 A Mix From The Seed Bag Today I’ll tend to a few housekeeping matters. Some are questions I’ve received in emails. Some are questions I’ve been asked over the phone or while walking down the street. Jay Squawking A couple of weeks ago I did a column on the subject of The BC Breeding Bird Atlas. Subsequently, someone from the BC Breeding Bird Atlas project saw my pen and ink illustration of a Steller’s Jay then contacted me to see if the image could be used in various promotions. I was happy to have them take such an interest and said I would do a coloured illustration if they wished. My illustration now graces the main page of their Internet site. I have already brought the site up a few times under the pretext of looking for new information about the Breeding Bird Atlas (but also to see my artwork prominently featured.) Hey, I’m doing it for the birds, not personal glory! Duck Diagram Last week I entered 100 Mile House Library just as three people happened to be looking for plans to build a Wood Duck box. The librarian introduced me to the three as a local bird person and I listened as they said they had no luck finding suitable duck box plans in any of the library books. I did what I usually do when asked for bird box plans – I pulled out a pencil and paper and did an on-the-spot diagram. A duck box generally uses a 10 inch by 10 inch floor. However, I often find my wood in the lumber throwaway part of the dump, so I let the dimensions of the found lumber dictate the floor size (the floor size, however, should not exceed 12 inches by 12 inches.) The duck box should be about 20 inches tall. The entrance hole should be about 16 inches above the duck box floor. And the entrance hole should be an ellipse 3 inches high by 4 inches wide. Even a Common Merganser, the largest tree nesting waterfowl, will be able to enter a box with the above dimensions. A small duck, such as the Hooded Merganser, can supposedly enter a hole made by a Flicker (although I’ve never seen it done.) In order for newly hatched ducklings to leave the box it is essential to provide a sort of ladder up to the nest box entrance hole. So, rough the inside panel from the entrance hole down to the duck box floor with a chisel or screwdriver. Or create something sophisticated by attaching a piece of fine screen to the inside panel. This will provide a toehold so the ducklings can climb up and out of the box when the time is right. Place the box high enough so it is useable and keep the entrance hole free from branches. If a box is above solid ground it should be at least 12 feet high. If the box is over water it can be very low, one foot is acceptable if the water level stays steady. In the Cariboo, duck boxes must be placed high over solid ground because the most likely waterfowl to use a box are not very good flyers. For example, a Goldeneye has a much smaller wing surface than a Wood Duck and requires some height to get started. When a Goldeneye leaves a nest box, the Goldeneye drops like a rock until it gains enough momentum to start flying, so there must be some room for error. Side note: I searched the library shelves after the duck box people departed and I found two books containing bird box plans. Both books had duck box diagrams. If anyone else is looking for plans, they do exist at the library. Suet Yourself I’ve had two inquiries about the suet rendering column. The first question via email asked me to explain what I meant by suet. This is a fair enough question because there are many kinds of animal fat to be had. The type of suet I prefer comes from a cow. It is internal body cavity fat with a crumbly consistency and does not come attached to any major muscle tissue. I get my suet at the local meat store but recently when the store was closed for awhile, I was lucky enough to discover that the supermarket in town also had a similar product in the frozen meat section. Another question came from a friend. She phoned and asked how long the suet should boil because it was taking a very long time. I asked whether the suet was chopped into small pieces. She said that it wasn’t. As I was just about to render a bit of suet myself, I was able to review what I said. One of the harder parts of the process was chopping the suet into small bits. Part of the problem was the very old, dull hatchet I used; this time I selected a new, sharper model. I also discovered a new way to chop the suet. Instead of striking the suet mass with the curve of the blade, which is tedious, time consuming, and produces small shavings of suet, it is much easier to strike the suet with the heel of the blade. This method quickly reduced the suet to rubble and I was finished in no time. I added about 2.5 cups of hot water straight from the tap to a pot full of chopped suet and brought the whole mess to a rapid boil. In less than half an hour most of the water boiled away and I poured the suet into margarine tubs. When I checked later there were two solid blocks of suet to show for my efforts. Granted there was a little gelatin on the bottom of one block which I scraped off and gave to the crows in town. The Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, and Chickadees are already dining on my most recent renderings and I’m feeling satisfied with this very clean and economic way of presenting suet to birds. To e-mail Tom CLICK HERE To look at previous column CLICK HERE |
