Western Bluebird Nestbox Monitoring - Totals For 2017

We SO enjoyed the nestbox monitoring and birds at the Duhig Road site.

Box #1: 3 Tree Swallow fledglings (between 7/10 and 7/18).
Box #2: Not used.
Box #3: Western Bluebird (predation of Bluebird evidence) and then Tree Swallow nesting evidence (using Bluebird feathers from predation), but no fledglings.
Box #4: 3 Western Bluebirds fledglings (between 5/26 and 6/5). Another 2 (or 3?) Western Bluebirds fledglings (between 7/10 and 7/18), 1 unhatched egg.
Box #5: 5 Tree Swallow eggs, (2 first appeared on 6/18), but they never hatched.
Box #6: 5 Tree Swallow fledglings (between 5/26 and 6/5).
Box #7: 4 (or 5?) Tree Swallow fledglings (between 6/11 and 6/18).
Box #8: 4 (or 5?) Tree Swallow fledglings (between 5/26 and 6/5; Jeff thought appeared sluggish on 5/26). Five eggs laid, and at least 4 nestlings were alive on 7/18, but 4 nestlings were found dead on 8/3.
Box #9. Four Western Bluebird chicks (between 5/21 and 5/23), 1 died. Three Western Bluebird fledglings (between 7/3 and 7/18), 1 unhatched egg.
Box $10: Not used.

Total Tree Swallow fledges: Box #1-3, Box #6-5, Box #7-5, Box#8-5: Total 16-18 new Tree Swallows, from 4 different boxes.
Total Western Bluebird fledges: Box #4-3 plus 3, Box #9-3 plus 3: Total 11-12 new Western Bluebirds, from 2 different boxes.

Western Bluebird Nestbox Monitoring - July 18th, 2017

Western Bluebird Nestbox Monitoring - July 18th, 2017

Tuesday 2017-07-18 (mid-day): Mom and I are back from our trip, and back to checking up on "our" birds.

Box #1: The Tree Swallows have hopefully fledged; the box is now empty. We cleaned it out.

Box #2: Still empty. 

Box #3: Still empty.

Box #4: Hopefully the Western Bluebird chicks have fledged; the box is now emtpy. There was one unhatched blue egg. We cleaned out the nestbox.

Box #4. An unhatched Western Bluebird egg.

Box #5: There are still 5 Tree Swallow eggs. They probably should have hatched by now? When Jeff checked this box on August 3rd, there were still 5 unhatched eggs.

Box #5. Tree Swallow eggs.

Box #6: Still empty.

Box #7: Still empty.

Box #7.

Box #8: There are four nestlings, fully feathered. I saw one peak out of the nestbox as we approached. When Jeff checked this box on August 3rd, these chicks were found dead, unfortunately ... maybe something happened to the parents and they weren't being fed enough?

Box #8. Tree Swallow nestlings.

Box #8. Tree Swallow nestlings.

Box #9: There was one Western Bluebird egg that had not hatched. Otherwise the nest was empty; Hopefully the chicks fledged successfully. We cleaned out the nestbox.

Box #10: Still empty.

The grapes are getting bigger.

Western Bluebird Nestbox Monitoring - July 10th, 2017

Western Bluebird Nestbox Monitoring - July 10th, 2017

Monday 2017-07-10: My Mom and I are still away, so my Dad checked on "our" birds.

Box #1: The Tree Swallow parent remained on the nest. It looked like there are three Tree Swallow fledglings.

Box #1. Tree Swallow fledglings.

Box #2: Still empty.
Box #3: Still empty.
Box #4: The Western Bluebirds chicks are developing. There are at least two, but it is difficult to see.

Box #4. Western Bluebird nestlings.

Box #5: The Tree Swallow parent remained on the nest. It looked like there are still 5 eggs.

Box #5. Tree Swallow on nest.

Box #5. Tree Swallow eggs.

Box #6: Still empty.
Box #7: Still empty
Box #8: There are at least 3, probably 4 Tree Swallow nestlings, starting to get pin feathers.

Box #8. Tree Swallow nestlings.

Box #9: There are only two Western Bluebird nestlings visible, and an unhatched egg.

Box #9. Western Bluebird nestlings.

Box #10: Still empty.

Western Bluebird Nestbox Monitoring - July 3rd, 2017

Western Bluebird Nestbox Monitoring - July 3rd, 2017

Monday 2017-07-03 (late afternoon): Dad and my sister checked on the boxes today; Mom and I are on a trip in Idaho.

Box #1: It was difficult to count, but there are at least 3 Tree Swallow nestlings, fully feathered. Note in the picture that the Tree Swallows built their nest on top of the original Wren stick nest (that was never used by the Wrens).

Box #1. Tree Swallows nestlings. Note that the Tree Swallows built on top of the original Wren nest of sticks.

Box #2: Still empty.

Box #3: Still empty.

Box #4: The Western Bluebird eggs that had started to hatch last week, are now chicks. There are at least 3.

Box #4. Western Bluebird chicks.

Box #5. Still 5 white Tree Swallow eggs. The parent remained on the nest.

Box #5. Tree Swallow parent on nest.

Box #6: Still empty.

Box #7: Still empty.

Box #8: At least four pink Tree Swallow nestlings have finally hatched out.

Box #8. Newly hatched Tree Swallow nestlings.

Box #9: There are 3 Western Bluebird nestlings, starting to get pin feathers.

Box #10: Still empty.

Western Bluebird Nestbox Monitoring - June 25th, 2017

Western Bluebird Nestbox Monitoring - June 25th, 2017

Sunday 2017-06-25 (11am): Mom and I went today to check on "our" birds.

Box #1: The eggs have hatched and there are now Tree Swallow nestlings!
Box #2: Empty.
Box #3: Empty.

Box #3.

Box #4: There are still 4 Western bluebirds eggs, and one is just starting to hatch!

Box #4: Western bluebird eggs, with one in the process of hatching.

Box #5: Five Tree Swallow eggs now.
Box #6: Empty.
Box #7: Empty.
Box #8: Still 5 Tree Swallow eggs.
Box #9: The adult Western Bluebird remained on the nest!

Western Bluebird on nest, Box #9.

Box #10. Unchanged, empty.

Lots of "batchelor button" flowers.

HOT Western Bluebird Nestbox Monitoring - June 18th, 2017

Sunday 2017-06-18 (9am): The Bay Area is tucking into a heat wave, so we went a bit early to try to beat the heat. I am wishing we had thought to install shade baffles for these boxes, but this is being a learning experience. The "batchelor button" flowers have come into bloom, and the grasses are very tall. The two Red-tail hawk fledgings were perched on the nearby utility poles, and we were serenaded by their constant calls during our entire visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Box #1: A Tree Swallow exited the box as we approached, and there are now 5 perfectly white eggs inside. We added some ventilation holes along the top sides. This box may be advantageous in the warmer weather now, having some shade.

Box #1.

 

 

Box #2: Still empty. Some ventilation holes were added to the top and bottom.

Box #2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Box #3: Still an abandoned nest. My Dad added some additional top ventilation holes.

Box #3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Box #4: Western Bluebirds were seen nearby, and there are 4 beautiful blue eggs.

Near Box #4.

Box #4.

Box #4

Box #4.

Box #5. This box now has Tree Swallows in it -- and the adult did not leave during the nest check! She looked to be sitting on at least 2 eggs.

The Tree Swallow parent near Box #5.

Box #6: Empty.

Box #6.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Box #7: No longer occupied (hopefully the last clutch of Tree Swallow fledged), so we cleaned out the nest box.

Cleaning out Box #7.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Box #8: There is another Tree Swallow nest underway in this box -- with 5 eggs now.

Box #8. A Tree Swallow nest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Box #9: The Western Bluebirds have decided to use this box again, and there are now 4 blue eggs.

Box #9. Four blue eggs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Box #10. Still unchanged, no eggs.

Box #10.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to the Red-tails, this very large hawk was perched closeby in the trees near the creek ... can anyone identify it??

 

Western Bluebird Nestbox Monitoring - June 11th, 2017

Sunday 2017-06-11 (6pm): My Mom and I are still away at a conference in Boise, ID (and visiting the World Center for Birds of Prey -- we visited two days in a row!!), so my Dad once again checked the nests this week.

Box #1: The Tree Swallow egg count has increased from 2 to 5!
Box #2: Unchanged, still empty.
Box #3: Still an abandoned nest, no eggs.
Box #4: Wow, that did not take long at all for a second Western Bluebird nest to be started. And there are 3 eggs already!

Box #4. A new Western Bluebird nest has been started, with 3 eggs.

Box #5:  After long being empty, a nest of straw has finally been started in this nestbox (likely by Western Bluebirds).

Box #5. No longer empty.

Box #6: Empty.
Box #7: The (4 or 5) Tree Swallow nestlings are still in the nest, but they are fully-feathered and should fledge soon.

Box #7: Super-cute Tree Swallow nestlings.

Box #8: A new nest has been started, but there are no eggs yet.
Box #9: The mother Western Bluebird remained on her new nest during the box check, and there were 4 beautiful blue eggs.

Box #9. A new Western Bluebird nest, with mother and her 4 eggs.

 Box #10: Still the same; empty.

The two Red-tail hawk chicks have fledged and were spotted in a tree near their nest -- and one was eating a snake!

Red-tail Hawk fledglings.

Western Bluebird Nestbox Monitoring - June 5th, 2017

Friday 2017-06-26: The Jessops had other commitments over the weekend, so our Nestbox Monitoring Coordinator Jeff checked the nests for us:

Box #1: Still some sticks (probably from a Wren), but no eggs.
Box #2: Still empty.
Box #3: Still an abandoned nest, no eggs.
Box #4: The 3 Western Bluebird nestlings are continuing to do well.
Box #5: Still empty.
Box #6: 5 Tree Swallow nestlings.
Box #7: The 5 Tree Swallow eggs hatched recently.
Box #8: 5 Tree Swallow nestlings present, but they appeared sluggish.
Box #9: 3 Western Bluebirds have fledged, but there was 1 dead nestling. Jeff cleaned out the box.
Box #10: Still empty.

Monday 2017-06-05 (10am): I'm away at a conference in Boise, ID (and visiting the World Center for Birds of Prey!), so my Dad checked the nests this week.

Box #1: Wow, there is now a Tree Swallow nest with 2 eggs!

Box #1, A new Tree Swallow nest!

Box #2: Still empty.
Box #3: Still an abandoned nest, no eggs.
Box #4: The 3 Western Bluebird chicks hopefully fledged successfully (the nest is now empty). Dad cleaned out the nestbox.
Box #5:  Empty.
Box #6: The 5 Tree Swallow chicks hopefully fledged successfully (the nest is now empty). Dad cleaned out the nestbox.
Box #7: There are at least two Tree Swallow nestlings.

Box #7. Tree Swallow nestlings all huddled together.

Box #8: Hopefully the 5 Tree Swallow chicks fledged (the nest is now empty). Dad cleaned out the nestbox.
Box #9: Wow that did not take long!: A new Western Bluebird nest of straw has been started (no eggs yet)!

Box #9 with a new Western Bluebird nest of straw already started.

Baby Birds Are Surprisingly Difficult to Enumerate -- Western Bluebird Nestbox Monitoring - May21st, 2017

Sunday 2017-05-21 (10-12pm): My friend Mary Ellen joined us today, and the baby birds were all present ... but not as well account for as I would like (they were still so hard to see well enough to count!). We brought a flashlight this time, which helped some, but it was still incredibly difficult to see well enough to count the chicks. And, many of my pictures are still being fuzzy. So, now I think we need a bigger mirror ... and I need to figure out how to keep my camera on the macro setting. We have resolved to do better data collection!


Box #1: Unchanged, all stick nest, no eggs.
Box #2: Empty, but there was some straw added this past week.

Box #2.

Box #3: Still an empty nest of straw and feathers.

Box #3.

Box #4: All 3 Western Bluebird hatchlings are all still developing.

Box #4.

 

Box #4.

Box #4. Three Western Bluebird nestlings. I think I see three yellow mouths.

Box #5: Empty.

Box #6: The Tree swallow nestlings in this box are starting to get pin feathers. We thought we counted 4, but it was very difficult to see ... When I checked last week's data, 5 is the number expected. They look so very similar to the Western Bluebird nestlings, but there might be some differences -- I think the gape on the Tree Swallow is larger in proportion to the rest of the head(?).

Box #6.

Box #6, Tree Swallow parent back in the box after we left.

Box #7: There are 5 Tree Swallow eggs, as expected. As had happened before, this parent remained on the nest even after we tapped on the box ... but did leave a few seconds after we opened the door fully. We watched afterwards to see the parents returning to the box. I am guessing that this pair got a later start, due to relocating from Box #3.

Box #7 with Tree Swallow parent on top.

Box #7. Using the flashlight and mirror to try to see the nest contents.

Box #8: Another big ball of Tree Swallow nestlings, and still so difficult to see and count! There were at least 4 (look for the yellow mouth and pointy beak), but there could be more ...

Box #8. Tree swallow nestlings.

Box #9: There was a nestling peaking out of the box as we approached: the shape and color of the mouth is still different from the adult. We were very, very careful when checking this nest, covering up the entrance and blocking the door as it was slowly opened. From the pictures, there are 3 nestlings, and one seems a bit more developed than the others. But, there may be a 4th nestling (which is expected) under the pile in the corner (see the tail sticking up?). The blue of their feathers was spectacular. We did not see any fledglings out of the box in the immediate area.

Box #9. A Western Bluebird nestling peaking out.

Box #9.

Box #9. Western bluebirds ... nearly ready to fledge. But are there 3 or 4?