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Hurricane Katrina tore through St. Tammany Parish, spawned tornadoes in it's wake. Our circular driveway is totally blocked by at least 8 trees, some are about 3 ft. in diameter. We counted 30 giant pines in our yard that were snapped off like match sticks. Dozens of large oaks, hickories, black cherry and other hardwoods were either uprooted or broken when the big pines fell. Our 9 acres lay in ruin and it looks like we were bombed. Our road to the river is gone, covered with piles of debris. The trees that are still standing have no leaves. Most of the nest boxes on our trail are damaged or destroyed. Luckily, nesting season is over. Our gardens are under piles of debris. The wildlife is dazed and is looking for food. We have no electricity because one of the trees that fell on the driveway also took down the electric wire, pulling the weatherhead from the roof of the house.
By late afternoon we were able to cut a swath wide enough for the car (the van is under 3 trees) to the main road so that we could get out to call our family and to look for ice and gasoline. From now on we are in survival mode. We will need another chainsaw and a generator. The whole area is without power. Poles and lines are down everywhere.
Success!! All the climbing & balancing in trees to get the big wood duck house down to repair it & mount it on a pole with predator baffle has paid off. Yesterday morning we were greeted by 12-14 wood duck ducklings in the river right by the box. We checked the box today and found the egg shells inside all stacked nicely like nester dolls. The other box that we made from cypress scraps has a wood duck hen sitting on about 10 eggs.
Everything is late down here in south LA. In the smaller houses we have 3 Chickadee nests, 2 with 6 eggs each and the Eastern Bluebirds have finally built a nest in one by the pond. We built 2 sizes of smaller (with 1 1/4" holes) than bluebird spec houses for the chickadees & prothonotary warblers this year. So far the chickadees are using one of the small houses, 1 that is shorter than a standard NABS house & one old one from Wal Mart. The Prothonotary males are back, darting around and staking out territory & houses.
A Carolina wren has forsaken all of the houses and is sitting on eggs in a nest in the top hole of a pair of cinder blocks that we stacked and used as a saw horse to make the nest boxes! We found another nest, without eggs, inside the upturned canoe that was stored on the bluff by the river. A friend found a nest in a fitted sheet that had been hanging on a line for a couple of days. They really do build in the strangest places.
On January 2, we surveyed our small nest box trail, making notes of houses needing repair, soaping ceilings and cleaning out debris. We also spruced up & moved a box that had no takers last year. Two of the wood duck boxes, that we foolishly mounted on trees, have been taken over by honey bees. We have opted to build new houses (one is already completed & up) and mount them on 2" pipes with baffles.
We have also finished & erected 3 Chickadee/Prothonotary size wooden houses to replace the cardboard milk carton ones. Two bluebird types are marked & ready for the saw. But, we still need to get the long ladder & climb up to rescue the one remaining bee-free tree mounted wood duck house. Whew!!
I just went to Home Depot and the 1" (10ft.) metal conduit that we used to get for under $5.00 is now $10.99!!! I had to downsize to the $5.99 3/4" ones. I'm going somewhere else next time. There must be a steel shortage or something.
On the CBC for St. Tammany we observed 8 wood ducks, 3 eastern bluebirds and 4 different kinds of woodpeckers. Male bluebirds have been singing for 3 weeks and in December a pair investigated the box that was used last year.
One of our Taiwan cherry trees is beginning to bloom. But in LA where the weather is concerned we always expect the unexpected - 80 degrees one day, 30 the next. It may feel like spring, but winter isn't over yet. There is still some wild food available for the birds. The Yaupon and deciduous holly still have berries, as do the dreaded Chinese privet and ligustrum and our oak trees had a bumper crop of acorns (wood duck favorite) this year.
I can't believe it's been months since we added an entry to our journal. One of our New Year's resolutions is to write at least one a week. We just finished the Christmas Bird Count feeder watch for St. Tammany Parish, LA. The count was good. We saw a lot of Northern Cardinals, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Carolina Wrens and 3 different kinds of woodpeckers. However, we didn't see several birds that we know are here, but for whatever reason just didn't show up today. Only 4 hawks (3 red-shouldered and 1 red-tailed) were observed. We were pleased with the number of pine warblers (8) ruby-crowned kinglets (9) and wood ducks (8). Unusual sightings included a pair of American woodcocks and a small flock of Canada geese. We also noted 3 eastern bluebirds. Last week, before our little cold spell, a male and female E. bluebird were checking out one of the nest boxes by the pond. It's a little early for that, even down here in South LA. Tomorrow, we are going to check each nest box to see if they are ready for the nesting season (which will start in early February for the Carolina Chickadees.) We'll make notes about the boxes that need repairing or replacing. We'll have to get those done within the next couple of weeks.
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