Top Photo: Eastern bluebird, male. We have no nestlings in any of the nest boxes. Two are empty, one has a partial chickadee nest inside, another has a new bluebird nest under construction. Still another has a bluebird nest being built over an old chickadee’s nest. One nest box has just fledged their chickadees. The Cow Pasture nest box is empty, no activity. Explore the Wild nest box, after having lost 5 nestlings, is currently empty. Four chickadees fledged fromRead more
Posts filed in: Birds
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Top Photo: Yellow-crowned night heron, adult. I’ve only seen a yellow-crowned night heron (YCNH) here in our wetlands four times (2011, 2018, 2023, and now, 2026). On April 3rd I received a radio call from sharp-eyed Exhibits Tech Dakota. He was on the Floating Walkway in the wetlands and was looking at a yellow-crowned night heron. “I’ll be right there,” was my reply. In my experience, yellow-crowned night herons are essentially coastal. I’ve watched them for hours, slowly stalking fiddlerRead more
Nest Box Update 4.25.26
Top Photo: Eastern Bluebird, male. Five chickadee nestlings were found dead in their nest. Five chickadees were alive and well in their nest. Five chickadees have fledged and left their nest. Two nest boxes are empty. One box had the beginning of a nest, but hasn’t been worked on for two weeks. The Cow Pasture nest box has been, and remains, empty. There is no nest material in the box. The Explore the Wild nest box contained 5 dead chickadeeRead more
Nest Box Update 4.18.26
Top Photo: Eastern bluebird, male. We now have fourteen nestlings in three separate nests. All birds are chickadees. One nest that contains nest material (chickadee) hasn’t been added to or rearranged since last week. One nest box is empty. The Cow Pasture nest box is empty with no sign of activity. The Explore the Wild eggs have hatched, though I can only count five chickadees in the nest. There were six eggs in the nest last week. Did one notRead more
Nest Box Update 4.11.26
Top Photo: Eastern bluebird, male. Five birds have fledged (bluebirds), five eggs have hatched (chickadees), and ten eggs are being incubated (chickadees). One nest box has a partial nest (chickadees) and one is empty. The nest box at the Cow Pasture remains empty. The adult chickadee sat tight as the nest box in Explore the Wild was opened for inspection, it flew out at the last second to reveal six eggs. The sailboat Pond nest box, as it did lastRead more
Nest Box Update 4.4.26
Top Photo: Eastern bluebird, male. Only one of our six nest boxes is empty. One of them has the beginnings of a chickadee nest inside and there are 15 chickadee eggs and 5 bluebird nestlings in the remaining boxes. A word of caution, house wrens have NOT arrived on the scene. The Cow Pasture nest box is empty. There’s been no sign of activity. The nest box at Explore the Wild has 6 fresh chickadee eggs in among the moss,Read more
Springtime Happenings
Top Photo: Eastern towhee sings, “Drink your Te-e-e-e-e-e.” The towhee above is a local breeder and resides here year round. The tree swallows below have just returned from their wintering areas along the gulf coast and Central America and have claimed the nest box for their own (it was built specifically for them). The hermit thrush pictured here spends the winter with us but will be departing for points north within the next few weeks, if not days. Early seasonRead more
Tents and Forktails
Top Photo: Tent caterpillar “tent.” Tent caterpillars are actively building “tents” in our cherry trees. They construct the silken, protective predator barrier in the crotch of the tree. Traveling out of the tent to feed on the fresh young leaves of the cherry they retreat back into the tent while resting, enlarging the tent as they grow. Fragile fork tails are tiny, delicate little damselflies. Early each spring they crawl out of their larval freshwater homes, find a grass stemRead more
Nest Box Update 3.21.26
Top Photo: Male eastern bluebird. Our 6 box Bluebird Trail has seen positive activity this past week. We have seven eggs, five bluebird and two chickadee eggs. Additions have been made to another of our chickadee nests, but still no eggs in that one. The Cow Pasture nest box remains empty with no birds showing interest at that site. Explore the Wild is spotless with not a beakful of moss, or grass stems in the case of bluebirds. The sailboatRead more