"I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free." ~Wendell Berry


Monday, January 19, 2015

The FOB - Part 3

When the weather warms, so do I.  With outside temperatures reaching 60 degrees this past weekend, I came down with "I-must-get-outside" fever and I finally put the finishing touches on my owl cage.  I am feeling so much better about this upcoming purple martin season, but I think I will refrain from my usual taunts that tempt fate such as, "Bring it on, Mr. Menacing-Evil-Martin-Eater".  You know, just in case he does decide to bring it on.  And something really bad happens.  So, I'll just nicely say, "please don't bring it on".
At a minimum, I know I have made it more difficult for him to easily access my systems and prevented him from playing volleyball with my gourds.  Hopefully, that will encourage him to hunt elsewhere.  Time will tell.
Altogether, I estimate we have added less than 30 pounds of hardware; that includes the fencing, the aluminum brackets that extend out over the corners, the cross brackets to support the top, and the entrance hole covers.
My plan right now is to lower the cage and maneuver inside for nest checks.  If that isn't realistic, I may have to cut off a foot of the vertical wire so I can more easily slide in & out of each section.
The cage will ride up and down with the system.  For now, I have left the full 4' of length on each side, but if maneuvering in and out becomes a problem, I may cut off at least 1' from the bottom. From this angle, you can see the brackets that span from corner to corner, providing both support and a place to anchor the top wire to keep it from flopping in the wind.
There are ten 4"x4" entrances cut out on each side and have undersill trim has been placed on the bottom of each entrance to cover up the sharp nibbins left by the wire cutters.
If you're interested in reading more details about the construction of the cage, you can go to these two posts:
The FOB - Part 1: http://kathyfreeze.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-freeze-owl-block-fob.html
The FOB - Part 2: http://kathyfreeze.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-fob-part-2.html
Current migration status shows that the purple martins are on their way with a report showing one in Saint Amant, LA.  Track their migration here on the PMCA site: http://www.purplemartin.org/scoutreport/

2 comments:

  1. Good morning,
    My first post may have been too long or it could be because I live in the sticks with a weak signal.
    Are both the 6' and the 18" angle a thickness of 1/16"? I could read the label on the short piece but not the other.
    I have martins for the first time in 16 years but they won't fledge until July and I don't think they can tolerate the Georgia heat I need to rig some sun shade fabric. Also what are quick release clips? Thank you.

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    Replies
    1. Hi, they are all the same thickness - I cut the 18" pieces from 6' pieces.
      The quick release clips are the ones I used here: (you may have to copy the link to the video and paste it in your browser:
      https://youtu.be/lyxitG34wvI

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