Video: Early visit
The BBs were back early today and came visiting all throughout the day too. Here, the male goes in to inspect and the female peeks in. Having a cam in the box made me love them even more, it is so cool to listen to their conversations. As I said earlier this week, I added a suet cage to the floor. This has two reasons, one is that it will lift the nest a little bit, improving ventilation from below, and two it may help in case of a Blowfly larvae infestation. The larvae can fall down underneath the nest and if a nest change is needed, I can pull a nest a lot easier from this top-opening box and replace it. I added the pine needles and some dry wood pieces because they like to take things in and out before they start, and it give the box a bit more patina. It has been used for three broods but I am sure it still has a bit of a “new” feel to it.
And so it begins...
In the last couple of days, the Bluebirds have been back to check out the nestbox. I have taken out the "winter padding" of pine needles the other day and just left a tiny layer along with some dried wood crumbs. This is a larger than normal box (like a Gilbertson but with 6 instead of 4 inches in diameter, which helps the babies to get stronger for the first flight because there is more space for wing practice), so I like to help her a little bit to get it going for the first one. I do think nesting season has still some time to go, we are expecing colder temps again, but it was so lovely to see them do their thing. Last year, she started building on March 1. Nesting season is one of my favorites, and I am very excited for spring.
Nestbox news: What goes in must come out... and in!
The babies are five days old and have grown steadily thanks to the constant stream of food brought by mom and dad. And what goes in, must come out. When a baby is fed, it usually relives itself right after. In the beginning, the parents will eat the fecal sac, apparently it contains nutrients that the babies cannot digest yet.
Nestbox news: It was a big day yesterday,
the Bluebird babies have hatched! The first two did so yesterday, and the remaining three took a bit longer and hatched this morning. It was a bit nervous yesterday because I saw Gayle looking out the entrance hole a lot and also leaving a lot, and Mr. Business was nowhere to be seen. These birds are hardy but anything can pretty much happen to them any time. Thankfully, this morning, he finally seems to have realized that he has babies now, and him and Gayle have been feeding them diligently all day. The next couple of days will be on the cooler side, and this is when the babies are most vulnerable.
You can hear Mr. Business sing a little melody when he arrives with food. that is later going to be the parents’ call to lure the babies out of the box for fledging. I really like how much space they have in there, how they don’t have to hover over the babies but can watch them from the edge of the nest. Nobody is crammed unless they want to.
Nestbox news: The clutch is complete
Yesterday at her usual time, Gayle laid egg number five. she spent the night in the box, and today it was clear that she is done with laying and incubating now. During incubation, she will spend a lot of time in the box, warming the eggs evenly with her brood patch, and also turning them so they all develop evenly. Mr. Business will come occasionally to bring her a snack, and sometimes she leaves to get a bath, drink some water or eat. This will continue for the next two weeks. I started a little timelapse when she went into overdrive building, you can see the video below. I have started another timelapse for the next steps.
Nestbox news: Gayle and the giant leaf
Gayle has now actively started to build her nest in the big Gilbertson box, and I am so happy. She has been bringing grass and pine needles in, and today she came with this ginormous leaf and then seemed to have issues handling it. She actually tried several times to bring it in, this is when it worked. But then she did not seem to be too happy having it around. At some point Mr. Business came checking on her. It was hilarious to watch.
Nestbox: Meet Gayle and Mr. Business
These two are coming several times a day now, go in, go out, take or bring material. There is not active nestbuilding yet as far as I can tell, this is more like a courtship ritual. [And while I am writing this, she looks like she is actually bringing stuff in right now, cheered on by him. Time will tell, she took a whole month to make the first nest last spring too.] Everytime they come, he is first and then excitedly waves with his wings to greet her. I turned the camera a bit to include the entrance in the view, and I like that it will show a bit more of their interaction. I have also finally decided what the names of this year’s couple are going to be - please meet Gayle and Mr. Business. The weather is still on the frosty side, so I am happy they are having fun and are not busy with babies yet.
Happy Women’s Day!
Video: BBs checking nestbox
These two have been coming back every so often recently, each time taking a piece of a wood shaving. I love to see them but it is also so cute how they vocally communicate. The box is a Gilwood that I built, the camera is a Wyze. It is not a perfect setup yet but I loved this little video.
Video: I have always loved
the song of the Bluebird but it is awesome to hear them up close, communicating around the nest. Here, the male, Mandrake, goes in to "rearrange the furniture" while the female, Dr. Clara, is waiting outside. It appears that she soon has enough of him doing that, and she demands that he come out 😊
In the second video, he is showing off his vocal skills when he again went into the box to “fix things”. At the end, you can hear a little warning call that they do when they feel that they need to take cover.
And just like that,
the second nesting is underway. I have said it yesterday already but i am over the moon that they are back and building. Here, you can see Dr. Clara bring in pine needles and then spreading her wings and pushing with her chest to form the nest cup.
Video: vocal Starlings in nest box
Some Starlings have been checking out the Flicker box that we built last year. We built a Starling-proof box but I took the shield away last summer to see if maybe a bird checks it on the way. A Flicker did indeed come and check it out a couple of times, so I am hopeful for the summer. I have now put the shield up that is supposed to deny the Starlings an entrance (apparently, they like to fly on head-on) but the Wyze cam got some cool footage before. Listen to these beatboxes!
Video: A Flicker in the Flicker box!
As you know, we built a Flicker nestbox earlier this year, but no Flicker or other bird came to nest in it. A House Wren inspected it a couple of times but that was it. I had taken the Starling shield away and put on a Wren whole restrictor, only to later also remove that to see what would happen since nesting season is basically over. And then this morning, a Northern Flicker actually went in there several times and hung out in it for a while, enjoying the view. These large wodpeckers are one of my absolute favorites, and I would be thrilled have them nest in this box. Hopefully, he remembers next year. I am so excited!
Video: House Wren checking out nestbox
This morning, a House Wren inspected the Flicker box. It is a huge box that is filled with wood shavings, but the Wren has nested in something similar before, so I would not be surprised if it happened again. Let’s hope it doesn’t just build a mock nest in there.
