The Celery Farm & Beyond

Gone Pishin'!

   Be back in mid-February.  Next post will be a three-part Monday Morning Mystery on Feb. 15. Yes, you heard it right!

Winter Scenes

 

   For anyone who didn't get a chance to see the Celery Farm under a soft blanket of snow yesterday, Seymour Drakes thought he would post a few pix.

   The photos featured in the extended part of the post are in black and white; Seymour didn't want to waste all those color pixels on a monotonal landscape (as opposed to monotonous landscape, he hopes). 

My Column in The Record today

   My latest Record and Herald-News column, "The Bird Watcher," is about the Great Backyard Bird Count.

   Here is the link.

Monday Morning Mystery Revealed

    The answer to the Monday Morning Mystery is:

    This is the old Herbert horse barn, which stood not far from where the Brewster Memorial Holly Grove now stands, just beyond the Warden Watch Peninsula.

   I believe the artist's name is Finley.

   I will try to post other paintings by him.

   I would love to see other Celery Farm paintings as well, especially if they are of a bygone landmark.

Screech Owl Nesting Box Basics: The Panic Room

    I stumbled upon the idea of a Screech Owl Panic Room by accident.

  Not far from my Screech Owl box is a Wood Duck nesting box (foreground, photo at left), and one spring I actually had a Wood Duck female lay eggs in the box and raise nine ducklings.  

   The next year I installed a little video cam in the wood duck box, and had the TV set up so I basically had a Wood Duck nesting box channel and a Screech Owl  nesting box channel (the Celery Farm TV Network).  

  The Wood Ducks never came back, but a strange thing happened.

  The Screech Owl parents were very aware of the box, and treated it their cold cellar. Every so often they would leave food in there, and then raid the box as needed.  

   I have found that when a squirrel evicts the screech owl (always during the day), the owl simply flies over to the Wood Duck box -- his panic room in times of attack. 

Monday Morning Mystery 020110

   This is a real blast from the Celery Farm past. What was it, and what is it now?

   (Thanks, Lorie!)

Virginia Rail: A Walk Around the Celery Farm

 
   A walk around the (very cold) Celery Farm produced very few birds, but this one more than made up for it. It was still foraging when I left. E-mail me here if you really need to see this bird.

Coming Tuesday: The Owl Box 'Panic Room'

  I came across this concept by accident, but Screech Owls love it.

Evicting Squirrels from Screech Owl Nesting Boxes

   Squirrels invading Screech Owl nesting boxes are like early stages of a forest fire: If you can fight them early enough, and persistently enough, you have a chance of putting them out. 

   One minute your Screech Owl is chilling in the box (left), and the next minute a squirrel has moved in with extreme prejudice.

    You cannot let the squirrel have a chance to get attached to her new digs. You as the landlord have to evict the squatter asap.

   In the eviction process,  I have found that a nesting box video cam attached to your TV or DVR is half the battle.

    Thanks to the mini-cam, and a three-pronged attack, I have had good success in evicting these bushy-tailed rodents.

   Click "Continue reading... " below to see my three rules of squirrel removal.

   (Note: No squirrels were injured in the making of this blog post.)

Screech Owls' Biggest Nemesis

    Suddenly, a shout rang out.* It was me, yelling to no one in particular after looking out my living room and seeing a new gray face sticking its head out of the Screech Owl nesting box.

   Even from 100 feet, I could see it was no owl. It was Public Enemy No. 1.

   That's right, it was an Eastern Gray Squirrel, one of those the furry mischief-makers who -- went they aren't busy raiding bird feeders -- love to evict Eastern Screech Owls from their nesting boxes and then set up house themselves.

   I have heard from many Screech Owl nesting box proprietors over the years, and they have lost more Screech Owl tenants because of squirrels than for any other reason.

   So far I have found only three counter-insurgency methods that seem to work.

   Can you guess what they are?

   To be continued Friday.

  * See comment to Wednesday's post.

Screech Owl Nesting Box: The Good News

    If you happened to see a guy in a red jacket by my Screech Owl nesting box earlier this month, you'll be relieved to know that the guy was not a wacko but rather a trained nesting-box camera installer, better known as (the legendary) Mike From Philly.

   Mike installed the first mini microphone and mini infrared video cam for the neighborhood Screechers more than three years ago, and the elements finally got to them.

   When the cam and mike crapped out early last fall, I asked the MFP to do a new installation (left). Everything works great.

   And yes, we removed the lens cap.

   Click "Continue reading..."  for more owl cam info.

The Fanning Report 012610

  Rob sez: "Was curious to see if any ducks would show up at CF after a 60 degree day--and was rewarded this morning with...

   "PINTAIL (drake)--earliest CF record (prev. 3/3),-GW Teal (3, 1 drake)--earliest CF record (prev. 2/10), -Hooded Merg--15+, -Gadwall--5,-Black Duck--2."

Coming Tomorrow (I hope): Owl Box Update

   There have been some major developments in the Screech Owl nesting box this month, both good and bad.

   Tomorrow, I'll post the good news (which probably isn't what you think).

   Then Thursday or Friday, I'll post a bit of a down.

   Darn! This is just too intriguing to continue now.

Monday Morning Mystery 012509

   Too easy, right? But I liked the shot.

   Click "Continue reading ..." for a bigger clue.