Nestbox news: We are still mid-nesting season,
and activity is on the lower end because everybody feeds babies right now. The nestboxes have been the most exciting thing recently, so here is a little update on these. In the Bluebird box, all five eggs have hatched about a week ago, and the babies are looking good. Sadly, though, it seems like the male has gone MIA, I have not seen him in at least a day. I did see a male yesterday but he was sitting on the Chickadee box, and I am not sure if that is a different male or the old one. I also saw one youngster from the first brood but I doubt the female is going to recurit it for help because it never learned how to go underneath the wren guard. The female is working her tush off to feed these babies, and I am just happy that the weather is not scorching or too wet and that she is a good hunter. I have ordered some live mealworms to help her a bit if needed, and hope that all goes well or the male miraculously returns,
TheChickadee nest has been a source of constant joy, it is just so much fun to watch them do their thing. There was a little scare two days ago when suddenly a House Wren did go under the Wren guard and looked into the nest but at around 12-14 days, the babies should be too big already so the Wren can do no harm. They are starting to look and sound like Chickaddees, and the parents are some of the busiest bird parents I have watched. There is a constant stream of food coming in. Seven of the eight seem to have made it and even if there is a runt, it becomes less obvious by the day now. I have removed the Wren guard so the babies can start looking out and get ready for their big day.
Here are some of the most recent videos. I try to upload them to Youtube in a timely manner so I can embed them here, but most of the times it is quicker and easier to post videos on my social media channels.
Nesting news: All tucked in
The bird moms are ready for the night. The Robin baby is doing fine, and both Chickadee and Bluebird are still incubating. I love watching them in the evenings, they certainly do look cozy. And with so many birds nesting, feeder activity has slowed down a bit. Which is nice for the bird food budget.
Video: Baby Blue!
The Bluebird couple has been bringing their babies from brood 1 that they raised in a different spot down to the backyard recently to introduce them to feeders and bath. The female is spending a lot of time in the box but I don’t think she is done laying yet. As of this morning, she has four eggs. This was an early morning scene at the pond, first she comes in, then a baby. You can hear the others faintly in the background. It is kind of neat to have them here without all the worry during their nesting.
Nestwatch update
Here is a view into both nestboxes, as of this morning. The Bluebird couple that has been coming over almost every day has finally decided to build and started yesterday. I think it is the same male as always but a different female. She seems to me more timid and nervous but looks like a good nestbuilder. The Chickadee nest is still being updated, and I still have no idea if there are actually eggs in there or not. The female spends every night in the box and adds fluff throughout the day. The male stops by every so often to bring her a snack.
Nestbox News: Hmmm
During my break, I continued to monitor my two nestboxes, and in the last week, there has been activity in both. A Bluebird couple has cleaned up the box, and I hope they will choose it. The other box has gotten a lot of interest from a Chickadee couple but they also have not started anything. There is a hole restrictor on that box so that larger birds cannot enter. I hope the Chickadees make a decision soon and before the House Wrens arrive so that I can fit a guard to the box in time. I am ready for this nesting season to finally begin.
After a summery weekend,
we got snow flurries today. The garden is waking up everywhere but things still feel odd because there are no nesting Bluebirds. I have decided to pull the nest today, since there is no sign of any nesting activity. Interestingly enough, a male and a female BB have showed up to feed. There are still some Redbreasted Nuthatches around, and a couple of Chickadees are showing a lot of interest in my other nestbox.
Nestbox news: The spell is broken!
The Bluebirds must have seen my complaints, because yesterday, they finally started nesting season in the yard. It may have been that the grid I placed in there bothered her so much that she was hesitant (she did accept it last season though but maybe the first nest is different). I removed to see what would happen and added some pine needles, dried leaves and bark. Here you can see the male coming in to “clean up”, and then she comes in to start the nest with the first strategically placed twig. By the endof the day, she had built the nest you see in the second video. This feels like the fastest I have seen her build a first nest of the season.
I am so happy they finally started, as you know I was getting a bit nervous. Here’s to a happy and successful nesting season!
And an update
on the Bluebirds. Somehow things seem a little different this year, and I am not sure what is going on. As it is, no nest has been built. The male is hanging around, and the female is alive and shows up with him, and both are checking the nestbox but nothing else is happening. She is either building / having a nest elsewhere or they are really taking their time this year. I am a bit nervous and I hope they will eventually choose to nest here again. If they didn’t it would be the first time in eight years.
The garden
is getting soaked with heavy rains, and last night there was even a thunderstorm. Spring continues to march into the area. The Bluebirds have still not started their nest yet but with these temperatures, I am not too sad about it. And there continue to be little surprises every day. When I saw him, I was just wowed! I am not even sure I have read about that variety before. A rare blue-morph Cardinal! He was only here briefly last night and has not returned yet. And a Flicker has also found his way to the yard and loves the bark butter by the tree cam.
Two cuties to go into the weekend.
The Bluebirds are visiting every day but she has still not started to build yet. I recognize her by her furrowed brow. Her man is around a lot more but I hope when we go into April she will finally get to work on her nest. The Titmice were plenty and vocal today, and this one just cracked me up. Here’s to a great weekend!
Nestbox news: Bird talk
The other day while playing around on TikTok, I found out that there is an auto-caption feature that looks through a video to detect speech. You can set it to whatever language you like and it will scan the video to see if it picks anything up. Now since a couple of days ago I saw it interpreting BB talk into a phrase, I am trying with every BB video I have to see what comes up. And this morning, there was a whole cute little dialogue going on. It is so cute. As somebody who is a professional subtitler, I find this highly interesting but also amusing. AI subtitling may have improved a lot recently, but if you are being serious about it, a human subtitler, interpreter and translator is the way to go.
And another Bluebird photo
but I feel like there can never be too many. Today, the male visited the box a lot, checking to see if things are ok, and the female seems to have checked to see if she likes the atmo in the area. She also came to the feeders and I just loved her little furrowed brow.
Nestbox news: Doing the shuffle
The Bluebirds have been doing a lot of nestbox visits to inspect and clean up recently. This year's couple is named Johnny and June, and here you can see her doing her little shuffle for the first time this season. She has not actively started building yet but given that last year she begun March 1, we may be close to that.
I am again using the 6 inch diameter PVC box that I made last year. The little grid you see on the bottom is just the lid of a suet cage on which I bent the corners to fit. It is in there to elevate the nest from the bottom to help with ventilation and also to help prevent harm from Blowfly larvae (they hide in the bottom of a nest and only come out at night to feast on the babies. The female is usually aerating the nest, and in my thinking, the larvae will fall down and end up on the floor underneath the grid from where they cannot climb up to the babies.)
Also - a happy Women’s Day to all on this March 8th.
The Bluebirds also came over today.
It looks like they still have not decided which box they want to use, but I would love for them to go for their usual spot. This year’s couple is gonna be Johnny and June. The male was around more frequently in the last couple of weeks but the female has started to come around more too. I am expecting her to start nest building soon but I also hope she takes her time because winter temps are not over yet. I love seeing how the female differs from the male in appearance (she’s photo 2 & 3).
After the snowstorm last night,
we did not have any internet, but the sun was shining and everything looked beautiful. I pretty much put a coat over my PJs and put the photo cams out to capture some of that morning sun. The Grackles were shiny, and everybody else was happy to find food (Bluebird, Grackle, House Finch, Mourning Dove).
Extreme weather days
always make for some good birdwatching, and the feeders were buzzing at times yesterday despite the freezing rain. The light was murky, but this just kind of makes their colors pop. Here are some of the visitors. Top left to bottom right: American Goldfinch, Eastern Bluebird, Blue Jay, House Finch, Redbellied Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal.
Some more sights
of Mr. Blue today. I am still trying to come up with names for the couple this year but so far, I have come up with nothing. There is still time though, they have not started building yet.
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.
Today was a good day!
The sun was shining this morning, and when I brought the cams out, I heard a familar song - a Bluebird! Later I also saw a couple checking out the nestbox. It’s been a while, they have not been visiting a lot during this mild and sunless winter, so I was very happy. I could not see any Starlings, so I quickly put some mealers in the bowls and hope for the best. And look at this beautiful BB man in the awkwardly bright winter sun. I have missed this sight. I have begun thinking about nestbox maintenance and will soon get to work to see what I can improve for this season.
