Bluebird Update April 11, 2021
Mrs. Bluebird continues working on her nest. I’d bet she’s getting close to finished. Her last trip into the box in this video shows her bringing what appear to be feathers in to line the nest.
We’re looking inside a nesting box with the bluebirds in West Newbury, Vermont. The cameras are permanently mounted in the boxes and we can watch without disturbing the birds.
Loons & Turtles – Spring Is Here!
With yesterday’s beautiful weather, I dug the kayak out of the basement and headed out. Spring has arrived.
I wasn’t the only one taking advantage of the sunshine. The pond had a full battalion of painted turtles out basking. It seemed like every log and hummock had at least one, usually many more.
And, a loon has returned! The loon tipped its head back and opened its mouth without vocalizing many times. I can’t decide if it was stretching, yawning or something else. I’ve emailed the Loon Preservation Committee asking what they think its up to. BTW, the LPC loves to have people report notable statistics about New Hampshire loons. On the Vermont side of the river, Eric Hanson of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies collects data on Vermont loons. They like to know when loons first arrive in the spring, when they mate, when they build their nest, how many eggs they lay, how many chicks hatch and if any of them die. If you notice any of these, just send a quick email with the date, what you saw and which pond you were on. And, if you find a dead loon, they’d like to collect it to do a necropsy.
Further Work on the Bluebird Nest April 10, 2021
Mrs. Bluebird has been coming and going from the box all morning. She stopped to talk to us while we were having lunch on the deck. The nest is well along and she seems to be making just minor additions and adjustments.
We’re looking inside a nesting box with the bluebirds in West Newbury, Vermont. The chickadees are in Piermont, New Hampshire. The cameras are permanently mounted in the boxes and we can watch without disturbing the birds.
Bluebird Nest Construction Continues, April 9, 2021
Mrs. Bluebird continues to be busy building her nest in our box. She’s been making regular trips in with grass since just before sunup.
We’re looking inside a nesting box in West Newbury, Vermont. The camera is permanently mounted in the box and we can watch without disturbing the birds.
Bluebirds Continue to Build their Nest April 8, 2021
Barry and Jeans are making good progress on their nest. They work hard for a couple hours in the early morning, then wander off to tend to whatever errands they have.
We’re looking inside a nesting box in West Newbury, Vermont. The camera is permanently mounted in the box and we can watch without disturbing the birds.
Return of the Bluebirds! April 7, 2021
Our bluebirds, Barry and Jeans, have returned to claim their nest box for another season! Barry has been checking the box several times a day for the last week. On April 6, he dragged a few stalks of grass into the box. This morning, things got serious when Jeans stepped in and put her talents into organizing the building of the nest.
We’ll see Jeans come and go from the box and watch as she starts to form the cup in the nest with her breast.
Barry and Jeans have nested in the box the last two seasons. They’ve raised three broods and fledged 12 chicks. (Well, two bluebirds that look like Barry and Jeans… we have no way of knowing if this is the same pair. We just hope they are.)
We’re watching eastern bluebirds inside a nesting box in West Newbury, Vermont. The camera is permanently mounted in the box and we can watch without bothering the birds. I’ve edited the video to cut out time when nothing is happening, you may notice the video jump a couple times.
Mrs. Bluebird Continues Sitting, April 25, 2021
Mrs. Bluebird spent another day sitting on her eggs. We’re expecting them to hatch sometime between May 2 and May 10. Watch as she stirs, turns the eggs, then settles back in for a nap.
We’re looking inside a nesting box with the bluebirds in West Newbury, Vermont. The camera is permanently mounted in the box and we can watch without disturbing the birds.
Fi GPS Collar Review – Good Idea, Poor Execution
Update: We went through five Fi collars in the first six months before we gave up and cancelled the account.
We adopted Dexter, then a two-year old Siberian husky last year. He soon taught us that huskies like to run. And will at every opportunity. He’s broken leads, unlatched doors and snuck under a closing garage door to take off.
We ordered a Fi collar which arrived October 16, 2020. First impressions were positive. It seemed well-built and was easy to set up and start tracking Dexter. Unfortunately, our first impressions didn’t hold up.
The first time Dexter got loose with the collar, we activated the ‘lost dog’ mode and went after him. The lost dog mode attempts to update the dog’s position every minute. But, it often failed to update and would retry. We found it often took five or six minutes, and once 11 minutes to update. That long lag between updates isn’t sufficient to track a husky trotting along at better than 15 miles an hour. A six-minute delay could put the dog a mile and a half away! In 11 minutes, he could be 2.75 miles from the last location shown. I doubt even a husky owner can yell to their dog at that range.
The tracking is not entirely useless, dogs don’t run flat out forever. They’ll stop to explore, loop back on their track or slow down to do dog stuff. So, eventually you’ll catch up with the dog. Hopefully, before he gets into trouble.
Dexter’s original tracking module (Fi sells the GPS monitor and also sells the collar band) stopped tracking on December 21, 2020 – after 67 days. Fi support was reasonable, neither fast nor slow. We tried resetting the collar here, Fi reset it on their end. Neither worked and Fi shipped a replacement module. We received it on January 6, 2021 – leaving us without the ability to track Dex for 15 days.
The replacement module set up and tracked properly when we got it. About January 26, the connection between the band and the GPS module started coming apart when Dex was tied on a lead in the yard. We had a couple episodes chasing a GPSless dog while the collar lay on the ground in the yard. By January 29, the band wouldn’t attach to the module.
Fi designed the band to slip into a keyed slot on the module. The module appears to me to be made of white metal. Dexter had twisted the collar to the point that the metal broke and the key would not stay in the slot. Again, I contacted Fi support.
It seemed like every email to Fi brought an email back asking for something different. They wanted photos, I took excellent macro photos of the damaged parts (I used to run NASA’s Photo Section, I know something about photography). They wanted photos with the band ends laid next to each other, and both sides of the module – from a distance which did not give a clear view of the damage. Fine, more photos were taken and sent.
Fi’s response was incredible – they don’t recommend using their collar as a collar. They told me they “recommend using Fi for tracking only. Many pup owners with pullers or larger dogs use Fi with a harness…” This was the first I’d heard it suggested that the collar wasn’t suitable as a collar. After a few emails, Fi agreed to replace the module again, and to send a new band as the tensioner on the old band had also broken and the collar couldn’t be adjusted to fit. The new module arrived today, February 10, 2021. It set up and attached correctly.
In the 90 days since the first collar arrived, FI has replaced the module twice. The collar was unable to track Dexter for 25 of those 90 days – if he got free, we were unable to track him 28% of the time. Not an impressive record. I’ll use this collar while I look for a replacement.
Loon Fight!
Loon families need a sizeable territory to successfully raise their chicks. A loon family with a pair of chicks will eat something like a half ton of (mostly) fish during the season. Loons will fight to defend their territory. One result of the growing loon population is more frequent disputes over territory. Most of these are settled with some vocalization and displays. Some get more serious and some are serious enough to kill one of the combatants. Here are a few shots from an all-out fight on the Weston’s pond in May 2019. The home team was an established pair with a egg in their nest.
A Year with Two Huskies
We adopted Dexter & Romeo, then two-year old Siberian huskies, on New Year’s Eve 2019. We met The Boys through Patriot Siberian Husky Rescue. They’re great dogs and we love ’em to death.
But, they quickly taught us that huskies aren’t like other dogs. Sure, some unique husky traits were to be expected. They shed. A lot. More than you’d think possible without their being bald. They shed all year. They’re stubborn, they’ll think about any command you give them and act on it if they think it is in their best interest. And only if they think it is in their interest. They need to run and wrestle. You can’t walk far enough to tire them out. They quickly trained us to take them to the dog park every day. They love to run, wrestle and play in the mud. They look like they’re trying to rip the squeaker out of each other, but they’re actually very careful to break off if someone says enough.
You can follow along with their antics on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Dexter.and.Romeo or Instagram @dexter_romeo_huskies.
Dexter winds up to deliver a massive downward CHOMP!
Dexter is the master of SBF (Snarling Bitch Face)!
