Monday, June 28, 2010

White Bluebird Eggs


Box 6 had whitish bluebird eggs

June 26 Report:

Box 1: nest
Box 2: 4 chicks, removed 1 nonviable egg (had two tiny holes poked into it from the outside)
Box 3: 4 chicks (approx. 2 days old)
Box 4: nest (no eggs or chicks - a week ago there were 5 eggs)
Box 5: nest (no eggs or chicks - a week ago there were 2 chicks)
Box 6: 5 chicks (one day old)

Friday, June 25, 2010

Watching a Chick Hatch


Box #1:  3 Tree Swallow chicks ready to fledge - one dead chick in the box.  The box was damp and full of bird droppings.



Box #2 in the Parking Lot provided a first for me - I got to see a bluebird chick hatch!  (3 eggs, 2 hatchlings)



The action in the BRAW design bluebird box (#3)  was predictable:  5 healthy bluebird chicks

Only 1 Empty Box

Box #1:  empty - no nest/no eggs
Box #3:  5 chix
Box #5:  5 chix
Box #6:  5 chix
Box #8:  4 eggs

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Tarrant Park - Eggs are hatching

Box #1 is still empty - no nest.  House Sparrows sitting on top.

Box #3:  5 bluebird chicks

Box #5:  4 bluebird chicks

Box #6:  5 bluebird chicks

Box #8:  4 bluebird eggs

I forgot

Yesterday the 6 wrens fledged but I forgot to post it at that time.  That's from box #2 which I will take down later today to minimize the risk of housing predators  We have discovered that the box is the wrong design for bluebirds.  It was too small, and too narrow at the bottom.

Box #1 has its growing brood of 5 bluebirds.  One always has its mouth open up in the air and the four others are sleeping. I can't guarantee that its always the same bird who is waiting actively for food.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Eggs @ Tatanka

Box #1:  empty

Box #2:  5 warm bluebird eggs.  Adult on the box

Box #3:  4 Bluebird eggs (starling on the roof)

Box #4:  5 bluebird Eggs

Box #5:  2 bluebird chicks (started out with 5 eggs)  remains of 2 eggs on the ground under the nest box

Box#6:  Five warm, whitish bluebird eggs

Kings Highway Peterson box - nest, no eggs
Kings Highway Peterson box by Stai Coulee - empty and wet.

The Importance of Nest Box Design


I used to think that where and how you installed a bluebird nest box - the actual box location and pole - are more important than nest box design.

When I first saw the box the Bluebird Restoration Society of Wisconsin (BRAW) recommends, I was skeptical.  It didn't look much like the boxes I'd written about (in the US-Fish and Wildlife Service pamphlet For The Birds).  I didn't think much of the design.

But Dr. Kent Hall and his colleagues at BRAW had thoroughly tested their design and their success is supported by the data they've collected over the years. 

This season, I installed one of the BRAW boxes at Eau Galle Cheese Shop and moved the 2 existing boxes (not quite up to North American Bluebird Society standards) to better locations.  (I did not have permission to replace them with BRAW boxes.)

My experience this spring with the nest boxes at Eau Galle Cheese Factory erased my doubts about the BRAW-design boxes.  The BRAW nest box and pole set-up is by far the best (most productive) for Wisconsin bluebirds.

Here's what I saw in the three nest boxes at the Eau Galle location:






This "home made" box - box #2 - is in a good location - at the edge of the customer parking lot.  It looks good to the human eye (and apparently to House Sparrows and starlings too).  When I drove up to monitor the box this week, a starling was sitting on the roof. 

Unfortunately this attractive box has been deadly for bluebirds.

During the first brood, a pair of bluebirds tried to nest in it.  They were under constant attack by House Sparrows and starlings.  Location wasn't the problem;  it's the design.

According to bluebird researchers, the hole size is too big (making it easy for starlings to get inside and kill the bluebirds), the vent at the top is too generous (making the box vulnerable to wet and cold weather) and the interior dimensions are too small (for maximum bluebird productivity).

Tree Swallows gave it a try.  They failed too.

Finally, a few weeks ago, the bluebirds had built a nest and I thought they'd won the war.


Last week, the female refused to flush when I came to monitor the box.  This week, she was so tenacious I could actually pick her up.  That made me wonder why.

I took a closer look at the nest.  That's what monitoring is all about, right?  Look what I discovered:


Bluebird feathers under the grass nest. 


Then I pulled the nest (with the 5 eggs) out of the box and discovered the dead body of a male bluebird - with the new nest built on top of him.   I suspect the starlings killed the male, and the female found another mate.  But because the entrance hole is too big, the bluebirds are still vulnerable to starling attacks.

Taking the nest out of the box, I discovered the other problems with this box:  its interior dimensions are too small, the ventilation area at the top is too big and the entrance hole is too close to the floor.  It will be interesting to see how many of the 5 eggs will fledge.


I put the other "home made" box - Box #1 -  on a pole out by the highway, near a small tree.   This box was empty for this season' first brood.

I suspect design is to blame.  A drafty box is a deadly box in a chilly and wet spring.   Right now, five Tree Swallow nestlings are crowed in the box.  It's amazing what a difference an inch makes.

The BRAW box - Box #3 - at the entrance to the parking lot has been successful.  The first brood produced 5 fledglings.  They're on their 2nd brood with 5 warm eggs.  No signs of any problems so far.

Someone I met while I was monitoring the nest boxes recently asked:   You see all those nest boxes along the road and in backyards that have perches - your boxes don't look anything like them.  What difference does it make where you put them and what design you use?   The birds don't care.  They use them no matter what they look like and where you put them - regardless of whether you monitor them.  Right?

Yes, the birds will use them, regardless.   And that's the problem.  The difference between the boxes can be measured by their "success."

A successful bluebird nest box will fledge 5 chicks per brood.  If the birds produce 2 or 3 broods, that's a potential of 10-15 fledglings per box.

So far we've had no fledglings (out of a potential 10) and one dead adult bluebird in the 2 "home made"  boxes.  That's a success rate of -1.

We're 5 for 5 (with 5 more eggs) in the BRAW bluebird box.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

All 5 Bluebird Eggs Hatched

The happy family is all snuggled together and resting this evening.  The parents did not need to be concerned about keeping them warm.  It must have reached the mid 80's today.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

2nd Broods in Tarrant Park

Box #1 is still empty - no nest.

Box #3:  5 bluebird eggs

Box #5:  4 bluebird chicks

Box #6:  5 recently hatch bluebird chicks

Box #8:  2 bluebird eggs

Missing Eggs in Maxville


Maxville Box 1.1:  Last time I looked in this box there were 4 bluebird eggs.  Now we're down to 1 egg and one recently hatched chick


Maxville Box 1.2:   5 whitish blue bluebird eggs - warm.

Predation

The new pine boxes appear to be attractive to some kind of predator.  I found bluebird feathers and no chicks in one and a missing egg in the other.  Here's what's happening @ Tatanka Bluffs:

  Box #1:  feathers in the inside at the entrance of the box, 3 chicks gone.  (cat, raccoon?)

  Box #2:  5 warm bluebird eggs

  Box #3:  4 warm bluebird eggs

  Box #4:  5 warm bluebird eggs

  Box #5:  3 warm bluebird eggs (there were 4 the last time)

  Box #6:  5 white warm bluebird eggs

Down the road on Kings Highway in the Peterson style boxes:



Box #1 by the equipment barn:  4 bluebird chicks and 1 unhatched egg

Box #2 by Stai Coulee Rd:  empty

4 hatchlings and l egg

Two more bluebirds hatched during the night and were there with their 2 other siblings this morning at 6 a.m.  Their mother hovered nearby in a very old cottonwood tree.  I am hoping that no predators get to them as they did the last nest.  It makes me want to post a sentry by the box.  This is box #1.

Box #2 still houses the 6 baby wrens and their fierce mother.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

At last, 2 hatchlings


At  10 a.m. today my friend discovered 2 hatchlings from the 5 bluebird eggs in box #1.   It has been cool and rainy and I think the parents did a great job of incubating the eggs.


Meanwhile, the six baby wrens are doing quite well.  They have a very protective mother who dive-bombed me yesterday as I attempted to photograph the babies.  They are in box #2.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Eggs in the Park - Wrens @ Panther Bus

Fun Fest weekend in Durand.   Downtown and Tarrant Park were busy with people - cars and noise everywhere.  I braved the crowd and took a look at the boxes in the Park and Panther Bus parking area.

Tarrant Park

Box #1:  3  bluebirds fledged.  I cleaned out the box and found one old, cold unhatched bluebird egg


Box #3:  5  bluebird eggs


Box #5:  4 bluebird eggs


Box #6:  5 bluebird eggs

Box #8:  bluebird nest, no eggs -  the 5 eggs from 6/7 are gone


Panther Bus Parking Lot

Box #1:  grass nest

Box #2:  empty


Box #3:  4 House Wren eggs; 2 hatched chicks

Box #4:  6 House Wren chicks ready to fledge

Boxes Full!


Box #1:  Female sitting on 6 day-old Tree Swallow hatchlings


Box #2:  Female sitting on 5 bluebird egg.  She refused to flush, so I had to pick her up to count her eggs.  She is tenacious.  This was the box the House Sparrows fought over.


Box #3:  Female sitting on 5 bluebird eggs

Trees Swallows and Bluebirds

Box #1:  empty

Box #2:  (by the dirt road at Pepin Co Fairgrounds) 6 Tree Swallow chicks

Box #3:  empty, bluebird nest on the ground below the box, baffle immobile


Box #4:  4 Tree Swallow eggs


Box #5:  3 bluebird eggs

Box #6:  empty


Box #10:  5 bluebird chicks

Maxville Eggs


Box 1.1:  4 bluebird eggs


Box1.2:  4 white bluebird eggs

New Boxes @ Tatanka Bluffs

Here's what's happening @ Tatanka Bluffs today:


Box #1:  (new pine box)  3 bluebird chicks


Box #2:  (BRAW box)  5 bluebird eggs


Box #3: (BRAW box) 3 bluebird eggs


Box #4 (new cedar box- no baffle) 4 bluebird eggs


Box #5:  (new pine box by the pond w/ no baffle).  5 bluebird eggs.  One egg out of the nest cup - cold (I removed it).  4 warm bluebird eggs remain in the nest cup.


Box #6:  (BRAW box) 4 white bluebird eggs


Kings Hwy Peterson style box:  5 Bluebird Eggs

Kings Hwy Peterson style box by Stai Coulee Rd:  empty and wet

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

New Baby Wrens

The smallest birds I have ever seen, outside of hummingbird babies, are the six tiny wrens that hatched on Sunday June 6.  It took me 'till Mon to post this event and then the blog was down, as it was yesterday.  This is all in Bluebird box #2.  When these wrens fledge I'll remove the nest, clean out the box and then hope for bluebirds the next time around.

Box #1 still houses the 5 Bluebird eggs which are tended carefully by their parents.  I'll let you all know when they hatch.

Monday, June 7, 2010

They Keep Trying

Over the weekend I cleared Box 2 of its nest and 2 nonviable eggs. There had been 4 eggs. 2 were missing, and the other 2 were pushed down to the very bottom of the nest, touching the floor of the box. Today there's a new nest and two eggs.

Box 1: 4 chicks (1 week old)
Box 2: 2 eggs
Box 3: nest
Box 4: nest
Box 5: 4 eggs (1st time for eggs in this box in 2 years)
Box 6: nest

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Pole Baffles


I was checking the bluebird boxes at the Eau Galle Cheese Factory the other day, when a man in a pickup pulled up next to my car.  He had a question:  What's the white pipe for?

I invited him over to take a look at how it was installed, and explained how it works to deter bluebird predators.   Cats, raccoons, squirrels and snakes can easily climb up trees, wood poles and fence posts. Snakes have no problem with metal fence posts and poles.  These predators will eat the eggs, chicks and adults.

While there are several effective pole baffles, this wobbly plastic pipe is relatively inexpensive and easy to install.  And it works!

"And here I thought I was doing a good thing by putting bluebird boxes on my metal fence posts," the man in the truck said.

Then we got into the conversation about monitoring nest boxes.  He was amazed to learn that if you don't monitor the next box, you may be doing more harm than good.  And no, the birds don't abandon the nests if you touch the eggs and chicks.

Another "old husband's tale," I said.   While all birds have an olfactory nerve and thus a sense of smell, it's not very well developed in most songbirds.  There's no evidence to support the belief that birds will abandon their nest and young if you open the box and touch them.

For more information on how to set up and monitor a bluebird trail - and deal with predators - go to www.braw.org.

2nd Broods in Maxville


 

Maxville Box 1.1:  4 bluebird eggs

Maxville Box 1.2:  empty


Kings Highway Peterson style boxes
 

Kings Highway box 1:  5 bluebird eggs

Box by Stai Coulee:  empty

Friday, June 4, 2010

Tarrant Park

Box #1:  3 chicks
Box 2 is down
Box #3:  3 Bluebird Eggs
Box #5:  4 bluebird Eggs
Box#6:  5 Bluebird Eggs
Box #8:  The new nest has 3 bluebird eggs in it



There are 6 House Wren eggs box #3 in the bus parking lot


There are 6 House Wren Chicks box #4 in the bus parking lot

Eau Galle Cheese Factory


Box #1:  female tree swallow sitting on 5 eggs

Box #2:  bluebird nest (no eggs)  house sparrows flying around

Box 3:  4 Bluebird eggs, male and female hanging out nearby

Thursday, June 3, 2010

5 bluebird eggs


Box #1:  5 bluebird eggs

Box #2:  6 House wren eggs.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Tarrant Park - new nests

Box # 1 - three bluebird chicks
Box # 2  - male and female bluebird sitting on top of the box but no nest yet.
Box  # 3  -  2  fledged
Box  # 5  -  4 BB eggs
Box  # 6  -  4 BB eggs
Box  # 8  -  4 fledged, now a new nest

submitted by TP - Durand

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

6 Wren eggs, 3 Bluebird Eggs in Pepin

On the way to the Pepin trail at Prairie Hope, I had the good fortune to spot a wild turkey by the road



Jahnke Hill Road was covered with butterflies getting their early morning dose of sunshire, moisture and minerals.  Most flit off before I could get a photo, but this tattered red spotted purple became the first photo record for Pepin County at www.wisconsinbutterflies.org .

 
Here's what's been happening in the Pepin Twp boxes:

Box #1:  3 bluebird eggs


Box #2  House Wren eggs.  After they fledge, we'll move the box further away from the woods to make it more attractive to Bluebirds.