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.