Bluebirds and Chickadees!

Spurred on by Tuesday’s warmth, I decided to gallop on out to our bluebird trail and see what, if anything, was going on inside those freshly cleaned and refurbished nest boxes. Tuesday is the day that I set aside to inspect the boxes during the nesting season, although I had planned to wait at least one more week. I’m glad I checked.

It appears as though at least one chickadee and one bluebird have gotten the urge to build. I found one nearly complete Carolina Chickadee nest built in the box next to the Bungee Jump and a bare spinkling of pine needles in the nest box next to the Picnic Dome. Pine needles indicate bluebird.

The moss piled in this nest box means a female chickadee has been very busy.

When complete, the chickadee nest will be lined with fur or downy feathers, perhaps gathered at our Farmyard. Alpaca fur would made a very fine lining for the nest!

In both species it’s the female who does most, if not all of the work, although it may have been a male bluebird who placed the pine needles in the box at the Picnic Dome in order to entice the female to begin work in earnest.

A scatter of grass and pine needles in the bluebird nest to get the ball rolling.

Grab a seat, this is just the beginning. I’ll be checking in on our cavity nesting birds weekly and reporting the results here. The season can run well into July, so stay tuned.

See you next week!

2 responses to Bluebirds and Chickadees!

  1. Merrie says:

    Hi Greg:
    Enjoyed meeting you yesterday.
    Thanks for the tour- and being so kind. You are wealth of information and it was so special
    to see all the sights on the
    campus.
    It was such a great day – and
    I wanted to THANK YOU for
    your time . Have a great day !
    Merrie

    • Greg Dodge says:

      Enjoyed meeting you as well. It was indeed a pleasure to show you the sights!
      Thanks.

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