It’s the year of the house wren! The past week has seen activity in three of our six nest boxes, all involving house wrens. There’s nest material in the Cow Pasture, Bungee Jump, and Butterfly House nest boxes. It’s just a start, but the nest box at the Cow Pasture contains a handful of twigs. This, if it’s completed, will be the second house wren nest in this nest box. The previous nest fledged 6 house wrens. The nest boxRead more
Posts tagged: #House Wren
Nest Box Update 7.4.17
On June 20, I reported that the nest box at the Bungee site had fledged four house wrens. I skipped the nest box update last week due to lack of activity, none of the nest boxes had nests in them following the previous fledging. I thought it would be the end of the season for the local nest box-using community. Well, house wrens have surprised me with a new nest in the nest box at the old site of theRead more
Nest Box Update 6.6.17
There are two active nests, one at the Cow Pasture nest box, the other at the site of the old Bungee Jump in Catch the Wind. Both are house wren nests. At last week’s nest box inspection, the six house wren eggs in the nest box at the Cow pasture near the Train Tunnel had yet to hatch. There are now six nestlings in the nest box and they are doing well. The nest box at the Outdoor Classroom serviceRead more
Nest Box Update 5.31.17
We are currently hosting two house wren pairs. One is located at the Cow Pasture nest box (6 eggs), the other lives at the site of the old Bungee Jump (5 nestlings). The nest box at the Cow Pasture contains 6 house wren eggs. There were 6 eggs in the nest last week. And, I didn’t see an adult fly from the box this week. Incubation should be in progress. Have the birds abandoned the nest for some reason? TheRead more
It’s Bluebird Time: Update 3.21.17
It is nesting season! We have six bluebird nest boxes here at the Museum. I’ve moved four of the boxes to more favorable locations due to future construction or plant succession at the previous sites. Here’s where the nest boxes are currently located: As it was last year, the Cow Pasture nest box remains where it had been, in the meadow near the Train Tunnel. The Sailboat Pond nest box has been moved to a service road on the backRead more
Bluebird Update 7.26.16
The 2016 bluebird nesting season here at the Museum of Life & Science is officially over. We had 25 birds fledge, 19 of which were eastern bluebirds with 6 Carolina chickadees. The most productive nest box was the Cow Pasture nest box with a total of 9 bluebirds fledged, 5 early in the season and 4 in a second brood. Five bluebirds each fledged from the Woodland and Butterfly House nest boxes. The Bungee nest box, which is just northRead more
Bluebird Update 7.21.15
This morning’s (7/21) check of our six bluebird nest boxes indicated that the season is at an end. There will be no further nesting this season. The three nest boxes that had nesting material within have not been added to or manipulated in any manner. A paper wasp lives in the nest box at the Sailboat Pond and an orb weaver (spider) resides at the Picnic Dome nest box. The Cow Pasture nest box produced fourRead more
Bluebird Update 5.5.15
We’re into the eighth week of nest box inspections and we now have sixteen nestlings, twelve bluebirds and four chickadees. We also have six house wren eggs cooking. I haven’t been able to get an accurate count of eggs in the nest at the Cow Pasture over the past few weeks due to the female’s insistence at sitting tight on those eggs when I opened the nest box for a quick look inside. Likewise, she was reluctant to leave theRead more
Bluebird Update 4.28.15
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