Great to hear from you and hope you are faring well! Good question! I thought that they may be the culprit as they have been known to forage on dead trees on the ground according to one of the moderators on my channel. Drop by the live chat if you get a chance! Thanks for the comment and God bless!

That’s a great tip, thanks for sharing!

Glad you like them and thanks for the kind words!

Thanks Melanie for the kind words. They encourage me to continue with the live stream and videos.

@@KenLittle Please do. Nature and the word - more impactful than you know. Blessings beyond measure to you!

You are so kind

Hello Enid. Yes, shot over a 4-hour period and edited for maybe 15 hours, 😂

A man of many talents 😊 ! After living out here in SoCal for the past 5+ years, I’m starting to get rusty with thrush IDs… Hermit, Wood, and Swainson’s - did you get them all? I really enjoyed the video, thank you again.

Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the kind words. Haven’t see you on the garden cam in a while. Hope all is well!

Thanks!

Thank you so much!

Thanks for the kind words @Heavens24Angel!

@KenLittle Your so welcome, Watching from across the ocean 🌏 😁

Thanks for checking in and the post to let us know!

Hello @Enid. My neighbor had their new fiber internet buried and in the process AT&T cut my fiber. I was out of town and had to wait until I was back in town to meet the AT&T technician. He ran a new fiber line and I am up and running again! Apologies for the outage!

@ Thanks, Ken. That’s good news after bad news. 😉😁

Thanks for the kind words!

Yes, thank you and we miss you in the chat to find out what is going on in Southern MN.

Thanks for all you do for the channel @ODL_ce and hope you are doing well!

Thank you for the kind words! It is a privilege and honor to be a part of the team and reflect the truly magnificent work performed by this team and our other church campuses in the name of Christ. We are his hands and feet! I always have a margin of regret for not being able to reflect the work of all the team members and being limited to a short video space. Hopefully, this short piece inspires, as the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. All glory and praise to our Lord and Savior!

How beautiful were the raised arms of Trevor's dad at the end. Beautiful job on the video. You captured something here. The hope restored.

Thanks so much for the kind words @darksideoftheloon5726!

Glad you enjoyed it and great having you back in the chat so we can find out what is happening on the other side of the pond. Thanks again!

Thanks so much

@@KenLittle Been watching your lovley garden for years from across the pond, Take Care Ken and keep up the great work! 🌏🌞🌻🐿️🦋🐦🌷☀️🎐🦜🎋🐦

Glad you enjoyed it

Such an interesting observation @jim9930! I hadn't thought about that. Of course the woodpeckers try to find trees that are older with soft wood, maybe dying or rotten as it makes their job of excavating easier. But I can see how their holes have compromised tree structure and that could be the weakened point where the trees snap off. Thanks for the comment!

Thank you!

That is so awesome! Another class can learn to enjoy nature from a great teacher! I'll pass it along to the channel moderators. Thanks for all you do for the kids!

I’m not sure of the intent of your question, but the tree is doing fine. I don’t think that 5 or 6 screws about an inch into a relatively large tree will have any affect on its livelihood.

Thank you!

Lol! The final resolved stream (with birds) is located at: kzbin.infovdmmp9o7dP0

@@KenLittle oh dear LOL I thought it was a clip of something like I get so often. On my way to the actual stream 😁

Thank you!

Glad it was helpful!

Yes, squirrels are a hoot and agile and intelligent. I have immense respect for their intellect, which is why I also included a link to Mark Rober's videos at the end of my blog post about them (www.kenlittleblog.com/blog/amazing-squirrels). One or maybe two squirrels are not necessarily a bad thing, as long as they are not chasing off birds and preventing birds from feeding, when your main mission is to feed birds. Since your priority may be 50/50% bird/squirrel then there is no problem spending the extra money to feed the squirrels. Some folks (as I have) buy the squirrel perch and put an ear of dried corn on it for the squirrels to enjoy and locate it away from their feeders so the folks can feed and enjoy the squirrels without the squirrels bothering the birds as much. Thanks for your comment!

I’m not sure what you mean. Please explain further.

@@KenLittle On the birdhouse in the video, you have a round hole and you have a horizontal slot above the round hole. Close the round hole. Open the horizontal slot above the round hole to 1 1/4 inches. The slot at the top of your bluebird house provides the same protection as the Noel Guard with less work and less material. The slot keeps out other bird species like starlings and makes it difficult for predators to reach in to grab an egg or bird. With the slot so close to the roof, predators and competitive bird species find it difficult to chip away at the slot to make it easier to gain entry. Our native bird species have a slightly different body structure than the invasive species introduced from Europe. This difference in anatomy allows our native birds to squeeze into narrower slots than the invasive species. A similar technique is used to protect purple martin homes from starlings. With the slot at the top, you can hinge the door at the bottom . To clean the birdhouse, grab the slot and pull open. Add a pin or screw at the top to prevent predators from doing the same. This also makes it much easier to deal with bird houses infested with wasps and other undesirables. Bluebirds prefer their home out in the open away from trees and bushes. Bluebirds are well known to nest in cavities in fence posts, poles, and in old tractors/vehicles 4-10 feet off the ground away from vegetation. This gives them additional protection from predators as well as provides them a commanding view of fields, meadows, and open yards where bluebirds like to hunt for food. You can simulate this by mounting your bluebird house in the middle of an open area. If you have a small area, you can try putting the back of the house a few feet from vegetation facing an open area. To ake a portable, weather resistant mount that provides more resistance to predators. I and many others use 5-10 foot electrical conduit 1/2-3/4 inside diameter on matching diameter rebar or rebar spike/pin 3-5 feet in length. Drive the rebar or spike/pin 2-3 feet into the ground. Slide the conduit over the rebar or spike/pin sticking 1-2 feet out of the ground. I use EMT with the matching EMT coupler to securely connect the EMT to the rebar. You can also use the schedule 80 PVC conduit. If you use EMT with rebar, you can often drive the rebar into the ground and remove it by hand while attached to the conduit. Mount the birdhouse to the top of the conduit. I use a single pipe strap of the appropriate size with 3 screws. Two screws secure the pipe strap lower down on the back of the birdhouse. The 3rd screw is driven 90% into the back of the birdhouse a few inches higher that the pipe strap with the head of the screw in line with the center of the hole in the pipe strap. The conduit runs up through the strap and stops at the screw with the thickness of the conduit wall wedged between the screw head and the birdhouse wall. For added security, I cut a slot into the conduit for the screw head and shaft to fit into snugly. I also mount bluebird houses to the metal poles including the posts that hold up chain-link “hurricane” fences - preferably without the fence attached to the pole which allows predators easier access. If you don’t have conduit or poles, use a treated 2x4, 2x6, 4x4, or 4x6. You can decide if you want to add a predator guard to a wooden vertical mount to keep the parents from being grabbed by a predator.

@@davidscbirdsall - THANKS SO MUCH for taking the time and for all the detail, from which we can all learn!

@@KenLittle you’re welcome. Those are ideas I was taught in 4-H. You can see all those ideas I mentioned in KZbin videos.

It is heartbreaking! I know it is bad practice to hang bluebird nesting boxes on trees, but I don't have a lot of room in my small yard and the cost for 3 poles, 3 baffles for my 3 nesting boxes is prohibitively expensive, so I used trees, but like you learned my lesson the hard way, so I did my best to ensure it would not happen again. I'm glad my video was helpful. However, I do acknowledge that putting them on a pole that is baffled and away for all trees that squirrels and raccoons could use to access the nesting boxes is the best solution if you have the room in your yard and the money to afford it.

Yes, they are special, ready and training to serve in disasters all over the southeast. I am blessed to be a part of it and be able to shoot, edit and produce these videos. More on my website: www.kenlittleblog.com/disaster-response . Thanks as always for all you do for the channel!