Ask Chip
Pam Goodwill, Holmes-Wayne Electric Cooperative
Q. My husband and I are arguing about an orange bird. We think it’s a male oriole. He and his partner are flying around the outside of our house all day, front to back, porch to porch, and windows everywhere. What are they and are they looking to nest?
Rose Hollingsworth, Washington Electric Cooperative
Q. Dear Chip: My husband and I were fascinated by your article titled “Smokey’s House: Ohio’s Historic Fire Towers” in the July 2025 issue of Ohio Cooperative Living magazine, and have a few questions:
1. What was the size of the living quarters at the top of the towers?
2. Were there restroom accommodations? Porta potty? Outhouse below?
3. Were towers manned by volunteers or was it a paid job?
4. How high were the towers?
After he read my May 2020 “Woods, Waters & Wildlife” monthly column about state-endangered timber rattlesnakes in the print version of Ohio Cooperative Living magazine, Pete Zoretic, a member of South Central Power Company cooperative, sent me several photos of a snake he discovered on his property in Highland County. He believed it just might be a timber rattlesnake because of its behavior: “… the snake was coiling and shaking its tail,” said Zoretic.
David Fullenkamp, Midwest Electric
Q. In the November 2025 issue of Ohio Cooperative Living, you wrote an article about migratory raptors. The story helped me identify the pair of birds hunting around my house, a pair of gyrfalcons. I have seen them most days since the first of December. I live two miles west of St. Henry, Ohio, in Mercer County. I have lived in the country all my life, and this is the first year that I have seen them. Is it unusual for gyrfalcons to migrate this far south? Just thought you might be interested and would like a comment.
