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About

Lucas Coe-Starr

oakridgebirdman

Ornithologist
TWS Certified Wildlife Biologist™
Designer of products for the enjoyment and well-being of wild birds
In the spirit of "GIMME!" these baby chickadees em In the spirit of "GIMME!" these baby chickadees embody, there's something important for you to know: It's not just that this Saturday - the 3rd of May - marks the beginning of the @nourishknox summer market season with the opening of the Market Square Farmers Market. It's not just that we'll be there (though we will - and that's great, come see us this Saturday). It's that we will be there EVERY Saturday, 9a-1p. And EVERY Wednesday, 10a-1p. Until NOVEMBER! Check our events page at https://www.oakridgebirdman.com/events/ and you'll see it to be true! Not only that, but consider yourself reminded: that if you order through our online shop (https://www.oakridgebirdman.com/shop/), as long as you write "Market Square" and the date you'll be there, you can pick up your online order there at no additional cost! Completely get around any delivery fee (though of course that option is always there, too). We're excited! It's summer! Come see us!
Hey y'all, it's another big weekend for us! We've Hey y'all, it's another big weekend for us! We've got two MONSTER events to do: in Maryville, we've got the @easttennesseemakersmarket Spring Event from 9a-3p at Maryville College; and in downtown Knoxville, we've got TWO DAYS of the @dogwoodarts Festival in World's Fair Park! That's 10a-7p Saturday, and 10a-5p Sunday. Sadly, this means we'll be taking the weekend off from our regular markets - but as always, we've got every single thing we make, available at https://www.oakridgebirdman.com/shop/for pickup or delivery. And we'll be back next weekend not only at Jackson Square in Oak Ridge, but also for the first farmers market of the season in Market Square downtown! So come see us!
OK, that settles it: these islands are so utterly OK, that settles it: these islands are so utterly packed with pawpaws, I'm going to offer guided pawpaw hunting expeditions later this summer. Stay tuned for more details, as well as info on this year's pick your own blackberry events.
Ever seen shrinkflation in action? Man, I wish I d Ever seen shrinkflation in action? Man, I wish I did not have such a good example for you today. Let me start by saying that I have extremely high standards when it comes to peanut butter. I've loved it my whole life - I used to come home from school and literally pour myself a cup of @krogerco natural crunchy, the exact make and model you see pictured here. Why am I a KNC diehard? Because quite simply, it's the best: no hydrogenated oils, perfect amount of salt, and absolutely dreamy consistency (I know many consider Smuckers the gold standard for "natural" PB, but its baseline particle size skews high for me). And it's been exactly the same since I was a kid. It's my KNC love that led me to use it as one of the primary ingredients in my most popular wild bird feed, Bird Butter. So imagine how perplexed I was when, about a month or so ago, my Bird Butter batches started being ... soupy. They didn't set right. To be clear, they were still just as nutritious as any other batch, but I was concerned that even in late February, what I stuck my reputation on as being "no melt" was starting to drip fat through the gaps in my feeder on a warm afternoon. Now, I've since tweaked my inputs just enough to fix this, but it got me looking for what changed. And what did I find? A stroke of luck: in one of my shopping trips, there just happened to be a single jar from an older factory run. Look at that picture at the top - it's the one in the middle. See how the jar is filled all the way to the bottom of the lid? I actually weighed all the jars that this one came with (on a state certified scale, mind you), and found that each was at least 0.4, to as much as 0.8 oz lighter than the middle one above. And not only was there less overall product: there was less solid mass - a greater percentage of each jar was oil, vs ground peanuts. I'd been paying the same, but getting less of what I need. No wonder my consistency was off: shrinkflation in action. I put in a lot of work to make sure this product, made in my kitchen, is uniform. As I said, I've done the math to make sure it's now like before, but man, I wish I didn't have to. Never mind having to pay the same for less.
For those of you used to the amount of science I t For those of you used to the amount of science I try to put in my posts, be warned: this is a fluff piece. Since I started making my own bird feeders, I've not really had much use for this old suet cage, but there's one use in which it still most definitely shines: providing nesting material. Fur and feathers make for soft bedding and good insulation, but often in the wild individual tufts are quite few and far between, being easily blown far and wide by the wind. A cage like this, which locks them in, can be a great resource from now through early summer as our various breeding residents and migrants go through their construction routines. Not every bit of fluff will do, though! If you want to put out the right stuff, I strongly recommend real fur and real feathers: no felt, dryer lint, pieces of cloth, etc. as these can actually tangle and snarl both young and old alike within the nest. Those of you who've been following me for a few years may remember that I used to put out clumps of fur I combed out of the coat of Vargas (RIP), our dauntingly prodigious Chow mix. The reason I trusted his coat to line a bird's nest was because we didn't use any topical treatments on it (all his flea and tick treatments were in pill form); such medicines function by being neurotoxic, and exposing developing chicks to such things can cause permanent damage if not outright death. As you can see here, I'm now using down feathers, which I've personally collected (with appropriate permits from FWS and TWRA). If you'd like to source your own, though, it's really as simple as having a (friend with a) fluffy pet, a brush, and a lack of pesticides. Especially if they're already coming to your feeders, you can have yourself a grand time watching your back yard for birds stuffing their mouths fuller than you might even have thought possible. Nothing quite like seeing those familiar faces bedecked with sudden mustaches and pompoms!
It's a big, spring weekend for us! First, housek It's a big, spring weekend for us! First, housekeeping: this is the LAST weekend we'll be inside for the @growoakridge Oak Ridge Winter Farmers Market. Starting next week, we'll be outside at Jackson Square until the end of November. So make it count! Come see us during our supremely leisurely hours of 9a-12p before we all have to start showing up an hour earlier (as the Jackson Square market begins at 8a). Second: a special occasion! As you see in the picture, this Sunday is the first big market of the SPRING season. Besides me, there's going to be a whole other selection of cool stuff at @ijamsnaturecenter, but if you need a little extra inducement, well ... I might just happen to have a few new things that I will leave tantalizingly unspecified ...
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