What’s going on in those boxes?

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Last week, I posted about what’s happening in those squirrel nests this time of year – this week, let’s look at bluebird boxes.  This is the time of year when life for cavity nesting birds gets exciting!  I recently had the pleasure of spending a morning with a local expert on bluebirds – my fellow Sky Meadows State Park volunteer, Margaret.  She showed me who’s living in those bluebird boxes we often see on the sides of fields and explained the various survival strategies of these fascinating birds.  You’ll often see bluebird boxes that folks have set up along the edges of fields and forests.    Bluebirds use these boxes for nesting in the spring and summer (they can raise several clutches of young each year), but they also use the boxes in the winter to group together with other adults to keep warm.  Bluebird nests are tidy and feather-free , and the adults create a little cup in the nest to hold the eggs .  Bluebird diets are also fascinating – they’re omnivorous, but the ratio of meat to veggies changes by the season.  During the winter, bluebirds survive on vegetation (berries, etc) with a lesser proportion of insects.  During the spring and summer, when the young need lots of protein, the proportions flip-flop – the bluebirds chow on LOTS of insects (at least 70% of their diet).

When you look at rows of bluebird boxes, you might notice that the boxes are grouped in pairs with substantial space between the pairs.  That’s because bluebirds are territorial; they won’t tolerate having another breeding pair close to their box.  But they will tolerate tree swallows as next door neighbors – thus the pairing of the boxes.  Tree swallows, a migratory species, also like to use these nesting boxes in spring and summer.    Tree swallows raise only one clutch each season.  It’s easy to tell tree swallow nests from bluebird nests, because tree swallows place feathers in their nests. 

When these little guys first hatch, they’re helpless and blind.    After care from the parents, they mature until they’re ready to fledge! 

Margaret also taught me that sometimes the nest boxes receive unwanted visitors – house sparrows, which are an invasive non-native species.  Their nests are distinctly different from bluebirds and tree swallows – note the height and use of grasses with seed heads.    The eggs also look a little different    So what do the bluebird enthusiasts do when sparrows invade?  They simply remove the eggs and replace them with fake eggs – that way, the sparrows just keep putting their energy into raising the “eggs” and don’t bother any other bluebird boxes.  A creative solution!

So much going on in those nest boxes you see as you’re driving down the road!  For more information, be sure to check out the North American Bluebird Society or the Audobon Society.

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A little light reading for meat-free Friday!

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This week’s meat-free Friday is a little different.  I’m providing you with two links that I thought are great reminders of why and how we can go veg.  First is my explanation of why we should eat low on the food chain.  It’s an oldy, but a goody!  Second, I want to point you to a recent post from Climate Mama blog.  Here’s a great post about going veg for a month and a fun trip to India!  The writer, Lauri Kraft, has some interesting information about the carbon footprint of different types of foods (cheese, who knew?) and some helpful tips for trying to make your diet more plant-based.  Enjoy!

Next week – quesadillas!

TBT–The secret life of squirrels!

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This week’s throwback Thursday is about squirrels, since many squirrels will be nesting with young in June and July – here’s what’s happening up in those nests!  Be sure to “Like” greenmomster on Facebook!

Like most folks, I’ve had plenty of experience with squirrels – watching them frolic in the yard, steal birdseed from my birdfeeders, avoid cars in street.  The one thing I always wondered was, what’s going on up in those nests in the trees?  Well, this past Saturday, I learned the answer to that question.  I spent Saturday morning at a training class for volunteer interpreters (for nature and history programs) at my favorite state park, Sky Meadows.  One of the other volunteers at the program works with a wildlife rescue group, and she was taking care of three baby squirrels – what a treat to be able to see these little guys up close!  I learned a few new things about squirrels and the happenings in the nest this time of year:

• at 1-5 days old, baby squirrels are about the size of a woman’s thumb, from knuckle to tip.  They have no hair and are totally pink.
• at about 2-3 weeks, they begin to have more visible grayish purple hair
• at about 3 weeks, the lower front teeth begin to emerge, while the upper front teeth don’t emerge until about 5-6 weeks
• at about 5 weeks, the squirrels’ eyes open and their tails begin to curl over their backs
• at about 6-7 weeks, the squirrels are fully furred and a week later, they get their fluffy tails!
• squirrel mothers actually have to help the baby squirrels urinate by licking the babies’ genitals – the babies are so helpless they can’t do it on their own (makes this greenmomster think the diapers weren’t so bad after all….)
• the genus name for squirrel is “Sciurius”, which is a combination of the root words “skia” for shadow and “oura” for tail, since they sit in the shadows of their tails wrapped over and around their backs and heads

These cute little guys were picked up by the wildlife rescue league when their nest tree was cut down.  So, other than the fact that these squirrels are so cute and the rescuers have big hearts, why go to all the trouble to save them?  Squirrels are an important part of their ecosystems, providing seed dispersal, food, and predation within the ecosystem.  And in rural areas, like Delaplane VA, squirrels aren’t nearly as numerous as they are in urban and suburban areas (think fewer predators in the latter areas). 

If you need to remove a tree in your area, be sure to consider the squirrels.  In the mid-Atlantic, squirrel babies are born in February and March, and then again in June and July.  Thus, avoiding tree felling within about 3 months of that time will give enough time for the squirrels to mature and leave the nest.  If you need to remove a tree – think November!

What ever happened after that oil spill?

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Did you know that over 1.3 million metric tons of petroleum enters the sea worldwide each year?  What’s the impact of these oil spills?  I wonder, after a year or two, what really happened?  The Xerces Society recently published a report that tries to answer that question with regard to marine invertebrates (including sea stars, mussels, oysters, snails, coral, crabs, lobsters, and shrimp).  Impacts to invertebrates are especially critical, because invertebrates make up the vast majority of marine biodiversity, and they form the base of the various food chains in marine ecosystems.  The report, Oil in Our Oceans, A Review of the Impacts of Oil Spills on Marine Invertebrates, by Michele Blackburn, Celeste Mazzacano, Candace Fallon, and Scott Hoffman Black, is available for download. 

Campanelle with walnuts, ricotta, and lemon!

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This week’s recipe comes from Martha Stewart Living – it’s a good thing.
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 large garlic cloves
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 pound campanelle pasta
• 1 cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, divided, plus 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley stems (from 1 small bunch)
• 2 heaping tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 3 large lemons)
• 4 ounces walnuts, toasted well and roughly chopped (1 1/4 cups)
• 1 cup fresh ricotta cheese

Directions

1. Heat oil in a medium pan over medium heat until shimmering. Meanwhile, very thinly slice garlic with a mandoline (you should have 1/4 cup). Add to oil, and cook, stirring constantly, until garlic is pale golden brown and crisp, about 3 minutes. Drain garlic chips in a sieve set over a large bowl (reserve oil). Spread garlic chips on paper towels; season with salt.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until just barely al dente. Drain. Add pasta to oil, and toss. Partially cover, and let cool at least 20 minutes and up to 1 1/2 hours.
3. Roughly chop 3/4 cup parsley leaves, and add them with parsley stems, lemon zest, and walnuts to pasta. Toss to combine. Dot with cheese, and season with salt and pepper. Toss gently to combine, being careful not to fully incorporate cheese. Garnish with remaining parsley leaves, and serve with garlic chips.

TBT–Happy National Pollinators Week!

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Since June 16 – 23, 2014 is National Pollinators Week, this week’s Throwback Thursday re-post is all about pollinators.

As we all learned in elementary school, plants are fertilized through pollination.  Pollination either occurs via wind or various types of animal vectors, like butterflies, bees, flies, and even bats.   Pollinators are important to the natural ecosystem, as well as to our tables and our economy.  According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, bees pollinate more than $15 billion per year in U.S. crops, including apples, almonds, berries, cantaloupes, and cucumbers.  They also estimate that honeybees produce over $150 million in honey each year.  A recent United Nations Report  stated that, of the 100 plant species that provide 90% of the world’s food, over 70 are pollinated by bees!

So how can the greenmomsters celebrate National Pollinators Week?

• Plant a butterfly or pollinator garden (they’re friendly areas for kids with squirt guns too)!  It’s easy and relatively low maintenance.  We have butterfly gardens all around our yard, and as you can see from the photo at left, they don’t get in the way of other backyard uses, including laser tag parties!  For more info on planting a butterfly garden see the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s instructions.  Maybe visit a local FWS pollinator garden, just to see what it will look like in your yard.
• Avoid or limit pesticide use.  Remember, most pesticides kill lots of insects (even the beneficial ones), not just the ones that are bugging you.
• Work to change your community to more sustainable energy sources.  Climate change can have severe impacts on pollinators, since it affects both the pollinators and the plants with which they’ve evolved.
• Join the Xerces Society, an international non-profit working to protect pollinators and other invertebrate species.

LEAPing into the future of energy conservation!

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We’ve often written about climate change on this page, and many greenmomsters want to take concrete steps to decrease our carbon footprint.  One of the easiest and most effective ways an individual can change his or her carbon footprint is to try to conserve energy in the home. 

Since our house was built in the 1950s, my husband and I often wondered what updates might be useful in making our home more energy efficient.  We wanted to know what to do, as well as how to prioritize these activities – obviously, we want to address the low-hanging fruit first.  Lucky for us, there’s a community-based non-profit organization in our area that helps to answer those questions.  LEAP (the Local Energy Alliance Program) conducts home energy checkups that help to point out areas where improvements might be beneficial.  This evaluation doesn’t include blower door tests or safety evaluations, but after working with our LEAP representative for about 1 1/2 hours, we felt like we had a “road-map” for future home improvements.  Here’s how it worked:

1. Our LEAP representative, Corey, arrived on-time and explained how the check-up would work.  He explained the goals of the check-up and what would be covered.
2. We began looking around the house at common areas where folks tend to waste energy.  Our first stop was the fireplace.    Although we had tried to insulate the fireplace during past winters, Corey suggested using a “chimney balloon,” which is a highly effective way to prevent cold air from entering via the chimney – and you can remove it whenever you want to use the fireplace (pretty much never in our case…)
3. Next, we moved on to the kitchen.  Our refrigerator is new, but proper settings for temperature always help to maximize efficiency.    Unfortunately, magnets don’t add to your refrigerator’s insulation
4. We then moved to the area of the house that should be a priority – the attic.    Corey advised that the r-value of our insulation should be R49.  Fortunately, we have some insulation in the attic and only need a couple more inches for maximum efficiency.  The area where we could decrease heat loss is in all of the air spaces around ducts and wires in the attic.  Sealing these air spaces could significantly decrease our heat loss, since heat rises through the house and escapes at the highest point.  Additionally, some polystyrene sheets on the attic doors could help decrease heat loss.
5. Our final stop was the basement.  As with the attic, sealing various leaky areas, such as the crawl space, should be a priority in an older house.  Additionally, Corey showed us an easy fix to prevent leakage around our furnace – sealing tape. 

All in all, we found that this energy check-up was a good use of our time, giving us a list of priorities as we try to make our home more energy efficient.  If you’d like to schedule a LEAP check-up and you live in northern VA, visit www.leap-va.org for more information.