Nesting News

It's been awhile since I've given you an update on the nesting situation here.  If you've been reading along, you may remember the bluebirds' dilemma over which box to choose.  They have several choices close by our house.  Three in the backyard, and others nearby, too.  Even though we give the birds numerous choices, they still compete for housing.

Box # 1 has been taken by the House Sparrows (also called English Sparrows).

That's the female on top of the box, and the male clinging onto the hole on the front.
They've already built a nest inside.  Here the female has something nice and soft to add:

The male looks rather noble in the next photo-- standing guard, but they are not known for their patrician disposition. They are more thought of as nasty aliens (which they are, since they were introduced to America from Europe in 1851) who take over nesting spots from our native bluebirds. 

They have already built their nest.

Nest box # 2 seemed to be the bluebirds favorite, until the tree swallows showed up.

But even which tree swallows will succeed in using it might be in question!

"Mine!"              "No, Mine!"

One pair decided briefly to investigate house # 3:

But I'm still hoping the bluebirds will use that one, and they seem to be keeping an eye on it.

even while the tree swallows are nearby.

In other locations, I have not seen the chickadees at the box they were looking over recently.  But I do know where there is a nest of another sort....

It took a trip by kayak to take a look.  Can you see where it is?

How about now?

I waited til the goose decided I was too close for comfort and swam off before scooting in quickly to get these shots:

In other nesting news, so far this year the great-blue herons have not been using the old heron nest.  But an osprey stopped by on April 19th and sat there eating a fish.

I crept up as close as I could (on land) and he didn't seem to mind.  There was still a lot of water between him and me that day.

It's fun to see the heron nest from the kayak, too... gives it a different perspective.

Too bad the heron nest isn't going to have babies in it this year, but the old tree is still good for lots of birds to perch on. I guess getting old isn't all bad!

This old tree gets to have herons, red-winged blackbirds, tree swallows, kingfishers, an occasional osprey and bald eagle for company.  Sometimes even a strange lady in a blue kayak!

Prime Real Estate

Just the other day, I mentioned to the Mr. that some of our bluebird boxes were getting rather shabby.  Possibly needed new roofs.  Instead of renovations, he made some completely new ones and put them up.  Wasn't that nice?  The birds thought so, too.

The past three mornings, Papa and Mama Bluebird have been house hunting.  

 "How about letting me have a look inside?"

"Okay, Mama, take a look."

"It seems pretty nice, but I'm just not sure", says Mama.

"And what if those pesky House Sparrows come back?"

 

"You know, they were actually already starting to claim it as theirs, until that lady cleaned their stuff out -- 

said they didn't have a lease for it!"

"Yes, well, they seemed to have moved on, dear... at least for the moment." replies Papa.

"All their stuff is gone."

"Perhaps it's just a little too close to the people-house?" says Mama, thinking out loud.

"Okay, then what about this one?  It's farther away, but the house is basically the same," Papa replies.

"Honey, we don't have to decide today.  Let's go have some breakfast!" says Papa, and off he flies.

Time will tell if the bluebirds make their home in one of these boxes, or somewhere else entirely.  I'm not sure where they are spending their afternoons... they might be looking at more real estate.  But I'm really hoping they will decide to nest where I can watch them right outside our window!

Nest Updates

In case you've been wondering, I want to update you on how our bird parents are doing.

The Robin with the nest in the roll of fencing is doing quite well.
(except when I occasionally visit and she has a conniption.  So I never stay long!

The babies don't seem to mind me though.  They were pretty sleepy this morning when I took these photos!

The Phoebe family, as I feared, did not make out so well with their nest on a nail.

If they try the same spot again, they will find this shelf I put up for them.  Hopefully, that will be safer!

We have a House Wren's nest in our little box under our Hemlock tree.  I hope they are nesting there, because I can see it from my kitchen window.  I hear the male wren singing, which is so lovely, but I have not actually seen a bird going in and out of the box.  I've been watching... but haven't had too much time to do that, and so far they have eluded me.  I'm hoping they are using this nest.  Did you know the male House Wren typically makes several nests and the female gets to pick the one she likes best?  Then she may even rebuild it to suit herself, as she is going to be the one to incubate the eggs!

Wrens really fill up the space with twigs.  I just read that there are sometimes over 700 twigs in one wren's nest!  Now, that's a busy bird!

Another bird's nest I can see from my kitchen window is one of our Baltimore Orioles.  

They are still coming to eat from our grape jelly feeder.  But they also are incubating eggs (as far as I can tell from their activity, since I can't see into their nest which is high in a cherry tree!)

Look closely and you can see the Mama Oriole's head sticking out at the top right side of the nest.

Next, we have a nesting story that I haven't quite figured out.  We have three bluebird boxes near our vegetable garden.  Three... to try to quell the competition for them a bit.  In early spring we were trying to fight off the House Sparrows (removing their nests) so the Bluebirds or Tree Swallows could use the boxes.  Bluebirds came, but left.  Sad!  But this week, they've been back!  However, so have the House Sparrows.  I'm not sure what is going to happen.  The Bluebirds have been checking out all three boxes (the Tree Swallows gave up the box they were trying to use and instead are nesting in one box by our driveway and one in the hayfield).

The Robin is sitting on top, just because it's a nice spot to use to look for worms, and the House Sparrow is looking out of the box.  Poor male Bluebird is not very happy with either!

The House Sparrow (a male) comes out to see what's going on.

There are three boxes... all available, why can't you each just pick a different one?

I shouldn't have favorites, I guess, but I hope the Bluebirds win out. 

After the House Sparrow flew away, this is what the male Bluebird did.  So I think he is still hoping to use this box.

Then he posed on the fence post.  Do you think he knows he's beautiful? 

"Which is my better side?  Or are both equally beautiful?"

Then he flew down and sat and sang on my clothesline.  Good thing I had not hung out my sheets yet.  Though, I would forgive him if I had to re-wash them!

Also, another nest update -- all three places where Painted Turtles laid their eggs are still intact as of this morning.  Even the one I helped by putting them into the ground!