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Shrikes, snakes and nest boxes



Hi Carolinabirders,

A couple of listservs archived on Jack Siler's site have an appeal from
someone in Canada to watch for migrating and wintering color-banded
Loggerhead Shrikes, banded on their breeding grounds in Canada. For more
information, and especially if you see one, visit
http://members.kingston.net/cgrooms

The Duke Natural History Society took a trip to Alligator River NWR and
Nags Head Woods over the weekend. Birds were actually in short supply; we
visited the sites that had Rough-legged Hawk, Ash-throated Flycatcher, and
Western Kingbird over the winter, but saw none of the three species. Nor
did we see or hear Short-eared Owls, but our attempt for them was at the
end of a long, cold day, and the group was a bit too giddy to maintain the
quiet necessary for quality owl-watching... The only migrants were an
Osprey carrying a fish over the Dare Haven motel (they are probably out
there all winter actually), and a Northern Parula singing at Nags Head
Woods.

We had much better luck with critters of other sorts. Will has already
posted our butterflies to Carolinaleps, and I the odonates to the SE
odonates list. We also encountered 2-3 River Otters along Long Curve Road,
a few swarms of just-hatched toad larvae in wheel-rut puddles on Grouse
Road, and several other herps (including Red-spotted Newt, Marbled
Salamander, Worm Snake, and a beautiful juvenile Red-bellied Watersnake).

Then took the Duke Ecology course's lab out to the Duke Forest Korstian
Division yesterday. Again, no birds of note, mostly singing Pine Warblers;
did have a Falcate Orangetip and a Mourning Cloak. Then a Common
Checkered-Skipper today, just south of the Duke Bio Sci building...

And finally, heard from a fellow grad student who lives in a woodsy patch
near the Lakewood neighborhood of Durham that he heard a Whip-poor-will
sing briefly (for about 15 seconds) in his backyard recently; first
Piedmont report I've heard this year.

On Wed, 27 Mar 2002, G GiLLaM wrote:
>
> I hope none of you are very fond of snakes as the snake's story is not a
> happy one. After that little male bluebird had worked so hard to raise his
> four little nestlings we were not about for them to meet their mother's
> tragic end. The BB gun did not have enough power to bring him down from the
> tree. My husband is a law enforecement officer so when he arrived on the
> scene it was just a matter of minutes before the crime scene was under
> control.  Needless to say the snake was no more of a problem.

As someone who's (obviously) fond of snakes, I'm always sad to hear
stories like this. This topic has come up on Carolinabirds before, and
there are ways to keep snakes out of nestboxes besides killing them. For
one, if you actually *see* the snake, you can chase it off yourself
(people in the Triangle who are afraid to mess with snakes can always
contact me). You can also equip nest boxes with baffles or other barriers
to climbing predators.

More reliably, some garden supply stores, such as Barnes on Ninth Street
in Durham, sell snake repellent; the active ingredient is naphthalene,
same chemical as in mothballs, pretty much harmless as long as you don't
dump it in a pond or other wetland. A solid ring of such repellent around
the nest box should keep the snakes out, as long as they aren't inside the
ring when you lay it down...

Good birding (but be nice to snakes too),

Josh


Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/