I am no longer doing the Pioners Park nest boxes. There are certainly Tree Swallows again. At least one nest with eggs.
On the South Side in a box that was mostly House Wrens by July a pair is nesting. The eggs have hatched days ago. I had a peek. (don't do this if you do not have supplies, like an extra nail).
Both of the parents were seen bringing in green larvae. The box is shown below.
Adrian, another master naturalist is taking care of the bluebird boxes from now on. I will not know for a while how many pairs nested. But at least two, I think. I have no way to follow them from egg to hatch to fledge anymore.
Sep 2024: texted Adrian and we estimated 7 fledged birds for the 2024 summer.
I had thought the one nest in 2022 might be the low point of our nesting years. There was a winter time disaster in the SW where millions of birds, including bluebirds, died a few years back. East coast bluebirds may not have been affected, but ours were. No, the low point was this May. There were no Bluebirds. There has been local drought, so the Tree Swallows were down too. Maybe only half the boxes were in use. Some swallows stay in the area with the boxes even though the young have left.
Strangely the nesting was rather uneven for them. They tend to be rather uniform from box to box for several weeks. Here we had a grown nestling (alone) in a box...
....and a clutch just hatched not even a week ago in one box. The majority of Tree Swallows had finished, with only a few dud eggs left.
The nest boxes were not cleaned out other than a few that were opened. I am not going to continue this volunteer job for Pioneers Park for 2024. Someone else will take over.
This is pretty much the end of the blog. I will keep it open and may add one more photo in 2024 or 2025. Hopefully there will be some signs of recovery. I did see a few bluebirds in the county this spring but not really many. When visiting Missouri, a few more there than here in Lancaster county. The Eastern Bluebirds from the Mississippi river to the East Coast have been doing better, they did not suffer the SW US disaster several years ago.
ADDED 6.13.23
Swallows still in box, a few pairs taking care of grown birds.
The sole nest box that had any Eastern Bluebirds is now empty. I did not see the young or the parents. The pair raised 7 young in two clutches. From a week ago:
The box was one with a hole so I had to open it every time to check the nestlings. The slotted nest boxes are easier to check.
I did not see all the nestlings last time, but there were several. One was puffed up and covered the ones asleep.
Two have fledged and two are left. They should leave by the end of the week. You can see the blue on the feathers. The tail gets a little longer and flight feathers grow a bit more.
Swallow nestlings are very similar until the bill gets longer, when birds are about a week old. But they never get the blue, they are gray in the box. Tree swallows as adults can have a bluish tint, but not when in the box.
(Note: only 5 have fledged by 7.11) There was only one nesting pair. That pair raised 6-7, the total for all the boxes. There was this one left in the box, awake. As it turned out it covered one or more siblings. See entry for 7.11.
I've been limiting these summer visits due to pests I need to avoid. I did check them today, and the eggs still have not hatched. They have been there at least 11 days. Incubation is normally 12-14 days. Then 15 more days in the box.
