http://www.oakridgebirdman.com/

The Oak Ridge Bird Man, Oak Ridge, TN (2025)

06/22/2025

To the bee-mimic robber fly (Laphria grossa): thank you for helping do my dirty work 🫡

For those of you who aren't familiar with your invasive species, that coppery morsel in the voracious embrace of this seeming bumbler is a Japanese beetle (Popilia japonica). They are an absolute SCOURGE in both the garden and the field, owing to 1) their seemingly insatiable appetite, and 2) the fact that almost nothing around here actually eats them.

Well, enter the humble robber fly, so named for its skill in seizing other insects right out of the air. They monitor their surroundings from a perch and fly out to catch them; when successful, they return to a sheltered spot to leisurely dissolve their prey's insides with their saliva and slurp slurp slurp up the resulting bug innard slurry through their oh so stabby face. Scrumptious!

Many of the details of their early life are still mysterious, as their larvae occupy rotting logs and are thus quite difficult to observe. As adults, though, they are truly iconic, 100% beneficial, and tragically ephemeral, as once they reach the flying phase they generally only have between two to four weeks to live.

Well, my handsome yard guard, however long you've got, I hope not a single swoop is wasted.

If you'd like to know even more about their life history, there's a page devoted entirely to them: check out http://www.laphriini.com/

06/07/2025

It's that time! BLACKBERRY TIME!

The bushes are about to be both dripping and drooping with tart, succulent wild blackberries, so I'm putting the word out now that for just $30, you can buy yourself an ENTIRE DAY of picking! Just head over to https://www.oakridgebirdman.com/shop/ and find "blackberry time" - it's just one ticket for each person you bring, and on the date you choose (I'll coordinate with you) you've got the entire day, sunrise to sunset, available for stripping those canes.

We've got maybe a week or two before they start really coming in, so get in early and get the most!

05/15/2025

It's that magical time of year, when baby birds simply fall from the trees!

Living in the woods brings me and the Oak Ridge Bird Wife into regular contact with all sorts of critters, but occasionally we get *real* lucky and have an absolute treasure land, almost literally, in our lap. I was bringing in the bird feeders this evening to wash them, when I heard a sort of hoarse buzz in the undergrowth, and this little fledgling Eastern Screech-owl popped out practically at my feet.

Now, this is actually a very common thing this time of year - not often with this particular species, but with all sorts of other common backyard birds - as young are leaving the nest for the first time and have no sense of direction and minimal flight capability. Here's the important thing to remember, though: birds are *excellent* parents. I took just a second to make a photo of the fluffball above and in that time Owl Mom had already told me repeatedly to move along (which I did). Every other bird parent out there right now is doing the same.

I get a lot of messages this time of year saying "I found a baby bird, what do I do?" and the answer, easily 99 times out of 100, is NOTHING! Leave them alone! Turn around and walk away - Mom and Dad are both there, and removing the baby bird from their watchful gaze is effectively just making orphans. If you are *very* concerned something is wrong, you can always write me, but please, write me BEFORE you do anything to the youngun(s)!

If my use of exclamation marks feels excessive, understand that just as much as I feel for these tiny animals, I also feel for the people who just want to help another being in apparent distress. It's OK - in fact, it's a good sign that you care. But go to the experts - that's why we're here!

And while you're at it, just take a moment to marvel at how utterly incredible these creatures are, even in their awkward, flappy, uncoordinated beginnings.

05/01/2025

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 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!

04/25/2025

Hey y'all, it's another big weekend for us! We've got two MONSTER events to do: in Maryville, we've got the Spring Event from 9a-3p at Maryville College; and in downtown Knoxville, we've got TWO DAYS of the 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!

04/16/2025

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.

04/02/2025

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 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.

03/29/2025

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!

03/28/2025

It's a big, spring weekend for us!

First, housekeeping: this is the LAST weekend we'll be inside for the 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 , 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 ...

01/23/2025

I get a lot of requests for guidance in helping out injured birds, but it's rare that I get to demonstrate firsthand how it's done. Well, today was a special day!

Before anything else, I need to emphasize: I am not a wildlife rehabilitator in any way, shape, or form (if this ever changes, trust me, you'll be the first to know). Nor am I a wildlife mitigation specialist ... any longer. However, I *used* to be the latter, which is how I know how to manage and handle a bird of prey in a way that minimizes the chance of injury to both the bird and myself.

This afternoon, someone who had met me at a market reached out because she found this beautiful Red-shouldered Hawk prone, dazed, and almost completely immobile. Whereas normally I can only offer informational resources, in this case the patient was barely 10 minutes from my house, and no other help was immediately available. In such a case, I couldn't in good conscience refuse.

Thankfully this went about as smoothly as any extraction I've ever taken part in. It would be easy to see nothing but wildness and ferocity in that expression and posture (of the hawk), but in reality this bird is utterly scared out of its mind. I'm not wearing sunglasses for the look - I'm wearing them so that it can't see my eyes, and thereby convince itself that I have dinner on my mind. The only reason it's so fluffed up is to say "I'm a big beefy bird and ready to RUMBLE." But it's a total front: it didn't even squeeze my fingers as I packed it up to take to the *real* rehabber (which, again, I am not).

I will always encourage you to contact me with *any* wild bird-related question, urgent or otherwise. That said, if you want to be ahead of the curve (and save me the guilt of telling you that I, personally, can't help), I'd strongly recommend doing a little research to find the wildlife rehabber(s) nearest you, as well as what they specialize in, as it will save you time and mental bandwidth should you find an injured animal. And don't be a hero! For injured animals, keep an eye on them, but don't lay a hand - both for their safety and yours.

01/10/2025

The boys here are ready to watch the snow fall, and we suggest everybody follow suit - the one market on the schedule for this weekend has been cancelled, so settle in and keep warm ❤️

The online shop is still up and running, so if your birds are clamoring for their next meal, visit https://www.oakridgebirdman.com/shop/ and if you order for delivery, so long as we thaw I can have the goods out to you by Monday!

01/03/2025

Last minute good news! We're adding another market to the winter rotation, and it's starting this Saturday! The most important info you can find on the image above, but visit https://www.oakridgebirdman.com/events/ to see when exactly we'll be attending this and all our other events!

The Oak Ridge Bird Man

06/22/2025

06/07/2025

05/15/2025

05/01/2025

04/25/2025

04/16/2025

04/02/2025

03/29/2025

03/28/2025

01/23/2025

01/10/2025

01/03/2025

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