As of the morning of Tuesday, April 16 there were 14 eggs and 3 nestlings in our 6 nest boxes. Nine of the eggs are chickadees and 5 belong to bluebirds. The 3 nestlings are all chickadees which also had 2 unhatched eggs in the same nest. I believe they’ll hatch later today, but let’s not count our chickadees before they hatch. The nest at the Cow Pasture near the Ellerbe Creek Train Tunnel contained two fresh chickadee eggs asRead more
Posts tagged: #bluebird trail
Nest Box Update 4.9.19
This week’s trek around the campus to peek in on our 6 nest boxes along the museum’s bluebird trail involved eastern bluebirds, Carolina chickadees, and a bumblebee. All nest boxes contained nest material. Two had bluebird nests and four had chickadee made structures. The nest box at the Cow Pasture, up near the Ellerbe Creek Railroad Tunnel, has a completed chickadee nest. There were no eggs in the nest, and no adult that I could see or hear nearby, butRead more
Nest Box Update 4.2.19
All of our six nest boxes have shown activity over the past week. We have eggs in two nests. All but one nest has nest material within. One nest box has sign, if nothing else, that a bird showed interested in utilizing it for a nest. Last week the Cow Pasture nest box contained moss placed inside by chickadees. This week it’s been topped off with fur. Eggs are next. A partial chickadee nest sits inside the nest box inRead more
Nest Box Update 3.26.19
This is the second week of nest box inspections and we have four nests started or near completion. Three nests are of Carolina Chickadees and one of eastern blue birds. The nest box at the Cow Pasture near the train tunnel has a half-cup of moss. At this time last week the nest had only a few sprigs of moss. No takers for the nest boxes at Explore the Wild or Into the Mist service roads, both were empty whenRead more
Nest Box Update 3.18.19
I conducted the first nest box inspection of the season on March 18, and found two chickadee nests well on the way to completion and one just begun. Blue birds have yet to make a claim on any of our 6 nest boxes. One nest box was moved due to impending construction at its former site. Our nest boxes are located as follows: Cow Pasture (near train tunnel) Explore the Wild (service road on back side of outdoor loop) IntoRead more
Blue Bird Season
Meteorologically speaking, it’s spring and the local birds are feeling the urge to nest. Blue birds and chickadees are already checking out the nest boxes. In fact, two of our six nest boxes had nesting material in them as I made the rounds this morning (3/2/19) in preparation for the coming season. Last year we had 33 birds fledged on our modest blue bird trail, 16 eastern blue birds, 12 Carolina Chickadees, and 5 house wrens. The purists among youRead more
Nest Box Update 7.31.18 (the final count)
There has been no activity in any of the nest boxes for the past two weeks. A house wren nest had been started in the nest box at the Cow Pasture, but apparently the birds have moved on. Likewise, the bluebirds that started construction of a nest in the box at Woodlands Classroom have not been seen or heard from in two weeks. I’m calling it. The season is officially over! Here’s the totals for birds fledged this and previousRead more
Nest Box Update 7.17.18
We have two active nests. Of the six nest boxes on our modest bluebird trail, two have nests within. One nest is of house wrens, the other of bluebirds. The twigs were piled high when I looked into the nest box at the Cow Pasture on Tuesday (7/17). The house wren nest is complete but there are still no eggs in the nest. It was started on or around 7/3 (two weeks ago) so I would have expected more progressRead more
Nest Box Update 7.10.18
We have 3 nests that have now, or have recently, shown some sort of activity. One has seen additional construction, one has fledged its occupants, and another has what may be a new beginning. The building of the second-of-the-season house wren nest at the Cow Pasture has continued. I could hear the adult house wrens in the woods behind the nest box. They had started the nest in the nest box last week and it now looks to be nearlyRead more