Nest ox Update 6.6.23

Top Photo: Eastern bluebird eggs. There is currently only one active nest. House wrens have fledged and bluebirds have hatched. ————————— The four house wrens that had been in the nest box at the Cow Pasture have fledged. I could hear the family warbling away in the woods behind the nest box as I confirmed their departure by peaking into the nest. It was empty. The Explore the Wild and Into the Mist nest boxes are empty. The nest boxRead more

Nest Box Update 5.9.23

Top Photo: Eastern bluebird eggs. One of our nest boxes has been emptied and there are now four house wren eggs in another. The remaining four boxes are empty. ———————— The wren nest which had remained untouched for two weeks now has four new wren eggs in the twig based structure. The chickadees in the nest box in Explore the Wild have apparently fledged. There were five nestlings huddled together in the nest last week, today it’s empty. The IntoRead more

Mimics and Other Amazing Springtime Sights

Top Photo: Brown thrasher belts out his best imitation of other local birds and sounds. Like mockingbirds, thrashers (above) mimic other birds and sounds that occur in their immediate area. While mockingbirds often repeat the same phrase over and over again, thrashers tend to repeat each mimicked phrase or sound twice, then move on to the next one. Physical mimicry is fairly common in invertebrates. Whether to avoid being eaten by predators or as a predator seeking to hunt otherRead more

Nest Box Update 5.2.23

Top Photo: Eastern bluebird eggs. We have two active nests, Cow Pasture and Explore the Wild, house wrens and chickadees respectively. ———————— The Cow Pasture nest is still intact but doesn’t appear to have been attended to in the past week. We’ll have to wait to see what develops as the female house wrens come to town. There are five growing chickadee nestlings in the nest box in Explore the Wild. You have to look closely but you can seeRead more

Barred Owl Experience

Top Photo: Circle marks spot of barred owl nest. Barred owls are year-round residents here at the museum. They’re not always seen, but they’re always here. Some years the owls are spotted on a regular basis, but most years their presence is only realized though an occasional, resonate “Who cooks for you-all” or even just a single “you-all” coming from somewhere back in the woods near the stream that runs through our campus and eventually into Ellerbe Creek. This year,Read more

Nest Box Update 4.25.23

Top Photo: Eastern bluebird eggs. After last week’s total of five occupied nest boxes we now have only two. The good news is, we saw 18 birds fledge this past week. ———————— The nest box at the Cow Pasture fledged four eastern bluebirds. What was most surely a newly arrived male house wren, built a prospective nest for itself and a mate while the nest box was still warm from the bluebirds. It remains to be seen whether this nestRead more

Nest Box Update 4.18.23

Top Photo: Eastern bluebird eggs. We now have eighteen or nineteen nestlings and five eggs in five active nests. One nest box remains empty. ———————— The nest box at the Cow Pasture still has its four bluebird nestlings. I suspect they will fledge within a day or two. I don’t expect to see them there next week. The chickadees at the Explore the Wild nest are still incubating their five brown speckled eggs. The nest box at Into the MistRead more

Mimi Enjoys a Swim

Top Photo: Mimi Bear prepares to go for a swim. Born in 2004, Mimi is the oldest of our four black bears. She spends much of her time sleeping on the boulders out in front of the cave in the black bear enclosure, especially in the cooler months of the year. But when it begins to heat up, you’ll likely catch her taking a dip in the moat in front of the main bear overlook. She fancies a solitary morningRead more