Some Bird Nests

I’ve seen four Robin’s nests so far this spring.  Two in cedars, one in a white pine and this one anchored to my house.  The Robins are year-round residents and spend the winter months feeding on various fruits or searching the creek edges for various arthropods and worms.

This female completed her clutch at the usual four eggs.  She’s been sitting for a week now, so the eggs should be half way to hatching.

Ledges are often used as nest sites.  Robins also readily utilize an open platform type nest box.
 

Usually the nest is higher than just a couple of feet above the ground.  I’m hoping this one doesn’t attract any passing predators.  The Robin nest is in close proximity to a Phoebe nest on a platform showing in the upper left corner of the photo.

The Phoebe chicks are already well developed.  I installed this nest platform specifically for the Phoebes in an attempt to keep them from nesting on the porch.  Porch nests almost always failed, usually because some unexpected late night visitor spooked the birds from the nest and the young succumbed to exposure overnight.  The Phoebes now raise at least one family each year on this platform.

The Wild Turkey nest I showed a couple of weeks ago has been plundered by some predator with a taste for eggs.  I have been purposely staying away from the nest so as not to leave a scent trail to be followed by hungry mammals.  A broken egg on the nearby walking trail was evidence of what had happened and the disturbed nest was clearly visible from a distance.

I’ve seen Opossums, Skunks and Crows do this type of damage to eggs.  Those three species are all common here.  This is why the turkey lays so many eggs.  It only takes a small percentage of successful nests to sustain the population.

The nest boxes are doing a brisk business.  Out of a dozen boxes, only one held a Bluebird nest.  Since I see several Bluebird pairs around the field, I assume some are nesting in natural cavities.

Tree Swallows occupy the majority of the boxes.  Twenty-five years ago, it was uncommon to see a nesting pair of Tree Swallows.  Bluebirds dominated the boxes at that time.

Feathers are used to line the Tree Swallow nest.  Turkey feathers are becoming more common, but the majority seem to come from domesticated ducks and chickens.

A single nest box was unoccupied and this is the reason why.  Wasps will aggressively defend their nest site from intruding birds or photographer’s heads.

The empty box did offer a platform from which the Meadowlark could sing undisturbed.  This guy tried to sing from occupied boxes, but was driven away by the resident nesting pair every time.  I’m not sure if the birds were defending their nest site against an intruder or just being critical of the Meadowlark’s vocalizations.

Bird Box Nest Progress

The Bluebirds and Tree Swallows have finally settled down and are busily raising families.  Earlier in the year there was constant squabbling over possession of nest boxes and establishment of territories.  Now the field resembles a friendly suburban neighborhood with bird parents coming and going from their work of gathering food for growing broods. One brood of Bluebirds has already fledged from this box, and a second attempt is underway.

The normal sequence is to alternate Tree Swallows and Bluebirds in the boxes.  That may be because the current occupant of the box drives away all others of the same species.  When the box becomes available, it is more likely that a different species is on hand and ready to take advantage of the opportunity.  I was surprised to find back-to-back Bluebirds this time.

Another Bluebird brood had just left a box a little further along the trail.  I went ahead and cleaned the old nest out to prepare for future nests.  A new pair will go ahead and build over an old nest.  Since there’s usually only a short span between fledging and beginning of a new nest, I don’t always get the old nest cleaned out in time and the nests begin to stack up.

This is a more rural abode that sits well off the trail towards the center of the field.  It has seen over 20 years of service and though it now sports some replacement parts, it’s heavily used every year.

It is currently housing a family of young Tree Swallows.

The next box down the line is also home to Tree Swallows.  Swallows are currently outproducing Bluebirds by a margin of 2:1.  I’ll probably have to put up a few new boxes this winter to accommodate the mob of birds that will arrive next spring.

This is the oldest box in the field.  It changed hands several times before a pair of Tree Swallows finally held on long enough to finish a nest and fill it with eggs. The young inside are very near to fledging.  To avoid the possibility of prematurely flushing the youngsters out of the nest, I didn’t open the box for a picture.

Warning:  If you dislike stale, cliché, used to death conclusions; discontinue reading this post now.

You’ve now reached the tail end of this story.

Nests and Eggs

I took a stroll around to see how egg laying activities were progressing in the local nests.  Two boxes contain four Bluebird eggs each.  I’m seeing Bluebirds all around the field, but I don’t know where all of these birds are nesting.  Tree Swallows have claimed half a dozen boxes, but have not yet begun to lay eggs.

I found this Robin’s nest a few days ago.  The odd angle of the nest comes from my holding the camera at arms length above my head to get a shot without disturbing the nest.

The nest was in the fork of a low White Pine branch, far out from the trunk.

This is the way things looked following a violent wind storm.  The nest wasn’t very well anchored and probably just popped off the branch as the storm thrashed the tree.

The eggs look like they just broke as they fell from the nest.  I don’t think any type of predator was responsible for this loss.

A Cardinal has its nest in the juniper bush overhanging the Water Garden.  The female has been sitting on these three eggs for about a week.

For this shot, I pulled back an overhanging branch to improve the view.  The nest is normally roofed by a thick mass of cedar leaves.  The female voluntarily left the nest and was down near the pond when I moved in to take these shots.  I don’t scare birds off their nests just to get a picture.

Memorial Day Nest Box Check

Memorial Day usually coincides with the end of the first nesting attempts in the bird boxes. That makes it an opportune time to make the rounds and see how things are going.

Bluebirds are the first to nest in the boxes each year and are usually finished with their first brood by now. I try to clean the boxes before another pair of birds moves in and builds a new nest on top of the old.

It’s always a dusty mess beneath the nest. There’s an art to avoiding the blowing dust created by sweeping out the box.

Ants have moved in and have quite a cache of larvae and pupae stored in the old nest material. The presence of ants could cause potential nesters to avoid this nest box. The ants could also be trouble for any developing nestlings.

I leave the box clean and ready for the next occupants. I didn’t find any active Bluebird nests. I see a lot of Bluebirds sitting on the utility wires or the fence, along with what appear to be their latest batch of young.

All of the active nests were those of Tree Swallows. The range of activity stretched from a newly constructed nest to a batch of older youngsters. There were two nests with four eggs in each.

There were also two nests with older nestlings. It looks like Blue Jay Barrens will once again make a significant contribution to the Tree Swallow population. Competition for nest space is already intense. Some of these birds are going to have to move off and find new territory.

As is usual, I found myself between hungry birds and their parents. Insects are out in abundance, so I expect these little guys will be filled to capacity.