At this time in 2012 we had five empty nests and one active nest, the Cow Pasture nest. That nest was raided the very night following the nest box inspection, the eggs cleared out, I think by a raccoon. Last year at this time we had no active nests, the last one having fledged 5 young sometime before the 9th of July. This year we have two active nests, the Amphimeadow (AM) and Butterfly House (BFH) nests. There are fourRead more
Posts filed in: Summer
QUIZ TIME
Can you identify the bird in the photo? You’ve probably already figured out that the bird is a hawk. Can you identify it as to species (5 points). Extra points for giving the age of the bird (5 points). Double points for naming the tree the bird is perched upon (10 points). If possible, indicate how you identified the bird. What distinguishing marks or characteristics do you see that makes this bird the species that you say it is and notRead more
Snakes in Holes
When the weather gets hot I sometimes see snakes taking refuge in holes at the base of the bald cypress and dawn redwood trees in our Wetland. The snakes often lie peering out of the holes. The snake sightings have increased over the past several weeks. One of the snakes that I regularly see is a large female. She is getting larger by the day. All of the snake pairings that I witnessed this past spring seem to have paidRead more
Bluebird Update 7/8/14
One nest has fledged all their bluebirds while two nests are still in the early stages, one contains eggs, the other four fresh nestlings. The Cow Pasture bluebirds have flown their coop. Upon inspection, the nest box was empty except for hundreds, no thousands, of very tiny spiders. At first sight I thought the minute creatures were mites, maybe even ticks. I thought that perhaps their parents had fed off the birds in the nest, laid eggs and now theRead more
Red, White, and Blue, sort of
The red I heard the call of the hawk before I saw it. As I turned, the bird came in to a Loblolly Pine over the Train Station here at the Museum. It was carrying something of weight and bulk in its talons though I couldn’t make out what it was. The bird began to call out, keee-eeeer, keee-eeeer, keee-eeeer! I could hear another bird calling as well, a whiny and slower keeeear…keeear…keear. As I looked up the other hawkRead more
Bluebird Update 7/1/14
Here we are in July and we still have active nests. At last week’s inspection of the nest boxes, two were occupied by bluebirds. There are now three active nests. The nest at the Cow Pasture continues to offer shelter to four bluebird nestlings (above). It’s a tight fit inside that cedar nest box but the birds seem to be coping. All look dry and healthy and it shouldn’t be very long before they’re exploring the big wide world outsideRead more
What Happened to the Green Herons in the Wetlands
I’ve seen zero activity this past week at either of the green heron nests in our Wetlands. I saw a heron flying away from the Wetlands Saturday (6/21) and one flew in to fish late in the day Wednesday (6/25). What has happened to the two heron nests that were started, completed and in which eggs had been deposited, at least in the nest visible from the Main Wetlands Overlook. The other nest, which is difficult to see, was placed in aRead more
WOW
This week’s Walk of the Week (WOW) here at the Museum is to a small patch of interesting plants which attract many different insects to both its tiny but potent flowers, and to its leaves (the stems and leaves are toxic, you can touch but don’t be tempted to eat them). While you’re there admiring the plant you may notice one or several green-bronze iridescent beetles on its leaves. The beetle is about 1/4″ – 3/8″ in length. It feeds onRead more
Bluebird Update 6/24/14
We currently have one nest with four yet to hatch eggs, and one nest with four nestlings. There are three empty nests. One nest has failed. The Cow Pasture eggs finally hatched. All four nestlings look to be in good shape. When I opened the side door of the nest box at the Bungee Jump I expected to see four bluebird nestlings inside. What I found were two ant covered, dead nestlings and two unhatched eggs. There were no adultRead more