Discovery

On May 21st I went out for a walk through the Forgotten Land. It's overwhelming the number of nest boxes that are there and while I do what I can, when I can for the boxes I see, be it remove them, repair them, replace them or just make them unusable until I can deal with them... I just can't get to them all. I walked to the farthest point west, where they begin, shaking my head at how low some are (2 ft off the ground is ridiculous) and then there was this one in particular.

Who in their right mind thought this was a proper nest box to set up? Entry holes on either side! In my waking moment here I think about a day like today; heavy rain and high winds getting in and going right through that box. This is not a deluxe feature having both a front and back door. Then I saw a sight very much like this photo I took on our vacation recently down in the Long Point area. A Tree Swallow sitting on a post.

It suddenly took flight. Then from a nest box nearby, out flew another Tree Swallow. Hence the title of this blog "Discovery".

So obviously there is a nest going on inside and I had to give the box a once over. It was hanging off the t-bar by one screw. The walls were coming apart. The front wall had a large gap as it was also coming away from wear over the years. I opened it up and this is what I found inside.

Woo hoo! But I felt bad that they are using this crappy box I did not get to doing anything about. I closed it back up and did my best to tighten it up with a couple extra screws I took from some of the other dilapidated boxes around me. The wood is so old and dry, it was making cracking sounds as I tried to add a support screw to the back wall along the t-bar. I decided it was best to not go any further. I did not want the box to break apart due to my efforts to secure it. Now I know where the box is, I will leave it be and not check it again until later in the Summer when I know the young birds would be out of it. I don't want to risk it with that brittle wood. Also in my walk, I checked a box I repaired and it has a Tree Swallow nest now. There were 3 eggs. How many more to come?

It shows the Forgotten Land has potential, and that the birds will try to use these nest boxes even as they age and start to fall apart. While in the natural world, natural cavities do not get maintained, and life goes on one way or another; it's still unfair for any cavity nesting bird to have a failed nest when trying to use a box humans put up but did not maintain. It is really frustrating that this blog will not separate my paragraphs in the final publish. I'm not doing anything different than what I do on my regular Rob and the Animals blog, which never has these issues. It all looks fine as I key it out but then everything condenses. Anyone familiar with Blogger and what might be my problem? I noticed a "send feedback" option and did just that now. Hopefully I can get this straightened out. Apologies for the mess here.