Western Bluebird Nestbox Monitoring - April 2nd, 2017

Sunday 2017-04-02 (10:00-11:00): We continued our new Sunday routine today, enjoying another gorgeous visit to the vineyard to monitor nestboxes. There was a bit of fog when we first arrived, which is so characteristic of this region.

Today we more properly labeled each box, and remembered to take measurements of the hole diameter and compass bearing.

Box#1: Empty, but two small twigs had been brought in. This is the box that I thought I saw a Wren on top of last week.

Box #2: Empty.

Box #3: Oh dear ... there was a dense cluster of blue feathers on the ground below the box. Feathers and fresh droppings were on the top and sides of the box, and there were a few pieces of straw inside the box. This box may be too near the vine post, thereby enabling predator access?

Evidence of a predation event at the base of Box #3.

Box #4: Empty.

There's been some new trees planted near boxes #4 thru #8.

Box #5: Empty, but two Vespids were inside.

Box #6: There were a few pieces of straw inside the box, and fresh droppings on the box roof. We removed a Vespid, and applied more lye soap to the inside of the box.

Box #7: Empty, but a single Vespid flew out of the box so we re-applied lye soap to the inside. This box and possibly a few others need a few more ventilation holes drilled.

Box #8: Empty, but this box had several pieces of straw inside and Tree Swallows were seen bringing nesting material to the box.

Interior of Box #8.

Box #8.

Box #9: Empty, but there was evidence of recent bird activity: fresh droppings and a few pieces of straw.

Box #10: Empty, but a few pieces of straw had been added to the box.

We had quite a thrill when we spotted a Bullock's Oriole!, in the tree near Box #8.