The Change to Summer Birds

I keep the bird feeders filled with sunflower seeds and cracked corn year round.  Although the diet never changes, the species of birds visiting the feeder vary from season to season.  The last few weeks has seen the arrival of what I think of as the summer visitors.  Many of these, like this Blue Grosbeak, would be difficult to view if they didn’t regularly visit the feeder.

Even though they are permanent residents in this area, I rarely see Brown-headed Cowbirds in the winter.  During the summer, I routinely see them at the feeder.  They are also to be found stationed atop the tallest trees around the property, watching to spot nest locations in which to lay their eggs.

A gathering place for birds that don’t typically visit the feeder is the vegetable garden.  Brown Thrashers patrol back and forth along the vegetable rows, plucking larvae from the plants and pulling grubs or cutworms from the soil.

Chipping Sparrows search the garden for both seeds and insects.  This guy kept chasing and eating some type of insect moving quickly across the planting beds.  He captured several in just a couple of minutes, but I never got a look at what he was hunting.

Field Sparrows have found the mulch of cut grass in the garden to be ideal nest material.  They are frequently seen leaving with mouths full of the fine grass stems and leaves.  The top of the fence is  a favorite perch.

Bluebird pairs seem to find an abundance of suitable insects inside the garden boundaries.  The female sits on one post …

… and the male usually sits on the next post over.  When an insect is spotted, they will fly down to pick it up and then return to the post.

With all of those garden insects to feed on, it’s no surprise that the Bluebird couple claimed the bird box nearest the garden.

The female has just begun incubating this clutch of five eggs, so I probably won’t be seeing much of her for the next couple of weeks.  After that, she’ll be busy ridding the garden of insect pests in order to feed her growing family.

With their aerial displays and propensity to chatter, Tree Swallows are usually the most noticeable of the summer birds at Blue Jay Barrens.  These birds were uncommon here 25 years ago.  When I first installed bird boxes, they were all occupied by Bluebirds of Chickadees.  Now, 80 percent of the box inhabitants are Tree Swallows.  The shallow pool of water at the site of my new toad pool construction has been getting a lot of attention from the swallows.

The area that has been stripped of vegetation seems to be a preferred site for the collection of nest material.

The final phase of Tree Swallow nest building is the addition of feathers around the rim of the nest.  The birds almost always use feathers from domesticated chickens or ducks.  The battling Wild Turkey males leave an almost daily offering of feathers in my yard, but the Tree Swallows don’t find them of interest.  Maybe they just have a preference for white feathers.

No Tree Swallow eggs have yet been laid, but I imagine that will change soon.  By the time the last of hatchlings leave the nest in late summer, the resident population of Tree Swallows will be about four times what it is now.

Kestrel Raids Nest Box

While walking the field trail I heard a commotion of Tree Swallows just beyond the next small hill.  Babies were yelling and adults were excitedly giving their distress call.  I assumed a predator was at work and hurried ahead with the expectation of finding a Black Rat Snake making a meal of baby birds.  Instead, I saw this American Kestrel perched atop the bird box.

The parent birds were in the air doing their best to encourage the kestrel to move on.

All they could manage was to make the Kestrel duck as they came over its head.

Then the Kestrel dropped down to the front of the box and made a determined effort to reach the young birds inside.

There was a great amount of flapping and shifting of position as the Kestrel worked to get its head and neck through the nest box entrance.  I expected a baby Tree Swallow to be pulled free at any instant.

The Kestrel was not rewarded for its effort.  This model bird box has an extra piece added to the front that extends the depth of the entrance hole.  The intent of this design is to make it more difficult for predators to reach in and down to the nest.  Apparently it is doing its job.

But the Kestrel just couldn’t resist giving it another try.

This must have given the young birds quite a scare.  The Kestrel has its full neck thrust into the box and its head is surely hanging just above the babies.

That had to be one frustrated bird.  No amount of trying was going to result in a meal being taken from this box.

Finally, the Kestrel turned its back and gave up.  I watched it make five separate attempts to reach the nestlings and it had obviously made some attempts before I arrived on the scene.  After resting for a moment, it flew off across the field and disappeared.  A minute later, the parents were back with food for the youngsters and life went on as before.

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.

Tree Swallows

Tree Swallows kept me company as I prepared to put new fence wire around the garden.  They arrived in record numbers this year, taking control of every nest box not already occupied by a Bluebird. Squadrons of seemingly boxless birds circle the field, chattering constantly.

Wooden fence posts are the perching place of choice for Tree Swallows and several other field related species.  Besides the top of a bird box, fence posts are the only place I ever see the Tree Swallows land. The first and third posts are topped by Tree Swallows.  The fuzzy brown blur atop the fifth post is a Song Sparrow.  I guess it’s a lucky thing I maintain a fence, so the birds have somewhere to rest.

I’m not sure if this Tree Swallow is mooning me, or if it is just comfortable enough in my presence to conduct business as usual.  This species is quite tolerant of my gardening activities, as long as I’m relatively quiet and slow moving.

Since the Tree Swallows were all out watching me work, I decided to take advantage of their empty boxes to check out their nesting progress.  All the nearby boxes had completed nests, but only one had begun laying and in that nest was a single egg.

In another box was a nest with a thicker than normal layer of base material.  Bluebirds began a nest in this box, but gave up their lease to a pair of Tree Swallows. 

I think the Tree Swallows are now firmly in control.  It doesn’t look like they’re going to give up this box.  Maybe the Bluebirds will retake it after the Tree Swallows fledge their first batch of young.

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.

Normal Late Spring Events

My year is filled with annual events that mark each season and give a type of stability to the changing face of Blue Jay Barrens. Bird comings and goings, bloomings, hatchings, animal appearances, plant growth and decline; each event confirms my belief that the heart of Blue Jay Barrens is still strong and healthy. Box turtles will always be special to me and the spring season is full of their vigorous reclamation of life following the winter hibernation. I never tire of watching them.

Turtles are a wonder. An Eastern Box Turtle has a life span that rivals that of humans and it may live that entire life within an area no bigger than a football field. This large male shows the signs of many years spent wandering this ground. It may have been here for the last 70 or 80 years and might have witnessed plowing of the hillsides and planting of agricultural crops, along with the massive erosion that followed. I can imagine this fellow stepping out of the way of a cow’s hoof, closing up as it’s nearly run over by a log truck, feeling the ground shake beneath its shell as the farm tractor rumbles by, and being picked up and examined by several generations of children. This turtle has probably witnessed much of the site history that I’m so curious about.

Cooper’s Hawks are regulars at Blue Jay Barrens. Although they are regularly seen hunting small birds near the feeders, it’s this time of year that they are most noticeable. They become quite vocal during the nesting and young rearing period. I find an active nest about every other year, but they probably nest here every year. Most nests are high up in the tallest cedar trees and are very hard to spot from the ground. Some years they appear to use an old squirrel nest as a base and this makes it even harder to recognize from below.

Tree Swallows reenact the same performance each year. Even though they look and act the same, I’m sure they’re not the same pair. The only difference seems to be an increase in numbers. The number of returning swallows now greatly exceeds the number of available nest boxes.

The failure of the Yellow Lady’s Slipper to produce seeds is one of those annual events that I would like to change. It’s now clear that the bend in the double bloomed stalk is going to result in the withering of the flowers. I don’t know what caused the stalk to bend and then dry as this one has. I’ve seen a lot of strange things happen to this plant and this year has added a couple of new ones.

The single flower that flipped upside down is shriveling quickly. There’s probably no chance of this one producing any seed. I suppose it’s alright to put in a few disappointments as long as there are enough joys to cancel them out.