I recently received an email from a reader asking why some of the birds showing up at her feeder are missing feathers. She said she has a blue jay and a male cardinal showing up to snack on sunflower seeds, minus their tail feathers and looking rather scruffy.

I told her I would check into it, as I have seen some rough looking birds at my feeder, too.

According to the experts, late summer and early fall are a time when the rigors of summer hit and birds undergo molt, which is a natural way of renewing their feathers. Compounding the feather loss, birds will fight over territory, and their barroom brawling loosens and removes a lot of feathers, as well.

The all-time attention-getter is when a “bald headed” bird shows up at the feeder. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology had the following information on its website about the occasional “skin head” blue jay or cardinal:

“In fall, we receive many inquiries about bald birds, especially blue jays and northern cardinals. In late summer and fall, when a bird molts, it usually grows and replaces its feathers gradually, but occasionally a bird loses all the feathers on its head at once. This is particularly true of blue jays, many of which molt the feathers of the head, or ‘capital tract,’ in synchrony.

“The result is a very strange-looking bald bird! The bald appearance lasts for about a week before new feathers replace the molted ones. It is possible in rare cases baldness might be caused by environmental or nutritional factors, feather mites or lice.”

Basic tree stand safety tips

Now that deer archery season has started, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Law Enforcement wants to remind hunters about the importance of tree stand safety.

Hunters need to understand the risks of hunting from an elevated platform and how to protect themselves from a fall. Falls from elevated platforms are the leading cause of hunting accidents in Indiana, accounting for more than half of all accidents. In an average deer season, about 18 hunters will report a fall.

Lt. Larry Morrison of the DNR Division of Law Enforcement said falls are preventable if hunters follow basic tree stand precautions. “If they are thinking safety, safety, safety, they should be just fine,” he noted.

The first step toward elevated platform safety is to make sure the equipment is in working order. Only use an elevated platform approved by the Treestand Manufacturers Assoc. (TMA) and make sure to read the manufacturer’s warnings and instructions before installation.

Homemade elevated platforms should not be used and are not recommended.

Hunters should also wear a full-body, fall arrest harness system meeting TMA standards, to include a lifeline system. Single-strap and chest harnesses should not be used. Do not leave the ground until the full-body, fall arrest harness system is on and attached to the tree.

Always have three points of contact with the tree when climbing and descending. “Most of the falls occur while a person is ascending or descending,” Morrison said.

A hunter should never climb with anything in his/her hands or on the back. A haul line should be used to lift a gun, a bow or other gear into the stand. Firearms on a haul line should be unloaded with the action open and muzzle pointed downward.

Other safety tips include: hunting with a buddy; telling someone the exact location of your elevated platform before heading into the woods; getting a full night’s rest before a hunt; and making sure a cell phone, whistle, flare or some other signal device is on your person at all times.

In addition, the person should be familiar with the equipment being used.

Of the 182 hunting incidents in Indiana since 2012, 109, or almost 60 percent, were related to tree stand accidents. For more information and a short online safety course, visit www.hunterexam.com/treestandsafety

Second clutch of barn owl eggs in Indiana

The barn owl pair on a DNR online nest-camera in southern Indiana is incubating a second clutch of eggs this season. So far, the mother owl has laid five eggs in the second clutch, with the possibility of more to come. Barn owls can lay up to 11 eggs per clutch.

Barn owl breeding season usually lasts from March-October, but this is the first time the pair has laid eggs this late in the year while on the nest-cam. The pair of owls raised six chicks earlier this year. The young birds fledged and left the nest in late spring.

“The survival of the hatched chicks will depend on food availability over the next three months,” said Allisyn Gillet, DNR Fish and Wildlife non-game bird biologist. “It’s exciting to see them lay a second clutch.”

A barn owl pair has been living in the DNR-built nest box inside a metal pole barn in southern Indiana almost every year for the last eight years.

Barn owls were once common in the Midwest, living in hollow trees and wooden barns, and hunting hayfields, idle grain fields, pastures and other grasslands for meadow voles. But many wooden barns are being torn down, and few modern farms offer the land a barn owl needs for hunting.

The goal of the nest-cam is to promote public interest in birds and raise awareness about efforts to support barn owls. DNR’s Wildlife Diversity Program has been placing nest boxes for barn owls since 1984. The nest boxes, like the one the nest-cam owls use, give owls a safe place to raise their young. More information is at www.wildlife.IN.gov/3382.htm

The barn owl nest-cam may be viewed anytime with an unlimited number of viewers, at www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNc5f0Ohmfw&feature=youtu.be

The barn owl is one of more than 750 animal species, including many rare and endangered animals, supported by the DNR’s Wildlife Diversity Program, which depends on donations to the DNR Nongame Fund. You can donate at www.EndangeredWildlife.IN.gov

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments may contact Jack Spaulding by email at jackspaulding@hughes.net or by writing to him in care of this publication.