Dick Tuttle

My compulsion to count Chimney Swifts began on August 7 and lasted until October 11 after I had not seen any swifts for two consecutive nights. I counted the avian migrants for 56 nights as they sought evening shelter in chimneys in or near Delaware County during their autumn journey to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and the northwest corner of Brazil.

Editor's Note: "Toss the Feathers" is a traditional folk song -- but that's not what this article is about. Instead, how about swallows picking feathers out of the air to line their nests?   Several years after my first nesting Tree Swallows in 1977, I tossed pheasant feathers for Tree Swallows nesting in Delaware State

Nestboxes in storage do not produce birds. So what will a dedicated avian conservationist do with a couple dozen restored but surplus nestboxes? One answer is found at Big Island Wildlife Area.

You’ve seen those nestboxes for Bluebirds and Tree Swallows, and you’ve appreciated those Osprey nesting platforms. But what goes into maintaining them? Dick Tuttle gives us a glimpse of a day of early spring (or late winter) preparation.

Audubon is all about bird conservation. But we know that each individual bird eventually dies. Many birds die of natural causes, such as malnourishment or starvation, disease, cold, and so on; others die because of our actions, often colliding with our windows or our cars. But sometimes those lost birds can make a contribution to education and conservation.

Conservationist Dick Tuttle reports on his Prothonotary Warbler nest box project at Alum Creek through the spring and summer of 2014.