The only box left with bluebirds had four nestlings rather sleepy. I could get some slight movement at 9AM but they obviously have not opened their eyes yet. Next time they should be active.
South Side
I have not had problems with chicks on hot days so far, but here we had one box not doing well. The more grown nestlings were all doing fine. Box 4 had two left in the box and two in the tree. I saw three birds in the tree (after I took the video) so at least the parents are still around.
This one in the tree is likely a sibling of the above two:
Bit of video of the same
The next box, Box 8, had four young nestlings as it did last week, but not very active at all. I can see at least three. One of them is dead in this picture, a recent event. The other two were moving just slightly.
The wrens next door had fledged, some 5-7 of them in Box 7.
Box 11 that had the "blob" hatching on July 9
All four fledged successfully and there is just an empty nest left:
The bluebird boxes I take care of are at Pioneers Park in Lincoln NE. The prairie at the top of the map has been poor for bluebirds. It has too much human traffic. I have moved a few boxes to a tree line along the golf course border and the box marked X has the four eggs hatching today.
The map with X for location and the Box 17 picture.
I believe this is the third attempt at nesting for this pair. Box 16 had two eggs and there was some attempt earlier in May. Box 18 has an active wren nest and the two species seem to get along when the eggs have hatched.
On that map above there is a black line at the bottom, that is the South side
South Side
There are three nests left. The Box 4 young are coming along from a week ago naked pink things.
Box 8 just about ready to open eyes by Sunday, but still quite pink.
Box 9 had one left of 5 and it fledged. If checking boxes you find a grass nest with feces you can be sure it was bluebirds if there are no feathers or masses of sticks. This one I had seen the young but sometimes you just get the nest to count as possible success.
Here we then have the final box to check, number 11 that had originally on July 9th these:
and now had four ready to fly if the had to.
It's quite possible they will be out next week. This may be the last photo. I also got a little bit of video, but they were not very active. Just as well, I did not want to flush them out too early.
WRENS
Wrens also have come along fast. These are next to the Box 9 bluebirds. The nest has more sticks and the young are fully feathered at this size (smaller than bluebird) and have the long wren bill:
On the North side, the one pair of bluebirds still has four eggs, their final attempt this summer. They had not hatched. So from 18 nest boxes on the North side, only four bluebirds fledged this season.
South Side
Nesting activity continues. The angry bluebirds at Box 9 still tried to attack me. There was obviously something inside, and it turned out to be the last of the five.
In Box 4, the four had just hatched.
There are at least three that I can see. Will keep track of it. Then Box 8, with four eggs, had just two hatched. I found that if I whistle a bit they will raise their head. One did.
(Sorry for the gap after these pictures...scroll down)
Then the Box 11 set that had the odd ball of a chick now has these
I would be surprised if they are gone in a week, but will be quite grown by then.
Sparrows and Swallows
House Sparrows nested in a box on the North side earlier.
All that is left is feces and feathers. The swallows left the feathers and the sparrows use them.
When I go through the 32 boxes in the fall, I usually find one or two swallow nests that did not hatch at all. Not sure if they were infertile eggs or if cold weather that ruined the clutch.
There are still many active nests. The family on ths South side at Box 9 has the most advanced nestlings, their second set. The five are fine inside, I just took a very quick look. The pink skin shows that they have maybe a week to go.
But outside, the parents and a kingbird joined to attack my helmeted head as I approached the box. A picture and video.
As I was back at the road, they suspiciously made sure I really left. A dickcissel also made alarming noises near the box. They do not nest in boxes.
The four eggs were hatching on Monday, three days ago, so I had to go see how they were doing.
On the 9th:
Now there were four hungry mouths, with eyes closed at this point.
And we have video as well:
There are two nests with four eggs. The one on the North side from a pair that abandoned two eggs in the nest next door.
WRENS
I seem to have more wren nest than last year, at least four active right now. I may have missed some as they nest after the bluebirds to the end of summer. The nestlings on the South side had just hatched, with some eggs still there. Among the mess of sticks the male puts in to make a platform is a perfectly smooth grass nest.
The parent was near by. They make a lot of wren chatter noise but never attack me. The parent is here.
In box one of the South side a set of eggs after swallows left weeks ago. That was so hard to get a photo of, I will not open it again.
Finally the mystery of boxes 13 and 14 on the South side was solved. Some bluebirds tried it at first with two eggs, then I saw wren activity. For weeks I did not check it. It had a clutch of wren eggs that hatched and were raised and left, except one runt died in the box. The birds tend not to use that box again. So they went to box 13 next door most likely for their second clutch. Those are eggs now. Last check on those, the boxes are too much work to get to in tall vegetation. The nest had a few feathers too, but the wren sticks are there over the original bluebird grass nest.
I don't know how else to compile the happenings, so we'll just go South and North. The North side boxes are the ones you can see from the Nature Center. There are no swallows left in boxes.
SOUTH SIDE
Box 11 four eggs are hatching TODAY. One had hatched, but was so tired from the effort the head is bent down. The one egg looks big because it has half a shell stuck on it.
Box 9 five nestlings have grown a lot, flight feathers coming within a week. Four bills plus one head down.
Here are the parents, who were a bit mad at me opening the box:
In the middle, I had some some bluebirds fly around the boxes, so I checked two boxes there. One (8) had a surprise four bluebird eggs. It had swallows earlier.
They were next to a box with wren eggs. I hope they get along. Under that are the two boxes with the bluebird on his box.
NORTH SIDE
Box 16 has the same two eggs it had for a few weeks. It seems to be a failure. Next to it is a box I cleared out of wren sticks. In it the same pair have made a new attempt, the female flew out as I checked that box.
Failure:
New attempt:
Finally, the nature center staff found a Killdeer nest near the road. They nest right on gravel. The parent is in danger of getting run over as it does its distraction display.
The nests on the South side have one with 4 eggs, one with hatched young and one with 4 eggs. I saw the female on that nest so I did not scare her off the eggs, merely closing the door.
These are the hatched young, the fifth egg will have hatched today.
So from these we have possibly 13 young coming. I have given up on the two egg nest on the North side (Box 16).
Wrens
The wrens are active. On the North side I found this stack of sticks. They have a purpose, to fill up space. There was some indication of nesting material at the very top, but it is hard to move that stack and not have their nest fall off.
House Sparrows
Two boxes have house sparrows. This one very near the nature center building has almost grown young:
