Chickens in my Bluebird Box

My mother has a love / hate affair with the American Robin. On the one hand she admires the robin as a noble bird that has enough self pride to not visit feeders. On the other hand, mom sees robins as dirty birds that won't stop building nests in her hanging pots and on top of her exterior lights. I feel great empathy for the poor robin that selects my mother's place as she will stop at nothing to erect elaborate contraptions to deter their nest building. Those however who insist on building, will have their nests removed by whatever means she can muster.  And so the battle goes on all breeding season long.

I don't share my mother's diligence in these sorts of things; and so I found myself on the last day of March instead of the first, examining and cleaning out my bluebird boxes. I'm quite fond of bluebirds as they have a remarkable underdog comeback story and they eat a lot of insects. It seems peculiar to me that both the American Robin and the Eastern Bluebird are members of the Thrush family, even though robins nest in open nests and bluebirds nest in a nest cavity.  The distinction between nesting sites is in part why bluebird numbers dropped to the point of needing help. With the loss of rotten trees and open lands to development, along with the demise of wooden fence posts, bluebirds have fewer cavities in which to nest. Being timid birds, bluebirds also lost out to competition from other cavity nesting birds.

For my first brave attempt at cleaning the boxes, I reached for the latch only to be greeted with a quick peck through the hole and then frantic wings whizzing past my eyeballs. That was enough for that day - round one went to the House Sparrow. I waited several more days before I made up my mind to evict the invasive species in favor of a native. This time however,  I went in knowing what I was up against and I was wearing gloves. Still, not being as determined as my mother, I decided that I would abandon the project if I found eggs in the nest. I eased the latch open and  managed to open the front of the box before the sparrow left her nest. Eyeballs in tact I gently searched the nest for eggs among chicken feathers.

 I'm not exactly sure whose chickens those sparrows snatched bald to build their nest, all I know is that those darn sparrows must be mighty feisty!  Given the evidence, I fully expect this to be an all spring into the summer, ten round competition. Perhaps next year I will put up my no vacancy sign before the House Sparrows move in or else risk becoming my mother.

Bluebird boxes should be pole mounted, facing an open area, but not towards prevailing winds

Bluebirds use grasses and pine needles to make their nests

House Sparrows used chicken feathers to build their nest

Vernon Heart Hunt

Hi Nature Finds readers, would you like to have a little fun?  Send me pictures of hearts that you find while roaming the great Vernon outdoors and I'll post them here. Please make sure that you social distance while hunting.  If you have a story to tell or a caption for your heart finds, please include that too. Have fun and let me know what you are seeing out there! -Norma Manning

Yellow Birch Heart in the Village

Reconnecting From a Distance

With times being what they are, there seems to be more time to reconnect. I recently heard a celebrity promote that we aren't social distancing from each other so much as we are physically distancing ourselves.

So with no place in particular to go on a Saturday afternoon, Wayne and I extended  our walk to a farm field trail leading off of Lily pond's access road.  We hadn't intended to take this trail but there were two trucks in the parking area at the pond and lately three or four persons makes a crowd.

The trail follows the edge of the field along Lily pond's north east bank. About half way up the straightaway is where I have been trying to take the same photograph for each season and so we paused for a moment there. I was hoping to catch the beaver or otters out and about, but no such luck. We could see that the beaver lodge had lengths of freshly stripped, glistening white trees on top. We concluded it was reasonable that the beaver is still around though we didn't see any recently felled trees at this overlook.

We picked up some hoofprints and stepped around copious amounts of equine manure while walking to the end of the straightaway. There along the backside of the field, we found what must have been a very tasty tree for it had freshly chiseled teeth marks on new growth emanating from a previously felled tree's stump. Having decided to continue following the horse trail we walked around the next corner of the field and headed in the opposite direction of the pond in the direction of Pond road.

For the first time following this trail, we decided to not backtrack to the pond but instead turned left across to what we thought would be the field on Lily Pond road, however the horses had lead us to a VAST trail instead. The hoofprints lead down a charming wooded path back towards the pond. It was at the end of this path that we met Liam and his dad fishing. Daryl Clark came out to meet us when we did finally reach Lily pond road and we learned that his family once had a hundred head of dairy cattle on his farm. Before we could make it to Pond road the Galdamez family from our neighborhood greeted us from their bikes. I remarked to Wayne how nice it was to see so many people outdoors.

Maybe what we are actually doing these days isn't distancing at all. Perhaps what we are really doing is reconnecting. -Norma Manning

Wayne, Luna and Ginny 

A tasty tree if you are a beaver

Liam and his dad

Hardscape, Hard to Escape

Spending time within parameters set by people of the past became a way of life after I began blogging about Vernon. While Wayne and I set out to explore the natural beauty and curiosities within Vernon's geopolitical borders; this recent turn of events has limitations imposed by official government decree. Something we were doing by choice suddenly has a very different feeling now that it is imposed by people we don't really know.

What is a wildlife corridor? "A strip of natural habitat connecting populations of wildlife otherwise separated by cultivated lands, roads etc..." -Oxford Dictionaries

I once read a meme that said something like this: What if wildlife wasn't crossing over our roads, but our roads were crossing through their homes?

Yesterday my friend shared that MA Governor Charlie Baker urged travelers to not cross MA borders.  Huckle Hill is the next road up from mine and at the top of Huckle Hill is the VT - MA border. Right at that line you will find the most beautiful beaver pond located in an official MA wildlife management area. So by governor's decree and by my own self imposed limits for the purposes of this blog, that pond was forbidden fruit. How appropriate that a wildlife management area stops at the state border; but the actual habitat does not. How thought provoking that a road runs through it.

It is out of love and a sense of responsibility to others that our governors have ordered us to not cross borders or even our neighbors thresholds. Likewise it is by love and a sense of responsibility that we ensure wildlife corridors are preserved or reestablished. - Norma Manning

Just over the border

Coexisting 

Dedicated to my friend Eileen who travels across the boarder every weekday

The state line looking down Huckle hill into Vernon

From the Tree line by Remi

A Pileated woodpecker has been hard at work- by Remi

by Remi 

Otter Slide by Bob Spencer

When walking my dog Thursday morning I saw this otter slide. There was another one parallel to this one. We have been seeing them on Lily pond and Jenny saw some at Hatcher pond.

Otter tracks and slide by Bob Spencer

Bird Observations and Pictures by Paul Miller

For the last few years I have set up a blind for picturing birds behind our house.  It has been used to photograph quite a variety of species and also variations within such.  It is interesting as well to notice the variations from year to year and the changes over my lifetime. For example, last year birds were numerous with several I had not expected to see at a bird feeder.  This year very few birds were here.

When I was young, Starlings were just beginning to be evident.  My grandmother called them "Spatsies" and welcomed them. Today they are a serious nuisance.

Until recently Red-belied Woodpeckers had not been seen anywhere in the Northeast.  Today they are one of our more common woodpeckers.

Several years ago I started building Bluebird houses getting positive results.  Last year I think there were possibly seven or eight families on the Miller Farm.  When I was young, there was occasionally a pair and then for years there were none.  Thanks to citizen efforts to build houses, Bluebird populations have grown. Since they are relatively friendly,  I am able to picture them at my convenience for part of the year.

As a youth I don't remember having Mockingbirds at the farm.  However now their entertaining chatter is common.  I do have to chase them out of my blueberries, but that is a small expense for the joy that they bring.

Feeding birds during the winter has become a great hobby for many as well as a help for hungry birds.
 -Paul Miller and his family are well recognized for their interest and participation in conservation in Vernon, VT.

Male Bluebird by Paul Miller

Mockingbird at nest by Paul Miller

Starling by Paul Miller

Male Red-bellied woodpecker by Paul Miller