It’s for the Birds
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This week, May 28, has been a weather roller coaster. One Tuesday it was very hot and humid, then on Wednesday we had 1.8 inches of rain, and a chilly day.. Thursday… rain again, and chilly… 70 degrees and rainy. The pressure has been under 30 many days, and that is hard on headache sufferers.
You all know we had some chilly rainy weather in the past month. This was during a time of incubation and hatching of many bluebirds and possibly others. I had two bluebird houses full of about 10 day old babies or so, things were looking good. I lost both those houses of baby blues. They were just dead in their houses when I did a check. Upon researching this, I found this is possibly due to cold, rainy weather and the parents inability to find proper food.
One person posted pictures of baby blues that had been fed fishing worms and had gotten severe diarrhea. The lady took the blues in the house, gave them a bath, fed them appropriately and returned them to the house, making a new nest. I think she had success.
I now have eggs incubating and now cold chilly weather. Last year I lost two houses as well, and that time I thought it was the spray in the air from area crops. It is a real task to raise bluebirds I find. The weather and chemicals play an important role for sure.
I have been fighting house sparrows, and I really am tired of them. I have trouble with raccoons getting in the bird feed and suet. I have managed my raccoon population. You can also trap House Sparrows. I have a trap and cannot get started catching any. I will keep you posted.
There are some beautiful Baltimore Orioles and Indigo Buntings out there. They are enjoyable to watch. I also have a Chipping Sparrow nest or two and enjoy them. Of course, the wrens are keeping me company on the trails and at the house.
The Iris have been outdoing themselves this year. On the Clark County Garden Swap page, there are pictures of all different colors of Iris, from purple to rust to bright yellow. All have been just gorgeous. I have dark purple, bright yellow, lilac color, Rust, and apricot color. All of these are basically from my mother’s Iris garden in Antioch. She spent many hours in that Iris garden which was south of her house in her south yard. Many wonderful memories in Antioch.
Until next time, good bird watching.