THE NEST BOX, NUMBER 24, WINTER 2009
A new year, of course, means it’s time to renew your membership in the club and maybe make a donation if you are able to. You can specify that your donation be designated for purchase of bird feed, nest box supplies or anything else that advances our conservation work. Tax receipts, as usual, will be issued for membership fees and donations.
There is one point to note about the membership renewals—for the first time in about 20 years, we have raised our membership fees. We’ve also dropped the distinction between members who do some work and those who just support the club. For 2009. there are only two categories of membership: $20 for individual and $25 for family memberships.
All meetings start at 7 PM at the Ottawa Citizen building on Baxter Road. No one will be turned away. If anyone needs directions, call Bill at 613-824-9104.
Bird feeders—One of our big projects every winter is keeping our bird feeders along March Valley Road well stocked. For the last few years Anthony and Gretchen Denton had been taking care of one while Tom Irwin has taken over the one George Martin used to handle. This year Tom has agreed to be responsible for both. Thanks Tom for agreeing to do this and thanks to the Dentons for their dedicated efforts over the last few winters. We started up the feeder near Riddell Road early in December and put a new "clothes" line up for the smaller hanging feeders. It is higher and that may prevent destruction by animals.
We have a reasonable supply of seed to get started, but the club would welcome any donations of sunflower seed, peanuts, suet, etc. Nothing lasts very long in our feeders.
Jan 1 - The year got off to a smashing success for the bunch of us that got out on a cold clear New Year’s Day. According to Churchy it was windy too.
The first big surprise when we got there was that our road had been ploughed by the military and there wasn’t nearly as much snow as we had expected. We got the ski-doos up and running, one of the large toboggans repaired, took a load of materials (shavings, ladder, pipe pounder, new nesting boxes, toboggan, etc.) out to our field office for use on days when we want to go out but can’t get in because of shooting, put up the second bird feeder by March Valley Road and filled all the feeders with sunflower seeds, peanuts and suet, and did some other repairs. A number of members figured (wrongly) they could keep warm if they went out and checked wood duck boxes so they walked over and checked a few boxes on the Lilac Pond and Trail Ditch.
At high noon the first annual ODC New Year’s Day Lunch and Bird Watching event took place. It was an unplanned, unexpected and uncommon event. Instead of bringing her vacuum cleaner over to clean up in our sheds, Mary Lou Porter opted to vacuum over at the Skeet Range and invited us to come in out of the cold and get warmed up with some hot coffee. All accepted the offer without hesitation. Nine members ate their lunch and a good portion (all in fact) of the desserts that seemed to appear out of nowhere as the festivities got underway. There was everything from cookies to fruitcake on the menu. After going back outside, those who had been devouring the rum balls noted how quickly the temperature had moderated.
We then made the usual trip to check out the Innis Point bird feeders. I think everyone recorded at least 15 winter birds to start their 2009 birding list with. Best sightings were wild turkey, rough-legged hawk, ruffed grouse, snow buntings, juncos and common redpoll.
Jan 3 - Those who stayed home missed a good (cold) day. Seven of us were out, although Mary Lou just dropped by to make sure we had some food to eat for lunch.
Looking back on 2008, the economy may have been in a meltdown. The Senators were racing the Leafs to the bottom (Go Habs Go), but it was a pretty good year for the Ottawa Duck Club. Except for the annual DCRA competition in August, we had access to the sanctuary pretty well every Friday through the summer. And surprisingly, considering how much it rained last summer, we had good weather for most of our outings. That allowed us to make a lot of progress on restoring our sheds.
- We have been getting in almost every Friday and the weather has been cooperating.
- The Range Control people have, as usual, been good to us in oh so many ways
- We have made a lot of progress on major repairs to our sheds (siding, floors, etc.). You will remember that new roofs were put on last summer. The main shed got new siding all around and some repairs to the floor, then a fresh coat of green paint.
The work crew, mainly Ed Lang, Mary Lou, Bill, Austin, Ben, Tony and Gretchen) removed all the old, badly deteriorating chipboard siding and replaced it with new plywood.
5. We received approval from Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources for one grant in 2008 for the construction of new wood duck nesting boxes—enough funds to build 20 or so new boxes to replace old ones. We had enough left over for pipes and predator guards.
6. We were approached by MNR’s Ottawa Stewardship Council in Manotick to build eight wood duck boxes for the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority. We were able to provide these by the end of September using some of our own plywood that we had on hand without touching any of the materials obtained through grants. The club received $320 for these boxes.
7. Most members of the ODC know how much George Martin meant to our club and how much the club meant to him. George did a lot of things for us, especially if it involved painting, and he took care of one of our big bird feeders for many years. When George passed away last year, his family wanted to do something for the club in his memory. Bill thought that what we needed most was a trailer to haul our mowers out for service, to haul supplies in for duck boxes and shed repairs, and for a variety of other tasks. Dave Martin and the rest of his family were pleased to oblige.
After looking at various types and manufacturers, we decided on a 5 ft. X 9 ft. steel box, steel frame trailer. The supplier was LeBlanc Welding in Orleans. This trailer became the first vehicle ever registered in the name of the Ottawa Duck Club. It will help us tremendously and we are extremely grateful to the Martin Family.
8. Needless to say, many other projects have been undertaken and completed and those members coming out have all put in a good days work each and every Friday. Besides the shed repairs (which will continue next summer), we had to do a lot of mowing to keep the grass down, complete weekly nest box checks, repair dikes, put out and bring in the floats and many other smaller projects. Thanks to everyone who came out.
9. Our hatch results based on our spring checks were encouraging. Maybe all our hard work on nesting box relocations, clearing brush, installing predator guards, and ridding the boxes of starlings is paying off. No black bears have been around either.
June 29: The purple martins showed up in the late afternoon. There were five one week ago but we only saw three on Friday. It was nice to have just those three around while we were eating our lunch. There were none at Innis Point and I (Bill) haven’t seen any over in the main military compound where they have about a dozen houses up.
We took a drive to Innis Point and noted quite a few eastern bluebirds in the vicinity of the houses put up by the Bird Banders group. Mary-Lou and I saw quite a few anyway and when a pair nearly hit our vehicle Churchy had a chance to see them. Prior to that he thought that the other bird watchers on board were just seeing sparrows.
When I drove back in to Range Control to return the key before leaving I came across a pair of bluebirds right in front of the main HQ building where we hold our meetings in the fall. I stopped and watched them. They were quite active, flying over to the fence and then going to the ground after insects. There is one of those martin houses installed by Public Works a couple of years ago in that immediate area but the bluebirds didn’t go there and I’m not sure they would nest in a multi-unit house anyway. I didn’t see where they were nesting, if in fact they were. I have never seen bluebirds in this fairly high-traffic area before.
The final step for this year was getting rid of the old eyesore of a trailer piled high with old shingles from last year’s project. That was taken care of on October 3. Maybe the grass will grow back there next year. Mary Lou and Ben also started scraping and repainting the observation deck, unfortunately there are only so many hours in an ODC summer, so they were not able to finish the job. Another one for next year.
On September 13 the club was invited to put up a display at a Ducks Unlimited Canada event at the skeet range. Ben and Mary Lou staffed the display. Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to invite DUC members to our side of the butts.
On October 8 eight members got together at the skeet range—many thanks to Mary Lou and Claude Mondor—to cut out parts for 23 new wood duck boxes. Builders were Austin “tool man” Taverner, Bill, Ed, Ron St.Louis, Tom, Ben , Mary Lou and yours truly, Churchy. Several of the builders took the kits home for assembly and painting. Oh yes, Mary Lou also provided coffee and goodies—it pays to participate.
It wasn’t all good news in 2008, besides Bob Wood, we also lost two very dedicated members—Rene Gachnang (Rene’s passing was acknowledged in the last issue) and Klaus Gottlob. Klaus had been an active member for a number of years, attended many of our meetings and frequently came out to help on our work days. This past summer he had not been able to come out due to declining health. Klaus really enjoyed the bird life around the sanctuary and taking walks around our trail system. The clean outdoor air sharpened his wit and on many occasions and members struggled to keep up with his repartee. He will be remembered by all those who had the opportunity to meet and work with him. Our condolences have been passed on to Gudrun and the rest of the Gottlob family. And the club has just learned of the passing of Dave Vaughn who’s been a member since 2003.
I thought Duck Club members might be interested in this study by the University of Exeter and Queen’s University Belfast, published last February in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
The study shows for the first time that the extra food we provide garden birds in winter makes for a more successful breeding season in the spring. By providing some birds with extra food, such as peanuts, and leaving others to fend for themselves, the team was able to compare productivity between the two groups. Those that were given extra food laid eggs earlier and, although they produced the same number of chicks, an average of one more per clutch successfully fledged. Although it was well known that garden feeding helps many birds survive the winter, this is the first time that the benefits to spring breeding and productivity have been shown.
Dr. Stuart Bearhop of the University of Exeter, corresponding author on the paper, said: “Our study shows that birds that receive extra food over winter lay their eggs earlier and produce more fledglings. While this research shows how the extra food we provide in winter helps the birds that take it, it is still unclear whether this has a knock-on effect on other species. This is something we are keen to investigate, but in the meantime I will certainly be putting out food for garden birds for the rest of the winter.”
Households in the United States and the Ubnited Kingdom provide over 500,000 tonnes of food for garden birds each year. Despite this, there is a debate on whether we should continue feeding birds in the spring, when natural food sources become more readily available. This research shows, for the first time, that birds will continue to benefit from winter feeding well into the breeding season.
Dr. Dan Chamberlain of the British Trust for Ornithology, a collaborator on the project, adds “These results demonstrate that feeding birds in gardens over winter can be vital to their breeding success. It is highly likely that the benefits of extra food continue year-round, so don’t just stock your bird feeders in winter if you want to do the best for the birds in your garden”.
Now that the research team has shown the long-lasting benefits of supplementary food for garden birds, they are keen to investigate exactly what is happening in terms of nutrition. Dr. Bearhop continued: “The extra food we put out for birds contains fat, protein and carbohydrates, which may make the female bird stronger and more able to produce eggs. Foods like peanuts and bird seed also include vitamins and minerals, which can also produce healthier eggs and chicks, and we currently have a research project looking at the role of energy versus vitamins in explaining these effects.”
George Martin: While writing about the Martin family donation, I got to thinking about an amusing incident from a few years back that makes it seem particularly appropriate that we have a trailer to remember him by. It seems that George had brought his friend John Thomas out to the sanctuary one winter day to show him around. George got on the snowmobile and John sat on a bag of shavings on the "trailer" as they headed off. Back at the sheds at the end of the tour, George called to Don Davies, who had just arrived, and said, "Don, I’d like you to meet my friend John…”, but when he turned around to introduce John, there was no one there. George retraced his route and found John walking through the snow over near the Dike Pond, none the worse for having been dumped and Don finally got to meet John. Not holding a grudge, John actually joined the club and has been a member for many years.
I am sure many of you have already added an ICE (in case of emergency) number in your cell phone. In case you have not, see the info below. Paramedics are trained to look at the ICE number in your cell phone in case of an emergency where you have lost the ability to communicate. It’s worth doing and getting your loved ones to do it. You can assist emergency services enormously by taking part in the ICE program. The program involves adding an entry to the contact list of your cellphone under the label “ICE”, with the names and phone numbers of those who should be reached in an emergency. If you want to input more than one contact name, simply enter ICE1, ICE2, or add a name to the entry, such as “ICE – Dad” or “ICE – Sarah.”