Boxes now need fall cleanout and repair

One box is gone and needs to be replaced, a few others have slipped down the pole. On the South side about 4 boxes are stuck behind a wall of annual plants that took over after the spring burn:

That one at least has some path to it. Some are in a stand of sumac.

Also on the South side there were two boxes next door with nests. The bluebird box (12) had four eggs, then eventually none. The parents abandoned it in July and the wren next door removed the eggs one by one:

The wren nest, above is made of sticks withe a little cup in a back corner. It may have had some more grass lining and a few feathers. The cup is seen better here:

There were a total of three wren nests in late summer. Earlier posts show the one wren nest with nestlings. That nest on the North side had two broods of wrens. The wrens were noisy in a nearby tree and always make their presence known. But they do not attack you like swallows.

ADDED Sep 20

Three boxes were moved a small distance on the South side. Boxes 1 and 2 are close to where they were, the right one was always in a puddle in rain.

Box 3 and Box 4 are now both there. One was missing all season:

Boxes 9 and 10 were overgrown with sumac. One still is in the sumac (and will only get wrens next time as a result) but I moved the other one closer to the road.

Oct 28
Final three boxes were moved on the South side as they were still buried in colonizing plants after tis year's burn. Some ended up closer to the road such as 13, which has been popular with both swallows and bluebirds.

19 Nestlings Fledged for 2017

There were some 30 eggs and of these 19 bluebirds were raised and fledged. The last 3 left box 18 this week.

I will have an estimate of the swallows fledged as well but will add that edit here.

So, 14 boxes had swallow activity, but one lost a brood. So let us guess a maximum of 65 swallows fledged.

Just Three More To Fledge

On the Norths side, one box (11) had four nestlings and they all fledged. In Box 18 these three have pinfeathers and in another week will be grown .

They were extremely sleepy in the afternoon.

On the South side there was a box with 4 blue eggs.That has gone to a nest with one egg. Something removed three. We can cross that second nesting off as a failure. The South side only has some wren activity now. It is also temporarily closed.

ADDED NOTE 8/8
Still three in the box, now fully grown, 1-2 days to leave the box.  They were asleep, I got just a little movement out of them at noon.

Home Stretch for the Summer, I Hope

There are still a few boxes to follow. One box just hatched two and the third egg will hatch today. I will be going to that box in a week and then a week later, with minimal work to check it. However, it is in very tall grass.

South Side

The nest box with with three fledged all three. There is one more box with 4 blue eggs. In a week I cans say if anything came of it.

Wrens have taken over several boxes, but only one has a nest.

With the sticks out the hole, it's a good guess it is just a male doing his duty, filling every cavity with sticks.

North Side

The four in Box 11 are ready to leave any day, fully feathered.

Box 18 had three eggs and two now hatched.

A little movie: 

A day later all three had hatched. The active one has his head and bill over the third one. The parents had collected the egg shells.

We're all still here!

I had four boxes to check. Two just have the 4 eggs, maybe a week to hatch. The South side box with 3 had at least two left, third one may be under them. And North Side Box 11 guys still have frizzy old man hair:

Meet your blogger-volunteer and some wrens

I now have a number of July bluebird nests to keep track of. Four with eggs or nestlings. Also two wren nests. It took me an hour to do my job as there were a few distractions and puzzles. I checked them by bike and got soaking wet shoes and socks.

I had just put the bike on the rack. The back pack has a camera, tools, a bird book with a folded sheet inside where I make my notes. Often my binoculars are slung over my shoulders.

If you are interested in plants and animals, you can ask for volunteer opportunities at the Pioneer's park desk. I help with plants some Saturdays. If you want to widen county or state wide, and help out with the crane migration, for example, a good place to start is with Nebraska Master Naturalists. We get 70 hours of training, but no tests. Classes are given spring and fall between Omaha and Lincoln and other locations for a week in the summer.

Nebraska Master Naturalist

Once you are trained, you can pick projects, anything with plants, animals, the prairie etc. Mine is a bit unusual in that the main hours I get are as a lone volunteer.

Wrens

I had the wrens nesting on the North Side. Now I have another pair nesting on the South side. I could not get in to see eggs or nestlings as the box is so small. There is a danger of the small nest falling out as the sticks that fill up most of the box are moved. The sticks look like this, and most boxes just have the sticks left by the male.

The parents were quite agitated after I opened the box and closed it right away. The came back from chattering at the bush nearby to stand on the box and chatter. The male then ran off and sang too.

Two videos. The second is a bit jumpy, as the male went to a bush.

Yes, the wrens are small. One more still of singing male:

Bluebirds

On the South side, 4 at Box 14 fledged. Three at Box 5 are jumping to the hole to be fed. And the pair in Box 12 have laid 2 eggs of a second clutch.

Box 5 parent with food, at box, and fledgling inside peeking out.

North side Bluebird Box 11 parent, Box 11 nestlings (4) and eggs in Box 18 (now 3 eggs)

New Bluebird eggs in middle July!

This year is unlike last year. Lots of bluebirds renested in July, some in boxes swallows had vacated. Swallows are gone, only three infertile eggs found in one box.

South Side

The just hatched nestlings in the the top photo of the previous post are fully grown in Box 14 (no photo). In Box 9 there is house wren activity. I have a photo of just sticks, did not see the possible nestlings way in the back.

Box 5 had three nestlings, very sleepy. For a second I wondered if they were dead but got some movement from them.

Possibly there are four, but if I lose track and they fldege, will count them as three.

North Side

Here were the surprises. In Box 11, empty for weeks, was this female. I opened the box thinking it was empty.

I came back 20 minutes later, and there were three nestlings and one egg. I took that photo through the slot, not disturbing them. 

In the last box, Box 18, had some success with my theory of "move the boxes from the masses of people on the prairie". We now had two bluebird eggs. This box had swallows before and you can see the bluebird nest on top of the swallow nest, which ends at the loose feather.

The house wren family at Box 17 fledged the 6 young but now laid 6 more eggs! The wrens tend to take over the neighborhood, and the male fills all empty nearby boxes with sticks.

Fledging time: careful checking of boxes

In case there is anyone out there reading the blog who has just started doing bluebird boxes, I have some tips below under the CHECKING heading

South Side

Only checked boxes on the South side today. The four active bluebird nests are there. At the far end, the swallows in Box 13 had fledged, and bluebirds in Box 14 had hatched.

In Box 12 there were two bluebirds, so two had already fledged today or yesterday:

You can see some of the spotty pattern on the backs, but both have some blue on the wings. They were eyeing me suspiciously. As soon as I closed the box, both flew out through the nest hole. I tracked down one of them in a nearby tree. It looked a bit wet on the underside. Perhaps the nest keeps some moisture. You can see the bill is more yellow that on the adults.

When they fledge, the bluebirds never go back in. Empty box:

The one box on the south side still has just eggs.

CHECKING BOXES

It's been a two year process to learn to check the boxes as carefully as I can. It's not that it was that difficult to decide not to check some boxes, it was just that I was curious about some boxes and decided to open them quite often. The situation inside might be figured out just by looking with binoculars for 5 minutes (without opening). The swallows in particular are not ever cooperative. I got this box open but was never able to move the feathers aside before swallows attacked. This pair should have had all nestlings gone by now but nothing moved inside. Still, the parents dive bombed me. Left it for next week to figure out. Closed box. So here are the rules.

1 Both swallows and bluebirds are migratory birds. Interfere as little as possible. There are laws protecting migratory birds.

2 Wrens are also migratory birds.  Move your boxes as far from the trees as you can to avoid wrens. They can be trouble to bluebirds. Once the wrens nest, leave them alone.

3 If you can't decide what to do with a box, and the situation inside is not clear to you, just skip that box. Bringing binoculars along will help you figure out who is inside.

4. Avoid taking a nest out. A nest with eggs is easiest to take out, do it carefully. You would only do this to take care of some problem such as ants. Grease on the pole will discourage ants climbing in and setting up a nest.

5. We only need to interfere if it helps the birds' nesting success. Quite often it is best just to do as little as possible.

6. It is good to have a count of the birds for a report, but not essential. Make a good guess and mark it as 4 or 5 eggs or nestlings.

7. When the birds are starting to jump at the hole for food, it might be best just to leave that box alone. Opening the box may cause them to fledge. I did that today, but two from that nest had already left, so no harm was done.

Swallows mostly finished, 4 active Bluebird nests

South Side



This is the Box 12 set June 17. On June 24 they were bigger but feathers seem to be slow in coming.

Box 1 finally hatched three eggs, They were nappping at 8:30 but by 9AM one was hungry. This is about a month after this pair lost their first four nestlings.

This is their home, first one out on the South prairie:

My trick is to go up to the swallow nest box and stand there. If they dive bomb me, I know they are still nesting, I went up to box 13 and nothing happened. I opened the box. Swallow nestlings are fully grown. I quickly closed it and got away. No photos.

North Side

The swallows that lost a nestful in Box 14 have built a nest in Box 13 and lined it with feathers. No eggs yet.