Nest Box Update 4.9.19

This week’s trek around the campus to peek in on our 6 nest boxes along the museum’s bluebird trail involved eastern bluebirds, Carolina chickadees, and a bumblebee. All nest boxes contained nest material. Two had bluebird nests and four had chickadee made structures. The nest box at the Cow Pasture, up near the Ellerbe Creek Railroad Tunnel, has a completed chickadee nest. There were no eggs in the nest, and no adult that I could see or hear nearby, butRead more

Nest Box Update 4.2.19

All of our six nest boxes have shown activity over the past week. We have eggs in two nests. All but one nest has nest material within. One nest box has sign, if nothing else, that a bird showed interested in utilizing it for a nest. Last week the Cow Pasture nest box contained moss placed inside by chickadees. This week it’s been topped off with fur. Eggs are next. A partial chickadee nest sits inside the nest box inRead more

Nest Box Update 3.26.19

This is the second week of nest box inspections and we have four nests started or near completion. Three nests are of Carolina Chickadees and one of eastern blue birds. The nest box at the Cow Pasture near the train tunnel has a half-cup of moss. At this time last week the nest had only a few sprigs of moss. No takers for the nest boxes at Explore the Wild or Into the Mist service roads, both were empty whenRead more

Blue Bird Season

Meteorologically speaking, it’s spring and the local birds are feeling the urge to nest. Blue birds and chickadees are already checking out the nest boxes. In fact, two of our six nest boxes had nesting material in them as I made the rounds this morning (3/2/19) in preparation for the coming season. Last year we had 33 birds fledged on our modest blue bird trail, 16 eastern blue birds, 12 Carolina Chickadees, and 5 house wrens. The purists among youRead more

Nest Box Update 7.17.18

We have two active nests. Of the six nest boxes on our modest bluebird trail, two have nests within. One nest is of house wrens, the other of bluebirds. The twigs were piled high when I looked into the nest box at the Cow Pasture on Tuesday (7/17). The house wren nest is complete but there are still no eggs in the nest. It was started on or around 7/3 (two weeks ago) so I would have expected more progressRead more

Nest Box Update 7.10.18

We have 3 nests that have now, or have recently, shown some sort of activity. One has seen additional construction, one has fledged its occupants, and another has what may be a new beginning. The building of the second-of-the-season house wren nest at the Cow Pasture has continued. I could hear the adult house wrens in the woods behind the nest box. They had started the nest in the nest box last week and it now looks to be nearlyRead more

Nest Box Update 6.19.18

One nest box has fledged its occupants and another is waiting for its eggs to hatch. The Cow Pasture house wrens five nestlings have fledged. The nest was empty on this morning’s inspection. Explore the Wild and Into the Mist nest boxes are empty. There are 5 eggs in the bluebird nest at the Parking Deck nest box. An adult female bluebird flew from the nest as I approached it. I expect the eggs to have hatched by next week’sRead more

Nest Box Update 6.12.18

A tree nearly smashed one of the nest boxes, fresh eggs are in another nest box, and an injured or deformed and dead bird in still another. A small walnut tree came very close to landing on top of the nest box at Cow Pasture. As it is, a grape vine that had been growing on the walnut caught the top of the box. The nest box is occupied by house wrens. I could hear and finally saw the adultRead more

Nest Box Update 5.22.18

We now have four active nests, one house wren, two bluebird and one chickadee nest. The house wren nest has 5 eggs. The 2 bluebird nests have 4 nestlings each, and the chickadee nest has 4 nestlings. The Cow Pasture nest which has already added 4 new chickadees to the local avifauna now has 5 eggs laid by a house wren. There are 4 chickadee nestlings in the Explore the Wild nest box that are ready to fledge. I fearedRead more