool but I was milling more cedar in a sweatshirt.  



 

they say if you do not like the weather in Ks, wait 5 minutes and it will change!

[Tacotodd]

Same saying in AR!

[KEC]

SD, No doubt, you can get Red Squirrels with apples or peanut butter, though some situations call for a different method. Some RS are very neophobic and wary of bait and if they have an abundance of food they can be hard to catch in baited sets. You can also take a long board, turn it on edge, and cut a notch about 3/4" deep and as wide as the wooden base of a rat snap trap. Now take a rat snap with the big wide yellow trip pan and drill a  1/8" pilot hole through the base directly under the pan.  Now put the trap in the notch perpendicular to the board and screw it in place so the pan is in line with the top edge of the board. Put the board where the RS will want to use it to move between trees; no bait. There is a place in the Rocky Mts. where there are no RS and the conifers have evolved differently, I think the cones are softer. And the crossbill birds are also affected by the lack of RS competing for seed cones.

[KEC]

This evening  I went behind the house to look for displaying woodcock doing their courtship flight, which they do at dusk. Found two just behind the house and they put on a great show. If you like birds, you have not lived until you've watched woodcock in courtship flight, Wilson's Snipe doing their flight and "winnowing ",  Upland Sandpiper showing its' stuff and read Aldo Leupolds' book "Sand County Almanac."

[SwampDonkey]

Yep, every spring the Wilson's snipe invade the wet areas of the woodlot and I have to keep from stepping on woodcock or nests in the late spring when laying out thinning. Between them and an aggravated robin about head high launching for flight out of a plantation spruce tree. :D

[HemlockKing]

 

 Left this rotting pine up hoping one of these fellas would nest in it and look here! He's almost done he's burrowed our a nice den 

[SwampDonkey]

Been one of them around the yard picking at some old spruce buts. Ants in them.

On another note, I seen the first grackle black bird arrive today. Soon be robins.

[Walnut Beast]

 Left this rotting pine up hoping one of these fellas would nest in it and look here! He's almost done he's burrowed our a nice den

Great picture👍. Dead trees are pretty valuable to many birds

[Old Greenhorn]

 Left this rotting pine up hoping one of these fellas would nest in it and look here! He's almost done he's burrowed our a nice den

I don't know if he is making a den, we have have a bunch of those fellas around here and they go DEEP for bugs. I leave a few of these trees per acre when doing TSI as long as they are not a threat because it supports the bugs that support the birds that support.... If you clean everything out, then all the critters clear out too. You gotta have balance. Pretty doesn't mean good.

[HemlockKing]

 Left this rotting pine up hoping one of these fellas would nest in it and look here! He's almost done he's burrowed our a nice den

I don't know if he is making a den, we have have a bunch of those fellas around here and they go DEEP for bugs. I leave a few of these trees per acre when doing TSI as long as they are not a threat because it supports the bugs that support the birds that support.... If you clean everything out, then all the critters clear out too. You gotta have balance. Pretty doesn't mean good.

OGH, you may be right but I did witness him inside the hole and sticking his head out 

[SwampDonkey]

They've got to nest in one, so maybe it'll be that one. Might be home to bats or flying squirrels, owl...........or. Animals share sometimes. They just recently found a group of very rare silver haired bats in one old hollow pine that broke off. It was 160' from the river edge. ;D They died I think, but were collected for the New Brunswick museum. There are hardly any of these in collections across the globe.

Rare silver-haired bat colony discovered in Fredericton old-growth tree | CBC News

[Onthesauk]

We're about 80 miles of Seattle.  Just south of town, alongside the freeway a big field, maybe a couple of hundred acres, has been planted with a cover crop of some short.  There are half a dozen fake bald eagles on stakes to keep the swans and snow geese out.  Today driving by there today were 750 to 1,000 snow geese all munching down.  Didn't seem to scare them much.