Bluebird Update 8/5/14

The occupants of the last remaining active nest in our six nest boxes here at the Museum have fledged. Four new bluebirds have been added to the local avifauna. I do not expect further activity in any of the boxes. All that remains is the counting. Curiously, the total number of birds fledged (33) was precisely the same as last year. However, the make up of that total was different. Last year there were 20 bluebirds and 13 Carolina chickadeesRead more

Bluebird Update 7/15/14

At this time in 2012 we had five empty nests and one active nest, the Cow Pasture nest. That nest was raided the very night following the nest box inspection, the eggs cleared out, I think by a raccoon. Last year at this time we had no active nests, the last one having fledged 5 young sometime before the 9th of July. This year we have two active nests, the Amphimeadow (AM) and Butterfly House (BFH) nests. There are fourRead more
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Bluebird Update 7/8/14

One nest has fledged all their bluebirds while two nests are still in the early stages, one contains eggs, the other four fresh nestlings. The Cow Pasture bluebirds have flown their coop. Upon inspection, the nest box was empty except for hundreds, no thousands, of very tiny spiders. At first sight I thought the minute creatures were mites, maybe even ticks. I thought that perhaps their parents had fed off the birds in the nest, laid eggs and now theRead more

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 6/17/14

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 6/10/14

Things are moving along, albeit slowly. Three nest boxes are still empty, but progress is being made, all through the efforts of bluebirds. The nest at the Cow Pasture, which held four eggs last week, still holds four eggs. The female flushed from the box as I approached the pasture, she looks to be incubating. This nest was started more than two weeks ago, the eggs laid over one week ago. If all goes well, there will be four nestlings nextRead 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