All eight of our chickadee nestlings have fledged and nine bluebirds are still in the nests and doing well. The two house wren nests have seen no progress in the past week.

The house wren who had been building a nest in the nest box at the Cow Pasture has neither laid eggs or added twigs to the nest. I did not hear a wren singing while at the nest site.

Male house wrens are known for building more than one nest in spring, all before the females return from winter quarters. Upon arrival the female chooses which nest she wishes to use, disregarding the others. Is this what has happened here?

The Explore the Wild nest box tells the same story as the Cow Pasture nest, a nest started by house wren(s) and then abandoned. I heard or saw no wrens in the area as I visited the nest site.

The Into the Mist nest held four bluebird eggs last week. Today it was full of bluebird nestlings. By the looks of it, they were very hungry.

The chickadees in the nest at the parking deck site have fledged, flew the coop, four more chickadees added to the Durham, NC avifauna.

On the opposite side of the parking deck structure, the west side, the bluebird nest still has five healthy bluebird nestlings.

The chickadees in the nest at the Butterfly House have fledged. That makes an additional four chickadees flying around the museum grounds, for a new total of eight.

We’ve added eight chickadees to the local avian population and, if all goes well, will soon add nine bluebirds to the count. The house wrens who had taken over the nest boxes at both the Cow Pasture and Explore the Wild site have apparently lost interest in using those nest boxes. Of course, we’ll have to wait till next week to know for sure.