We have two empty nests, one bluebird and one chickadee. Of the remaining four active nests, there is a total of 18 nestlings, three of which are bluebirds and 15 chickadees.
The Cow Pasture nest box remains empty with no further activity. It has an empty bluebird’s nest within. A house wren cleared it of its bluebird eggs sometime during the previous week.
The chickadees that have nested in the nest box located at the entrance to the service road in Explore the Wild are doing well. After three very wet and chilly days the 6 nestlings in the nest look well, albeit hungry. Nestlings, though, are always hungry, it’s the nature of the beast.
There are five, nearly ready to fledge chickadees in the nest box next to the site of the old Bungee Jump. I don’t expect to see them on my rounds next week. They should be off somewhere with their parents learning the ways of the chickadee.
Two weeks ago there were 4 eggs in the nest at the head of the service road to Into the Mist. Last week there were 7 eggs in the nest. This week, zero. The nest itself was undisturbed. I found no evidence of a predatory raid. But, although I didn’t find any broken eggs in the area of the nest box, I did hear a house wren close by as I inspected the box.
Last week I found 2 nestlings and 3 unhatched eggs in the nest box at the Woodlands Classrooms. Today (4/25) I counted 4 nestlings. Did I miss one, or are the birds covering up an unhatched egg in the nest? Have a look below.
Finally, the 3 bluebird nestlings at the Butterfly House nest that have hatched and are rapidly developing into full-fledged bluebirds, huddled into the corner of the nest box as I looked in on them this morning. They, as all songbird nestlings, grow quickly. They may be gone the next time I drop in on them, gone in the sense of fledged, on the wing.
So, here’s where we stand. The Cow Pasture nest (bluebirds) and the Into the Mist nest (chickadees) both contain nests but have been releaved of their eggs. The ETW, Bungee, and Woodlands nests all contains chickadee nestlings (15) and the Butterfly House nest has 3 rapidly growing bluebird nestlings. That gives us a total of 18 nestlings, 3 of which are bluebirds and 15 chickadees.
See you next week.