New Season On The Nestbox Trail
We started a new season on our nestbox trail last weekend.
We have eight boxes up right now, spaced about 200 to 300 yards apart which means the trail is over a mile long. We plan to put up six more boxes this year and we need to hurry up and get them out. They provide nesting sites for cavity-nesting songbirds, mainly Eastern Bluebirds.
It was only the middle of February and it seemed early, but I had heard from a fellow Master Naturalist that it was time to start checking. The mild winter and recent warm weather had sped things up. Last year, we didn’t start checking the boxes until mid-March.
Sure enough, we detected activity in three of the boxes. Two had bluebird nests in them and one had what looked like a wren nest, but I’m not sure.
This is one of the bluebird nests. I’ve learned to recognize the bluebird nests – they’re quite distinctive and neatly made of grass. We didn’t see any eggs yet, however.
Eastern Bluebird Nest
This is the nest that looks like a wren nest. We’ll have to wait until it’s used to see what kind of bird made it. It reminds me of a wren nest because the opening is off to the side, giving the nest a lop-sided appearance. It’s made from a combination of coarser twigs and grass stems.
Possible Wren Nest
Pingback:Bluebirds Of Happiness - Mother Nature's Son
The wren’s nest shown above, is exactly like the one in our small birdhouse, that seemed to have 4 (?) little chicks in it, waiting for their final meals to take off, all at the same time!
Lots of sticks make up the nest in our box, tucked inside a graceful, hidden hemlock branch, with lots of privacy and semi blocked entrance. Could not see any activity, but heard LOTS of it in the house, ans not removing it, until the nest was suddenly empty! I wonder if both male and female do the feeding.