Top Photo: Eastern bluebird eggs.

Seven more birds have fledged (all bluebirds). There are three eggs in the nests of different nest boxes, one is fresh (bluebird), one appears cracked (bluebird) and the other seems left over from the first brood and appears dead (bluebird).

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The Cow Pasture nest, after having been emptied of eggs by an apparent house wren raid, now has two bluebird eggs. One though, seems to be cracked. If so, it won’t hatch. It appears to be the egg that was in the nest on last week’s inspection, an uncharacteristically round egg.

The “new” egg seems fresh and viable.

There are four healthy chickadees in the nest box on the service road in Explore the Wild. One of the parents was seen delivering food as we departed the nest box area.

Five bluebirds have fledge from the nest in the box at Into the Mist.

The next box on the east side of the parking deck is empty. This nest has already fledged five bluebirds.

The nest box on the west side of the parking deck started out as a chickadee nest. It now looks as though bluebirds have taken over, reworking the nest material inside. We’ll have to wait to see who lays eggs.

The last nest on the inspection tour is the Butterfly House nest box. Last week there were two nestlings approaching fledgeling stage, ready to leave the nest. This week the nest was empty except for one very soiled bluebird egg. This egg has been in the nest since the beginning. It never hatched and was left intact by the resident birds.

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Ten bluebirds have so far fledged from our nest boxes. Currently, we have 2 bluebird eggs (Cow Pasture), 4 chickadee nestlings (Explore the Wild), and 7 newly fledged bluebirds flying around campus. There are now three empty nest boxes (Into the Mist, Parking Deck East, and Butterfly House).