The Martin Houses have been hung with care, hoping that soon the mosquito-eaters will be there. We got a beautiful day on Sunday (about 70 degrees and sunny) for the annual cleaning out of the bird houses. Lucky for us, it was after the freeze so there weren't any wasps to worry about. These things are perfect housing for wasps -- just what you want -- a wasp habitat. Martins are hard to establish. They say that you have to remove the nests that the other birds make in order to make room for the Martins, and we don't have the heart to do that. So if you've already moved in, you can stay. Hope you like mosquitos.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
The changing of the gourds
The Martin Houses have been hung with care, hoping that soon the mosquito-eaters will be there. We got a beautiful day on Sunday (about 70 degrees and sunny) for the annual cleaning out of the bird houses. Lucky for us, it was after the freeze so there weren't any wasps to worry about. These things are perfect housing for wasps -- just what you want -- a wasp habitat. Martins are hard to establish. They say that you have to remove the nests that the other birds make in order to make room for the Martins, and we don't have the heart to do that. So if you've already moved in, you can stay. Hope you like mosquitos.
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6 comments:
I just adore martins. And having lived in the Houston area, let me tell you, they REALLY do eat those horrid things.
I saw beauty during the ice storm. In a sea of frozen white, one lone mature male bright red cardinal and his brownish female, enjoying the birdseed I thrown out on top of the frozen ground.
Those are beautiful birds, and they don't mind the cold either. We had them in Missouri all winter, at least a few of them would hang around as long as you kept putting out sunflower seed.
Ohio's State Bird ain't the Cardinal for nothing. There're never a lot of them, but they can always be seen and heard, even with a tonne o' snow on the ground.
Good luck getting some Martin renters. Will they eat the wasps as well?
Good question on the wasp diet. Sounds kind of "spicy". Unfortunately I think they also eat butterflies... but I doubt we will get any Martins. The sparrows, starlings, wrens, etc. get there first and Martins are fussy about their neighbors.
At my other house we had several hanging bird homes. The flycatchers used them as did the woodpeckers. Occasionally a little screech owl would move in and I would see little fuzzy owl babies peeping out at me. Sadly the hurricanes took all the trees so now there are no good places high enough for the homes to hang. I always loved checking out the homes when they weren't in use.
We see Martins pass through the area once in a while.
Screech owls are soooo cute! We used to have them here but I think predators got them, probably outdoor cats, maybe even other birds.
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