Birdhouse Festival
(This column was first published in
the March 17, 2003 issue of The Buffalo News.)
Can
it be that spring is just around the corner?
The
equinox, I understand, will occur this Thursday, March 20 at 8 p.m. At that
time the balance between nighttime and daytime hours will be exact or, to put
it another way, sunrise and sunset will be twelve hours apart.
Hard
as it is to believe, we may soon see an end to this remarkably cold winter,
this rare season whose Arctic blasts completely froze not only shallow Lake
Erie but the much larger and deeper Lake Superior as well. (Oddly, the Arctic
seems to have replaced the cold it sent us with too warm weather. They had to
reroute the Iditerod dogsled race in Alaska because of open water.)
This
winter froze me too. I can recall no less comfortable season since my two years
in Minneapolis where we had 40 below zero temperatures (on either scale) with
40 mile per hour winds and where all the robberies were by villains wearing ski
masks, since everyone else was also wearing them.
So
I'm thinking ahead. In a few days masses of migratory birds will begin
arriving. In fact, some of the more venturesome -- and foolhardy -- are here
already. Red-winged blackbirds are visiting feeders and tree swallows are forlornly
hovering over still ice-bound ponds. Red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks are
sailing over the few poor souls manning the Southtowns hawkwatch. Along the
river oldsquaws (now renamed long-tailed ducks) and goldeneyes and buffleheads
are courting with their strange antics: among them head bobbing and flicking,
tail shaking and running their beaks along the water surface. Meanwhile, those
drab overwintering robins are being joined by big early migrants, the Labrador
robin subspecies with their bright orange breasts.
Us
old timers won't be misled by these signs of spring. We know that March and
even April can be discouraging months and snow is not unknown even in May. (My
mother was married in early June on a day in Rochester when snow flurries were
detected.)
For
those of us left then with time on our hands before the hiking boots and golf
clubs are resurrected and we can get out into fair weather, I have a
suggestion.
Build
and set out birdhouses.
Don't
wait until the birds are here to do this.
Birdhouses
can range from old plastic jugs with holes cut in them to ornate multi-storied
purple martin apartment buildings. They can be carefully constructed and
ornately decorated or they can be a few unpainted boards tacked together, the
latter often attracting tenants sooner.
And
if you are good at carpentry, you should consider entering your birdhouse (or
birdfeeder) in the Buffalo Audubon Birdhouse Festival competition to be held at
their Beaver Meadow Visitor Center on April 26 and 27.
Awards
will be given for Best of Show as well as in each of four categories: for
adults: Birdhouse and Birdfeeder; and the same for children 12 and under. In
each category three awards will be given for: craftsmanship, design for a
specific species, and best construction from recycled materials. To learn
further details you can call the Center at 585-457-3228 or visit their website
at buffaloaudubon.org. Deadline for entries is April 15.
Even
if you don't enter this competition, you should mark that weekend to visit the recently
upgraded Center at 1610 Welch Road in North Java. The birdhouses will be on
display and there will be workshops on attracting birds to your yard.
And
for those of you who, like me, cannot handle a hammer or saw, there will be
birdhouses and birdfeeders on sale there as well.--
Gerry Rising
Two of the many websites that provide plans for
building birdhouses are the North Carolina State University Building
Songbird Boxes site and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Birdhouse site.