Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy

Chickadees are so much fun – and they’re not a shy bird. They’re usually the first to check out a new feeder, are often the first on the scene to jeer at an intruder, and we get to enjoy them year round. The species that we have here most abundantly in Loudoun is the Carolina Chickadee although the Black-Capped Chickadee is a rare visitor.

Chickadees are cavity nesters so in the healthy forest habitat they’ll nest in cavities in dead and decaying trees. Around our backyards, we can put up nest boxes for them. Nest boxes should be mounted 5-15 feet high and they should be positioned so they will receive sun for about 60% of the day. I like to mount my boxes on poles with stovepipe guards just as we do with the bluebird nest boxes. That way, they’ll be safe from predators.

The wood for the nest box should be rough on the inside to make it easier for the birds, especially the fledglings, to grasp onto the side as they work to hop out of the box. You can either rough up the wood as you’re building the box or buy wood that is already a bit rough, like cedar. Never use pressure treated wood as it has harmful chemicals infused into it and no need to paint the boxes – the birds like them au natural.

The entrance hole for the box should be 1 1/8″ to 1 1/4″ in diameter. This will allow both chickadees and house wrens to use the box but not house sparrows. Chickadees are small birds and they prefer a smaller box since they need to build the nest to fill the inside base. So, the floor of the nest box should be 4″ by 5 1/2″. The sides should be about 8″ tall by 5 1/2″ wide. If you buy a piece of wood that is 1″ x 6″ x 4′ you’ll have just the right amount of wood to build a box. Here are plans for building a chickadee nest box.

With our bluebird monitoring program, we notice that Chickadees are one of our early spring nesters, often building their soft nests made of mosses and hair in late March, sometimes beating the Bluebirds to the boxes by a week or so.

Chickadees feed mainly on insects so keep your yard free of pesticides. Also provide shrubs and trees with fruits and nuts as a food source through the winter. They’ll also come to visit your feeders through the year – sunflower seeds are a favorite.

Nest boxes also serve as a cozy roost in the cold winter too so at the end of summer, you can clean out the box and put some soft dry grass in the bottom to help the birds stay warm during cold winter nights.

Click this link to check out some Cool Chickadee Facts and hear their songs. A cool fact, not mentioned on that linked but found on other pages is that in winter, Carolina Chickadees can lower their body temperatures and go into a state of hypothermia for up to 15 hours to help them save energy through harsh winters.

Spring really will be here soon and as an indication of that – the Loudoun Soil and Water Conservation District is accepting orders for their annual tree seedling sale! They will also have rain barrels for sale (see below). You can find out more information about this and other initatives they have for spring on the Loudoun Soil and Water website but here’s the information on this particular sale in their own words:

The young, bare-rooted seedlings are well suited to Virginia soils and climate.  Tree species available this year include White Pine, Norway Spruce, White Dogwood, Redbud, River Birch, Sycamore, Shumard Oak, and Paw Paw. The shrub species this year are Indigobush and Silky Dogwood. The White Pine are $25 for a bundle of 50 seedlings and the Norway Spruce are $35 for a bundle of 50 seedlings.  The hardwood species, as well as the shrubs, are offered at $6 for 5 seedlings. Sales tax of 5.0% must be included.

Click on the link 2010-seedling-sale to download an order form  You can also call or stop by the office for an order form.   Pre-paid orders will be filled on a first come-first serve basis.  The deadline for pre-paid orders will be Friday, March 12th.   The pick-up date for the seedlings will be Friday, March 26, 2010 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the LSWCD office on Catoctin Circle in Leesburg (the Wachovia Bank building).  We recommend that you plant the seedlings as soon as possible to minimize transplant stress. 

The District will also have pre-assembled rain barrels available for purchase on pick-up day at $65 each.  If you have any questions, please call the LSWCD office at 703/771-8395 (8:00 am – 5:00 pm).

Water is a huge attraction for birds and other wildlife any time of the year but it is especially so during the winter. Having a shallow dish (max depth of 2 1/2 inches) with fresh water provides birds with the fluids they need to metabolize the nutritious seeds and other foods they’re gobbling up throughout the day. It also enables them to preen and clean their feathers which keep them insulated and warm as well as ready for flight.

During our snowstorm in December and the really cold weather we’ve had the last few weeks, the birds were particularly thankful for this fresh water, with all sorts of different species dropping in. The Bluebirds seemed to especially enjoy it and just last week we had six of them here at once enjoying the fresh water.

Throughout these chilly months, the birdbath I use has a thermostat and heater built in so it turns on when the temperature drops down below 40 degrees and turns off when the temperature rises. You can see in the photo here the plug where I plug it in. In the summer, I just remove the cord. There are also heaters that you can get to put in your birdbath just for winter.

Keeping the water clean is also important. Bird droppings will get in there throughout the day. At our house, we also have raccoons that come in the night to wash their paws in the birdbath. Their paws are always so muddy… oh what do they get into? So, I have it as part of my morning routine when I fill the platform feeder with seeds, to also head out with my brush and watering bucket to clean and fill the birdbath.

In terms of placement of a birdbath, it’s best to locate it within a few feet of some trees or other vegetation so the birds have some protection both from the elements and from predators.

Keep an eye on those birdbaths for interesting birds – we’ve had reports of hawks and owls coming in for a drink now and then as well as the songbirds.

Most of us have probably had that awful experience of a bird crashing into one of our windows. You hear that “bam” and look down and see the bird sprawled out on the ground. Sometimes after a few minutes they make a recovery and are able to fly off but many times, they die on the spot.

It’s sad when this happens but there are some things we can do to help limit it.

The first is to take a walk outside your house and look at your windows from a bird’s perspective.  They fly into the windows because the windows are reflecting the sky and it looks to them as though they can fly right through. If you’ve had window strikes in the past, first take a look at these windows and get a feel for what the birds are seeing, but check all your windows. The windows with the most strikes are likely to be those that get the most reflection and are far enough away from trees that the birds can get up a good speed to head off into what they see as sky.

Another thing to look at is your placement of bird feeders.  Bird feeders draw birds in and this of course is great fun for us to watch but their placement can also be a detriment. Birds fly in to get some seed and then quickly take off to go eat the seeds or seek safety and may look to your window and a place to fly to.

So, the solutions….

For addressing reflection, the best thing that I’ve found is the use of window decals. They come in various shapes (flowers, leaves, birds, other shapes) and you can even get ones that are almost clear to our eyes. The ones I use are said to have a UV reflection in the plastic such that when the birds see them they see these shapes and know that they should not fly through.  You can also get solid colored plastic and they will have the same effect but would obstruct your views outside.  You need to place these decals about 3 inches apart so that the birds don’t try to fly through them, but they really work.

The next thing you can do is with your feeders. Placing feeders either more than 30 feet away from the house or less than 3 feet away will reduce collisions.  At 30ft away, the birds have a better likelihood of recognizing the reflection of the widows as being part of the house (and with the addition of the window decals this will help even more). At less than 3 feet from the house, the birds don’t have a chance to build up enough speed to slam into the window.

Closing shades and drapes can also help a lot. While the window is still reflective, the birds don’t fly to them because they can’t fly through.  The down side to this is that closing the drapes or blinds blocks out your view of the outside but if you do it while you are away at work and away on vacation then you’re none the wiser.

Audubon at Home has some other good tips and links to help address bird collisions, including leaving window screens in place year round as they also help reduce reflection too.

What have you tried? Any tips to share?

This is one of those settings that mystified me for years but I read through a pretty straightforward write-up on diopter adjustment and have been on the straight and narrow ever since.

Good binoculars will have two adjustments, your focus wheel, which lets you focus in on the bird or other creature that you’re observing, and the diopter ring (or diopter adjuster). The diopter is something that you basically just set and forget about but it’s really important to making your binoculars function well for you.

Our eyes don’t focus exactly the same at the same distance so this adjustments lets you account for that difference. Once the diopter is set, both barrels will be in focus for you as you use the main focusing ring.

The diopter setting will be individual to you (no two eyes are the same) and this is why it becomes hard to share binoculars (among other reasons….like wow there’s a cool bird, oh let me see…no get your own binoculars…).

Anyway, going through these steps allows you to set the focus of each eye separately. First you’ll focus your left eye using the main focus ring, then you’ll focus the right eye using the diopter adjuster. Once set, this will then give you maximum sharpness when using the central focusing ring as you hone in on that cool bird or butterfly or wildflower or whatever.

So here we go…..To set the diopter ring and focus adjustment for your eyes, you go through these easy steps:

- First, find the diopter ring on your binoculars and put it into position so that you can adjust it. On some binoculars, the ring clicks into an “up” position and you can feel it click through different settings as you turn it. On others, it’s a ring that turns. The photos here show both styles and there may be others too. In any case, set the diopter ring to the Zero or center setting so you’re starting there.

- Next, pick something on a wall about 30 feet away that you will use as the thing you focus on. Using your lens cap, cover the barrel that the diopter ring is associated with (usually the right barrel). If your diopter ring is located in the center, then cover the right barrel.

- Keeping both eyes open (no squinting), adjust the central focus knob so the object that you’re looking at (about 30 feet away) is as clear as possible for your left eye. Leave the central focus knob in that position. Your left eye is now set.

- Next, move your lens cap to the left barrel to cover up that side. Now you will focus your right eye using the diopter ring. You will not move the central focus at all. Looking through the binoculars (keeping both eyes open), focus on the object that you used before and adjust the setting of the diopter ring until the focus is sharp for your right eye. On some binoculars, you’ll need to unlock the diopter ring in order to adjust it, just look at your manual to see how it’s done. Often, you just lift the ring and turn it left or right and then restore it to its regular position.

- Lastly, take the lens cap off and see how things look using both eyes. After going through these steps, you should be able to focus well using the central focusing at any distance.

This wraps it up for now on our Binocular FAQs.  If there are other topics that you’re interested in, let me know

So, I probably wouldn’t pull this one out at a happy hour or summer BBQ but this is one of those tid-bits that can help further understand how binos work and how to make them work best  for you.

Ok, so the techy part….Interpupillary Distance is the distance between the pupils of the eyes.  Don’t worry, we’re not suggesting any surgery here…..  In the world of binoculars, interpupillary distance is the distance between the centers of the two eye pieces.

The good news is, you can shift that distance by moving the barrels apart or together. When this distance is set correctly for your face, you see one circle in the viewing area (versus two or versus seeing parts of the inside of the barrel).

To set the distance, simply move the binocular barrels closer together or further apart until you see just one circle.  I’ve noticed that in some binoculars, to get them set up properly I need to hold them closer to my eyes but in other binoculars I hold them a little off my face and they work better. When you select your binoculars you’ll want to try out a few pairs and get a good feel for where that distance from your face is so you can properly set the interpupillary distance.

When going out butterfly watching, the key is to have binoculars that can give you good close focus.

Often when we go out on our butterfly walks, the individuals that we’re looking at are just a few feet away and while we may be able to identify them without using binoculars, when you do use them you can see so much amazing detail and color that the butterflies become that much more beautiful.

Some binoculars will focus as close as just 3 feet and this is excellent for butterflies but other excellent models will focus clearly to 5 or 6 feet and this works really well too.

In addition to looking at butterflies, close focus binoculars are great for looking at dragonflies and other insects as well as birds, wildflowers and mushrooms, among other things. There are so many incredible details in nature but we often don’t see because we aren’t focused in on them or are looking too quickly. Looking through binoculars can really help, both to slow us down and to give us the good views we need.

The binocular makers have been working with this for ages so if you wear glasses but also want to use binoculars, not to worry. Many binoculars have either a rubber piece that folds up at the eye piece or the barrel of the eye piece rotates up, giving your eye distance from the glass of the eye piece itself.

The important piece of the puzzle to keep constant is the distance from your eyes to the eye pieces of the binoculars. So, when you select your binoculars, be sure to wear the same glasses that you would wear when you plan to use the binoculars. This will help you make sure that everything fits comfortably.

When checking the specs of the binoculars, check the “eye relief factor”. With wearing glasses, you want to have a long eye relief factor (e.g. 15-23 millimeters). If you have a short eye relief factor (e.g. a few millimeters), when wearing glasses, you will feel like you’re looking through a tunnel and this can give you eye strain and will reduce your field of view.

There’s nothing worse that having that amazing bird fly “right there” into view and you realize that you just can’t see it that clearly because of the dust, raindrops and oils that have built up on your eye pieces or lenses. Keeping your binoculars clean is pretty straightforward but there are a few tips to doing to correctly.

First, you’ll want to remove any debris or dust. The best way to do this is with a blower or fine brush (like those used for camera lenses).

Next, clean the lenses using a soft, lint-free cloth or lens pen. Lens cloths are specially designed with micro fibers which are gentle on lens surfaces. They also don’t leave lint and won’t scratch the glass like a t-shirt or kleenex would. If there are spots or oils on the glass, you can also use special lens cleaning solution like that used for high end camera lenses (but check your binocular manual for guidance on this).

Some definite don’ts for maintaining your binoculars ….never use your breath to moisten the dust before cleaning. It could leave spots or damage the special coating on your lens surfaces. Never use your shirt to clean your optics. No matter how clean and soft your shirt may seem, it will have small particles of dirt on it as well as rough fibers which can leave small scratches that over time will make your lenses appear foggy.

When you’re out in the field and it starts to drizzle, try to keep your binoculars covered. This will help keep those spots off the lenses.

Now then, I better go clean those dirty binos that I showed here in the picture…..

You know the numbers….the 8×42, 10×32, that are printed on the binoculars….so what do they mean? Well, here we are to demystify the numbers. 

The first number (e.g. the 8 in 8×42) refers to magnification. So if it says 8×42 then it means that the object (or bird or butterfly) will seem 8 times closer to you when you look through the binoculars.

The second number is the diameter of the objective lens (the far end of the barrell, not the end you look through) measured in millimeters.  So if you have a metric ruler, you can check this out. Just turn your binoculars around and measure the end that is furthest from where you look through – the number you get will be the same as the second number that your binos are rated as.

So what does all this mean?  Well with magnification there is a sweet spot.  Too little magifiction and you may as well forget using binoculars, too much magnification and the shake of your hands will be too great to be able to enjoy yourself. Typically between 7x-10x is great for going out into the field for general nature watching and birding.

So that takes care of the first number.  The second number (e.g. the 42 in 8×42) is important because the larger the diameter of the objective lens, the more light will be let in – letting you see more in low light conditions, such as dawn and dusk, as well as giving you more light in general to get more clarity and sharpness on your subject.  The down side to the larger diameter is that it also means a larger (and often heavier) binocular.  You’ll want to try out different makes and models so you can “weigh” the trade-offs. Of course with some of the newer lens coatings you can get very bright images with a smaller diameter objective lens but this may also impact the price. 

Lots of tradeoffs here but at least you have one more piece of the puzzle.