Bluebird Update 7/1/14

Here we are in July and we still have active nests. At last week’s inspection of the nest boxes, two were occupied by bluebirds. There are now three active nests. The nest at the Cow Pasture continues to offer shelter to four bluebird nestlings (above). It’s a tight fit inside that cedar nest box but the birds seem to be coping. All look dry and healthy and it shouldn’t be very long before they’re exploring the big wide world outsideRead more

Bluebird Update 6/24/14

We currently have one nest with four yet to hatch eggs, and one nest with four nestlings. There are three empty nests. One nest has failed. The Cow Pasture eggs finally hatched. All four nestlings look to be in good shape. When I opened the side door of the nest box at the Bungee Jump I expected to see four bluebird nestlings inside. What I found were two ant covered, dead nestlings and two unhatched eggs. There were no adultRead more

Bluebird Update 6/17/14

We still have two nests with four eggs each and one nest remains a work in progress. The Cow Pasture and Bungee Jump nests both have four eggs apiece. I had predicted that the Cow Pasture eggs would have hatched by this week. I should stop making predictions, the occupants of the nest are still in egg form. The Bungee Jump nest’s eggs were deposited after the Cow Pasture eggs and I wasn’t quite sure if the female was incubatingRead more

Bluebird Update 6/3/14

While some of the bluebird families which fledged young over the past few weeks were out learning how to survive life in semi-suburban Durham, others were busy starting new nests. Four of our six nest boxes here on the Museum’s 84 acres are empty, awaiting occupancy, the other two have been claimed by bluebirds. The bluebirds in the nest box at the Cow Pasture fledged their young sometime during the week of 5/13 – 5/20 and a new nest wasRead more

Bluebird Update 5/27/14

Although none of our six nest boxes contains nestlings, nor even eggs, there is still exciting news to report. A new nest has been started, and the last remaining nest which held birds is now empty. The Cow pasture nest box now contains a second bluebird nest. Perhaps we’ll see eggs by next week. All the other nest boxes, Bungee, Sail Boat Pond, Amphimeadow, Picnic Dome, and now Butterfly House boxes, are empty. The Butterfly House nest having fledged its four youngRead more

Bluebird Update 5/20/14

All’s quiet of the Bluebird Front. While last week we had two empty nests, those nests having fledged six chickadees, and four nests full of nestling bluebirds, we now have only one occupied nest. The Butterfly House nest is the only active nest at this time. It contains four bluebird nestlings who are ready to make their way out into the world. They won’t be there next week, that’s for sure. I did manage to find one unhatched egg inRead more

Bluebird Update 5/13/14

All bluebird nests are currently occupied by nestlings and the two chickadee nest boxes are empty and waiting for someone to move in. Two weeks ago the bluebirds in the Cow Pasture nest had only just hatched. It now looks as if we may not see them again, they will have fledged by next week’s inspection of the nest box. I’ve cleaned out and reinstalled berry baskets in the nest boxes at the Bungee and Sail Boat Pond. Both ofRead more

Bluebird Update 4/29/14

There are six chickadee nestlings, three in the Bungee nest and three in the Sail Boat Pond nest. A fourth egg in the Bungee nest, for whatever reason, failed to hatch. We now have three bluebird nestlings and 15 eggs in the remaining nest boxes, Cow Pasture, Amphimeadow, Picnic Dome, and Butterfly House boxes. One of the eggs at the Cow Pasture nest hadn’t hatched as of Tuesday (4/29), and one egg that had been in the nest last week was missing.Read more

Bluebird Update 4/22/14

There have been a few changes since last week’s inspection of the six nest boxes here at the Museum. All nest boxes are occupied, as was the case last week. But now, all bluebird nests have full compliments of eggs, all are being incubated by their respective parents. And, all but one chickadee egg has hatched. There are still 5 eggs in the nest at the Cow Pasture. The female flew out as I approached which means the eggs areRead more