Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 17:22:51 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Denise Ryan Subject: Re: Atlasing story MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Last year I bought a Screech Owl nest box for my Mother to add to her bird house collection. Earlier this spring they watched a snake of some kind go into the nest box. That brought about some quick action and the black rat snake was dispatched with a shotgun after consuming at least two unidentified eggs. Mom doesn't know what is nesting in there, but it is not an owl. She thinks Robins found a home in there. Do the metal guards added to the posts of Wood Duck boxes work to deter the snakes? Can anyone recommend a pattern for making such guards or a place to purchase them? Denise Ryan Washington, DC -----Original Message----- From: Rick Sussman [mailto:Warblerick@AOL.COM] Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2003 8:33 AM To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM Subject: [MDOSPREY] Atlasing story Hi all, I had an interesting occurance yesterday while atlasing. There is a large, old sycamore tree on the property of an old farmstead in one of my 1/4 blocks, which always has something interesting near it or on it to watch. Last week I noticed a number of holes in the branches rather high up, and saw a flicker at one of the entrances. Sadly I also saw a good number of juvenile Starlings in the same area. A pair of E. Kingbirds has a nest nearby, and chase anything that comes close. Also last week I heard and saw a Great-crested Flycatcher in the tree, so was hoping to confirm this yesterday. While searching the tree yesterday I noticed a bit of snakeskin on a branch very close to one of the holes, flapping in the breeze. AHA! I thought, GCFL nest (they are big users of snakeskins in their nests)! I got out my scope for a better look. When I focused it on the closest hole, however, what I found was not one but a pair of black rat snakes. One was in the hole with just its head poking out, the other was just emerging from the hole, and I watched it for a while, fascinated. As it came out it began rubbing its head on the branch where the remaining cast-off skin was, continuing its shedding process. Evidently that's where the skin came from that I had first seen. This pair of snakes was about 35 feet up in the tree, and all I can hope is that they were there for Starlings and not Flickers... Rick Sussman Ashton,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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================