The Creek Tally

A couple weeks ago I did a sweep of the Creek nest boxes. Nine nest boxes and seven had Tree Swallows. At the time there was 39 eggs. I figured a couple more could come of there but I never did bother looking again. I was happy with the activity and left it at that.

Through the box checks, I unfortunately found 2 dead young birds in separate boxes. I also found 2 eggs not hatched in other boxes. Overall though, a very good year in the Creek with 35 fledged Tree Swallows.

But it's not over yet. A week earlier when Angie and I went for our Sunday morning walk there, I noticed Tree Swallows going to a previously unclaimed box. I was going to check the empty boxes anyway come cleaning time and this new nest was a bit of excitement to inspect the following week.

Here is what I found when I checked this new nest, one healthy very young Tree Swallow. There were no other eggs.

We had just endured a brutally humid week and I am happy he survived it. I cannot imagine how hot it must get inside those boxes during the heat and full sun.

I will check on this nest again in a couple weeks. Stay tuned.

So with 9 fledged Swallows in Lambton, plus the 21 over at the Forgotten Land and 35 here at the Creek I'm now at 65 fledged.

Area One is yet to be checked but hopefully soon.

Lambton Tally

So here we go with the final counts for the Lambton area.

With 6 nest boxes set up, I ended up with 2 nests of Tree Swallows. Both had 5 eggs each. All 10 eggs hatched. Of the 10 birds, 9 fledged. I was saddened to discover one deceased young bird in one of the nests.

The second Swallow nest was a surprise late find and as the leaves filled in the surrounding trees, this nest box disappeared. 

Can you spot the nest?

It was fun to watch the adults still make their way into the nest to care for the young.

Both nests were cleaned out of fecal sacs, nesting material and the one dead bird.

I almost forgot about a lone box I set up last year in my plan to help those Black-capped Chickadees nest without hassle from a House Wren. Well, the Wren(s) nested successfully in the box this year. A couple weeks ago I flushed an adult when I approached the box. I could hear young inside. Next visit, all were gone. I cleaned that nest out as well.

So with 9 fledged Swallows here plus the 21 over at the Forgotten Land I've got 30 fledged from 37 eggs so far.

The brutal humidex is not making this an easy task but I don't want to leave it too long.

Nest up will be the Creek. Stay tuned.

Forgotten Land 2020 Tally

I recently did a walk through the Forgotten Land, knowing the birds would be done in all the nest boxes.

Sure enough, that was the case and here is what is what I ended up with, including a slight recap for anyone just jumping on board with the nest blog.

5 of the 6 nest boxes were occupied with Tree Swallows.

I had 27 eggs total throughout. I suspected I could get one or two more but was content to leave the birds be at that point.

4 of the 5 nests were 100% success. All eggs hatched. All young fledged.

1 nest was abandoned, leaving 6 unhatched eggs. Who knows what happened?

So, for 2020, I had 21 fledged Tree Swallows in the Forgotten Land. That's a very good year, especially compared to 2019 with 6 fledged from one nest and the other 3 nests were all failures.

Unfortunately most of the boxes saw their last year. They were falling apart in my hands as I opened them up to clean them out. These boxes are easily a decade and some years old and the wood is brittle. I knew this would happen at some point. I am just happy they held out for the season. Losing the box I called "old reliable" did bother me a tad; it's been a great productive box every year.

I have many months to get some replacements and hopefully it will be with as little cost to me as possible. I have since contacted "the organization" about getting some through them. I like to think the success of 2020 would entice some new interest.

Instead of throwing a bunch of photos in here, I made a small collage of that walk through the area.

The coins I found along one of the foot trails. A small payment for my good deeds.