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.

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.

Bird House Tenants

All of the bird boxes are occupied for round one of the Bluebird/Tree Swallow nesting season. After checking all of the boxes, I found that instead of only one pair of nesting Bluebirds as I mentioned yesterday, there were actually two boxes that contained Bluebird nests. I my error came about by assuming that seeing a pair of Tree Swallows sitting atop the box meant that they were the owners. I don’t know what the Bluebirds were up to that they would let Tree Swallows have such easy access to their nest site.

There was really a lot of material used to create this nest. It’s possible that the base was started by another pair of birds and the Bluebirds stole the box and built their own nest on top. I’ll dissect the nest when I clean out the box to see if this was the case.

Four eggs so far. I would expect one more before brooding begins. It looks like the boxes are doing a good job of staying dry, despite the downpours that seem to occur every couple of days.

No eggs yet in the Tree Swallow nest, but it’s already looking dirty. I think the birds found some of the feathers that were cleaned out of the box last year and used them again. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen before. I know that Tree Swallows can really mess up a nest, but they should at least start with clean building materials.

Cleaning Out A Bluebird House

I rarely go out with the sole purpose of checking all of the bird boxes. They all get checked several times during the year, but I usually just check them when I’m in the area. This box had a lot of use this year, so I decided to see if it needed to be cleaned out.

The last tenants were Tree Swallows and it looks like they left a bit of a mess behind.

Removing the front part of the nest revealed an unhatched egg. Unlike Bluebirds, Tree Swallows do not remove the nestling feces, so the nest is pretty much trashed by the time the young are fledged. Bluebirds tend to treat the box as though they owned it and Tree Swallows are more like transient tenants.

This box had a lot of debris caked on the bottom. What I really needed was a stiff bristled brush.

Fortunately I have a field full of the perfect material for making a broom. Here I’ve selected some choice Indian Grass stems and folded them in half.

A quick cut from a pair of pruners that always hang from my belt on the opposite hip from my camera and I’ve created a functional broom.

The heavy grass stalks are perfect for removing the old nest material.

The grass leaves work well to remove the dust.

The result is a fairly clean box. I usually go around in early November and perform any needed repairs to the boxes. I’ll have additional cleaning tools with me then to finish the job.