Maybe I am the last human to learn this but "Glock" is German for "Bell".
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| Glockenapfel is one of the parents of Gloster 69, a Red Delicious apple that ripens in cool climates. Gloster 69 is one of the more edible "Red Delicious" type apples in my opinion. |
"Glockenapfel" is a bell-shaped-apple.
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| A picture of Gloster 69 apple. |
Mallards will nest in "nest boxes"
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| Linky-dinky |
Medium-sized predators and nesting success of ground-nesting birds
Raccoons, possum, foxes, skunks and mink all have a huge impact on the reproductive success of ducks. It is also reasonable to assume that they impact ALL ground nesting bird species.
Ducks are able to sustain their population if one of every five nests hatches ducklings.
Certain "features" can result in virtually zero percentage of nests being successful while other "features" can result in almost 50% being successful. The difference involves predator dynamics.
Since four-of-the-five main predators of duck nests are valuable,fur-bearing animals, and since Russia is the largest market for fur, a favorable Ruble-USD exchange rate is highly favorable for duck populations. Better fur prices incentivizes more harvesting of raccoons, fox, skunks and mink (with possum being harvested by accident).
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| Ruble-USD exchange rate, 10 year history |
Since the start of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, the Ruble-USD exchange rate crashed and virtually no furs collected in North America are going to Russia. That does not bode well for duck, turkey, pheasant, grouse, killdeer, sandhill cranes, meadow larks, bob-o-links, junkos, some warblers and whip-poor-wills.
On a per-nose basis, fox are the most efficient predators of ducks. They actively hunt them. The kill the hens which eliminates the possibility of a second attempt at nesting. They cachet the eggs.
On a per-unit-area, raccoons (and possum) are the most efficient predators even though they are opportunistic hunters. They THRIVE in man-made environments. They eat our trash. They live in our structures. They can have population densities of over 100 per square-mile. Furthermore, human activities tends to increase duck-nest densities and stretch them out. If raccoons and possum follow strips-of-cover between subdivisions and cultivated areas, it is very easy for them to stumble upon the nests of ground-nesting birds.
And they are hard-wired to follow cover and to work edge habitats. For example, my linear brush-pile will be a natural line-of-drift for raccoons, possum and foxes.
A few tips (if you enjoy ground-nesting species of birds)
- Secure your trash
- Don't feed your pets outside
- Deny entry to your outbuildings (fix broken windows, trap woodchucks and fill holes)
- Welcome trappers...this is much bigger than I can communicate
- Consider excavating necks that connect marshy peninsulas to highlands to turn them into islands
- Consider nesting structures
- Consider modifying "strips of cover" to make them blocky, discontinuous or checker-board in nature
(Tip of the hat to Lucas Machias for links to the information shared above)
A pretty weed
The general consensus is that it spreads aggressively and it toxic to browsing animals...she might be pretty but she is a bad neighbor. I will probably rip her out tomorrow. I have enough problems in my life.
Watering
I went out to The Property today and filled up 200 gallons worth of containers.
Tomorrow morning, I shall sally forth and see how long it takes me to hump that water to the baby-trees.
My goal is 200 gallons / 8 gallons per carry * (2 minutes per carry + 1 minute fiddle-farting at turnarounds*) * 1.2 for random inefficiencies. That noodles out to 90 minutes to move 200 gallons. If I were a Los Vegas bookie I would predict a 25% chance of meeting or beating that goal.
Getting an early start is key to success. The temperature is predicted to be 62F at 10AM and 74F at 1PM. HUGE difference when burning a lot of calories (although wetting my tee-shirt can narrow that difference).
Proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance (when it really matters) Alternative version Sweat more now, bleed less later
Lugging water is not absolutely necessary in June in Michigan. It is a rare June when we do not get at least 2" of rain.
However, a 4-to-8 week dry-spell is common in the July-August time-frame. The difference between an abysmal failure in August and glorious victory in September is to have a well-rehearsed plan with all of the bugs worked out.
Seeds
Imagine my surprise when I saw a rack with vegetable seeds in the entrance to our church. "FREE. Take what you need."
Close inspection showed "Packed for 2024" and lines were drawn through the bar-codes to prevent resale through commercial outlets. That is, they were "written off" inventory from an accounting/tax standpoint even if the seeds were (mostly) viable.
What a spectacularly, fine idea. I took two packages of green bean seeds and one of cucumber seeds.
I don't know who made this happen, but I salute them.
*Having a "kid" or "old fart" to move the buckets that are empty while I am in-transit is an effective matching of resources to tasks.
How are you transporting the water?
ReplyDeleteIf in 55 gal barrels or the like, a harbor freight 12 v pump will move a couple hundred gallons per hour and you could simply drive closer to the trees..... Save the wear and tear on your body....
https://www.harborfreight.com/12v-dc-transfer-pump-290-gph-63324.html
Tools rust out more quickly than they wear out.
DeleteI ran 400 feet of hose from the spigot to the two tanks.
I can "bucket" to the end-point more quickly than the hose can deliver it to the tanks.
As a matter of effective use of my time, I and do other chores while the tanks are being filled...and then go like a bat out of Hades in moving the water.
While I COULD drive closer to the trees, moving water out of tanks in the back of the pickup truck either involves a lot of climbing up-and-down or a lot of missing-the-target. I would also be climbing in-and-out of the truck and moving it 30 feet at a pop which is almost not worth the effort.
I readily admit that my thinking is warped by "Lean Manufacturing" concepts. Have enough "facilities" so that the operator (me) is never waiting on the equipment. Then the operator's capabilities is the metronome that paces the production.
Might be interesting to compare nesting success of ducks between Michigan and Alaska. We dot have either possum or racoon! We do have foxes, coyotes and lynx but you probably have coyotes and bobcats as well as foxes.
ReplyDeleteI expect reproductive success is much higher in most of Alaska.
DeleteThe incredible population densities of raccoons, possum and skunks are only possible due to human inputs. Also, suitable nesting cover for ducks is not abundant which forces the ducks into small, easy to forage "fast food restaurants" for the predators.
Alaska...the only land-based predators are the ones that can survive the winter. There just aren't enough of them to keep up with all the ducks.
The dynamic is similar to the Passenger Pigeons nesting in phenomenal numbers in a very small area. It overwhelmed the local predators. Or at least it overwhelmed them until railroads, market hunting and dynamite came into play.
I think you are the second to the last person to find out what Glock means. Wild turkeys have probably become the primary predator of ground nesting birds here in the past 15 years. It has been bad. When I haul water now to the areas of my gardens I can't reach with hoses I put the buckets in the loader on the tractor, fill them and space them out across the field and water the plants with a coffee can. I can't do it the way you do it anymore and this way works good for me. I wish I had started that process a couple years earlier.---ken
ReplyDeleteI'm no botanist but wonder whether your weed might be "ragwort". In Britain it's reckoned to be dangerous to horses.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packera_aurea
ERJ - If it is any consolation, I cannot think of anytime I have heard the word "Glock" used on its own, only in compound words like Glockenspiel and Turkenglocken.
ReplyDeleteThe commentary on predators and nests is really thought provoking, especially in the realm of unintended consequences.
Since you told me, now I'm that last person to know.......
ReplyDeleteBack onto IBC tote tanks. Their discharge outlet is 2", normally, with one plastic ball valve. On mine, I have a trailer that it fits perfectly onto, an old hog trailer. I doubled up the 2" ball valve and ran 2" blue pvc ag hose (flat hose) from the second valve. The tote sits on the trailer about a foot off the ground. I can fill a 5 gal bucket, gravity drainage, in about 5 seconds with that 2" flat hose, then fold the hose over, shift to the next bucket, if I have more than one there. No pump required - Gravity can be fast !
ReplyDelete