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: 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 news: Almost done!
After the framework mostly made of pine needles, Gayle is now shaping the nest cup and lining it with soft materials like grass and feathers. This looks pretty much done now. I love how thick the "walls" of the nest are, this should be very helpful if we are experiencing another sudden frost, which can always happen during spring in Michigan. The old box did not allow for a cozy nest like that.
Nestbox news: It's getting interesting
Gayle has continued to haul material into the box all morning, and now a nestcup is beginning to form. I would not be surprised if she laid her first egg tomorrow, but we will see. Here is the nest as it looks today, and photos of Gayle and Mr. Business. He is the one with more blue.
Nestbox news: Back in business!
The weather has been rather nasty this week, and Gayle did not really do a ton on the nest. Today that changed, though. Temperatures were lovely but you could not feel them because there was a big storm raging all morning and the first half of the day. Yet, Gayle resumed her efforts and made quite some progress. I hope this means the weather will continue to improve now. All the visits in this clip are from today, I edited a bit.
Nestbox news: Mr. Business does Gayle a favor
That pesky leaf that Gayle was not able to fully remove is now finally gone thanks to the help of Mr. Business. It took two attempts and some funny interaction between the to to finally remove it. I love when they “talk” to each other, it is so eandearing. My favorite is when he does the triple whistle. It almost sounds like he poses a question. This is from two days ago, and the nest has grown now.
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 news
I have recently also replaced my Gilbertson with a slightly larger version (6 instead of 4 inches in diameter and homemade), and it looks like I made the switch just in time.
There has been lots of Bluebird activity today, both are taking turns bringing things in and out (even though he looks to be a bit more excited than her, even making the nest shaping "shuffle"). I added the needles to make the transition for them easier and the box less "new". The larger box is supposed to help them raising stronger and healthier chicks, providing more room to exercise the wings and also better air flow during hot times.
They are very entertaining to watch and I am excited to see what happens next.
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.
Hatch day for the House Wrens
Yesterday, the House Wren babies have started to hatch. It was interesting to see how the female was taking the egg shells out rather than eating them. But maybe she ate some and threw some out because seven eggs make a lot of egg shell. In the video, you see her tossing out two shells and then you also get a glimpse of the teensy babies. Since they built the whole structure so well, lighting in the box is a bit murky but hopefully things improve a bit once the babies get bigger. I think that so far, all but two eggs have hatched. I am curious to see if the babies will keep them busy enough so that the male loses interest in the BB box. So far, he has not returned with any sticks. The BBs are still around too. They feed their babies from brood 2, and at least the male checks by the box regularly.
Nature can be cruel.
This morning, Dr. Clara laid her third egg and despite the extreme heat, things looked great. However, at 9 pm, a House Wren went into the BB box, pierced all three eggs and threw them out. I am not sure what is going to happen now but I am heartbroken, tbh. This has never happened in the five years I’ve been doing this, and it feels like this season is cursed. I will think of solutions, and the nestbox that is currently occupied by the Wren will be removed once the babies have fledged.
If you want to learn more about the impact of House Wrens, I recommend sialis.org.
Another nestbox update
Dr. Clara laid her first egg of brood 3 this morning and Lady Corleone is diligently incubating her clutch of seven. Meanwhile the yard is starting to fill up with bird babies, yesterday I saw a Cardi feeding a youngster, they seem to have two. I hope they go and visit the cameras too! The birdbath is a good point to watch right now too, the baby Orioles and Grosbeaks like it a lot. I am still waiting for the second clutch of the Bluebird babies to come to the yard too but that should also soon happen. Things are picking up again finally!
Video: A nestbuilding timelapse
Dr. Clara the Bluebird has been very busy building her nest, a lot faster than the first two. I always find it fascinating to see them build, and the timelapse shows nicely the different sections. First a base, then some framing, then bedding and then embellishments. Since she started in such a hurry I expect her to start laying eggs soon too.
I have been a little behind here with posts lately but there is not a lot happening, and then there was all this rain. The rain has mucked up the pond quite a bit too, so it needed a bit more cleaning than usual but it will be up and running later today. And more photos :) Happy Thursday!
It looks like Dr. Clara and Mandrake
are going for another round. She has started building a nest yesterday, and once again was not too happy with Mandrake trying to help 😄 The House Wren has laid a total of seven eggs and is currently incubating. We had some nasty weather here recently and I am happy to see the nestboxes withstood the storms just fine. I hope the same goes for the bird babies in the area. I am expecting to see more any day now.
Video: Dr. Clara and Mandrake
both take turns to bring caterpillars, flies, moths, yellow jackets and spiders to their young. It is amazing what these tiny shrimp can swallow, but often, they need to empty themselves right away too. Which is what you see here. Mom takes the white fecal sac, the "diaper", and either eats it or discards it away from the nest.
Video: The House Wren has been diligently constructing the nest,
and I am so intrigued by witnessing the whole process. He builds something like a little fortress, with ladders going all the way down to the nest. Here, you can see him adding spider egg sacs. There are several theories about why they do it, one is that the spiders will help with mite control, another that they are purely ornamental. I have decided to call him Sir Corleone because "Lion Heart", "cor leonis" is one of the names that has been attributed to these fierce tiny birds in the past. He is a strong singer, and I am excited to see if he can attract a female.
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.