Column: Scare Spider' proves successful for some with woodpecker woes

Staff

Published Sunday, October 30, 2005

My neighbor Crandall stops by.

“How are you doing?”

I ask.

“Well, my grandson has been visiting.

He came running out of the bathroom to tell me he'd dropped his toothbrush into the toilet.

I fished it out and threw it in the garbage.

He took my toothbrush out of its holder and said, ‘We'd better throw this one away, too, because it fell in the toilet last week.'”

“Ouch,” I say.

“You slobbered a bibful there.

I'm thinking of selling my motorcycle.”

“You're selling the Hardly a Davidson?

You love that machine.”

“It's the perfect thing to blow the stink off the day, but I'm pondering on selling it.

It might be time to kick it to the curb.

It's because of Grandpappy.

You know, Grandpappy isn't bald, but when he mentions his hair, you know which one he's talking about.

He got a back hair transplant for Father's Day.

The problem with the motorcycle is that I'm tired of giving Grandpappy rides and having to fight with him over the window seat.

He's too tight to chip in on the gas.

He throws nickels around like they're manhole covers.

Boy, did I embarrass myself today.”

“What happened now?”

I ask.

“I was visiting at the Hartland Hospital.

I was talking to that old quack, Doctor Splint Eastwood, when I saw it.”

“Saw what?”

“It was a contraption.

It had more chrome than my Hardly a Davidson and it was full of gauges, dials, handles, valves, bottles and hoses.

It was something to behold.

I said to Splint, ‘Man, I'd hate to be hooked up to that machine.'”

“What did Splint say?”

“He said that he'd hate to be hooked up to it, too.

It was a rug shampooer.”

Midwest Birding Symposium

It was my great pleasure to speak at the Midwest Birding Symposium held in the Quad Cities this year.

I took in as many seminars as I possibly could while I was there.

I listened to friends Bill Thompson III and Julie Zickafoose of Bird Watcher's Digest talk about their book, Identify Yourself.

This book offers help with the 50 most common birding identification challenges.

Bill offered some wonderful tips such as, “Rare birds are rare.”

“Herring gulls have large bills in comparison to ring-billed gulls.” and “The magnolia warbler is the poster child for field marks.”

Another old friend, John Acorn, who did 91 episodes of The Nature Nut for The Animal Planet, told us that a field guide is like deer crossing signs.

The signs don't look like deer, but they feed our perceptions.

It's all about perception.

The birds haven't changed over time, but our expectations of field guides have.

Roger Tory Peterson created his famous field guides with the little arrows that simplified bird identification.

Peterson is also famous for his roadside silhouettes as aids for identification.

These silhouettes present “jizz,” a general impression of a bird.

It's a composite mental picture that our brains assemble.

Which field guide should we own?

John says, “Buy all the field guides.

They're a lot cheaper than binoculars.”

Humans have the need to identify things.

If you go birding with different people, you will see different birds.

Bower flicker box

Allen Bower has watched nesting flickers since 1988.

Starlings frequently steal their nesting cavities.

Bower has designed a flicker box.

The design is similar to that in Carrol Henderson's Woodworking for Wildlife.

Bower's entrance hole is slightly larger at 2.5 by 3.25 inches.

Bower's box is tilted forward slightly, which makes it easier for the adult birds to feed the young upside down, and helps the young to come to the hole to be fed, which they do when about 12 days of age.

It's important to check the box regularly and keep the box filled to the top with shavings.

If shavings are packed above the level of the entrance hole it is not possible for starlings to usurp the cavity.

Cedar chips from a pet store may be a little coarse and table saw dust is too fine and will pack.

Allen recommends sawdust from a sawmill, planer, or chain saw.

Flickers will do the "excavating" to the level they want after they claim the box.

Tree bark attached to the sides might make the box more attractive to flickers.

The box should be mounted 6 to 10 feet high.

A metal pole works well in an area that has raccoons.

Face the box south.

Keep a flyway open to the box.

Coffee and birds

Dr. Robert Ridgely, a leading ornithologist in the study of endemic and endangered species of birds in the Americas, said that there are virtually no birds found around treeless coffee plantations.

However, where coffee grows under trees, the area has many birds.

He is adamant in expressing his support for shade-grown coffee.

Ridgely is supportive of the American Bird Conservancy and believes it to be the most effective conservation group focused on birds.

From the mailbag

From L. B. “We have a Great Blue Heron replica by the pond (someone told us they are territorial birds and won't land next to another). We have a replica of an alligator floating in the pond (someone told us they won't land near an alligator).

“We have a net over the pond (so far, the heron doesn't mind the net at all), and a “scarecrow sprinkler,” a motion sensor activated to spray the heron when he lands in the yard.

He has learned to land on the other side of the motion sensor and not get sprayed.

We have three big dogs, two of which are “bird dogs” - a Weimaraner and a pointer.

They have not scared away the heron.

I am going to attempt to lasso the bird around his three-foot long neck!”

Attack of the woodpeckers

Andy Thompson, publisher of Bird Watcher's Digest, told me that he has been hearing from folks who have been having success in discouraging woodpeckers from hammering on the siding of a house by using The Scare Spider.

The Scare Spider is a battery-operated device that will chase away damage-causing woodpeckers.

Activated by sound, the spider drops down on an 18-inch string.

Then it climbs back up the string to await another stimulus. This unusual solution is quite inexpensive and might be worth a try.

Costa Rica

Join me as I lead a trip to Costa Rica for Good Earth Village Feb. 28 to March 9.

For more information on the trip, go to www.goodearthvillage.org/ or contact Kathy Bolin at 507-346-2494 or at kathy@goodearthvillage.org.

Thanks for stopping by

“Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”

- John F. Kennedy

“Not to know is bad. Not to want to know is worse.

Not to hope is unthinkable. Not to care is unforgivable.” - Nigerian saying

DO GOOD.

(Allen Batt of Hartland is a member of the Albert Lea Audubon Society. E-mail him at SnoEowl@aol.com.)

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