This week’s inspection of the nest boxes has confirmed that there are now 3 species utilizing our modest bluebird trail here at the Museum. House wrens, after having been responsible for emptying two nests of chickadee and bluebird eggs at the nest boxes at the Sailboat Pond and Picnic Dome have decided to build in the Picnic Dome nest box. This bird, or birds, may later move on without actually nesting, but for now it has taken over full controlRead more
Posts tagged: #fledgling
Bluebird Update 4.21.15
First, the good news (yes, there is bad to follow). We have two (maybe three) female bluebirds incubating, and four new bluebird eggs. And, at least two chickadee eggs have hatched. Now the bad news, two of the nests have been pilfered, all of the eggs which were once in the nests are gone. And I know who did it. The nest by nest: I was glad to see a female incubating in the nest box at the Cow Pasture.Read more
Bluebird Update 3.31.15
I can now say that there is at least some nest material in each of our six nest boxes here at the Museum. And, one nest has a few eggs. Here’s the low down. The Cow Pasture nest box, which for the past two weeks has had nothing at all inside its cedar walls, now has one single pine needle. A male bluebird has been in the box and signaled his interest in perhaps starting a nest. Will more pineRead more
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 7/22/14
We are most certainly coming to the end of the nesting season. There is only one active nest, the Amphimeadow (AM) nest, and it has four fresh bluebird nestlings within. The nestlings haven’t yet opened their eyes so they’ll still be there when I make the rounds next week. All of the other five nest boxes are empty, the Butterfly House nestlings having fledged during the past week. I expect the nest boxes will remain empty. There’s not much left to doRead more
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 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