30 March 2015
Native bluebirds are focus of woodworker’s project
Carroll, IA
This article is courtesy of The Daily Time Herald of Carroll
By AUDREY INGRAM
a.ingram@carrollspaper.com
A flicker of blue wings over the browns of dried grass and bare trees offers one of the first colors of spring:
The bluebirds are returning.
This year the avian creatures will nest in more than a dozen new houses along the Sauk Rail Trail. Ron Cates built 14 new bluebird homes throughout the winter and plans to build 12 more.
Cates started woodworking about two decades ago under the tutelage of his father-in-law, former Arcadian Fred Druivenga, whom he described as both “jack” and “master” of all trades. Over the years, Cates has built various items for the home, including quilt racks and cabinets, as well as a series of jewelry boxes and hope chests he sold at a local craft show. The boxes were constructed of alternating oak and walnut wood, with brass decorations on the corners.
Also a long-time advocate for area Boy Scouts, Cates helped Matt Barker build the trail’s original bluebird houses as part of an Eagle Scout project to earn his woodworking merit badge.
As the houses began to deteriorate, Cates was the obvious choice to build new houses to replace them.
“They’ve served their purpose,” Cates said of the Eagle Scout birdhouses.
Pella Corp. of Carroll donated the wood for the first 10 bluebird houses, Cates said. He plans to continue building the additional houses with materials salvaged from wooden pallets.
The salvage process is full of surprises, Cates said. He has planed and sanded boards to reveal “pretty wood,” including quality oak and white oak, he added.
The bluebird houses, installed on the trail late last week, are plain. Paint can be toxic to birds, Cates explained, so it is best to leave the natural wood alone for their homes.
The biggest challenge in woodworking today is the cost of materials, Cates said. He retired from St. Anthony Regional Hospital last year at age 75.
The bluebird houses provide vital habitat to the native bluebird population, Swan Lake State Park naturalist Matt Wetrich said.
Bluebirds are a cavity-nesting bird, traditionally building nests in dead trees, Wetrich explained. The trees offer the needed cavities, as well as a high hunting perch from which to swoop down and snatch insects to eat — insects that often arrive to help decompose the tree, he said, describing dead trees as “phenomenal” and “underrated” habitats.
But it is harder and harder for bluebirds to find natural cavities as dead trees are cut down, often for aesthetic reasons, Wetrich said.
“Dead trees are often sad and unsightly, but they can become sightly if you’re paying attention to the wildlife that will use it,” he said.
The Sauk Rail Trail, nicknamed the Bluebird Trail, is an ideal location for bluebird houses, which should be installed in open areas — particularly near grasslands — where the birds can hunt, he said.
Bluebird houses can also be found on golf courses for similar reasons, Wetrich added — and such trails have aided the bluebird population across the country.
Birdhouses located in areas with denser foliage can attract house wrens or tree swallows. A trick for birdhouse owners is to place two houses side by side — a swallow will defend its own house against other swallows, but it will allow a bluebird to nest nearby, so both species can benefit rather than compete, Wetrich said.
Iowa’s bluebird species is the Eastern Bluebird. The birds have been hit hard over the last century due to habitat loss — Iowa has the most altered landscape of any state in the country — and competition from invasive species, specifically the house sparrow, Wetrich said.
House sparrows were imported from Europe in the late 19th century. They aggressively out-compete native species for habitat, nesting on top of and crushing bluebird eggs, or even killing adult bluebirds, Wetrich explained, encouraging residents to “be diligent about removing nests” of house sparrows.
Now is the time for “bluebird landlords” to close their birdhouses back up, he said. Often the houses are opened during the winter months to prevent mice from nesting in them. But the bluebirds have started returning, and they’re scoping out nesting sites, Wetrich said.
Bluebird box plans are available online for residents who want to build a home to help the bluebirds. The Carroll County Conservation Board is also seeking bluebird trail monitors to visit various trail stretches a couple times a year and check on the birdhouses, cleaning them in the fall in preparation for winter.
For more information, call the Swan Lake State Park, 792-4614.
Native bluebirds are focus of woodworker’s project
Carroll, IA
This article is courtesy of The Daily Time Herald of Carroll
By AUDREY INGRAM
a.ingram@carrollspaper.com
A flicker of blue wings over the browns of dried grass and bare trees offers one of the first colors of spring:
The bluebirds are returning.
This year the avian creatures will nest in more than a dozen new houses along the Sauk Rail Trail. Ron Cates built 14 new bluebird homes throughout the winter and plans to build 12 more.
Cates started woodworking about two decades ago under the tutelage of his father-in-law, former Arcadian Fred Druivenga, whom he described as both “jack” and “master” of all trades. Over the years, Cates has built various items for the home, including quilt racks and cabinets, as well as a series of jewelry boxes and hope chests he sold at a local craft show. The boxes were constructed of alternating oak and walnut wood, with brass decorations on the corners.
Also a long-time advocate for area Boy Scouts, Cates helped Matt Barker build the trail’s original bluebird houses as part of an Eagle Scout project to earn his woodworking merit badge.
As the houses began to deteriorate, Cates was the obvious choice to build new houses to replace them.
“They’ve served their purpose,” Cates said of the Eagle Scout birdhouses.
Pella Corp. of Carroll donated the wood for the first 10 bluebird houses, Cates said. He plans to continue building the additional houses with materials salvaged from wooden pallets.
The salvage process is full of surprises, Cates said. He has planed and sanded boards to reveal “pretty wood,” including quality oak and white oak, he added.
The bluebird houses, installed on the trail late last week, are plain. Paint can be toxic to birds, Cates explained, so it is best to leave the natural wood alone for their homes.
The biggest challenge in woodworking today is the cost of materials, Cates said. He retired from St. Anthony Regional Hospital last year at age 75.
The bluebird houses provide vital habitat to the native bluebird population, Swan Lake State Park naturalist Matt Wetrich said.
Bluebirds are a cavity-nesting bird, traditionally building nests in dead trees, Wetrich explained. The trees offer the needed cavities, as well as a high hunting perch from which to swoop down and snatch insects to eat — insects that often arrive to help decompose the tree, he said, describing dead trees as “phenomenal” and “underrated” habitats.
But it is harder and harder for bluebirds to find natural cavities as dead trees are cut down, often for aesthetic reasons, Wetrich said.
“Dead trees are often sad and unsightly, but they can become sightly if you’re paying attention to the wildlife that will use it,” he said.
The Sauk Rail Trail, nicknamed the Bluebird Trail, is an ideal location for bluebird houses, which should be installed in open areas — particularly near grasslands — where the birds can hunt, he said.
Bluebird houses can also be found on golf courses for similar reasons, Wetrich added — and such trails have aided the bluebird population across the country.
Birdhouses located in areas with denser foliage can attract house wrens or tree swallows. A trick for birdhouse owners is to place two houses side by side — a swallow will defend its own house against other swallows, but it will allow a bluebird to nest nearby, so both species can benefit rather than compete, Wetrich said.
Iowa’s bluebird species is the Eastern Bluebird. The birds have been hit hard over the last century due to habitat loss — Iowa has the most altered landscape of any state in the country — and competition from invasive species, specifically the house sparrow, Wetrich said.
House sparrows were imported from Europe in the late 19th century. They aggressively out-compete native species for habitat, nesting on top of and crushing bluebird eggs, or even killing adult bluebirds, Wetrich explained, encouraging residents to “be diligent about removing nests” of house sparrows.
Now is the time for “bluebird landlords” to close their birdhouses back up, he said. Often the houses are opened during the winter months to prevent mice from nesting in them. But the bluebirds have started returning, and they’re scoping out nesting sites, Wetrich said.
Bluebird box plans are available online for residents who want to build a home to help the bluebirds. The Carroll County Conservation Board is also seeking bluebird trail monitors to visit various trail stretches a couple times a year and check on the birdhouses, cleaning them in the fall in preparation for winter.
For more information, call the Swan Lake State Park, 792-4614.
