Living with Wildlife

Greetings, Well June is here and with that, many young birds and other animals are in your yard! Before you head out to mow or weedeat, please take the time to look for young birds and animals on the ground. Box Turtles love to come to lay their eggs in nice soft mulch beds. This means they must cross your lawn. Young birds that can only fly a few feet when they first fledge, may be on the ground as well. It only takes a few minutes to take a quick look for animals so you don't mow over them. In my own yard yesterday, I found these two baby rabbits in my strawberry patch that just left their nest. I have been watching the nest for a couple weeks since I first discovered it. Mama rabbit comes around to tend to the babies around dawn and dusk every day. Now that the babies are on the move, I will be extra careful with any maintenance.
Another note, PLEASE keep cats inside. Awkward baby birds are an easy target for cats. Cats are not a natural predator on birds. In my neighborhood over the years, I have adopted 3 stray cats. I have also pickd up neighbor's cats and taken them to their door and asked the owners to keep the cats inside. You can also call Animal Control and fill out an affidavit if you have a neighbor who continues to let a cat roam at large.
Earlier this week, I had a neighbor call me over to his house because a nest fell out of a tree. I found 3 baby birds huddled on the ground and nest pieces strewn about. I asked my neighbor to get me a tissue box. I then reconstructed the nest as best I could in the box and then put the babies in the nest. I then gathered cicadas and worms and fed all three of them. That was a lot of work! I then put the box up in the tree. The following morning I watched the nest for 15 minutes and saw no activity. I came back at 3pm and watched for 20 minutes. Again, no activity. A big storm was on the way and I decided to take them to Friskee's Wildlife Sanctuary in Woodbine. Of course, I gathered more worms and cicadas to feed them, I don't think they had eaten anything all day. They were very hungry and readily took all the food I would give them.

Comments

  1. kensallJune 3, 2021 at 9:30 PM

    Nice move to save the baby birds! Hope to hear a follow-up at some point.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blooming trees along the Highway

Image
Recently, a friend asked me what were all the white trees he was seeing blooming along all the highways? Unfortunately, those trees are the non-native Bradford Pear. This is an invasive species. When you see it in bloom at this time of year, it is obvious how much it has spread around the area.
Read more

Turkey Vulture

Image
Greetings, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to post this photo of a Turkey Vulture in the early morning sun at Triadelphia Reservoir early this morning. Many of you have probably noticed this bird on a light post or sign along the highway perching with the wings spread out and wondered, why? The main reasons are thermoregulation and drying. At night, this bird actually lowers its body temperature. Spreading the wings in the early morning sun can help the bird warm up as well as dry the dew from its feathers. Do you know where any of these birds are nesting? If so, please let me know! This one is a hard one to document in the Breeding Bird Atlas. They nest in rock crevices, tree hollows and stumps, abandoned barns and sheds, etc.
Read more

Red-headed Woodpecker Nest!

Image
 Greetings, It is not every day I find a Red-headed Woodpecker nest.  Last week however, I found two in two days.   July 2nd, I was conducting my weekly Breeding Bird Atlas survey in my assigned area of Woodbine.  Imagine my surprise when I turned the corner of A. E. Mullinix Rd., a red, white & black colored bird flew right in front of me and landed in a Walnut tree.  I stopped right there on the road with excitement, a Red-headed Woodpecker (RHWO)!  The bird then flew down to a fence post right along the road and I was able to get a look and a photo, but disappointed that it did not have any food in its bill.  Those of you familiar with A. E. Mullinix Rd. know that it is without a shoulder and parking is very difficult.  A car came up behind me and I had to move on.  All I could think was that bird had no reason to be there if it wasn’t breeding.  I know at this time of year, RHWO’s are feeding their young now.  I was prepared to park over a mile away (where I had permission) and
Read more