msherring said:
I've only lived out here in rural land for about a year and it has been a great enjoyment. Every day outside early to walk around and see whats up. The herons enjoy my fish pond - they only take the bigger fish, the ducks fly from pond to pond and seem to paddle about in the swampy areas. The coyotes are a worry - but still interesting to observe thier routes. The frogs need to be thrown back into the creek (from the fish pond) most every morning...the fun part is catching them....drives the dog mad....the kittens are growing quickly (ferel - and will soon dispurse to local dairy farms),and now I have an Owl - so fine.
Hope rural life suits you
Most urban folk I know cannot adjust permanently.
Glad you can accept the coyote. We need to adjust to nature, not expect nature to adjust to us (see the endless moans about sparrohawks in the Garden Feed forum). We have foxes. Yes, they can take hens. Yes, they take ground nesting birds. They also take rabbits, rats, carrion and anything else they can get. They are beautiful animals and great to observe. We need to take measures to minimize impact (fence the hens in at night) rather than exterminate. OK, sometimes one individual gets too clever, too destructive.
What about coyote ? Are they pack animals or individualists like foxes ?
msherring said:
I think I can build the nest box myself, won't be pretty but will be sturdy and secure. Guess the box needs to be there before a mate will join in the plan....There was a nest box diagram that showed a long nest box situated partly inside and outside - attached to a window opening...that might solve the summer time "too hot" problem??? I'll mull it over for awhile and keep reading - may find out more before I start to build.
Sounds like you'll end up with a good solution
msherring said:
I am overrun with mice, voles, packrats, moles - a great list of rodents - partly because next door is a pigeon farmer/breeder (supplying the oriental market) - and I've been told that whenever there is a 'bird' operation they have so much feed (seed and pellets) about that the rodent population really explodes....hopefully Owl will help me get control of the rodents here....Owl is welcome to them all...
Brilliant
I feed wild birds ad lib on the ground. Much of the c.3 tonnes I use each winter goes to rats, mice, voles, rabbits, corvids, pigeons, pheasants ... undesirable characters all ;-) However, I get buzzard, kestrel, barn and tawny owl after the rodents (mainly). A female sparrowhawk gets pigeons regularly. All good stuff. Mitigation tactic is that the bulk of the feeding is well away from buildings so that I don't get too much trouble with rodents.
msherring said:
Have you and yours been bird lovers forever...
Good question ! I thought my mother got me interested. She says I got her interested. Maybe it was my Dad, though he wasn't much bothered himself. I used to love walking the farm with him, and even then I couldn't stop asking questions. I remember coming the the railway crossing one day and putting up a grey partridge that ran away trailing a wing. "Oh Dad - it's got a broken wing".
"Nah, it's alright, just leading us away from it's chicks".
It fled across the track not far in front of an express, which we waited for. We crossed and the partridge was waiting, still trailing it's wing, away down the track.
"Oh Dad - it _has_ got a broken wing".
"Just wait, you'll see".
Sure enough, it soon burst away, back whence we had come.
I have had many similar experiences with grey partridge, and been amazed watching their peregrine avoidance. A bird I really admire, but so many others astonish me that I have no favourites (but a few un-likes!).
Enjoy yersel,
Mike.
