First off, The Forgotten Land. Five of the six nest boxes now with Tree Swallow nests and all full of eggs. This is more than ever before. This is uplifting after the awful nest season last year. Currently there are 27 eggs throughout and that number could still go up.
Tree Swallow in "Old Reliable". I REALLY like this photo. What a face! I took a very similar picture last year.
I moved the green box that I had left as a memorial to where the Bluebirds nested to a more open spot and Swallows took to it.
I am thrilled with all these nests. Moving the boxes away from the sports field was a great thing. I really hope this will encourage a certain organization to invest in the area for next year, and replacing these very old nest boxes.
Over at Lambton, a 2nd Swallow nest is on the go. Both have 5 eggs. I will settle for a total of 10 though a couple more eggs is possible before it's all done.
A Wren nest was started in a lone box I set up for them last year but I think it's turning out to be a dummy nest.
The Creek has really exploded as well. There are seven nests out of the nine boxes set up. Egg total is at 39 and again that number could go up as well.
A Tree Swallow on nest. The bird flew out after I closed the box door, which is when I could count the eggs.
Six eggs. Nice. Just slightly above average counts.
While Tree Swallow nests are easy to identify, some look different than others. This is one is a deep nest and there is an adult bird in there. Other Tree Swallow nests are not as elaborate but there's always a few feathers lining the top.
Between these three areas there are 14 Tree Swallow nests and 76 eggs.
I did a sweep of Area One on June 01 and can add another 13 Tree Swallow nests with 70 eggs. Some of the eggs hatched already and one box in particular, I chanced upon seeing Tree Swallows REALLY freshly hatched. This box is Wood Duck Alfie's box. I met Alfie through the Ontario Eastern Bluebird Society. The OEBS is also the reason why I am monitoring boxes. I wish I could tell Alfie of the activity in this box but he passed away in December back in 2017. He was a real character as he should be, being over 80 years old. He had a great sense of humour. He was an honest man. He cared about the birds he built boxes for. We do our best to maintain the couple boxes I got from him. I cannot help but think of him when I check these boxes.
Fresh hatches in Alfie's box June 01, 2020. The world may be in turmoil right now but this sight in nature had me forget everything for a little while.
Photos of a few more hatches or eggs throughout the other boxes.
I also found 3 House Wren nests, none are dummy nests, and all had eggs inside. While I could not see into the wren nests, I held my phone over top and captured photographic evidence of eggs. I accidentally deleted the shots. Grr! Wren nests are easy to identify as they are stick nests and usually fill the box right to the entry hole.
Then I had an odd find in another box. Black-capped Chickadees had started to build a nest but it was kiboshed by an adult Tree Swallow who died inside the box. The body was quite decomposed already so this happened a number of weeks ago. It's unfortunate that this was not discovered much sooner as maybe I would be reporting an active Chickadee nest. The box is very near where we had the nest 2 years ago which unfortunately a House Wren destroyed. The bird threw 4 newborn Chickadees out of the box to their deaths and also pipped the 3 eggs which were going to hatch at any time. The area is definitely favourable to Chickadees but they sure have it rough here. Perhaps a few Chickadee style boxes that the Swallows cannot get in and if there's a few, then hopefully a Wren won't come along and mess things up either. Something for 2021.
The mossy nest material is a sure sign that Chickadees were building here. That poor Tree Swallow. Spring was rough, being very cold and wet, once again seeing snow even in the first week of May. Once again, proof that you should never just throw up a bird house somewhere and forget about it.
So in total, I have 27 Swallow nests on the go with a total of 146 eggs. I think my previous record is 91. I wanted to hit 100 this year and am thrilled to have hurdled past my target.
To think that I started monitoring in 2016. There was 19 boxes at Area One with 7 nests and fledged 33 young. A lot of progress in 4 years, eh?
Let's hope all the birds have a great nesting season.
Just an FYI if you're following me here; the Peregrine Falcon fledge watches start this weekend so there will be a delay for the next box checks and nest blog.
