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Farragut Community Center

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239 Jamestowne Boulevard
Farragut
TN
37934

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oakridgebirdman

Ornithologist
TWS Certified Wildlife Biologist™
Designer of products for the enjoyment and well-being of wild birds

OK, that settles it: these islands are so utterly

OK, that settles it: these islands are so utterly packed with pawpaws, I'm going to offer guided pawpaw hunting expeditions later this summer. Stay tuned for more details, as well as info on this year's pick your own blackberry events.

Ever seen shrinkflation in action? Man, I wish I d

Ever seen shrinkflation in action? Man, I wish I did not have such a good example for you today.

Let me start by saying that I have extremely high standards when it comes to peanut butter. I've loved it my whole life - I used to come home from school and literally pour myself a cup of @krogerco natural crunchy, the exact make and model you see pictured here. Why am I a KNC diehard? Because quite simply, it's the best: no hydrogenated oils, perfect amount of salt, and absolutely dreamy consistency (I know many consider Smuckers the gold standard for "natural" PB, but its baseline particle size skews high for me). And it's been exactly the same since I was a kid. It's my KNC love that led me to use it as one of the primary ingredients in my most popular wild bird feed, Bird Butter.

So imagine how perplexed I was when, about a month or so ago, my Bird Butter batches started being ... soupy. They didn't set right. To be clear, they were still just as nutritious as any other batch, but I was concerned that even in late February, what I stuck my reputation on as being "no melt" was starting to drip fat through the gaps in my feeder on a warm afternoon. Now, I've since tweaked my inputs just enough to fix this, but it got me looking for what changed. And what did I find?

A stroke of luck: in one of my shopping trips, there just happened to be a single jar from an older factory run. Look at that picture at the top - it's the one in the middle. See how the jar is filled all the way to the bottom of the lid? I actually weighed all the jars that this one came with (on a state certified scale, mind you), and found that each was at least 0.4, to as much as 0.8 oz lighter than the middle one above. And not only was there less overall product: there was less solid mass - a greater percentage of each jar was oil, vs ground peanuts. I'd been paying the same, but getting less of what I need. No wonder my consistency was off: shrinkflation in action.

I put in a lot of work to make sure this product, made in my kitchen, is uniform. As I said, I've done the math to make sure it's now like before, but man, I wish I didn't have to. Never mind having to pay the same for less.

For those of you used to the amount of science I t

For those of you used to the amount of science I try to put in my posts, be warned: this is a fluff piece.

Since I started making my own bird feeders, I've not really had much use for this old suet cage, but there's one use in which it still most definitely shines: providing nesting material. Fur and feathers make for soft bedding and good insulation, but often in the wild individual tufts are quite few and far between, being easily blown far and wide by the wind. A cage like this, which locks them in, can be a great resource from now through early summer as our various breeding residents and migrants go through their construction routines.

Not every bit of fluff will do, though! If you want to put out the right stuff, I strongly recommend real fur and real feathers: no felt, dryer lint, pieces of cloth, etc. as these can actually tangle and snarl both young and old alike within the nest. Those of you who've been following me for a few years may remember that I used to put out clumps of fur I combed out of the coat of Vargas (RIP), our dauntingly prodigious Chow mix. The reason I trusted his coat to line a bird's nest was because we didn't use any topical treatments on it (all his flea and tick treatments were in pill form); such medicines function by being neurotoxic, and exposing developing chicks to such things can cause permanent damage if not outright death.

As you can see here, I'm now using down feathers, which I've personally collected (with appropriate permits from FWS and TWRA). If you'd like to source your own, though, it's really as simple as having a (friend with a) fluffy pet, a brush, and a lack of pesticides. Especially if they're already coming to your feeders, you can have yourself a grand time watching your back yard for birds stuffing their mouths fuller than you might even have thought possible. Nothing quite like seeing those familiar faces bedecked with sudden mustaches and pompoms!

It's a big, spring weekend for us! First, housek

It's a big, spring weekend for us!

First, housekeeping: this is the LAST weekend we'll be inside for the @growoakridge Oak Ridge Winter Farmers Market. Starting next week, we'll be outside at Jackson Square until the end of November. So make it count! Come see us during our supremely leisurely hours of 9a-12p before we all have to start showing up an hour earlier (as the Jackson Square market begins at 8a).

Second: a special occasion! As you see in the picture, this Sunday is the first big market of the SPRING season. Besides me, there's going to be a whole other selection of cool stuff at @ijamsnaturecenter, but if you need a little extra inducement, well ... I might just happen to have a few new things that I will leave tantalizingly unspecified ...

Just like this pileated is our biggest woodpecker,

Just like this pileated is our biggest woodpecker, this is a BIG week for the Oak Ridge Bird Man!

First up, we've got a three day event starting today: the @dogwoodarts House and Garden show! It runs Friday 10a-6p, Saturday 10a-6p, and Sunday 10a-4p down at the Knoxville Convention Center - there is a HUGE slate of vendors downstairs, and even a good number upstairs on your way to the escalator, all of which are focused on landscaping and/or home improvement.

On top of that, we've got two other markets on Saturday morning: the @growoakridge Oak Ridge Winter Farmers Market from 9a-12p at Roane State Community College, and the @nourishmarkets Market Square Farmers Market from 10a-2p downtown.

But here's what I think is the most exciting: for any of you in or around South Knoxville, you can now find us at @knoxfill! It's not exactly like anything else we've done - it's not a market, and we're not selling through them directly. But now, every other Thursday, we'll be doing a SUPPLY DROP. What that means is, if you order through the website (https://www.oakridgebirdman.com/shop/), you can now pick up your order at no extra charge from KnoxFill's storefront, just like you would be able to from any of our weekly markets. No delivery fee! Every other week! For all our fans in SoKno, we want to make it as easy as possible for you to get your birds what they need. More details coming soon, but for now, send us a message if you want info quick!

I get a lot of requests for guidance in helping ou

I get a lot of requests for guidance in helping out injured birds, but it's rare that I get to demonstrate firsthand how it's done. Well, today was a special day!

Before anything else, I need to emphasize: I am not a wildlife rehabilitator in any way, shape, or form (if this ever changes, trust me, you'll be the first to know). Nor am I a wildlife mitigation specialist ... any longer. However, I *used* to be the latter, which is how I know how to manage and handle a bird of prey in a way that minimizes the chance of injury to both the bird and myself.

This afternoon, someone who had met me at a market reached out because she found this beautiful Red-shouldered Hawk prone, dazed, and almost completely immobile. Whereas normally I can only offer informational resources, in this case the patient was barely 10 minutes from my house, and no other help was immediately available. In such a case, I couldn't in good conscience refuse.

Thankfully this went about as smoothly as any extraction I've ever taken part in. It would be easy to see nothing but wildness and ferocity in that expression and posture (of the hawk), but in reality this bird is utterly scared out of its mind. I'm not wearing sunglasses for the look - I'm wearing them so that it can't see my eyes, and thereby convince itself that I have dinner on my mind. The only reason it's so fluffed up is to say "I'm a big beefy bird and ready to RUMBLE." But it's a total front: it didn't even squeeze my fingers as I packed it up to take to the *real* rehabber (which, again, I am not).

I will always encourage you to contact me with *any* wild bird-related question, urgent or otherwise. That said, if you want to be ahead of the curve (and save me the guilt of telling you that I, personally, can't help), I'd strongly recommend doing a little research to find the wildlife rehabber(s) nearest you, as well as what they specialize in, as it will save you time and mental bandwidth should you find an injured animal. And don't be a hero! For injured animals, keep an eye on them, but don't lay a hand - both for their safety and yours.

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