Wednesday 27 April 2022

Nesting, songs, and spring critters

 This is a sure sign of spring. TWO nests: 1) The robin is out at the front. On the beam. 2) The phoebe is refurbishing the old nest from last year. It is located on the shelf I repurposed for them.


Outdoor decor

I was thinking of getting an arbour. There are two places for it. 


The purpose is to have something to dissuade the deer from eating my asiatic lilies. It worked well having a fence last year, but it sure wasn't sturdy. They just ambled right up the sidewalk.  
Any thoughts, creative gardeners?


The flicker is busy finding bugs. I'm not sure where they are nesting, maybe in the old, dead elm tree. This photo I took with the zoom lens on, through the window. It's trickier than it looks! I liked the look on her face! We've a kestrel nesting not far away, and they have to be vigilant.

The daffodils are just beginning to bloom.

The periwinkle is in bloom. 

The birdbath and goldfish pond are ready for summer. It's too cold for fishies, but it will warm up soon!

I used BIRDnet to figure out what was singing around the frog pond. 

I think this is a photo of a house finch, but you get the idea, and can hear his song. 

Our COVID cases have not disappeared. We have to be careful. Many are still masking here.

Reader question

Barbara had a good question. "How do you count the frogs?" There are strict protocols, as it is a scientific study. We have training modules. The strategy is to listen to the frogs, and determine the calling level. There is a section of the form where you give a number for call codes.

Call Codes: 0 - No frogs heard; 1- Calls not overlapping and # of calling frogs can be accurately counted; 2- Some calls overlapping but the number of calling frogs can be reliably counted; 3 - Full chorus with continuous overlapping calls indistinguishable from one another.

There are more pieces of information and codes for various data. We use the Beaufort Wind Scale (0 - 4). This is a screen capture of part of the survey sheet.


12 comments:

Barbara Rogers said...

Those scientists have thought of everything. And what a job it gives you to do! Thanks so much for explaining how frog counting is done. I'm glad to hear the details, as well as happy that science is doing something so positive.

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari Om
Sorry been absent - having visitors - and been seeing birds myself!!! YAM xx
W=Window

Rajani Rehana said...

Beautiful post

Gaelyn said...

I like the first arbor choice close to the house. Also saw a flicker this morning. Other than cool looking, do the flags serve a purpose, like to keep something away?

Jeanie said...

How FUN to see your nests! And I'm glad that question was asked -- I've kind of always wondered, too!

Nancy J said...

I like arbour #1, but you could always have both.Years ago a friend was doing a frog survey for the Department of Conservation, he had to go to a certain area, from about 10 p.m. to 6 a.m , and record how many he saw, there was a team of people doing this, guess at that time the pay wasn't much at all. Soon you will have so many birds and the frog ponds can get filled again.

Patio Postcards said...

No idea how to stop deer eating your Asiatic Lilies ... I have problems with those nasty red beetle bugs eating mine. I've seen a few of the red house finches around here, lovely song. I've not heard of phoebes before, must go look that up. :)

DrumMajor said...

That's a lot of training to listen and record frog tunes! The purple finch is pretty. Not sure a deer would ignore an area just because of an arbor but the options look pretty. Linda in Kansas

William Kendall said...

The bird does feel like singing!

Ontario Wanderer said...

Nice to see spring happening up your way. Did you have the cold spell again today? April 27 & I was in my winter parka again.

Mae Travels said...

Your garden looks lovely. So neat to have frogs.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com

Lorrie said...

Good luck with the deer. They seem to find their way in no matter what unless it's a very high fence.
So interesting about the frog count procedure. I wondered, too, but didn't ask. Next time I will.