Click on image above for larger version. In 2008, this trail consists of 8 boxes.
See trail description. I"adopted" this trail in 2008. I put small squares of "Bounce" fabric softener sheets in boxes that had mice in 2007/2008 as a deterrent. All boxes were cleaned and caulked on 3/23/08. No boxes have baffles, but all are mounted on metal poles, about 5 feet off the ground. I expect House Wren problems, but will wait one year before moving boxes. In 2008, it consisted of 9 boxes. Also see info on unmanaged boxes on golf course across the street.
3/23: EABL pine needles? left.
3/30: EABL nest 1/2 done
4/7: nest complete, no egg
4/10: mouse in nest. Removed, removed grass addition.
4/13: no egg, no bluebirds around. Placed plastic bottle baffle on box.
4/15: 2 eggs!
4/17: 4 eggs, installed wren guard.
4/20: 5 eggs, male perching. Two fell out, replaced. Fed mealworms.
4/26, 5/1: 5 eggs, doing fine
5/11: babies about 1/2 way at least, eyes open
5/17: babies fine
5/30: All fledged, cleaned, blow flies.
6/7: 2nd nest, 3 eggs, put wren guard back.
6/12: 5 eggs!
7/26: fledged
NABS 22
lawn, garden, 40? ft from 23
?
HOWR S
5 HOWR
4/15, 20, 26: empty
5/11, 17: still empty, rmd bounce square
6/7: HOWR 3d rmd
6/12: HOWR, 6eol
7/26: 5 HOWR, 1 jumped out, returned to box
TROYER 9
lakefront, lawn
New in 2008
HOWR F
EABL S
EABL 4 eggs, 4 hatched, 4 fledged
4/15, 20: empty. Box moved to center grass island.
4/26: HOSP? Not sure. Feather
5/1: no feathers, no other change
5/11, 17, no change, rmd
5/30: HOWR, few sticks, removed
6/7: empty, but EABL perched
6/12: HOSP?
7/26: 4 bluebirds ~ 1 week
fledged (moved from NABS 10T?)
4/15: empty
4/20: Male bluebird seen, partial nest.
4/26: no eggs, complete nest
5/1: 3 eggs
5/11: 3 eggs.
5/17: 1 unhatched eggs, 2 nestlings
5/30: Babies still there.
6/7: fledged, nest remd, 1 unhatched eggs egg.
6/12: new nest, 1 egg!
7/?: 1 egg
7/26: Empty, not flattened. Moved to Troyer?
Notes:
Mice are clearly going to be the biggest challenge here, along with House Wrens. No HOSP seen.
4/15: saw female bluebird. No action other than mice in other boxes.
4/26: heard a HOSP by barn. Realized there are a bunch of boxes on the golf course too! All had mouse, paperwasps, some HOWR and 3 with flying squirrels, one with EABL nest.
When Nature made the bluebird she wished to propitiate both the sky and the earth, so she gave him the color of the one on his back and the hue of the other on his breast, and ordained that his appearance in spring should denote that the strife and war between these two elements was at an end. He is the peace-harbinger; in him the celestial and terrestrial strike hands and are fast friends. He means the furrow and he means the warmth; he means all the soft, wooing influences of the spring on the one hand, and the retreating footsteps of winter on the other.
John Burroughs, The Bluebird, 1867
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