What you never want to see in your birdhouse

Yesterday afternoon I was drawn outside by the piercing volume of a group of blue jays in the backyard. It only took a minute to find the source of their alarm.  A medium sized gray rat snake was winding its way into one of the bird houses near my bog garden.

Lucky for us, nobody was home

As the blue jays swooped down en masse to attempt a group attack, the snake simply ignored their taunts to continue hunting for baby birds.  Fortunately for us, the house was unoccupied.

Once the snake figured this out, it hung out for a bit, then slithered its way down the pokeweed “tree,” across the waterfall and into the pond for a casual swim. 

This snake was approximately 4 feet long but they can get as big as 7-8 feet.

Rat snakes are excellent swimmers and are often found skimming the surface of black water swamp areas in search of their favorite food: rodents.

Rat snakes are very fast in the water

After its brief swim, we watched ours disappear under the house, presumably in pursuit of another meal.

Of course, many of you are probably horrified at the idea of allowing a snake to remain in the backyard but to us it’s all part of the bigger circle of life. Rat snakes take their job seriously and can eat 2-6 rats per week as well as an occasional cluster of bird eggs, baby squirrels, frogs, lizards and other small animals. The gray rat snake, also called the oak snake, is non-aggressive unless provoked and even then will see humans as predators rather than prey. As a constrictor they rarely strike. Sadly, they are losing the battle with humans as uneducated homeowners often kill every snake they see (and then pay the exterminator to set rat traps!) 

Even with a full belly, this snake easily maneuvered its way down the pokeweed

Things to remember with rats snakes: where there’s smoke, there’s fire.  Chances are if you see a rat snake in your yard, you have a rodent population that is drawing them. 

Other fun facts:

• Rat snakes are a favorite food for hawks and owls
• Rat snakes can live 15-18 years
• Rat snakes mate in May-June and eggs hatch from July-September
• Rat snakes are excellent swimmers and climbers – in swampy woods, look up!

A Male Carolina Wren

Despite the rain pouring down in buckets, a song came through for all to hear.  Poised on the tip of a bamboo post, A Carolina Wren sang its short bursts with fervor and wanting.  A moment later, a response from the other side of the yard.

It darted around the ground like a field mouse, hopping in and out of leaf litter in search of breakfast and just as quickly resumed its post to continue its song.

It may feel like winter in Charleston, but Spring is definitely in the air for those with ears to hear.

Time to clean out your bird houses.  Empty them and then give them a good scrubbing with a weak bleach or vinegar solution.  Let them dry in the sun and return them to a South-facing location.

Happy Day!

The colder it gets the better your chances of good sightings.  Cold fronts don’t just push Snowbirds down south.  They also force migrating birds further than usual for food and keep wintering species from returning north too early.  Increased populations mean more opportunities.  Add to this low humidity and leafless tree canopies and you have all of the ingredients for perfect scoping and picture-taking.   Still it helps to know where to look.

This bald eagle was hunting along a rural byway

For large birds of prey like hawks and eagles look on the edges of a clearing.  I drive my friends crazy in the car going down the highway because nine times out of ten, I have at least 2-5 sighting of large birds of prey sitting on the tops of trees, electrical poles, cell towers and road signs. Highways mean road-kill and for a bird of prey this is as popular as our fast-food drive through restaurants. 

In addition, the shoulders of the road (where you pull off to change your flat tire) are chock full of live prey like rabbits, raccoons, opossums, voles, mice, etc.   Hawks and eagles love to hunt these open clearings as well as the low, grassy fields nearby. 

A rare treat, these Tundra Swans migrate through in February

Roads along marshes are especially easy spots.  Look up to see Ospreys, Harriers and Kingfishers. Look down to see large wading birds: Egrets, Herons, Ibis, Storks. Look to the grass and shrubs to see a myriad of tiny things flashing by.  This time of year there will be yellow warblers, gold finches, blue birds, sparrows and wrens.  

If you prefer to stay cozy and warm at home, you can still maximize your sightings by offering the right treats at your feeders.   Chris Woods of Wild Birds Unlimited suggests the following:

Hummingbirds: 4 parts water, 1 part sugar boiled together - NO DYE!!!

New studies suggest that the red dye so popular in commercial hummingbird food mixes has been linked to Liver disease in hummingbirds. It was theorized that red attracted the birds but longterm studies indicate that it is better to use a red feeder than a red-dyed liquid food.  Let’s hope the manufacturers start catching on.

Hummers are moving right now and the colder it gets, the less likely they are to find natural food sources.  Your feeder could be the only source to keep the little  birds nourished for their trip.

Gold Finches love to show up in large numbers for Thistle Seed

Gold finches, House Finches, Purple Finches, oh my! They too are on the move and hunting for food.  To keep them happy add Thistle seed to your tube feeders in small quantities and keep it fresh!  Chris says there is a mold that develops on the black seeds that we cannot see but the birds can taste.  Once it’s there, they will not eat it.  Keep it changed often and you’ll keep them coming.  Sock feeders are great but they can really waste a lot of seed.  Take the feed out of the sock and add it in small quantities for better results.

If you use a tube feeder, set the holes for smaller beak feeding so it doesn’t spill out. Most feeders will have a rotating seed dispenser that you can switch from large to small seed holes.

For other finches, sparrows, chickadees and titmice, offer millet, peanuts, black oil sunflower seeds and dried fruit. 

Suet Cakes: When the weather gets really low, your best food offerings are full of fat.  Suet blocks are cheap and attract everything from woodpeckers to chickadees.  They can also draw the rare insect-eaters that need to “beef up.” If you cook a lot of meat, here’s an easy method to use up the trimmed fat:

Cook the fat in a frying pan until liquified without burning.  Take off the stove and add equal parts of peanut butter to the fat and melt completely.  Mix it together until smooth. Add equal parts of oatmeal, cornmeal or bread crumbs to the fat, along with any leftover bird-seeds, stale un-salted nuts, dried fruit that you have laying around.  Spread into a empty aluminum pie pan until it cools.  Break it into chunck and add it to your flat feeders.  Do not leave it in the metal pie pan.

Of course, we haven’t talked about water and nesting but I’ll save that for another day.

The picture is a little grainy because I was freezing my hands off

Good thing Chris Woods is coming today to give a talk on birds in the backyard….

A Fledgling Bluejay

Yesterday evening, on a brief pitstop to my house before rushing back out the door, my neighbor braved my 5-dachschund door bell to ask for my help. A baby Blue Jay was sitting in the middle of her driveway.  What to do? After carefully assessing the bird, noting that it had its feathers and was not cold, I gave her a distressing answer.

“Both parents are close by so the best thing you can do is leave it alone.”

The nest was up in this tree about 25 feet high

Whenever I give this advice, it’s never well received. But Cathleen was good. She didn’t scream and holler and run away to find someone else who would give her a better answer.  She heard my explanation and accepted it with reluctance.

When I got home, I scooped the little nestling into a tissue-lined box to protect it from the night prowling cats.  It spent the night in my guest bathroom shower. This morning, we returned it to its 25 foot high nest in the oak tree and watched as both parents took turns feeding. A happy ending.

Tis the season for baby birds! From now until July, chances are that someone you know will encounter this urgent dilemma.  Although fifty people will give you fifty different answers, here’s what I recommend.

My advice is based on 20 years of getting these calls and seeking help.

• OBSERVE the situation. Is the bird injured? Does the bird lack feathers? Is it in imminent danger from cats? If you answer yes to any of these questions, then you should act. If not, you should bless the creature, move it out of harms way into the bushes and let Mother Nature do her magic. The parents will continue to feed the fledgling until it can fly.  Best you can do is keep your cats in the house.  (Of course, this is good advice anyway.  Cats are the number one killer of birds.)
• Injured birds may not make it. If you rescue an injured bird, call your local vet and ask them for numbers for bird rescuers in town. It’s a good bet they’ll have phone numbers to give you. If it’s a bird of prey, call the International Center for Birds of Prey in your area or your town’s equivalent. If it’s a large water bird, do not approach it. An egret, heron, or other large bird can do serious harm to a well-intentioned rescuer. Best to leave it to a professional rather than losing an eyeball.
• If the bird lacks feathers or appears extremely cold, attempt to return it to its nest. If you cannot reach the nest, pursue a rescuer. In the meantime, get a box, fill it with clean tissues or paper towels (not newspaper, dirt, grass, pinestraw, etc.) and place the bird inside. You can sit the box on a heating pad set to low or Google options that use low wattage light bulbs for warmth. DO NOT place the heating pad in the box.
• DO NOT FEED OR ATTEMPT TO WATER THE BIRD. Birds are delicate creatures whose throats are very tiny. It is very easy to choke the bird with food and water.
• If the bird is hopping, flapping healthy young wings and squawking up a storm, let it be! Chances are its learning to fly and there are probably more of them in close proximity than you realize.

MYTH:  Parents will not accept a bird that has been touched by humans.  Birds usually have a weak sense of smell.  They won’t even notice or care.

TOOLS NEEDED:  Electric Drill, 1/2″- 3/4″Flat Wood Bit, 3/16″ Twist Bit, 25lb. hook, vice grip or clamping device

LOG:  I use oak because it’s readily available, but you can use any hard wood in your wood pile. Seasoned wood will be easier to drill.

The log should not be larger than 14″ long and 3″ diameter.  Otherwise it will be too heavy.  Make sure there are no side branches on the log.  This will prevent a perching area for larger birds and squirrels.

Follow all of the safety guidelines you learned in shop class or on HGTV or DIY network.  You know, vice grip, safety glasses, etc.

Since I didn’t inherit Dad’s vice grip, I use a work table as a clamping device.  You could just as easily use a standard table and clamp.

Imagine that your log is four sided.  You will line up the holes along each side, alternating the starting hole on each side by about 1″.  That way you don’t drill into another side’s holes.

Drill at a slight angle so the peanut butter or suet will not fall out easily.

Only drill into the wood about 3/4″ inches or as deep as the paddle on the flat bit will go. Too deep and you’ll go through the wood.

Once you’ve completed the side holes, Turn the log onto it’s end and reclamp to your work surface.

Change out the flat wood bit for the twist bit. Drill into the center of the top just enough to start the screw hook. If you drill down too far, add some wood glue to the hole before you screw in the hook.

Screw the hook in until it holds firmly.

Fill each hole with peanut butter.  I use crunchy peanut butter to give the little guys something good. It also seems to stay in the holes better than creamy peanut butter.

Hang from a strong limb or a sturdy shepherds hook.  Wherever you gang it, make sure there are no nearby branches so squirrels and larger birds won’t be able to lean over to reach the good stuff.

Sit back and enjoy.  It may take a few days but birds will find the log.  If by chance the food goes bad before it gets discovered, simply use a metal cooking skewer to remove it.  As the oil in the peanut melts it actually helps preserve the log so don’t worry about it getting greasy.  In this case, greasy is a good thing.

Birds I’ve seen at our feeder logs: Chickadees, Wrens, Titmouses, Starlings, Downy Woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpeckers and Red Bellied Woodpeckers.