Spring birding jobs

Even though we’ve had several cold spells, daffodils are starting to bloom and bluebirds are checking out nesting boxes.  So now is the time clean, repair, or replace boxes.  If a box bottom has fallen out and your hooligans have walked off with it and used it as a chew toy, it’s probably beyond repair.

They are vigorous insect eaters and are good birds to have around. It’s not too late to get up a bluebird box if you don’t have one up.  A cedar box with a one and a half inch hole is needed.  Avoid boxes with metal decorations as this will help cook the babies in the hot summer. Place in a sunny open spot with the door facing south.  Placing near a tree or fence comes in handy for the young when they fledge. Even if you have very little property, they will get use to traffic.  I have one up along my driveway and it is very popular with bluebirds, despite the in and out traffic of my truck and visitors, and the hooligans running around.   I like to put mine on metal fence posts to prevent snakes from crawling up to the box like they can do with wood posts.  You’ll need to drill a larger hole through the box and the post and use a carriage bolt long enough to go through both.  I don’t tighten the nut down all the way due to a frustrating experience sawing the bolt and nut lengthwise trying to remove a box. You want to leave enough space to get a hacksaw blade between the post and nut, as it will rust or corrode.

If you are a city slicker who has never driven in a metal post, the little triangular part on the post needs to go all the way into the ground.  Use a small sledge hammer to beat in the post.  Using a hatchet even though it has a bigger head than a hammer can be kind of dangerous if it accidently slips out of your hand.   Install a door guard if you have problems with grackles to prevent them from reaching in and killing the young.  To prevent wasps from making a nest in the box, rub the inside of the box with bar Ivory soap.

Bluebirds will lay 4 to 5 blue eggs which won’t be incubated until all are laid.  All eggs will hatch at the same time in about 13-14 days.  The young will remain in the nest around 15 days and will be fed by both parents. After fledging they will be fed by the parents for another 7 to 14 days.  Another nest is built on top of the old one and the cycle starts over. As many as three broods may be raised each year.   Chickadees will also use bluebird boxes using moss as nesting materials.  Allow these to stay.  Sparrows will use straw and fill the box up.  Wait until they start laying eggs and throw the bums out, nest and eggs. They aren’t native birds and were partially responsible for the decline in bluebirds.

Hummingbirds have started their migration back into the US, so it’s time to put up feeders.  According to the 2014 Spring migration map,   they are in the Mobile and panhandle area and coming north.  A few overwintering birds were documented this past winter.

Do not use the red dye stuff when feeding hummers. It’s not good for them.  Take one part sugar and 4 parts hot to boiling water. Mix well cool and put in your feeder.  Left over’s may be stored in the refrigerator for a few days. When they first start showing up I only make up a small amount and don’t fill the feeder full. I’ll use one eighth cup of sugar and one half cup of water.  Change and clean the feeder every four days or so depending on the heat.  Don’t use detergent rinse with hot water and use a 10% bleach solution or vinegar to disinfect.  Rinse well to remove the residue.

It’s also a good idea to use an ant guard if you have a lot of ants around.

On the gardening front, it’s also time to get seeds started.  This year I’m starting mine in the house. The rats apparently had gotten into the greenhouse this winter and would make a quick lunch of my seeds if I put them in there. The Hooligans broke out the bottom panel of the storm door going after them, and have an in hole where the aged siding cracked and fell off.  The contractor who built it was a good home builder, but knew nothing about building a greenhouse, even with a blueprint in hand.  It was drafty in the winter and too hot in the summer.  I plan to turn it into a garden screen room since I lost the one on the house when I constructed the garden room.

Mingration map link:

https://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/humm_ruby_spring2014.html