Well, here we are, late February/early March! Are you ready to design the layout of your garden and get your seeds started?
For those who have space and haven’t planted a garden before, or for those who planning it anew this year, you always start with a rough plan: what to place where, and how much space and sun it will get. This will give you an idea how many seedlings you should have of each kind of plant.
I don’t always start seeds every year, and when I do, I’m almost always late at it (much later than this). It’s easy to get a little overzealous and end up tending tonnes of seedlings we have give away. Of course, you start by planting many seeds, because some never germinate, or else germinate and start, but then fail. If you have the space to add a few more good planters, extra seedlings can come in quite handy.
In winter, birds keep warm by finding niches in which they can roost, and basically puff up and shiver all night long to stay alive. When the landscape is forested, there are lots of places they can go, but in the city, they have to be opportunists and find these niches wherever familiarity allows.
Birds are familiar with birdhouses (that’s what a nest box is, they’re the same thing, provided it’s functional – a lot of birdhouses are decorative), but they’re not the best configuration for winter roosting. While nesting, the birds brood their eggs and chicks on the floor of the box, with airspace above. Remember, cold air sinks. While roosting, the bird will want a sheltered space where their body heat is protected.
Fortunately, there’s a trick we can do to make a roost out of a nest box: Turn it upside down!
Of course it’s not quite that easy. You have to reconfigure the entry to the space to be at the bottom, add a perch inside, and then winterize it. This gallery of pics will show you how, using my front yard chickadee box:
A newly opened nest boxThis is the nest from the spring/summer seasonWithout takng the nest out, I’ve put the nest box upside downTo winterize, I’m using a cut milk carton with an entry notchThe milk carton fits inside Though you can’t see it very well, I’ve inserted a slim bamboo stake through the sides of the boxI’ve put the back on, and about to mount itHere it’s mounted back on the fence post
This project will rarely show you proof that the birds use it, but trust that they will. Maybe I ought to come up with a cam project so we can peek in on them!
If the base of your nest box is recessed and has corner drainage, you’ll have to either put a roof on it (because the base is now the ceiling) or wrap it against the elements using landscape cloth or burlap.
Black squirrels are always noticeable, and one had been living with the other grey squirrels in either one (or both) of my squirrel cabins since last autumn.
Yes, I provide cabins for my squirrels. I put this one here because there used to be a through-the-wall air conditioner, and when I removed it, it still had the rack. So as an earlier squirrel had indicated it was a cozy spot to put a cottage, I made them one. It was a hit, providing years of shelter for them, and entertainment for me.
The squirrels spend a lot of time running along the fence and climbing the house. If I stopped to talk to them, they’ll stop to listen to me. That’s how I noticed one day that she was nursing. And soon enough, I saw she spent a lot of time lounging on top of the squirrel cabin next to my bedroom window.
Of course I had to name her. And though it took a while, I finally saw the babies peeking out of the cabin.
In late November, 2020, I took a video of a very busy squirrel perched on the ladder in the back yard. It was stripping a burlap bag of material to put into its nest (probably the squirrel cabin outside my bedroom window). The squirrel looked a little wobbly, but I thought little of it. They’re wild animals with wild lives. Until I saw it again in January, hanging upside down under the park bench, wobbling around while looking for bird seed.
A couple of days later, I saw the squirrel spinning around the base of the tree:
Oh boy. I had an injured or neurologically impaired squirrel to look out for. So I tossed it out an acorn, which it found in short order. OK, so not helpless, just having extra challenges in getting around.
Assistance measures for a disabled wild animal
Over the next few weeks, I keep an eye out for it, and made sure it always found a supplemental tidbit. I was glad to have already put “squirrel ramps” out there: old boards propped on the ladder against the fence and to the patio. They made it easy for squirrels to get up on the patio from a different part of the yard.
You can see the fur has been barbered or else is growing in from a previous episode of mangeEven disabled, it could climb! (The cabin is up one storey from here)Climbing in action – upright and upside downYou can see a bit of mange
I continued to monitor the situation through February, where I found out that he/she had no trouble climbing the wall, and even hang upside-down using its back legs, no problem.
Considering that the squirrel had plenty of compromises, I also put out a “bus shelter” for it, so that it would have a secure space sheltered from the elements in which to eat its snacks and maybe catch some repose. It got in the habit of retiring here to eat its daily ration of chestnuts and peanuts:
The “Bus Shelter” with the squirrel approaching!Neuro-Squirrel using the Bus Shelter.
I also found out Neuro-Squirrel had a friend, as I saw them both climbing the wall at the same time, and hanging out together, having their food (video):
Unfortunately, over the course of February and March, Neuro-Squirrel degenerated and needed even more help. I fixed up a heat lamp in the corner of the patio door. Infra-red heat transmits through glass, and it would help him or her feel more comfortable; I added extra straw to the Bus Shelter.
Neuro-Squirrel in the bus shelterSleeping comfortably
Here she/he is looking a little worse for wear. In fact, she (I had to handle her to get her out of a jam, and she really didn’t like that!) was having a really hard time getting around. I could see that, though she valiantly survived this long through the winter, it was end times for her.
The posture and condition of a very aged or decrepit squirrel: thin fur, hunched back, looking pinched…
On her last night and her last morning on earth I kept the heat lamp on her, and –though protesting my presence if I imposed upon her a little too much – added softer Polyfill bedding to her Bus Shelter. She had as good a sleep as I could imagine her having, without her friend to keep her company.
SleepingMore sleepingSome more sleepingAnd waking up.
On this day, after her early morning runabout, she took this long nap in the box. When she next got up, she wandered off…and never came back.
RIP, Neuro-Squirrel. May you have enjoyed your short life to the fullest, and may your death have been an easy one.
This is a long-running “lifestyle” blog about the pleasures of living like a farm kid in an urban context. There’s a big focus on ecology and wildlife because this has brought me joy – and this is also the greatest potential we have of restoring some balance to nature where we live.
I write practical content for people to do little projects that basically make things beautiful, but also support climate readiness (energy efficiency, heat reduction, drought tolerance, flood prevention, and more). I’m a relentlless promoter of having a live-and-let-live attitude towards biodiversity.
Comments and questions are welcome! And if you’re anywhere near the Montreal region, you can also use my “Rewilding” service to landscape your property using native plants, convert to a green driveway, and prevent your windows from killing birds.
