What did you do in your shed / man cave today?

[Bird]

is it just me or do these photos make it look like a guillotine

[DrewXT]

Nice work 

Hope it's lockable....

I put a dog flap in the laundry door at out first house.
Came home one day to find my brother sitting in the lounge room.

We were much smaller then.....

This is why I keep telling my missus I don't want a dog door

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[xcvator]

Trying to rescue photo's from an ssd that doesn't want to cooperate 

[bmwfreak]

Nice work 

Hope it's lockable....

I put a dog flap in the laundry door at out first house.
Came home one day to find my brother sitting in the lounge room.

We were much smaller then.....

Thanks  . It will be lockable once the timber finish(es) have been applied. Given that the door is only partitions of glass, the security issue didn't really concern me too much as most domestic security is good enough to keep out the honest thieves, but that's about it. 🤪

[DrewXT]

Trying to rescue photo's from an ssd that doesn't want to cooperate 

Good luck mate, it's not one of those ones that encrypts itself is it??

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[xcvator]

Good luck mate, it's not one of those ones that encrypts itself is it??

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

Not as far as I know, it's a "crucial" 250 gig about 3 years old

[Spada]

I've been gathering a few hollow logs for a little while, finally got motivated today to start turning them into bird boxes to hang in the back yard. I've always had around 20 assorted size nesting boxes in the yard which have housed quite a few broods of lorikeets, rosella's, sugar gliders, ducks, and possums. But they were all made of cheap ply and have fallen apart over the years. This should see them all replaced with more natural timber hollows. I'm hiring a cherry picker next week to give a few gums around the house a bit of a haircut, so I'll hang these new boxes then. To hang them I use a bit of fence wire through some garden hose so the wire doesn't ringbark the tree, and attach the wire with a trampoline spring so it can stretch as the tree grows. To stabilize the round log against the tree trunk, I screw a short length of pine baton either side of the nest box to form a V on the back of the hollow. There is one larger hollow that is a V shape that I'll try and mount horizontally for the Kookaburra's.

[Pottsy]

Haven't had a lot time in the shed lately with all the crap going on with the wife's health but managed to finish these off this morning. Some little boy in Qld will be very happy I hope.

[bmwfreak]

EXCEPTIONAL WORK POTTSY (yeah I know you shouldn't use caps, but this man is worth shouting about!!)

[6knights]

They look great Pottsy, well done 

[lincolnland]

Amazing craftspersonship

[Pottsy]

I've been gathering a few hollow logs for a little while, finally got motivated today to start turning them into bird boxes to hang in the back yard. I've always had around 20 assorted size nesting boxes in the yard which have housed quite a few broods of lorikeets, rosella's, sugar gliders, ducks, and possums. But they were all made of cheap ply and have fallen apart over the years. This should see them all replaced with more natural timber hollows. I'm hiring a cherry picker next week to give a few gums around the house a bit of a haircut, so I'll hang these new boxes then. To hang them I use a bit of fence wire through some garden hose so the wire doesn't ringbark the tree, and attach the wire with a trampoline spring so it can stretch as the tree grows. To stabilize the round log against the tree trunk, I screw a short length of pine baton either side of the nest box to form a V on the back of the hollow. There is one larger hollow that is a V shape that I'll try and mount horizontally for the Kookaburra's.

You've been busy Spada, inspired me to build a few boxes for my place, starting to see more rosellas in the area since the local primary school down the road put in some boxes.

[Spada]

Funny story with the nesting boxes, we had a nest box in a tree just near the loungeroom window. One afternoon we were sitting in the couch and could hear the birds were going nuts in the tree outside. Look out and there is a ducks arse poking out the end of the bird box and the crows are just hammering it. This went on for a few minutes and the duck didn't budge. Mrs Spada is starting to get upset about the poor duck that was obviously stuck in the entrance to the box and sends me out to rescue it. So I grab the 20' extension ladder, put it at full reach and start climbing up. This gets rid of the crows, but the duck still hasn't budged. Now I'm starting to think that the duck might really be stuck? So I'm at the very top of the ladder, balancing myself against the tree that's swaying in the breeze, and just as I go to grab the duck it scurries off down the hole... that's when things got a bit problematic.

Turns out that the ducks had already nested in the box and laid about a bunch of eggs. Now ducks don't sit on the nest all day like a lot of birds do, they leave early in the morning and come back to the nest late in the afternoon. So Mrs Duck has come back to her hole in the afternoon and found that Mr Possum had taken up residence for the day. So there's Mrs Duck sitting in the entrance to the nest, with her arse out in the wind, not wanting to upset a sleeping Mr Possum, and the crows are pecking the s#!t out of her... until I came along and tried to grab her arse. This just scared her deep into the box and all of a sudden there is a hell of a carryon inside with lots of feathers and fur flying everywhere, and me wobbling about on a rickety ladder 20 feet up in the air dodging a cranky possum and a pissed off duck as they both tried to get back out of the box.

[plusnq]

 

[D4D]

Thanks Spada, your story gave me a good giggle first thing in the morning

[paceman]

Thanks Spada, your story gave me a good giggle first thing in the morning

me too...

Spada, have you got some closer pics of the pine that is screwed to the back of the nesting boxes and how the spring and wire setup is attached?

you've given me a bit of inspiration at our place... we get quite a few possums and rainbow lorikeets, so wouldn't mind giving them a home...

[Fizzie]

bird boxes

Nice job!

We've had a rosella box hanging in the mango tree that's only been used once, but several years ago, we had a rosella trying to get down inside the brick pier at the end of the sunroom!

I built a box for them & it has raised at least one (a couple of times two, from two different pairs!) family every year since

As you can see though, no self-respecting bird should even consider it, but they do!

Is does mean though, that for several months of the year, every time we walk around the side of the house, there's a frantic flutter of wings behind you as Mum flies away at great speed!

There is one larger hollow that is a V shape that I'll try and mount horizontally for the Kookaburra's.

The only "problem" with kookaburras is that the chicks are then fed with other baby birds & similar

[Fizzie]

Some little boy in Qld will be very happy I hope.

I reckon he certainly will be!

[Spada]

Spada, have you got some closer pics of the pine that is screwed to the back of the nesting boxes and how the spring and wire setup is attached?

Here you go, they're a bit rough and ready cause the birds don't much care what they look like   

I've got 10 boxes ready to hang so far, and I'll make another 3 or 4 from what I've got left. I've used a bit of marine ply for the bottoms & lids which I've still got to paint. The bottoms are glued and nailed, with a couple of 10mm drainage holes. The tops are fixed with timber screws so I can remove them to clean out any Indian minor's if they decide to take over  . On the back side of the hollow log I screw a scrap of framing pine to act as a wedge either side so the hollows wont flop about when they're wired to the tree trunk. The smaller boxes are fine with just a couple of wires just looped around a tree trunk, but the larger ones I like to sit in a fork in the tree to take the weight and still run a couple of wires to secure them. I use a bit of garden hose over the wire just to protect the tree a bit. I use baton screws either side of the hollow with a washer so the springs or wire cant slip off the head, and screw them into wherever there is the most meat left in the timber. On one side I just tie the wire to the baton screw, on the other side I use a trampoline spring to attach the wire to the baton screw. Hang the boxes so the opening faces away from the prevailing weather, preferable where it gets some morning sun instead of the afternoon sun. I add a small handful of crushed up dried gum leaves as a bed inside the box before I hang them just to block any light that comes in through the drainage holes. Page 2 of this link has all the info for what size hollow suits what type of bird - https://birdlife.org.au/images/uploads/education_sheets/INFO-Nestbox-technical.pdf

[Troopy_03]

Trying to rescue photo's from an ssd that doesn't want to cooperate 

You having any luck with this yet?
When you say doesn't want to cooperate, what are you doing, and what does it do, or not do?
Can you access the drive and see that it has contents in it?
Is it a drive from a laptop, or and external drive?
Tried any Live boot USB rescue progs on it yet?

[Spada]

As you can see though, no self-respecting bird should even consider it, but they do!

Looks fine to me Fizzie. The birds don't give a crap what it looks like, they just appreciate having a hollow somewhere. I'm no expert, but it seems to me that the same birds will come back to the same hollows each season. I.E- I've had 2 identically sized boxes hung at the same height in 2 trees side by side in the front yard, and each year lorikeets have always nested in one and rosellas in the other. Lorikeets and rosellas will typically lay 3 eggs, 2 will hatch, and 1 chick will survive. Indian Minors are the biggest problem as they will fill a box to the brim with twigs, rubbish, and crap and the natives will never go back to that hollow. When I used to see Indian minors in a box I'd be straight up clearing it out and getting rid of the eggs, but the bastards will be straight back and just keep laying eggs (their eggs are the same size as a lorikeet or rosella, but they are light blue). Now I've learnt to leave them alone until the chicks are just hatched and then clean them out. They wont re-lay by this stage and the breeding cycle is broken. the Kookaburras and butcher birds appreciate the feed too. Since I've been doing that the Indian Minor birds have all but disappeared, that and a active trapping program  https://www.pestit.com.au/indian-myna-bird-trap/#:~:text=The%20trap%20can%20capture%20up,deployed%20to%20start%20trapping%20immediately.

[paceman]

Here you go, they're a bit rough and ready cause the birds don't much care what they look like   

I've got 10 boxes ready to hang so far, and I'll make another 3 or 4 from what I've got left. I've used a bit of marine ply for the bottoms & lids which I've still got to paint. The bottoms are glued and nailed, with a couple of 10mm drainage holes. The tops are fixed with timber screws so I can remove them to clean out any Indian minor's if they decide to take over  . On the back side of the hollow log I screw a scrap of framing pine to act as a wedge either side so the hollows wont flop about when they're wired to the tree trunk. The smaller boxes are fine with just a couple of wires just looped around a tree trunk, but the larger ones I like to sit in a fork in the tree to take the weight and still run a couple of wires to secure them. I use a bit of garden hose over the wire just to protect the tree a bit. I use baton screws either side of the hollow with a washer so the springs or wire cant slip off the head, and screw them into wherever there is the most meat left in the timber. On one side I just tie the wire to the baton screw, on the other side I use a trampoline spring to attach the wire to the baton screw. Hang the boxes so the opening faces away from the prevailing weather, preferable where it gets some morning sun instead of the afternoon sun. I add a small handful of crushed up dried gum leaves as a bed inside the box before I hang them just to block any light that comes in through the drainage holes. Page 2 of this link has all the info for what size hollow suits what type of bird - https://birdlife.org.au/images/uploads/education_sheets/INFO-Nestbox-technical.pdf

thanks, bud... makes sense...

[Fizzie]

Since I've been doing that the Indian Minor birds have all but disappeared, that and a active trapping program 

Thanks for that link! We've got issues with Feral Pigeons so might have to check them out What do you do with the Mynahs after you've caught them

Looks fine to me Fizzie. The birds don't give a crap what it looks like

I really meant that it's only 2m off the ground, not 10!

[NZMarkb]

I just shoot those mongrel minor birds with the silenced .22

[Spada]

What do you do with the Mynahs after you've caught them

Wheelie bin bag over the trap and connect it to a car exhaust (petrol engine), they go quiet in less than a minute. Caveat- the car engine has to be cold as the catalytic converter doesn't do it's thing until it's warmed up. Another option is letting off a co2 soda bulb into the bag which has the same effect.
Here's an extract from a CSIRO study on the topic - https://www.publish.csiro.au/wr/pdf/WR09039

Conclusions
We conclude that if simple precautions to avoid accidental
exposure are followed, CO from cooled petrol engine exhaust
is a more practical and humane euthanasia agent than CO2 for
mynas, starlings and sparrows. COis safer for operators thanCO2,
because it does not involve the transport of pressurised cylinders
and it is produced only when an engine is running. CO is similarly
rapid for killing these birds as is CO2, and it is more humane,
more widely available and far cheaper than CO2.

Minor birds are a cunning animal. The trap needs to be set with a couple of days free feeding before adding the capture cage. If they see you go anywhere near the trap, then they wont. It needs to set and cleared in the dark. Once you get one in the cage, it's calls will bring in all of it's friends, so it's rare to not capture quite a few at once. So far my record capture is 26 in one day.