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Re: eggshells and freezes and suet and Empids...
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Re: eggshells and freezes and suet and Empids...
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2000 18:09:03 -0500 (EST)
- In-Reply-To: <1.5.4.32.20000116010046.00697508@pop.mindspring.com>
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi C-birders,
I decided to work today, for a change. However, if the Western (Pacific-
slope) Flycatcher continues to be seen along Big Woods Road, please keep
me (if not the whole listserv) updated. That's a great bird, first record
for the state!
On Sat, 15 Jan 2000, barbara brooks wrote:
>
> watching bluejays out the back this a.m. I noticed they were picking up egg
> shells from the compost. I assume the female is taking them for the calcium.
I have seen recommendations to mix crushed eggshells with birdseed,
particularly if you feed birds during the breeding season, as this adds
supplemental calcium to their diet. We have lots of eggshells in our
compost heap, but I have yet to see birds eating them (did see an Eastern
Box Turtle there once). I did use calcium-supplemented suet in my feeder
back during the summer, but it did not seem any more popular, or popular
with any different species of birds, than the peanut- or fruit-flavored
varieties.
On the topic of suet, I am now using plain suet, no flavors. I seem to be
getting the same species as I was in December using peanut-flavored suet:
Downy and Red-bellied WP, Brown Creeper, Carolina Wren. During warmer
months I had Brown Thrasher and Grey Catbird coming to various kinds of
flavored suet; does anyone see these species coming to plain suet, or do
they prefer the fruit- and peanut-flavored kinds? These species have not
come by my feeders since early fall...
> Are Cooper"s more prevalent here in the winter
According to the CHBC Checklist
(http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/chbc/trichk.pdf), Cooper's is the more
common species during the breeding season, but Sharp-shinned becomes more
common in the winter.
One last note: I said something a few weeks ago about how sugar water had
a lower freezing point than plain water, but noone on the listserv knew
exactly what that was. Well, this morning my hummingbird feeder was solid
ice! According to the Weather Underground (http://www.wunderground.com/),
the low last night in Durham was 26 degrees F. It seems like we've had
colder nights than that earlier this winter which failed to freeze my
feeder, but perhaps wind chill and other microclimatic factors were
involved...
Good birding!
Josh
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/