Bluebirds coming along

North Side

I don't check very many of the swallow nests by opening the box, so there may be other nests with nestlings fully grown. However, as I found a swallow inside many boxes, then leaving as I went closer, I believe the majority are just females sitting on eggs.

I made some additions to the box 2 entry from Saturday so those have now fledged.

Box 3 has a full set of 4 bluebird eggs since four days ago, so in about a week they will hatch. Box 13 near the school is a failure with now no eggs, and they will not use this box again. Box 15 had two swallow eggs, now just one broken egg, so also a failure for those swallows.

This box three is close to the pond at the bottom of the prairie and close to the main trail.

South Side

Box 14 with one egg a week ago had nothing now.  The good news is 3 boxes with bluebird netslings right on schedule. The earlier the birds leave the nest, the better they survive in the fall when they have to know how the world works.

For Box 9, the nestlings are the most developed with pin feathers:

The parents of those bird were a bit alarmed by me and twittered around me till I left. There is no harm in visiting a nest, but of course you can try to make the stress as little as possible. The parents, below, never leave a nest with nestlings until all have left the box. Occasionally a "runt" will die a few days after the normal ones leave. I had that maybe twice.

Boxes 11 and 4, one picture each, have nestlings just hatched  this week, the three in Box 4 possibly today. It may be just two, but I am not sure yet.