First Nest?

The swallows spend a lot of time near the boxes for several weeks. They do not build nests yet, they simply claim the territory from other swallows, so they have to land on both boxes. This pair was quite aggressive and I did not get to open either of these boxes on the South side.

On the North side were two or three house sparrow nests. I know this because they went in and out. But one box, 13, looked like a complete bluebird nest with no eggs:

Spring cleaning: Bird Poop

Cleaned out all the boxes. One box is holding up but barely, as the plastic hinge is worn out. I will have to bring it home to fix as it requires drilling two holes and I have no cordless drill.

On the North side several boxes had a layer of bird poop. Some birds roost in boxes at night, even bluebirds.

I suspect sparrows, as the South side, with several bluebirds overwintering, had no signs of night time roosting. One year I had a dead tree swallow in the spring. It was probably here early, stayed too long and had no food yet. Well, tree swallows do survive on berries but not as well as bluebirds.

Winter Birds

Bluebirds, like robins, survive the winter mostly on berries. I have yet to see the first robin of the year but within January, I will see some. I saw some 5 of my bluebirds yesterday. They do not go far, and there is food enough in the park for the winter. My estimate is that at least 10 bluebirds never leave the area.

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.