Wrens at Sporting Clays Club

by Jim

I'm a bird lover who also happens to enjoy sporting clays shooting. You'd think the sound of shotguns going off would chase the birds from the grounds, but we have many bluebirds, cardinals, ducks, hawks, great blue herons, and other birds in residence at our club here in Central NY.

I guess the birds have become acclimated to the sounds of the guns. While most of the shooters (not me) also hunt game birds, they respect the birds living on the course, and try hard to avoid hitting them.

The clubhouse burns firewood for winter heat, so we cut a dozen or so dead trees each year. I think that keeps the woods a little thinned out. I guess the birds like it. They seem to be healthy, and active, and show no adverse effects from the lead shot.

The course meanders through about 20 acres of forested land bordered by farmers fields. Our clay targets are launched from a variety of "trap launchers" located at ground level, or high on wooden poles. We shoot every Sunday morning, with almost 50 shooters firing 50- 60 shots each.

Yesterday, my squad and I were quite surprised when we removed the vinyl cover from one of the ground mounted trap launchers we used just the week before.

A very loose bird nest fell on the ground, along with a single small rose colored egg. You'd be surprised how our bunch of rugged sportsmen reacted. Everyone was quite disappointed to learn that we had disturbed an active nest. We wished we could relocate the nest, but where?

I checked the internet tonight, to see if I could identify the bird... Definitely a house wren's egg. Seems like they would have found a quieter place to build.