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: A labor of love
Gayle has been working on the nest a lot even up until this morning but today around 11 she was finally done. She settled in and laid the first egg of the season. It is always fascinating to me how these small living beings are able to create something so delicate as a 1 inch egg and raise a fully fledged bird out of it within about a month. As you can see, laying the first one is quite the task, it looks like she is experiencing labor. The sparrow spooker is up and I am very happy. She will now lay one egg per day until her clutch is complete, and will then start to incubate. Here is to a great nesting season!
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!
Nestbox update: Bluebirds
I have enjoyed peeking into the nestbox via camera all week, and am happy to report that everything looks fine with these Bluebird babies. The fifth egg hatched one day later than the first four, but all babies look healthy and have been growing well. The summer weather is a two-sided coin, I am always a bit nervous about them getting too hot, but I think it is also giving Dr. Clara a break because she does not have to sit in the box the whole time. When she does, Mandrake often comes to bring food. There are plenty of insects in our yard so I am fairly sure that this brood has a good start in life. I will post some more videos later this weekend.
Video: House Wren cleaning up and starting nest
The "Starling-proof" Flicker box that we built and hung did not attract the species it was designed for, so I decided to change things up a bit and hung the Troyer that I built in that spot. I saw a Downy checking it out and packed it tightly with wood shavings in case she wanted to excavate a roosting spot. Then, a differently looking beak showed up and started to get to work. A House Wren! It started taking the shavings out, one by one, hyperactively, and now has begun to bring sticks in. Wrens have nested in that spot before and I am happy to see them back. I don't want to tinker with the door to restrict access to larger species now, so we will have to see if the Troyer style works out. At least with the camera I can monitor precisely.
Bluebird nest #2 - 2021
Dr. Clara and Mandrake's second brood is underway. I am very excited about this and hope to get some cool videos with the new cam. The sparrow spooker is also installed now and Dr. Clara accepted it right away. If you want to know what a sparrow spooker is and how you can help Bluebirds and other native cavity nesting birds succeed, I recommend visiting sialis.org, a website that covers nearly every aspect of the topic. I will collect photos of the egg laying here.
May 26, 2021: Dr. Clara spent another night in the box. We finally got some rain last night, and it stormed for quite a bit. Temperatures have dropped a lot too, and today it is a lot more bearable outside. she is in the box a lot but I am not entirely sure if she is already starting to incubate or if she will lay another egg tomorrow. I guess we wil lsee then.
May 25, 2021: Like clockwork, Dr. Clara laid another egg this morning. She also spent most of the night in the nestbox which I found a bit unusual. Now it will be interesting to see how many more eggs she will lay. I had a clutch of six one year, and this is the “main season” brood with the best amount of bugs around and the mildest temperatures.
May 24, 2021: On time, egg three was laid this morning. Temperatures have fallen after a hot couple of days, and it is a bit rainy out. Dr. Clara has not spent a lot of time in the box yesterday but I was happy to see her coming right back this morning.
May 23, 2021: The second egg is laid, at around the same time, between 8:30 and 9 AM. Temperatures outside are very mild in the morning and turn hot in the afternoon, so the female is not visiting a lot. Both adults and the babies are hanging around.
May 22, 2021: Dr. Clara lays the first egg early in the morning.
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: 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 building nest
We put a hole restrictor on the Flicker box a while ago so that only small birds like a Wren or Chickadee could get in. It looks like a Wren found it accomodating.
We will see if this turns into an actual nest or just a mock nest.
Last but not least,
after three Bluebird babies hatched yesterday, the fourth seems to have made it out this morning as well.
New Bluebird clutch!
Lagertha has been busy building her nest for a while now, and today, she laid the first egg of her second clutch. She will now lay one egg per day until her clutch is complete, and then she will start incubating them. Ragnar and the babies from the first clutch are around, and they might help her later to feed the new babies. I am busy with work today, so no new photos or videos before tomorrow, but you can check out this Bored Panda article or the livestream if you crave some. Have a beautiful Monday!
And Lagertha is building again too.
Now that the first set of Bluebird babies has fledged, she is ready to give it another go, and has started to fill the box with nesting material again.
The Bluebird babies
are at what I call the “strawberry stage” right now. they are basically done, and wear their gray kiddo PJs with the white dots, which on the nestbox cam makes them look like strawberries. They have been very agile for the last two days, exercising their wings and also peeking out of the nestbox with their little froggie faces. They hatched on May 7, which means they are very close to fledging. It has been rather hot and humid today, and I feel like tomorrow might be fledge day, even though Wednesday would be day 20 and more normal. They just look so incredibly lively already. The parents will then lead them away a bit to teach them the basics of BB life, and bring them back to the yard to show them the feeders after a couple of weeks. In the meantime, Lagertha might start another nest. I cannot wait to see them outside!
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.
Video: It's hatch day!
The Bluebird babies are hatching this morning. A cold front is supposed to come but they are on schedule. So far, only one made it out, and he was wearing a cute helmet.
Nestbox camera: The House Wren is back
For several years now, a House Wren has raised broods in a nestbox that we made with the intention to get woodpeckers to nest in there. It is quite a mansion for such a tiny bird, but they seem to like it. I am excited to see how things progress.
Eggciting times!
Lagertha laid a fourth egg yesterday and then a fifth this morning. She also spent last night on the nest and is in there right now. I think she might be done laying and will begin incubation now. After all, this was pretty good timing because it seems like the weather might be warming up now. For those who are curious about the timeline, here is a link to a great overview with photos. But I will keep you in the loop too :)
BB nestbox update
I forgot to post yesterday, but Lagertha is a steady layer, which makes me happy. She laid a new egg yesterday, and the third one this morning. We still have light night frost, and I hope the eggs will be ok. Oh, and happy Earth Day :)
Here we go :)
On this sunny Monday morning, Lagertha, the Bluebird lady, went into the nestbox and stayed there a bit longer than usual. I was hoping the day would finally have come, and I was right. Shortly before 9 in the morning, she laid a beautiful blue egg, starting a new clutch that will hopefully be successful. If things go normal, she will lay an egg per day from today until she is done with the clutch. During that time, she will only occasionally check on the eggs and not sit on them permanently. Once her clutch is completed (usually between 3 and 5 eggs), she will start incubating, meaning that she will sit on the eggs, warming them with her brood patch, a skin fold on her belly (you can see some sort of a “crevice” on many birds right now - that is where it is) and turning and moving them to incubate them evenly. She only starts incubating when her clutch is complete so that all chicks will hatch on the same day. Most of the times, that works perfectly, some times there are some that lag a bit behind.
Video: Starlings trying to get into nestbox
My second nestbox has a small entrance hole that would only fit Chickadees or Wrens but has a door slab that woodpeckers could modify in their own style. Now that nesting season is beginning, Starlings are also showing interest. They can’t get in, but you can hear how much they wanted to. I am trying a new camera solution in there and I am excited to see what the season brings with this box.
