Tree Swallows which is mainly what I monitor every year.
Then I got really involved in our Peregrine Falcon nest which went on for a lot longer than past years. I guess having rescued two of the young, being my first real rescues, did something to me.
3 of the 4 young. Photo credit to Roger Leekam, fellow watcher.
In the end of the nesting season, I had 91 fledged Tree Swallows and 7 Black-capped Chickadees. I really thought I was going to hit 100+ but things happened like eggs stolen, nests abandoned before egg laying (never count your birds until they have hatched), a nest box knocked over and those 5 young died. It's funny to me that in '19 I had 19 nests and 91 fledged. Yes, I'm a bit of a numbers guy.
It is early February and while we have quite a bit of time yet, I'm getting my head around the 2020 season. Mental notes on what I could do vs what I have to do.
My friends up at Area One have started relocating some of the boxes, putting them in more accessible places. It's better for us with monitoring and better for the birds since the boxes are getting swallowed up in the growth. One issue is the growing number of House Wrens at this location. It is recommended to get the boxes away from the growing brush and hopefully deter the Wrens. Perhaps start cutting back some of this overgrowth too. But it's not my land, so I cannot make that decision.
Lambton is good to go but I will make another trip to the boxes in March and April.
The Forgotten Land I am still debating about. Should I continue or take down the last of the boxes and let it be forgotten? 2019 was a bad year for the nesting birds. I am getting no help from the organization. I will not add to the area, that I know. I haven't been over to look at how the boxes are doing but will before March.
The Creek did very well for the first time. The 2 original boxes I discovered finally came down recently. They were very old and dilapidated. I have been trying to find out who set them up, so far with no luck. It would be nice to have 2 new boxes up to replace those ones. I have 2 other boxes there that could use replacing as well. All 4 of these mentioned boxes did have successful nests in 2019.
I cannot stress enough about the importance of taking care of bird boxes. It's not a good thing to set them up and then forget about them. It's unfortunate how many people do just that, never considering the mess left behind with old nesting material, fecal sacs and quite possibly deceased birds inside.
How nest boxes should be set up is just as important and another time I will post a reminder about that.
I hope to do better with blogging about the 2020 season. I thank everyone who has followed me the last few years through all the ups and downs.
