NOVEMBER MEETING:
Wednesday, November 26th.
Meet at 7:00 PM at Central Park Towers, 1815 South State Street, Orem, Suit
2000.
(At the top of Provo hill were we’ve met before for CBC compilations)
Robin Tuck will Speak to us about Bird Topography - Feather Groups.
DECEMBER MEETING:
Wednesday, December 17th.
Meet at 7:00 PM in the Bean Museum Auditorium on the BYU Campus.
Merrill Webb will talk to us about the Christmas Bird Count. After which we will
be quizzed on our winter bird identification skills in preparation for the CBC
on Dec. 20th.
FIELD TRIPS:
There are no scheduled Field Trips for the remainder of this year but there are
several Christmas Bird Counts in December. Participate in as many as you can. Go
to www.utahbirds.org/cbc/cbc.html for a schedule.
The participant fee for the Christmas Bird Count remains the same; $5.00 per
field observer aged 19 and older. But this year Participants in the U.S.
pre-paying online for their counts can participate in four or more counts for a
flat $20.00 US fee. Go to www.audubon.org/bird/cbc for details.
Reed's Ramblings
by Reed Stone
When the prime birding started to slow down this fall I decided
to spread my "wings" a little and try carving "birds" from wood. My first
attempt was a chickadee. It does look like a bird, but not a chickadee. I think
I may have produced a totally new species of the warbler family. My next attempt
was a Northern Pigmy Owl. It is a pigmy and it does look like an owl, but one
would not recognize it as A Northern Pigmy. My most recent attempt is a
California Quail. Almost any one would recognize it because of its top not. Are
you aware that the top not is composed by two feathers forming a "V"? I had
never given that a thought. As I was carving I had to study the form and
composition of every part of the bird. I began forming the head. I carefully
studied its roundness its proportion with the rest of the body. Then the beak,
its exact orientation on the head, its precise shape and size. Then came the
eyes their size and location in relationship to the beak and head. Likewise I
went through the rest of the parts of the bird each time discovering features
technically related to size, proportion and shape. My next step was to start
coloring, and forming the feathers. More revelations! I discovered the precise
location and size of the white headband and where it terminates. Then there were
the tiny feathers around eyes, crown of the head and down the neck gradually
increasing in size. I began to appreciate more deeply the perfect symmetry of
each feather, how they begin small at the crown and increase in size with
perfection down to the body where they end abruptly and change completely in
color size and shape. This goes on with every part of the bird, the wings, tail
and body.
I suspect, by now, you are on to my point. By close examination of a bird that is required by trying in some artistic manner to replicate it a lot can be learned.
I suggest, from my experience, that on birds that are hard to differentiate one from the other try drawing them. Carefully fill in the identifying marks, stripes, size, proportion and colors. My Quail is not done. I am busy trying to learn how to draw a feather and have it look like one.
Try it I think it will surprise you.
Screech-Owl Nest Box
When you think of birdhouses you think of birds like Bluebirds, Titmice, House Wrens, Tree Swallows, and Purple Martins. But these are all birds that would never nest in my yard. I bet most of you live in a residential area as I do and I’m going to assume these species wouldn’t nest in your yard either.
So what would be the easiest bird to entice to a nest box in our yards? That’s right, House Sparrows. But you probably already have enough of those. So what’s the second easiest? You probably don’t want Starlings either. How about the third? Black-capped Chickadee maybe? Well, I’m not writing about Chickadees. I’m writing about the fourth easiest, and by far the coolest, species to attract to a nest box in a suburban setting along the Wasatch Front...Western Screech-Owls.
Almost every description of Screech-Owl habitat I’ve read mentions the use of suburban areas. (Kaufman and NG Field Guides for example). Robert A. Behrstock writes in The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior, "Habitat loss associated with human residential development has had an impact, usually a detrimental one, on many species. However, Eastern Screech-Owls inhabiting neighborhoods with mature trees may have higher survival rates than countryside populations, thanks to a lower diversity of predators, greater availability of water and of prey attracted to bird feeders and garbage cans, the suitability of lawns as hunting areas, and the warmer conditions associated with urban enclaves." One of my first sightings of Screech-Owls was when Ned showed me some from a parking lot next to the BYU Campus and this year Screech-Owls raised several young in a tree right next to the busiest sidewalk at UVSC.
I know what you’re thinking: "I’ve never seen a Screech-Owl in my yard!" Well that’s because they are very sneaky. I’ve got owls in my backyard and I have to make an effort to be outside at just the right time to see them. In fact they were nesting in my yard for a month before I even knew it.
Your neighborhood is likely good Screech-Owl habitat. Your bird food at night becomes mouse food and if your neighbors’ cats are like my neighbors’ cats, they fill up on birds all day - which leaves your mice predator-free. But Screech-Owl population growth in such habitat is limited to the availability of nesting cavities. People seldom let old rotten trees stand in their yard. They could fall and hurt someone. Well-built nest boxes seldom fall on people and Screech-Owls like them just as well as trees. (
www.cornell.edu: "Both species [Eastern and Western] use nest boxes, and field studies show that boxes are selected as often as natural cavities for nest sites.")Screech-Owl boxes need an interior floor size of at least 8" x 8" and at most 10" x 10". The inside height should be from 15" to 18" and the hole needs to be a 3" diameter circle and should be centered 12" to 13" above the floor. You should also put some drain holes in the floor, cut some notches on the inside front wall to help the young owls climb out and place an inch or two of wood shavings in the bottom. I built my box out of 2x’s which is heavier wood than you’ll find in most instructions, but I think the thicker the better. I sandwiched a 2"x10" front and back wall between 2"x12" sides which made an interior floor size of 8 ½" x 9 ½" and I nailed the front wall on with two nails at the same height near the top of the wall and put one removable screw-bolt at the bottom so I can unscrew the bolt and swivel the front wall up to clean out the box. I buried a 16' Pole 3' in the ground in the quietest corner of the yard, put the box on top and a predator guard around the pole. (You may have raccoons in your yard and not know it. They are very sneaky also.) If you live in a neighborhood with open space and few trees, this same size box will be used by Kestrels. If you have a cabin up in the mountains and cut the entrance hole to 2 ½" the box could be used by Flammulated and Saw-whet Owls.
I need to warn you that Screech-Owls may not find your box right away and if they don’t, Starlings will use it. If this happens just open the front of the box every couple weeks, take out the eggs and feed them to your pet snake or put them on the tray feeder with the peanuts for the Jays and Magpies.
In any case, if you patiently put up with Starlings, it will eventually pay off when the owls move in because that’s when the fun starts. At dusk just as it’s getting dark but before it’s too dark to see you can go out and, watching quietly from a distance, see a previously mysterious, seldom seen creature out on the prowl hunting for mice over the bird feeders or snatching moths from the flower garden and taking them back to the nest. Once they find the box they’ll likely stay in your yard year round. It is now November and when the sun hits my nest box just right I will sometimes see a Screech-Owl sitting at the entrance sunning itself. They will add a nice touch of nature to your otherwise boring yard.