The Creek - Part One

I visited the creek on Friday.  It was a cooler morning, a tad rainy early on, and I was dressed head to toe in rain pants and jacket, figuring this material would be a great way to keep any ticks off me since the material is slick.  I had boots on, long socks with my pants tucked in.  Yep, I was all prepared to go check these boxes.

I hit the one stretch, which is four boxes lined up, that Angie has nicknamed after the houses in Harry Potter.  Cute to some.  Silly to others.  But it's helped as easily as numbering them.  I should add that I have only once seen the Harry Potter movies; but Angie is a HUGE fan.  Anyway, to my surprise (and slight disappointment) all the nest boxes (3 of the 4) were still very active.  Damn!  I felt like I just hit a wall on my quest to tackle the boxes.

I drove over to the other end and the boxes were quiet.  I checked the three in this area and all were done.

The first box is along the main road.  I parked in the right lane, put my 4 ways on and ran up to the box for a look inside.  All gone.  No eggs.  No bodies.  Total success.  No time for a photo because of where I was parked.

Now off to the other two boxes and there is a place to park, safely off the road.  It's a work day so I am trying to cut time where I can, hence not doing as much walking.  

First box...

 I wonder what is inside? 

Out comes the nest.  Hmmm?

One egg that did not hatch.

A short walk to the next box and I see something in there...

Aw man, one who did not make it.

I hate the subtraction at the end of the season.  I wish they all would make it but that is nature, right?

Tree swallows flew about the field as I left.  No doubt the families from these two boxes.  "Good luck little ones" was my silent wish as I made my way back to the car.

There Go (some of) the Birds

So I checked out Lambton and the Forgotten Land this week.  As expected, the birds are pretty much done for another year.

I first hit Lambton on Tuesday despite the near 40 C humidex early on in the day.  With only 2 active nests, I could manage.  I just realized that I never updated about Lambton when I discovered the second  tree swallow nest.

I'm happy to report that all the eggs hatched and all the young successfully fledged.  That's 10!

I did notice a couple tree swallows flying about the area so I guess the birds are still hanging around.  None of the other boxes have any nest activity other than wrens taking over that chickadee nest tube.

Then on Wednesday I went through the Forgotten Land.  A tad cooler weather made it a pleasant outing going through the nest boxes.  Unfortunately I did not have the absolute success like Lambton.

The first box I checked had two very much decomposed young swallow bodies inside.

I used a stick to sift through this nest, counting the bodies, ensuring there wasn't any others underneath.  We can only guess what happened to them.  Perhaps those brutally humid days we've had?

Another nest, another little decomposed body found.

I'm sparing you another bony sight but seeing the pile of dark feathers upon first look at the nest told me someone did not make it.

Another nest had one egg still inside.

The box I called "old reliable" which was replaced this year once again had 100% success.

All the nest boxes are emptied out as I go through them.  I left the doors open to deter wasps from setting up inside.  

I removed a wasp nest from one empty box here.  Fun stuff as the little buggers came out in full force, showing their disapproval to what I was doing to their home.

Something I found rather shocking in the Forgotten Land was the amount of wild parsnip suddenly growing throughout the area.  It's scattered about and the plants range in size from 12 inches to almost 6 feet in height!

Wild parsnip is a hazardous plant to a person if you happen to break the plant, it's oils get on your skin and the sunlight shines down upon it.  That's the jist of how it works.  It's also an invasive species of plant.

Fortunately I can make my way around the parsnip plants this year but who knows how this will all look in another year or two?  I've reported the plant appearing here to the Toronto Regional Conservation Authority.  Am I supposed to report it to them?  I don't know but I figure it's worth trying.

I made my over to the last couple boxes.  I know one was empty last check, and it is still empty.  As for the other one, I heard noises coming from within as I approached.  The young birds weren't at the entry hole and I couldn't see them at all. 

So curiosity got the best of me to try and get a better look, trying to gauge how far along they are from fledge time.  I slowly opened the access door with one hand while the other I set over the entry hole to prevent any early fledges IF they were near that stage.  

As I slowly opened the access door, watching for any movement from the birds, which did not occur.  I held my phone over the nest to take a photo and see what was going on.

The young remained quiet.  I'm not an expert on these things but can say they are probably 10 days or so from fledge time.  I've got it marked in my brain to come back in the third week of July for another look.  Hopefully I can say 25 fledged the Forgotten Land when I do revisit.  For now it is 20.

I have it in my head to go through the Creek on Thursday or Friday, weather pending.  It's going to be cooler but just have to see where there's some dry spells to check those boxes out.  

I haven't been "pimping" out these blogs this year.  So I thank the couple of you who are still following along here even without my social media posts about the latest blog published for a read.

Area One - Revisit

A couple weeks back I revisited Area One, checking those other couple "later" nests.  I am happy to report that both are housing nesting tree swallows.

Mom didn't want to leave the one box so I let her be.  For now, I can easily assume there is 5 eggs/young inside.  I'm sure I have mentioned before that 5 is the average for a swallow nest although 6 happens quite often as well.

You can see how agitated mom is here and can understand why I chose to just back off.

And there was hatches in the other box.  I definitely could make out 5 young.

That now brings us up to 13 nests and 70 eggs/young for Area One this year.

I can't believe I am already getting my head around the fact that I will be checking the boxes again soon, cleaning them out.

Time sure flies!