Loading...
June 08, 1989 - Houses for Rent: 1 BR, Bird's Eye ViewBIS The Suffolk Times • June 8, 1989 Houses for Rent: 1 BR, Bird's Eye View By Paul Stoutenburah For everyone who owns a home and boat, I guess springtime is the busiest season of all. It starts with the usual raking of leaves, and then broadens out to the planting of the garden with annu- Focus on Nature als and perennials and, of course, seeds that have to be nursed along and tomato plants watched in hopes of harvests of the future. These agronomic tasks plus cutting the lawn and sweeping and rak- ing blossoms from the trees pretty well keeps most of us busy through this time of year. An added job to my agenda is the in- spection and cleaning of various bird houses around the place. What a variety I have, for each is built with whatever scraps of wood happened to be available at the time the urge to build came over me. There is a general simplicity to most for I believe that rather than spending time building elaborate, deco- rative houses I'd prefer to put my efforts into ones more practical and built to the needs of the bird. The key factor in all bird boxes is the size of the opening. Each bird has its specialized size and if the hole is too large or small you might very well lose the bird you want to attract. The basic mistake is that holes are made too large and therefore attract the common star- ling and house sparrow. These two birds, by the way, are not native but were introduced to New York around the turn of the century and have exploded their population to every state in the nation. Both are very aggressive and will drive out most native birds, leaving your yard dominated by not only one brood but probably two or more each year. Mice Winter Occupants Most of my boxes are occupied during the winter by mice to cache their food supplies or to be used for sleeping dur- ing those extreme cold spells we experience throughout the winter. Oth- erwise Mr. Mouse is on the move dur- ing the night looking for food and then back to the nesting spot during the day where he sleeps. It's good that he does his ramblings at night for without mice being about the owl would have slim HOUSE WREN —This busy and chattering wren most wrens it will build two or three or more but use loves to fill up extra bird boxes with mock nests. Like only one for its true nest. pickings during these winter nights. Remember, our owls are not migratory but rather stick to the general area they were fledged in. The boxes are stored with nuts from our hickory trees and pits of the black cherry. Knowing that mice hoard such goodies, the grey squirrel often seeks out the bird boxes throughout our area and gnaws away at the opening until he can get in. Then he takes advantage of the mouse's tidy supply that he has put away for winter use. That's why you'll often see bird houses with extra -large holes gnawed by these raiders. I usually replace the front with another bird -size hole drilled in a suitable piece of wood. I've been told a metal plate over the front with the correct size hole drilled in the sheet metal will thwart Mr. Squirrel. It's worth a try. I was glad to see the chickadees found my box along the hedgerow. Their nest is a wonderful affair made of plant fiber and usually hair of some sort. Once it pV Rpotaurant _ y M'.3m Gracious Country Dining Luncheon Noon to 2:30 - Dinner until 9 North Road, Greenport - 477-1338 - Open Tuesday- Sunday ,V51 . r ,,'�UV' 'L was the long tail hairs of our horse; an- other time one was built of rabbit fur. I've seen them gathering fur from old rabbit nesting sites that were vandalized by some predator. Rabbits use fur from their bodies to insulate their nesting cavities in the ground where the young, once born, lay motionless all day long until night when the mother cleans them and feeds them. Then they are meticulously covered up and the mother leaves them all day only to return and renew the process of rearing at night. Jenny Wren, or the house wren I know, is back for I can hear her busy chatter from way down by the pond. I put up three wren boxes with special one -inch openings just for her. One of the habits of all wrens is to build more than one nest. She will fill up many boxes, but will use only one to brood her young. We're not sure why, but the general feeling is that if she occupies all nesting sites she'll have no competition and in that way she'll rule her nesting area without having to defend it. This little brown bird is one of the busiest and most vocal of all our birds. The song is not the sweet melody of the wood thrush or catbird, but rather a rolling chattering call that once you've heard you'll never forget. I often tell the story of my first ac- quaintance with this landlady of many nests when I was very young. I had de- cided to make my fortune by building bird boxes and so went to work with all the zeal and enthusiasm of youth until I'd built a dozen or so boxes to sell. Some were for bluebirds, others for swallows and, of course, a few were de- signed especially for wrens. To display my works of craftsmanship I put in two stakes with a long board nailed between on which I attached six or eight of my best boxes. The price was 50 cents apiece. I would sit there like some kid trying to sell his lemonade while the cars zoomed by. ; , ,. ,, Wren Makes a Sale Of all the experiences I remember about my first financial venture was the one when a lovely lady stopped to ad- mire my boxes and possibly buy one. Her name was Kathryn Fleet. I extolled on the virtues of each box and told her they would surely attract birds to her yard. As I was expounding on their virtues along came a wren with a stick in its mouth and promptly popped into one of the wren boxes. That clinched the sale. I doubt if Miss Fleet ever knew how much her purchase meant to me. I'm not sure what ever happened to the other boxes. Probably they wound up adorning the many trees around our home but that experience introduced me to one of the loveliest of birds that nest in our area, the wren. Later I'd remember it again when one built in my mother's clothespin bag that she kept on the line. We never touched it or went near it until the young had fledged. It was just one of those things you didn't do. If you were here now you would hear the crested flycatcher proclaiming his territory in the woods in front of our house. This big bird with a pale yellow breast selects large cavities to build in, so I put up bird boxes with only half a front. We usually get this bird to build and you can hear him calling continu- ally with his raspy voice somewhere in our woods. This is the bird that weaves into its nest a snake skin. Why it does it we're not quite sure, but logic in many minds thinks it's to scare away predators and that makes sense. Most of us can attract birds in one way or another. Some by keeping feed out, others by building bird boxes, and I guess for the true enthusiast like my- self, we do a little of each. The small amount of effort is well worth the re- ward, but there has to be that initial ef- fort.