Bluebird Trail Update

If you've got a bird feeder, bird house or even a bird bath on your property, you know that this is a very busy time for all kinds of birds. Today the new bluebird trail was monitored for the fourth time since it was installed late last month. A lot of the bluebirds natural nesting areas have disappeared over the years and they now have to compete with wrens, swallows and most of all, sparrows. The sparrow will attack and take over a bluebirds nesting area and use it for itself. Last week one of the boxes had a perfect bluebirds nest in it with two eggs. When I checked it today, the eggs were gone and the nest pretty much destroyed. Most of the other boxes had to be completely cleaned out also and the sparrows nests removed. At this time only one bluebird nest is intact and it contains five eggs. There's still plenty of time for more bluebirds to move into the houses though and I will keep everyone informed of their progress.

The bite is on!

Every year at this time the fish start to get active in the warmer water and start thinking about spawning and eating. It's usually easier to catch fish now more so than any other time of the year. Therefore, we have to remember that the lakes at CDC are really more like big farm ponds and can be fished out if we're not careful. We are trying hard to get the crappie and bluegill populations built back up in Copper Dollar so for residents that like to eat fish, please consider catching those species from Copper Penny. They may be smaller but there are plenty of them to go around. Most of the people I know and see fishing at CDC seem to practice catch and release which is great. If you feel the need to keep some fish for a meal, that is fine also but please don't feel that is is necessary to fill the freezer every time you go out. Also, please don't feel that by keeping an abundance of one species that you are helping to control the population of that type of fish. Although it seems sometimes like there are still too many small bass in Copper Dollar Lake, we need them all in there to help control the growing numbers of white perch. Again this year, please do not return any green sunfish or white perch back into either of the lakes.