The NESTBOX #20, Winter 2007
Club News
Membership renewals
Last call for membership renewals. We’ve had a pretty good response so far - almost 40 - but the more the merrier. There are still many of you who haven’t renewed. If there’s no renewal form with this newsletter, you’re in the clear. If there is one, please fill it out, write that cheque and re-up to stay on our mailing list for future newsletters. In fact, why not come to the annual meeting on March 22 to rejoin and get reacquainted with other members. Your club needs you. It needs your money too.
While we’re on the subject of money, special thanks to Bill Bower, Pat Crook, Barc Dowden, Dorothy Gray, Tom Irwin, Dr. Ronald Tasker and Ron Tomosk for their generous donations.
Grants
We also owe thanks to staff at the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources for their help with our grants. Last year they approved our applications for almost $3,800 and we were able to make very good use of it for repairs to our equipment; wood, paint and pipe for new wood duck and bluebird nest boxes; and a new 24-unit purple martin box. For 2007, we plan to apply for $750 to make 20 more wood duck boxes; $750 for new floating duck boxes for mallards and blacks; and $3,000 for general maintenance.
Feeders
While we’re thanking people, we’d like to thank the Glebe Meat Market for donating suet for our bird feeders on March Valley Road. The feeders have been busy since the snow arrived, with blue jays, both species of nuthatches, hairy and downy woodpeckers, chickadees and mourning doves visiting. Turkeys, squirrels and deer get anything that hits the ground. So far we’ve gone through about 80 kilos of sunflower seeds. We had to take down the other feeder, the one George Martin always kept stocked, for repairs. And speaking of George, we would like to send our best wishes to him. We miss you George.
Coming events
Thursday, March 22, 7:00pm — ODC Annual Meeting at the Citizen Building on Baxter Road. Your opportunity to run for office or vote for, or against, the corrupt old gang.
March 30 to April 1 — National Capital Wildlife Festival — The club will not be able to participate in this year’s festival, however, members might still be interested in visiting the other displays. It’s at Billings Bridge Shopping Centre.
Winter works 2007
It was pretty balmy when we started our winter maintenance program out at the sanctuary just after Christmas. Our entire inventory of wood duck and other nesting boxes has to be checked, results recorded, repairs made, boxes replaced when needed and then each structure prepared for spring. It all takes time and we only have a short window of opportunity — even shorter this year with the late arrival of winter.
Thanks in part to decent weather, we’ve had a pretty good turnout of members this winter to do the work — as many as 20 one day. Bill, Tom, Austin Taverner, Ben Mancini, Al Beaulieu, Tony and Gretchen Denton, Isabelle Nicol and yours truly, Churchy, have been regulars, along with a supporting cast including Grant Hopkins, Klaus Gottlob, Corrie Rabbe and Ron St. Louis, Jim Sauer, Joe Bevk, Austin’s two grandsons, Javontae and Markaedyn.
Austin hard at work on Pond 7 & 8
(Photo by Bill Bower)
With all the willing hands, we’ve made great progress on Austin’s famous To-Do list and come up with the usual interesting findings, including a colony of honey bees, still alive on February 11.
Honey bees overflowing the opening of box 82
(Photo by Anthony Denton)
There was also a wasps’ nest, complete with flies and ladybugs, alas, not so alive, in another box.
The well named Porcupine Pond has been a bit of a conundrum for us. The nest boxes have been well used in recent years, but everyone has been predated. To counter that problem, Austin, Ben and Churchy went out one Sunday to move the boxes from trees to pipes installed right over the pond. But another problem arose — there’s a lot of rock hidden under the ice, so we were only able to relocate three of the five boxes.
Churchy went out one rainy, cold day to repair the small door that allowed racoons to enter one of the sheds, build their nests, and leave a foul mess behind. The repair has worked so far, but now we have to leave the big door open a bit to prevent it freezing, so maybe they’ll be back after all.
Meanwhile, Bill took advantage of the balmy breezes blowing off the Ottawa River on February 9 to avoid heat stroke while he single-handedly performed all the chores on our 13 wood duck boxes at Petrie Island. Here’s his report:
I made sure I had my hot coffee and hand warmers with me. The temperature inside the ‘Hilton’ was -15 degrees when I stopped in to pick up the extension ladder. The high winds outside made it feel much colder and there was blowing snow coming in off the river.
Checking the boxes is always interesting and this year was no exception. The overall results were very good with 11 of the boxes having been used by wood ducks. A total of 163 eggs were laid and of those 90 hatched. A number of nests were abandoned and you are never quite sure of the reason(s) for this loss. Two of the successful nests were actually on top of starling nests, which is always good to see. The starlings start nesting first and then the ducks arrive. Sometimes the ducks get discouraged, when faced with an ever enlarging starling nest, and leave, and sometimes they are persistent and win out, as appears to have been the case this past year.
I wasn’t totally alone during my four hour hike. I had a visit from a female northern shrike as I was checking one box. She landed on a limb very close to me. On two other occasions while I was checking the boxes towards the west, she arrived but stayed further away. Not sure what it was that attracted her. (Bill, see The Carpenters song, Close to You, for the answer. ed.) The only other bird activity was a flock of snow buntings.
Squirrels also like the boxes but usually don’t start to move in until the fall. One box was occupied by a red squirrel. It hadn’t been used by a wood duck so I put in more shavings on top of the nest. An old squirrel nest won’t stop the ducks from nesting in a few months. Another box had a large squirrel nest in it, complete with two black squirrels. I had to clean this box out as there were rotten duck eggs on the bottom. I put in extra shavings in case the squirrels returned. They did, but weren’t happy with shavings only. As I left they were busy gathering up ‘their’ nesting material on the ground and returning it to the nest box.
Surprisingly, I hit slush in a number of places which made the going more difficult. I was wondering why the toboggan was getting heavier but then realized it was covered in slush, which, by then, was frozen solid and I couldn’t remove it.
When I finally got back to the ‘Hilton’ it was well past lunch time. Inside it was now a balmy -5 degrees. I took off my coat, got out my hot coffee, frozen sandwich, pulled up the smaller bench and ate, in comfort, at the recently constructed ‘work bench’. All I needed was a mattress and a sleeping bag and I could easily have fallen asleep. Outside the wind was howling as more snow was blowing in off the river.
Austin’s winter "To Do" List (as of Feb 23)
- Finish preparing Dyke Pond WD/HM boxes for spring
- Finish preparing Narraway Pond WD/HM boxes for spring (Completed)
- Finish preparing Willow Pond WD/HM boxes for spring
- Replace Kindack "Mail Box" type WD/HM boxes with new regular boxes
- Put cone type predator guards on purple martin posts
- Finish preparing Bogel Pond WD/HM boxes for spring (Completed)
- Finish preparing Trail Pond WD/HM boxes for spring (Completed)
- Put cone type predator guards on Kindack Pond box 174 and 175
- Prepare Shirley’s Creek boxes for spring and record results (Completed)
- Prepare Pond 7 / 8 boxes for spring and record results (Completed)
- Prepare North Arm box for spring (Completed)
- Prepare Inner Creek boxes for spring and record results (Completed
- Prepare Bay Shore Line boxes for spring (Completed)
- Prepare South Arm boxes for spring (Completed)
- Prepare Heron Pond boxes for spring (Completed)
- Prepare Porcupine Pond boxes for spring and record results (Completed)
- Prepare Pond 6 boxes for spring and record results (Completed)
- Install a new box in marsh near Pond 6 (Completed)
- Remove boxes from creek on Perimeter Road - two nearest road to remain. (Completed except for one with active bee’s nest)
- Prepare Osprey Pond boxes for spring and record results (Completed)
- Remove or repair bridge between Gimmer and Don Gray ponds
- Work on boxes in woods near Dividend / Lilac ponds
- Prepare Petrie Island boxes for spring and record results. (Completed)
- Prepare Watts Creek boxes (5 on pond) for spring and record results (Completed)
- Prepare Watts Creek boxes (5 on creek) for spring and record results (Completed)
- Install 2 new boxes near Shirley’s Creek bridge (McCabe Bridge?)
We have now checked all the boxes at the sanctuary and at Watts Creek (at least once). A few we can’t locate and we have some others we have to relocate or replace. We also plan to add a few new boxes, time permitting. These are to replace boxes lost over the past few years. And, we have lots of new numbers to be added to our boxes.
ODC Website
Our multi-talented Webmaster, Ron St. Louis, has made some changes to the Website. As he puts it, “I’ve changed the site so Internet Explorer users can resize the text as they see fit.”
Other changes:
- All back-issues of The Nest Box are now available for download through the archives section at the bottom of the Nest Box page.
- You can now see more club photos through the ODC PhotoClub Flikr Website at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/odcphotoclub/
- You can also get to it from our Website, by going to the photo gallery and following the link Check out the ODC Photo Club site on Flickr.
- And you can send your photos to Ron to be posted, using the link there. The site is up and running and all members will be able to upload their own pictures to the site and exchange comments on them once the executive has worked out the rules. He says, “This might even drive more traffic to our Website where we can possibly recruit more members or donors. The Web statistics clearly show that the photos page was the most popular and Flickr makes it that much easier to keep it up to date.”
American Kestrels by Bill Bower
North America’s smallest and most common bird of prey is also the most handsome. Only 25 cm in length, the American kestrel (Falco sparverius) is reddish-brown and ashy-blue in colour and has a black and white face pattern.
The name Kestrel is likely derived from the Old French word cresserelle, which means ‘crest’ and refers to the bird’s reddish-brown back and crown patch.
Once called the ‘sparrow hawk’, the name was changed to kestrel. Technically, the kestrel is not a hawk, but a falcon. Falcons have long, pointed wings, they fly with rapid wing strokes, and do not soar as high as hawks. Kestrels eat insects — especially grasshoppers, crickets and beetles — as well as mice, frogs, small snakes, and small birds.
Kestrels are found in open country because of their choice of food. They are abundant in agricultural areas with scattered woodlots and trees, shelterbelts, meadows, highway right-of-ways, pastures and hayfields. They are frequently seen sitting on power lines along highways or hovering above fields. From these heights, they dive to the ground to catch their prey.
These small birds are cavity nesters. They use abandoned woodpecker nests or other cavities they fit into that are close to their feeding areas. In many areas, the lack of suitable nest cavities limits the number of kestrels. This is where the Ottawa Duck Club comes into the picture. The sanctuary is a near perfect location for kestrels and we often see them flying around in the spring. This winter one male kestrel decided to over-winter in the area. For a number of years we have had kestrel nesting boxes up and are usually able to attract one or two pairs. Even our larger wood duck nesting boxes have been known to attract kestrels.
With funding provided through a grant from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the club has recently been able to construct some new kestrel nesting boxes to replace our current ones that are coming to the end of their useful life. We will have our new boxes up by the time the kestrels return to the sanctuary in April. These birds are tolerant of an occasional disturbance, so if we find a pair nesting we should be able to put a ladder up to the nest box in early July and have a quick look. Normally, three to five young live in a nest box and eat anything from beetles to salamanders. The eggs hatch in 29 to 31 days, and the young are fed in the box for another 30 days. Juveniles will leave the nest box anywhere from mid to the end of July.
The Ottawa Duck Club can provide plans for anyone wishing to build a kestrel nesting box. 
(Some of the information included in the above on Kestrels came from an article written by Ross Hall and included in an issue of NS Conservation.)
CHURCHY’S COLUMN
Compound nesting — Austin says he read in the Wood Duck Newsgram that: “The key to managing compound nesting (more than one hen laying in the same nest) is regular monitoring with prompt discarding of abandoned clutches so the hens can start again”. Aus hopes we can improve our efforts in cleaning out abandoned nests more quickly — “that is if we can get into the sanctuary on a regular basis!”
Tony Beck paid us a visit one Sunday leading a group of birdwatchers. Tony was very enthusiastic about the sanctuary — it didn’t hurt that there were nine bald eagles there that day, attracted, no doubt, by the deer carcass on Narraway Pond. Tony wants to come back in the spring — maybe we can get him to join.
Bird flu update — Birders World magazine reported in December that more than 15,000 birds have been tested in Canada and the U.S. and not one wild migratory bird was found with the highly pathogenic form of the H5N1 virus. Some had a milder form of the disease, one that is harmless to humans and nearly so to birds. (see www.birdersworld.com for frequently asked questions)
Champion migrant — The magazine has also reported that the sooty shearwater has been declared the new champion avian migrant.
The deer numbers are up this winter and the lack of snow until mid-January did nothing to restrict their movements. Does with their fawns from last spring were found at numerous locations, often not bothering to get up as we drove by. Other mammals seen include muskrats, snowshoe hares and a few housecats. Judging by the tracks in the snow, however, there are more mammals we haven’t seen than those we have seen.
Not very well camouflaged hare seen on Jan 7
(Photo by Grant Hopkins)
Before Christmas we took down two of our benches to the Bird Banders’ feeders and left them there to make our winter lunch breaks there a little more comfy. Their feeder has attracted chickadees, goldfinches, cedar waxwings, robins (really), woodpeckers, blue jays, tree sparrows and nuthatches.
See what you’ve been missing?
Tailfeathers
More Newfie medical terms for Austin :
Dilate : To live long
Enema : Not a friend
Fester : Quicker than buddy
Fibula : A small lie
Impotent : Distinguished, well known
Labour Pain : Getting hurt at work
Medical Staff : A Doctor’s cane