North Side Nest and other birds

I did not have the bike, so only opened a few boxes. The chicks in Box 16 were napping. The cropped photos shows pin feathers coming through, but the birds still have pink skin with no body feathers. The eyes are closed (not fully developed).

Today I had more interaction with the parents. The male alone in a tree, the female with insect or spider in mouth.

Click the photo for a bigger view.  She would not go inside till I left. Both were on top of the box at one time.

A bit of video, but no entry to the box.  I did not see the insect when I took the video, so there was in fact food.

Other than that there was the male house wren singing next door, you might hear it in the video, and some meadowlarks and a Baltimore oriole hidden in some flowers.

Orioles are usually more visible:

Purple Martins (as well as a house sparrow) have one or two chicks in the Martin house.

Still just one second clutch growing, Four nests at egg stage

I went back by bike to check the known nests on the south side. No development there, all four had eggs, But at least no eggs were broken.

The North side nest is coming along fine, you can easily count four chicks.

Interestingly, with eyes closed, the birds sense more light. The box would not open otherwise, so not sure this is safe to be poking a bill out.

A bit of video

The wren next door (male) has not bothered Box 16 since he now has his own eggs to guard. House wren eggs are very small and brownish.

Some bluebirds hatched

I was not really spending time here, on my way back from birding. I checked a few tree swallow nests, ones I had seen with swallows 1-2 weeks back. Most were empty. I am not cleaning these till much later, but you can tell the history easily.

The nest is a swallow nest, because it's lined with feathers, like goose feathers. There is poop in there, so they nested. No dead chicks and no unhatched eggs.

The bluebirds second clutches are coming along. These four on the North side, Box 16, hatched 1-2 days ago.

I got a little video, but none of the neck sticking up kind when they think I am the parent.

Several New Clutches, Last Swallows in Boxes

There are still several fully grown tree swallows in some boxes, though most boxes are vacated.

This family, I think 4 left inside, are in a small box with a slot. All four come to the slot when the parent is heard. I think the slot is more democratic than a nest hole. On the 21st, at least 3 boxes still had swallows.

There are new clutches of eggs. These are bluebirds, though white. They are in one of the boxes the mice had thru May. On the North side Box 16 had 4 eggs, same on Jun 21st. About time to hatch!

There are few boxes needing more stable poles and one silly box on the South side left in a lot of forbes and sumac. I can walk through some grass, but this just needs to be moved, finally. There is a wren nesting in it now, first wren nest with eggs.

Three new eggs

I did not have the bike with me, necessary to check the South side, but on the North side there is one new set of eggs.

This in a box where a wren next door broke all the eggs in May.

Swallow activity was ongoing in 5 our of 18 boxes. The last one I did not hike to. I managed to quickly peak into a small box (swallows are hard to see in a big box), and the nestlings were about a week to 10 days old.

Miserable May: only 9 Bluebirds Fledged

In a typical year, some 20 bluebirds fledge from 5-7 nests. There were so far 5 nests, but two were failures, on the North side. Three nests with some success were on the South side. Those are on the limestone bike/hike trail. See map.

There are now no bluebird eggs in nests. I cleaned some boxes, took note of wren activity and put grease on those nest boxes that could possibly get a second brood. It's red axle grease. Keeps the ants from the box for a week or two.

There is really nothing to do now but check some 10 likely boxes a week from now. Many boxes still have swallows, they are not checked if active. One swallow nest seemed to have started early, so i hoped they had had success. No idea, the female was still inside the nest. Is she still incubating?