Bluebird Nesting mostly over, mostly successful

South Side Bluebirds and a few swallows

We checked all the boxes with known activity today. The nests that had bluebirds had all fledged, so Box 11 and Box 4 (2 birds last time) were empty. At the far end I have been reluctant to move Box 14, as it has been a popular territory for bluebirds, though now with tall vegetation is inconvenient to check (chiggers!). I finally ventured to out there and found sticks inside. If you have followed this blog at all last year, you know what that means: house wrens. Sticks were up to the top.

The wren nests are very difficult to check, as the pile of sticks supports the nest in a far corner and the whole assembly collapses easily. I moved things carefully. As soon as I saw a little pink in there, the nest was clearly there. Better to leave nature take care of things. I will not check the box till September.

Elsewhere swallows allowed me access. Box 1 had almost grown swallows. I closed it after a very brief look.

Another swallow nest near the middle of the trail had fledged all the nestlings I only once had a peek at. Except for one. It was dead, mummified, I will spare you the picture. Contents were removed here:

The weedy flowers ("forbs") are quite tall where there is no grass after the last burn.

North Side: Swallows and Bluebirds active

The Box 3 naked babies of 9 days ago

Are now almost fully feathered (you can still see pinfeathers) :

On the golf course tree line the one egg Bluebird nest is now 3 eggs (Box 16). What slowpokes, 2 more eggs in 9 days? 

Box 18 swallows allowed a look at the nest. Note the feather lining:

There are 5 or more nestlings there.

Everything coming along normally, one late start nest

Bluebirds

On the south side, the four nestlings in box 9 fledged:

Those were the chicks 4 days ago and and now the box is empty. Box 11 is about at the stage where those were earlier:

My planned checks are such that I probably will see an empty box next time. Box 4 has two chicks and they too are well feathered and less than a week to go.

The 4 eggs on the North side hatched. I have a video and below that the sleeping four, 1-2 days old.

One pair is nesting in the golf course tree line boxes, prairie side. There was just one egg so far. All the rest on the North side are swallows.

The parent was inside just before I got there.

SWALLOWS

The box I have been following most closely is coming along with pinfeathered young, eyes open:

You can see more than 5 squeezed in there in Box 1 of South side.  There are many more with young at this point and a few with fully feathered young. They are very close together in age, not more than a week apart for 10 or more nests.

I was able to see more of them today than other days, without being attacked. Most I did not take pictures of, as the feather lining was in the way.

Lots of nestlings plus one nest with 4 eggs

The timetable of Bluebirds and probably swallows needs some 12-14 days of incubation. Incubation may not have started immediately when 4 eggs were in the box. In an older blog entry I outlined the timetable:
TIMETABLE for BLUEBIRDS (<<--link)

Quick summary: 17-18 days from hatching to leaving nest box.

SWALLOWS

The swallows are still busy around their boxes, and I did not disturb them at all. You can conclude a lot about nest boxes with binoculars. One nest on the South side had been claimed by tree swallows on May 6th or before, and only now do they have nestlings (some 5-7) that hatched. I went up to the box and half way expected it to be empty, since no swallows attacked me.

The I phone did not focus enough but I can count at least 7. Other swallows were less advanced. This box started later so I am thinking it is still just eggs. Female inside and male on bush nearby:

There will be some 60 swallows fledged in about 2 weeks.


BLUEBIRDS

On the South side, we have Box 11 coming along:

These have pin feathers so they have a week or more to go.

Box 9 is most advanced, and if I check them Jun 8, I may see them gone:

Box 4 has just two nestlings, coming along fine.

The chicks were all sleeping. Here are some begging chicks from last year:

I would get more of that at about 10AM, less again after noon. Lastly, the 4 eggs from the North side this year. The female was in the box incubating seconds before I checked it. With these 4 counted in, we would get 14 bluebirds. Most years we get 20, so I expect there are some late nesters around.

This male on the North side has been around boxes 16 and 17, and both are available, with grass nests inside. No eggs today.

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.

Tree Swallows twittering

I approached the box and got a few seconds of video on Saturday. They had not left then, but probably have left now due to hot weather.

The iPhone will not use flash so had to get a couple of stills of the same.

The bluebird nest next door was just four blue eggs. South side will be checked Tue or Wed.

May 30

These five or so swallows have left the nest:

A house sparrow male has already claimed the box for the rest of the year:

Both Bluebirds and Swallows have nestlings now

Though most boxes with nest activity have just eggs now, two boxes had nestlings. as you leave the Nature Center on the pond side and walk toward the prairie, you come to a bench. From this bench you can view four boxes. All have big numbers but they are not facing you.

The bigger frames are around Box 1 and Box 2, closer to you (Box 3 and Box 4 are farther behind). The box to the right is Box 2. It has five swallow nestlings ready to leave in a few days, a week at most.  The two bigger ones on top are resting on a slightly smaller one. Box 3 in the photo in the back has four bluebird eggs. Click the photos for a bigger picture.

The Bluebird eggs in Box 3:

On the South side we have bluebird activity (bike path along the railroad tracks, 14 boxes). There are 3 boxes with eggs and one with these nestling 1-2 days old.

These are farther along the trail than the blue dot, about where if makes a slight winding turn to the left of the dot. The very last box, 14, has one bluebird egg, off to the left of the map. There are also six nests with swallows, I believe with just eggs, no nestlings yet on South side.

Greasing the poles

I did not get good pictures on the South side, because my hands were messy most of the morning.  I greased most of the poles with axle grease so that ants do not get up the pole. You can use vaseline, but buy a big jar. I did get one photo of the male parent of the hatched chicks above.