Syracuse.com - Ask the Outdoors Guy: Readers submit questions about snapping turtles, foxes and bluebirds

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Snapping turtles are known to go as far as 100 yards away from water to lay their eggs.

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<p><br /> As I said in the first "Ask the Outdoors Guy" column, I will try my best to answer questions submitted by readers or seek out an expert who can help.</p>

<p><strong>This past week I discovered a huge snapping turtle in my yard that was about 75 feet away from a nearby creek and swamp. I assume it was laying eggs or something. How far will snapping turtles go from water to lay their eggs?</strong></p>

<p>People have actually studied this, said Tom Bell, a wildlife biologist at the DEC's Cortland office. Definitely, it was leaving the water to lay eggs. They will go up to 83 feet from the water, according to one study. However, I've seen them go more than 100 yards. Bottom line, they're looking for an area with sandy soil to lay their eggs.</p>

<p><strong><br />Recently, a family of foxes have taken up residence around my house. I have more than a half dozen of the kits (baby foxes) lounging on my deck during the day and there's an adult that keeps laying on my driveway and on my neighbors'. I haven't been feeding them. What should I do? Will they eventually go back into the woods?</strong></p>

<p>It's a pretty common problem with foxes, Bell said. I've seen lots of pictures. The most important thing to recognize is that the foxes feel comfortabl e doing that. Nothing has happened to scare them off. Undoubtedly, their den is nearby. However, the adults do move their young around. What we tell people is that if you have a wild animal you don't want to establish itself near you, you have to make them feel uncomfortable. For example, people who have bears taking up near them often bang on pots and pans to scare them off. That should work with foxes, too. </p>

<p><strong>I have a male bluebird that every morning the past week or so has been perching on my deck and on the window sills and directly on the screen of my living room. It's been messing on my screen. What should I do?</strong></p>

<p>Laura Erickson, former science editor at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and author of several books on birds, said bluebirds are very territorial and sing loud to let others of its species know the area it has claimed. Other bluebirds generally respect its song. Most likely, she said, this male is seeing its mirror image in the window and when it's on the screen. It can't figure out what's going on and gets irritated. She suggested temporarily putting up some of paper orsome other covering over the window to prevent the bluebird from seeing its mirror image. Among the songbirds, bluebirds, robins and cardinals in particular have trouble discerning or understanding what's going on when they see their mirror image in a window - sometimes to their demise.</p>

<p><strong>Last year, I replaced the wood on the eaves of my front porch. This spring, a woodpecker has continually pecked away at certain locations. In addition, it's pecking on my cedar shake shingles. I think it's going after the box elder bugs on both from a nearby tree. What should I do?</strong></p>

<p>Without knowing the species of woodpecker and exactly what its eating, it's hard to say. <a href="http://www.birds.cornell.edu/wp_about/">The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a page on its website dedicated to questions about woodpeckers </a> and damage that they can cause on a home or other personal property of humans. The page offers a number of helpful suggestions about dealing with the problem.</p>

<p>Have a question about fish or wildlife for the Outdoors Guy? Send it to [email protected]<br /></p>

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog