Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 16:13:02 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marty Cribb Subject: Re: "Attack" bluebird MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Rick, I'll add my $.02 and inquire as to the status of the farm you mentioned in todays post. Is it still a working farm or has the land been developed? If still a working farm what an opportunity to have a bluebird trail. I had a 20+ box trail that ran for about 3 miles from downtown Scotland to Point Lookout and did not use predator guards but changed the location of the boxes after 2 years. This seemed to work as Snakes and Racoons did not present a problem. John Zyla is running the trail now and has been banding the adults and young as they were available. His young children accompany him on his rounds and it has been a very rewarding experience for John and the children. Good Birding, Marty Cribb, Point Lookout, St Marys Co., Md ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rick Sussman" To: Sent: Friday, August 03, 2001 9:28 AM Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] "Attack" bluebird > Hi again, > Thanks to Arlene, Gail and Mike for responding to my query about "attack > bluebirds". House Sparrows have not been too big a problem, but there are a > few pairs about, and I have seen them checking out this box. There's no way > they could have moved in, given the feistiness of the male. I purposely put > the box where I did, well away from the townhomes, to deter house Sparrows, > since they are less likely to move into boxes that are farther away from > human habitation. I also painted the 4x4 post white (but left the box > natural) to make it easier for me or others to see if a snake was climbing > the post to get at young. A snake (particularly a black snake) would stand > out from quite a distance if it attempted to climb to the box. I haven't put > a predator guard up, but suppose I should. > > I consider myself lucky to have the bluebirds, and also the first pair of > Tree Swallows, in this box, which I only put up this spring. My guess is that > there's quite a shortage of boxes around here. When we first moved here 15 > years ago, a local farmer had many boxes up surrounding his fields, but since > his death some years ago, the boxes have fallen into disrepair, and a > shortage has occured. I hope to get another box put up by next spring, on the > other side of our pond. The amount of land here would dictate no more than 2 > bluebird boxes, but I do have boxes up for chickadees, wrens, etc. with much > usage over the years. Also had a pair of Baltimore Orioles, Yellow Warblers, > E. Kingbirds, many catbirds, mockers, Carolina Wrens, doves, grackles, etc. > It has been a busy summer! > > Thanks to all who responded or still may respond to my "attack bluebirds" > message. We're off for a few days of camping at Shenandoah. > > P.S., Mike, I know just where that church is in Spencerville; we drive by > there all the time. Really good bluebird habitat, as well as for kestrels. I > have seen kestrels perched on the wires across the street from the church > (not recently though as there is development going on there). > > > Rick Sussman > Ashton,Montgomery County, MD > warblerick@aol.com > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================