It’s bluebird time again. I cleaned our six nest boxes last week (3/10), getting them ready for the birds to move in. With the weather as nice as it is today (expected to get well into the 80s) it actually felt like nesting season as I went around checking the nest boxes. My hopes were high as I peeked into the first nest box. The Train Tunnel nest box showed no sign of occupancy, no pine needles laid out onRead more
Posts tagged: #nest box
Nest Box Clean-up and Mix-up
If you’ve ever been in Explore the Wild and looked out over our Wetlands here at the Museum you may have noticed that there are two wood duck nest boxes planted there. One is on the far side of the Wetlands, the other on a small island about halfway across the water. The nest boxes are there in an attempt to convince a pair or two of the hooded mergansers that winter here at the Museum into stayingRead 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 7/29/14
With only one active nest remaining in our six nest boxes, I feel confident in saying that there will be no further nest starts this season. The four bluebirds that are currently occupying the nest box at the Amphimeadow in Catch the Wind will most certainly be gone by next week’s inspection of the nest boxes. Although I am hopeful, and have little doubt, that the birds in the nest box in the Amphimeadow will successfully fledge within the nextRead 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 7/15/14
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
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 6/24/14
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