There has been no activity in any of the nest boxes for the past two weeks. A house wren nest had been started in the nest box at the Cow Pasture, but apparently the birds have moved on. Likewise, the bluebirds that started construction of a nest in the box at Woodlands Classroom have not been seen or heard from in two weeks. I’m calling it. The season is officially over! Here’s the totals for birds fledged this and previousRead more
Posts tagged: #nestling
Nest Box Update 7.10.18
We have 3 nests that have now, or have recently, shown some sort of activity. One has seen additional construction, one has fledged its occupants, and another has what may be a new beginning. The building of the second-of-the-season house wren nest at the Cow Pasture has continued. I could hear the adult house wrens in the woods behind the nest box. They had started the nest in the nest box last week and it now looks to be nearlyRead more
Nest Box Update 7.3.19
Two of our six nest boxes are active. One contains the start of a new nest, the other nestlings. The Cow pasture nest box has the beginnings of a second house wren nest. It’s only partially completed but the wrens could be heard off in the woods nearby. Five house wrens have already fledged from this nest box. It’s late in the season but there may be more to come. The Explore the Wild and Into the Mist nest boxesRead more
Nest Box Update 6.26.18
We have one active nest with five bluebird nestlings. All but that one nest box is empty. The nest box next to the Parking Deck contains 5 newly hatched bluebirds. Look closely at the photo below. You can clearly see the main feather tracts (rows of gray “dots” where feathers will grow) on the nearly naked nestlings. All other nest boxes have been cleaned and readied for new occupancy. We still have time for another brood but that will beRead more
Nest Box Update 6.19.18
One nest box has fledged its occupants and another is waiting for its eggs to hatch. The Cow Pasture house wrens five nestlings have fledged. The nest was empty on this morning’s inspection. Explore the Wild and Into the Mist nest boxes are empty. There are 5 eggs in the bluebird nest at the Parking Deck nest box. An adult female bluebird flew from the nest as I approached it. I expect the eggs to have hatched by next week’sRead more
Nest Box Update 6.12.18
A tree nearly smashed one of the nest boxes, fresh eggs are in another nest box, and an injured or deformed and dead bird in still another. A small walnut tree came very close to landing on top of the nest box at Cow Pasture. As it is, a grape vine that had been growing on the walnut caught the top of the box. The nest box is occupied by house wrens. I could hear and finally saw the adultRead more
Nest Box Update 5.22.18
We now have four active nests, one house wren, two bluebird and one chickadee nest. The house wren nest has 5 eggs. The 2 bluebird nests have 4 nestlings each, and the chickadee nest has 4 nestlings. The Cow Pasture nest which has already added 4 new chickadees to the local avifauna now has 5 eggs laid by a house wren. There are 4 chickadee nestlings in the Explore the Wild nest box that are ready to fledge. I fearedRead more
Nest Box Update 5.15.18
So far, so good. All of our six nest boxes have been productive. Some have already fledged birds, others soon will. Not all of the eggs laid have hatched but we have had no nest lost in its entirety. I consider that good news. The Cow Pasture nest, which had previously fledged 4 chickadees, now has a complete house wren nest. No eggs yet, but there are feathers in the nest and it looks prime for laying. There are fourRead more
Nest Box Update 5.8.18
There’s been both hatchings and fledgings this week. Nine birds have hatched and 8 birds have fledged. The number of hatchlings has no doubt increased as I write. Earlier this morning there were 5 unhatched eggs in the nests with newly hatched nestlings. I’m sure more have hatched in the four hours since I checked the boxes. I heard the ominous sound of a house wren as I approached the nest box at the Cow Pasture. House wrens are notoriousRead more
Nest Box Update 5.1.18
As they were last week, three of our six nest boxes are occupied by Carolina chickadees and three by eastern bluebirds. The three chickadee nests have a total of 6 eggs in one nest, and what appears to be 8 nestlings with 4 each in the other two nests. The three bluebird nests contain 8 eggs split evenly among two nests and what looks like 4 nestlings in other. The Cow Pasture nest has 4 chickadee nestlings. Two weeks agoRead more