The Day After Part Two

Included are additional pictures I took this morning of the aftermath of tearing out the sparrows' nesting from my Purple Martin birdhouse. I tried to include it in my previous blog but apparently there is a problem with including a video and pictures in the same blog. The first picture is of the now empty Purple Martin birdhouse with the sparrow nesting at the base. The second picture shows the sparrow pair perched below the Purple Martin birdhouse after I tore their nesting out. The last picture shows their nesting, including one egg, at the base of the Purple Martin birdhouse. While this may seem like harsh measures to some who read this blog, it is not near as harsh as dead Purple Martin nestlings that had holes punched in their heads by these same sparrows. Sparrows are very resourceful. This is a wide open area here in coastal Delaware with many nooks and crevices for sparrows to make their nests. I don't how how long it will take the sparrows to understand that their choice of nesting will not work in this particular Purple Martin birdhouse. I've been told they are programmed to do what they do. Unfortunately they are a non-native species of bird that was introduced to this continent many years ago. Their introduction to the native bird species of this country has had devastating consequences for the native bird population. I may not be able to control this disaster but I can affect change in my own backyard habitat. In my area of southern Delaware, millions of chickens are hauled away daily to their doom. I feel for each and every chicken. I don't feel sorry for these sparrows who have to look for another home. Besides, the Purple Martins catch a lot more mosquitoes than the sparrows. Since I've had the Purple Martin birdhouse up (and also my adjoining neighbor), I have not had the mosquito problem I've had in previous years. I doubt that the sparrows are responsibile for the elimination of my mosquito problem. I think it is perhaps the Purple Martins who deserve credit. To show my thanks, I will continue to provide a sparrow free home for them.

The Day After

First thing I checked when I was up this morning was to look out my bedroom window to see the Purple Martin house. One of the doors to one of the PM apartments was off. Uh oh. Was it an Attack of the Furious Determined Sparrow? That PM apartment held baby PMs yesterday. I quickly dressed and walked through the wet grass to lower the PM birdhouse. No birds were in that apartment. I checked the other apartments. There were no birds in any of the other apartments. One of the apartments, that had baby PMs yesterday, only had some wet black feather remnants of its previous occupants. Then I discovered sparrow nesting in a different apartment. Ah ha. The Determined Sparrows finally got the message not to build their nest in the bottom front. Contrary to what some readers of this blog have told me, I think the message finally sunk in to their little pea brain not to build a nest in that apartment. However, they built it in another apartment. I tore it out. I put the nesting, along with one brown speckled sparrow egg, at the base of the PM birdhouse along with the previous nesting I tore out yesterday. There were no Purple Martins to be seen this morning. However, once I tore the sparrow nesting out, several Purple Martins returned. A short video is included which shows the sparrow couple perched on the roof of my house,chirping in my direction as if to question me as to why I keep tearing out their nesting. By the time this whole process is done, I may have enough straw to make a bale of hay. I'll save that and use it for my Halloween decorations.

House Sparrows Evicted

A new development with the Determined Sparrows. I have to look at this situation again.


Read this.

This morning, like every morning, when I got up I pulled the curtains back from one of my bedroom windows to see how the birds are doing in my backyard habitat. Immediately I saw that the Purple Martins were in distress. After dressing, shaving, and having breakfast I went out to my shed to get my gloves. I was going to lower the Purple Martin birdhouse and check out what was going on with the six apartments. As I approached the PM birdhouse, the male/female pair of Determined Sparrows darted out off of their perch at the base of the PM birdhouse. They act like they own the whole PM birdhouse and the Purple Martins are visitors at their pleasure. The Purple Martins dispersed as I lowered their birdhouse. The first three apartments I checked on the front contained baby Purple Martins in two of them. The third apartment was empty. Those must have been the new baby Purple Martins that have been testing their wings by soaring around their birdhouse the past week. I checked the back apartments. The Determined Sparrows have their nest in the bottom apartment. The top right apartment was still empty. This was the same apartment where I found two dead baby Purple Martins. The top apartment on the left had baby Purple Martins in the back. There were very quiet. Perhaps fearing the Determined Sparrows. I feel so bad for these birds. They have so much to fear where they should have no fear. Then I checked the bottom apartment. As I thought, it was crammed full of twigs, straw and bits of plastic trash. A typical house sparrow bird nest. I tore it all out and threw it in the cornfield near next to my backyard. As I threw our their nesting material I saw three house sparrow brown speckled eggs. I didn't care. Good riddance. I returned to the PM birdhouse and raised it up to it's previous height. The Purple Martins returned, much quieter than before. The Determined house sparrows also returned. Of course they checked their apartment first and, seeing no nesting material in it, flitted out on the perch and looked my way. The rest of the Purple Martins returned, this time much calmer. The Determined Sparrows continued to flit back and forth between their perch near the opening of their nest and my neighbor's tree. I guess they were looking for their nest. I went to the edge of my property and picked up what was left of their nest and placed it at the bottom of the Purple Martin birdhouse. Then I left. Later, as I was getting ready to meet friends in Lewes for lunch, I saw the pair of house sparrows checking out their nesting material at the bottom of the PM birdhouse. I also saw one of the sparrows exiting one of the Purple Martin apartments. They were probably checking for their eggs. I hope they're not going to kill any more of the Purple Martins babies that are nesting in their birdhouse. I realize that some who read this blog feel that I should provide space for the house sparrows but I have decided that I will not. There is plenty of space in other locations for them to build a bird nest. I will not permit them to build any more of their trashy bird nests in my birdhouses. To me, the house sparrows are like the neighborhood bully. They bully their way in and take what they want. I have had comments from other readers of my blog which encourage me to be a "good landlord" and get rid of these house sparrows, which are an invasive species. I'm coming to the point where I agree with these readers. I don't want to destroy them but if that is what is necessary, I may have to do that. Now I see why my Father kept a bee bee gun next to his cornfield. I remember all the times I used to chastise him for (what I perceived) was his cruelty towards the sparrows and starlings, now I see what he was trying to do. He was protecting the bluebird trail of bird boxes that surrounded his 2 acres of garden from the sparrows and starlings. He was successful. Eventually, the house sparrows figured out that it was useless to continue to try and build nests in his bluebird houses. I don't know how long it took him to convince them of that fact, but he did. I don't like to destroy any living thing but just as I am destroying the devastating onslaught of Japanese beetles that I have now, I will get rid of the house sparrows. Hopefully, but tearing out their nest enough times they will get the message.

Potpourri

First, as you can see by the blog picture of the day, my bluebird house now has four new eggs. The last batch had five, which I think was one too many. Four seems to fit nicely in the neat bluebird nest. Funny thing, I rarely see the momma bluebird around the nest. She's very low key. Unlike the Purple Martin condominium a few yards away. One of the Purple Martins has taken it upon him or herself to be the Head Purple Martin. Whenever I go out to my shed, which I have to pass by the Purple Martin condos, the Head Purple Martin dive bombs me with a loud "squawk!" That's all right, she's just protecting her babies.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, I want to bring you up to date on some older subjects that I written about in the past.

1) Sasha - the Russian housekeeper worker at the Inn where I work is doing fine. Since I work the evening shift, she is usually gone by the time I get in at 3 PM. However, last week our paths did overlap. She was just finishing up one of the courtyard rooms and passed by me at the front desk. She had a big smile on her face as she greeted me. She was very relaxed. The other housekeepers were in the kitchen. As Sasha entered the kitchen, I heardthem greet her. Apparently Sasha has been accepted and it shows in her demeanor. After the other housekeepers left for the day, Sasha was still in the kitchen. She was sitting at one of the little tables by the refrigerator, punching in a number on her cell phone. Seeing me, she asked "Can I call Russia? I clocked out." I said "Sure." She doesn't need my permission to call home. She was very polite to ask me though. After she made her call, she told me she was going to eat her lunch now. Again, sort of asking my permission. I noted that she was eating her lunch after she had clocked out whereas the other housekeepers eat while clocked in.

2) Wayne - my friend who I had the contretemps with a few months back. Our friendship is back on again (at least it is from my side). We're not doing Sunday dinner at the Purple Parrot now because of the influx of summer tourists. It's almost impossible to get a parking space in Rehoboth. The restaurant is crowded. Service is poor. We'll wait until the tourist leave then resume our regular Sunday night outings. Wayne is leaving for New Orleans this week to see friends he hasn't seen in almost 50 years. Yes, Wayne is VERY OLD.

3) I've started a new political blog called "Not a Ditto Head". Ditto head refers to those Rush Limbaugh lovers who nod their head and say "ditto" to everything that fat clown says. The presidential race is well underway and I just couldn't hold my views to myself any longer. However, I didn't want to sully up this blog with those views because they are offensive to so many of my friends and relatives (they are unenlightened obviously, forgive them).

4) The shocking thing that happened to me at work a few weeks back is still unresolved. I'm hoping it will go away on its own but I doubt it. I am not going to go into any more detail on that incident in this blog because it is a privacy issue. I only wrote about it because it upset me so much.

5) My Mom is coming down to visit us in August. I hope the visit will help her out of her depression. I think a change of scenery will be good for her. However, I have to get her out of her room and away from "The Price Is Right" and "O'Reilly" and to see the sights of Slower Lower Delaware. Maybe I can arrange for a guided tour through one of the local chicken processing plants.

Crop Duster Part Deux

The other day, while I was out in my backyard gardening, I heard a plane flying low overhead. It was a crop duster, spraying the cornfields that border my backyard. Sensing another photo opportunity, I grabbed my digital camera and started to shoot away. I took several videos, trying for that interesting sequence to put on my daily blog. Standing in my backyard in the open, I reviewed the videos I took on my camera. As I was doing this, I heard the plane get louder. I looked up and saw the pilot fly directly over my head. I smelled something. Now I don't know if he sprayed me but I definitely smelled something and it wasn't roses. I think he gave me a little spritz of what he was spraying on the cornfields. Maybe there was a residue. Later, as I was talking to my neighbor Bob, he told me that he thought the pilot was hot dogging him while he was mowing his lawn so he give him the Finger. His wife came out and told Bob that the pilot was actually crop dusting the corn field that borders on his property. I think the pilot thought I was the one who gave him the Solitary Salute. Thus, I got a dose. I am now cootie free.

Baby Bluebird Rescue

Bill and I had just returned from shopping at the Super (Duper?) Walmart store in Georgetown this hot and humid summer morning. Bill headed down the outside entrance to our cellar. He wanted to get his paint to repaint the wooden post that holds our mailbox. Immediately he came back up and said to me "There's a bird in the stairwell, you better take care of it." Ron to the rescue! I took a peek over the railing down to the bottom of the stairs. Sure enough, there behind an old motor, that someday we will get around to taking to the recycling center, and a broom, were two black, scared to death eyes peering back at me. A baby bluebird had lost its way. Bill had told me that the mama bluebird was still feeding her babies even though they had left their nest a couple of weeks ago. Some or all of the baby bluebirds had taken up residence in the pine and holly trees that border my back yard. Apparently some of them aren't ready for prime time yet. Maybe their flying wings aren't ready yet. The baby bluebirds don't seem to develop as fast as the Determined Sparrow's offspring. The new young sparrows are long gone. Even the new baby Purple Martins are swooping and diving every day, testing their new wings. In fact, they've been dive bombing me almost every time I go out to the shed. Well, it was rescue time for this wayward baby bluebird that had lost its way. I went to the shed, dive bombed and screeched at all the way by about three Purple Martins, and got my gloves. I headed back to the stairwell, gloves in hand for a gentle rescue. I hoped that the baby bluebird wouldn't be thrashing around and break its wing or worse during this rescue attempt. I looked for Bill. My thought was to ask him to video tape the rescue. That would be interesting to show on my blog. But, no Bill. The rescue would have to be done, sans video. I quietly descended the cement stairs to the cellar to the discarded motor. Just around the corner of the motor, I could see one black eye looking at me. I moved my gloved hand to scoop the baby bird up. It gave a squawk and scooted to the other side of the stairwell, obviously petrified. I wish I could tell it I meant it no harm but was there to rescue it. Quickly, I gently closed my gloved hand around the trembling bird. It was quiet, with just its little dark head sticking out of my closed gloved hand. I ascended the stairs to the backyard and took it back to the pine and holly trees that border my backyard. I gently placed it down at the base of the holly tree, shaded by the weeds. It made no further sounds but did look up at me. The Purple Martins (or bluebirds - I couldn't' tell which in the blazing sun) were still dive bombing me with their screeching alarms calls. I left the baby bluebird at the base of the holly tree. When I got back I told Bill to keep an eye out for it when he mows the lawn later this afternoon. I'll go out a little later to see how it's doing. Hopefully, it's parents will continue to feed the poor little thing until he or she feels confident enough to try its flying wings again. An update on the bluebird box, it now has four bluebird eggs in its neat bluebird nest. One more perfectly oval blue bluebird egg to go. The baby bluebird I rescued today will soon have new brothers and sisters. And so it goes in Ron's Backyard Habitat.

Shy Bill

Bill and I were standing out by the garage earlier this evening, waiting for the daily evening thunderstorm that has become the norm around here. Barbara, our neighbor, came over to visit awhile. I had my camera so I thought it would be a good time to take a picture of Barbara and Bill for posterity. The video that you will view on this blog is funny because it shows how shy my partner is with women. The really funny thing is that most women love Bill. I don't get that kind of attention. What's up with that? I take a shower every night.