Posts
A Few Simple Facts About Purple Martins
By ContentMart Editor
A Few Simple Facts About Purple Martins
Purple Martins are the largest member of the swallow family. However, in flight their wings are more triangular than other swallows.
Males are a handsome lot having a violet head and body with black on wing and tail. Females, youngsters, and first year males are light bellied and look very similar to smaller swallows.
The song of a martin is a distinctive, low pitched liquid
rolling twitter and is unmistakeable.
Purple Martins have been known to build their nests in cavities of dead or dying trees, holes in cliffs, or just about anywhere from 3 to 30 feet high. But the most popular nesting place for the martin is in your own back yard int the houses you construct and put up for them. Their nests are made from leaves, grass, straw and twigs and the eggs are white and unmarked.
Purple Martins feed on a variety of flying insects, flies,
bees, beetles, flying ants and moths, and here in the south, the dreaded mosquito!!
Many people build Purple Martin houses to attract martins early in the spring, which are generally
well liked by the birds. They prefer the wooden condominium type houses. Most people like to paint there bird house white as white keeps the house cooler and is attractive to the birds. Aluminum and plastic is used also in the commercially built bird house, but wood is by far the best choice for keeping cool. The best height to mount your bird house is from 15 to 20 in the air, but lower heights to 10 feet will work in wide open spaces. Always be sure to put a predator guard on the pole to prevent predatory cats or other vermin from raiding the nests.
You can find just about any type of Purple Martin bird house made of Western Red Cedar at Cedar Creek Woodshop. Give it a look, won?t you? Thanks
What Are Bottom Water Tropical Fish?
By Nate Jamieson
Bottom water fish are those that prefer living at the lowest level of the aquarium. It's not that they can't swim into the upper regions, they will when spurred by a fish that pesters them, or just for the sake of a quick dash around the tank. But for the most part, they live on the bottom, which is where most of their food comes from.
Tropical fish that prefer the bottom of the tank, usually eat algae that grows there, as well as leftover food that falls on the substrate or the broad leaves of some plants. In a way, the bottom water fish are the housekeepers of your aquarium, cleaning up scraps and preventing the build up of algae. But this is not always a sufficient diet, and they need to be given food that comes in a form or shape specifically designed to reach, and appeal to the bottom feeder.
This is usually a wafer shape, dense enough that it sinks past the top and middle feeders, to rest on the bottom and soften. The bottom feeders can then browse at their leisure, returning later to clean up the remains. In that respect, they are not like top and middle feeders, where food is given a pinch at a time, and feeding should stop as soon as they lose interest. Those tropical fish that hang around the bottom tend to be "grazers", and not the gulpers that you'll find dashing for the surface when they see you coming.
Some of the better-known bottom water fish are the loach, and catfish. There are also algae eaters, Botia, Corys, Knifefish and the more unusual specimens like Goby and Needle Nose.
About The Author:
Nate Jamieson
Love Tropical Fish? Find out how to create a beautiful, low-cost tropical fish aquarium with complimentary tips at http://www.TropicalFishIsland.com
By ContentMart Editor
A Few Simple Facts About Purple Martins
Purple Martins are the largest member of the swallow family. However, in flight their wings are more triangular than other swallows.
Males are a handsome lot having a violet head and body with black on wing and tail. Females, youngsters, and first year males are light bellied and look very similar to smaller swallows.
The song of a martin is a distinctive, low pitched liquid
rolling twitter and is unmistakeable.
Purple Martins have been known to build their nests in cavities of dead or dying trees, holes in cliffs, or just about anywhere from 3 to 30 feet high. But the most popular nesting place for the martin is in your own back yard int the houses you construct and put up for them. Their nests are made from leaves, grass, straw and twigs and the eggs are white and unmarked.
Purple Martins feed on a variety of flying insects, flies,
bees, beetles, flying ants and moths, and here in the south, the dreaded mosquito!!
Many people build Purple Martin houses to attract martins early in the spring, which are generally
well liked by the birds. They prefer the wooden condominium type houses. Most people like to paint there bird house white as white keeps the house cooler and is attractive to the birds. Aluminum and plastic is used also in the commercially built bird house, but wood is by far the best choice for keeping cool. The best height to mount your bird house is from 15 to 20 in the air, but lower heights to 10 feet will work in wide open spaces. Always be sure to put a predator guard on the pole to prevent predatory cats or other vermin from raiding the nests.
You can find just about any type of Purple Martin bird house made of Western Red Cedar at Cedar Creek Woodshop. Give it a look, won?t you? Thanks
What Are Bottom Water Tropical Fish?
By Nate Jamieson
Bottom water fish are those that prefer living at the lowest level of the aquarium. It's not that they can't swim into the upper regions, they will when spurred by a fish that pesters them, or just for the sake of a quick dash around the tank. But for the most part, they live on the bottom, which is where most of their food comes from.
Tropical fish that prefer the bottom of the tank, usually eat algae that grows there, as well as leftover food that falls on the substrate or the broad leaves of some plants. In a way, the bottom water fish are the housekeepers of your aquarium, cleaning up scraps and preventing the build up of algae. But this is not always a sufficient diet, and they need to be given food that comes in a form or shape specifically designed to reach, and appeal to the bottom feeder.
This is usually a wafer shape, dense enough that it sinks past the top and middle feeders, to rest on the bottom and soften. The bottom feeders can then browse at their leisure, returning later to clean up the remains. In that respect, they are not like top and middle feeders, where food is given a pinch at a time, and feeding should stop as soon as they lose interest. Those tropical fish that hang around the bottom tend to be "grazers", and not the gulpers that you'll find dashing for the surface when they see you coming.
Some of the better-known bottom water fish are the loach, and catfish. There are also algae eaters, Botia, Corys, Knifefish and the more unusual specimens like Goby and Needle Nose.
About The Author:
Nate Jamieson
Love Tropical Fish? Find out how to create a beautiful, low-cost tropical fish aquarium with complimentary tips at http://www.TropicalFishIsland.com
No comments:
Post a Comment