Not too early at all: house sparrows are building a nest on a friend's porch; a robin was seen carrying material this afternoon. I discovered a fairly large great blue heron rookery in Muskingum Co. this afternoon - 59 nests with at least 30 great blues in, on and around the nests. Also of note: a beautiful male northern harrier being harassed by a red-tailed hawk. As for the red taileds, love is definitely in the air - a pair was doing some kind of a display, or at least that was my interpretation. I saw several red-taileds on the drive around the countryside, previewing for the final big push for OBBA II in Region 60. Margaret Bowman Licking Co., Oh ----- Original Message ----- From: "Matt Valencic" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2011 5:58 PM Subject: [Ohio-birds] Junco's looking for a place to nest >I realize it's kind of early to start talking about nesting for birds other > than owls, but I just went into the horse barn for something and found 2 > Junco's flying around the rafters in the hay loft. Could they be looking > to > start a nest so soon? > > > > Junco's nest between the bales of hay every year in our hay loft with as > many as 3 broods being fledged in a season. The earliest they have fledged > their first brood is May something. If they start now they will certainly > break that record. I would think they would delay nesting were it not for > this artificial structure that provides so much protection. > > > > They came in through the stall doors which are opened daily all year > round, > no matter how cold or snowy, so they have had ample opportunity to come in > if they wanted to before today. We also close these doors each evening > during the winter. As a precaution I opened the two loft doors about 3 > inches so they might come-and-go from above as they wish. > > > > So the question is, should I encourage this early nesting behavior (if > that > is what it is) or discourage it by closing them out? I regret not opening > those loft doors 4 years ago when a pair of Eastern Phoebe's were showing > interest in our barn rafters. It was around Easter that year and we got > 12 > inches of wet snow that stayed around for 10 days. The birds were not > seen > again after the snow. > > > > Matt Valencic > > Chagrin Falls, OH > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at > www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] > ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]