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Re: eggshells and freezes and suet and Empids...



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/