Mountain City Montage
by PAULINE TOM
Wow! Gorgeous red, white and blue waves in our backyard! Not a flag – an Eastern Bluebird male wing-waves as he courts his sweetie. Soon, we should join many Texans with blue egg clutches.
The makes-my-heart-throb-as-peaceful-waves-roll-through-my soul bluebird male perches atop a nearby nestbox on a 10-foot pole in the center of our backyard. Position bluebird nestboxes near high perches, such as tree limbs, telephone wires, or taller poles. Bluebirds use them to protect their nest and to search for insects towards the ground.
A coyote hair-pluckin’ Black-crested Titmouse finished a nest in the nestbox affixed to the column just outside our bedroom door. The bottom portion of the nest consists of green mosses, lichens, and a few leaves, interwoven with coyote hair. Atop the thick base is a soft layer, mostly of coyote fur; and, in the center is her nest cup. Once she lays eggs (one a day, like most cavity-nesting birds), she’ll cover the eggs with the soft material when she leaves the nest.
Here in Central Texas, her nest looks just like the nest of a Carolina Chickadee. It’s easy to tell them apart – watch for the occupant.
Atop the freezer in our garage, RonTom found a Carolina Wren nest in a red and white cardboard box with trash bags. (Year after year, wrens come through the doggie door into our safe haven garage.) Distinguish it from a Bewick’s Wren nest because it comes “up and over” inside the box, rather than sitting flat. And, it contains mostly leaves and leaf skeletons; whereas the Bewick’s Wren sticks pretty much to sticks.
A birder friend taught me an ID trick years ago, while helping me with the Great Backyard Bird Count: Bewick’s Wren, rather slender with a grayish breast; Carolina Wren, somewhat plump with a buffy-colored breast.
Just two wren species nest in Mountain City. Never ever will we have a House Wren nest, as their nesting territory is almost exclusively north of the Red River.
Going back to bluebirds ... I must admit, I used every trick in the book to attract the bluebirds. Some nestboxes have “faux holes” painted on sides. I provided numerous styles. And, I sprinkled a few mealworms in some containers and on some surfaces all around the house a time or two or three each day. Now, they’ll come to my whistle.
TheNaturesWay.com ships 5,000 medium mealworms Priority Mail for $23.50, plus S&H. This cost-fractions the amount charged at pet stores
Many bird species love mealworms. A lovely little Yellow-rumped Warbler comes right up to my computer window along a mealworm-sprinkled rail.
I Tanglefoot’d nestbox poles to prevent fire ants from crawling up. The product in a tub is stickier than the product in a tube. Sometimes Callahans has the tub. Always NAbluebirdsociety.org sells the tube.
Happy belated March 8th birthday to former mayor, LaVerne McClendon. And, prayers for the family. By the time this prints, Ralph Sr. should be home while doing physical therapy at Legend Oaks.
I wish Nancy Waddell had tall-tale tidbitted. It’s true. Before month-end, she and Rick will move to San Angelo. Wave goodbye. I feel waves of tears coming on.
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