As is usual, on Tuesday of this week (5/3) I made the rounds checking the contents of our six bluebird nest boxes on our modest bluebird trail. I found, as I peeked into the nest boxes, 15 bluebird nestlings within three of those boxes. One nest box had no activity, another showed a minimum of activity, and one had become vacant. The nest at the Cow Pasture was still full of bluebird nestlings. They were crowded in, appeared to beRead more

At this time last week there were 22 nestlings and 5 unhatched eggs in our six bluebird nest boxes. That’s 10 bluebird nestlings, 12 chickadee nestlings, and 5 unhatched bluebird eggs. The 5 bluebird eggs have since hatched, but we now have fewer nestlings than we did last week. We currently have 21 nestlings. How can that be? One of the chickadee nests was emptied of its inhabitants. Predator! This, despite the fact that all of the nest boxes haveRead more

It’s April, 12 and we have a good bit of action going on in our six nest boxes here at the Museum. All but one nest box is occupied, having a total of 27 eggs. There are 15 bluebird eggs and 12 chickadee eggs. All of those eggs are being incubated at this time. The Cow Pasture nest, as it had last week, holds five bluebird eggs.The female flew out of the nest box as I approached. The nest boxRead more

We now have five occupied and active nest boxes containing a total of 25 eggs, 12 Carolina chickadee and 13 bluebird eggs. Of those five nests, three had incubating adults fly out of the nest box as I approached them. Each of those nests contained six eggs. Those birds are done laying. The Cow Pasture nest, which held no eggs last week, now has five. I didn’t witness adult activity while at the site. The female may or may not beRead more

We’ve been so busy here at the Museum, visitation wise, I’ve not been able to get out this posting until now. I was able to inspect all of the nest boxes as usual on Tuesday morning and here’s the results. Here we go. As of Tuesday (3/29) all nest boxes were active in one way or another. But, there have only been four eggs deposited in the nest, three chickadee eggs and one bluebird egg, the Bungee nest and the WoodlandRead more

It’s that time of year again. Bluebirds have been poking around the nest boxes on our modest bluebird trail here at the Museum, so I decided to get things ready for those azure-backed thrushes. Last week, using 8″ galvanized stove pipe (thanks Kevin), I manufactured and installed new predator guards on the three nest box poles which lacked them. I relocated one nest box due to future construction at the site. And, after receiving a supply of 1/2 pint berryRead more