2008 Colony

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0418dfe1esnpes.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Entrances By Sandy</B></FONT><B>     </B><B>|</B><B>    </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Entrances By Sandy"><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id219.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Colony 2004"><U>My Colony 2004</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id220.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Colony 2005"><U>My Colony 2005</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id243.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Colony 2006"><U>My Colony 2006</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id249.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2007 Colony"><U>2007 Colony</U></A>   |   <B>2008 Colony</B>   |   <A HREF="id257.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Airgun targets"><U>Airgun targets</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=380 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0418dfc3.jpg"> <div> <I><B>2008 Colony</B></I></div> <div> <B>2008 so far is starting off to be a banner year here in Rocky Mount.  I saw my first martin (an ASY female) 9 days earlier than ever before.  As of 4/27/08, I have 49 definite nests and 9 maybes.  Two of the nests had their first eggs in them on the 29th.  The subbies have just started arriving in force.  I now have a total of 4 Larry Melcher repeating traps that are doing an awesome job of trapping both starlings and house sparrows.  I have finally converted to 100% SREH, which consist of roughly 50% WDC and 50% Excluder II.  Also, I have reduced the number of brown gourds, but intend to always have at least two per gourd rack in honor of my late father, whose idea it was to use them, and I firmly believe that the brown gourds got my colony started.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Nest check on 5/10/08 revealed 49 active nests that has a total of 238 eggs between them.  3 of the nests had 7 egg clutches.  The first is due to hatch on 5/17/08.  I, also, had 19 other nests that showed signs of definite nest building, but no eggs yet.  Also, I have 5-10 more that may be the starts of nest.  Of the gourds with active nests, 18 were plastic and 31 were naturals.  Of the gourds with active nests, 36 were white, and the other 13 were one of the three shades of brown that I am using.  On the entrance side, I had 23 WDC entrances chosen, 21 Excluder II entrances chosen, 3 crescent entrances chosen, and 2 Brain Naughton 5 holer entrances chosen.  All but 5 of my gourds have tunnels.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fbdbc0d0.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="525" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Overall view of my colony</B></div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fbbbc0d0.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="525" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>The Four Larry Melcher Repeating Traps are shown by the red arrows.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fbfbc0d0.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="525" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>This Larry Melcher Trap caught two starlings this morning.  They check in, but don't check out, at least not alive.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fe6bca50.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="933" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>This is the main nesting material and oyster shell gathering area.  Each section is about 15' long and 4-5' wide.  I also have a Bed N Breakfast from Creative Universe, but most of the birds seem to prefer to use this area.  The nesting material is just hay and pine needles.  I do put pe-nests in every other nesting cavity.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fc1bca50.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="933" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>The subbies are moving in, so there is a lot of gourd claiming and protecting going on.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fc3bc0d0.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="525" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>An ASY male taking in the rays after rain all day yesterday.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fc5bc0d0.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="525" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Taking it easy before serious nest building begins.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fc7bc0d0.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="525" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Just a little activity</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fd4bc0d0.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="525" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>One way to tell that subbies are arriving is when the females start to guard the entrance to their gourd</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fd6bc0d0.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="525" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>More activity</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fcfbc0d0.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="525" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Just enjoying their porches</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The following are just some shots of my colony</B></div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fd1bc0d0.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="525" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fd8bc0d0.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="525" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fe4bc0d0.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="525" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fdfbc0d0.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="525" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fe0bca50.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="933" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fe1bca50.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="933" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fe2bca50.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="933" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="fe3bca50.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="933" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id249.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2007 Colony"><U><I><B>Previous Page</B></I></U></A><I><B>            </B></I><A HREF="mailto:sbunn1@suddenlink.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:sbunn1@suddenlink.net"><U><I><B>Contact Me</B></I></U></A><I><B>             </B></I><A HREF="id257.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Airgun targets"><U><I><B>Next Page</B></I></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>