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.

Explosion!

Well I have to say that I am in awe at what has been going on at my nest boxes. Explosion does sum it up.

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.

And Just Like That I Have Nests...

Time is flying. It seems like only a week ago I was watching the newly arrived Tree Swallows just starting to gather nesting material for the boxes they claimed.

This is the only time I see Tree Swallows on the ground, when they are gathering grasses for the nest.

It's been a difficult time what with covid 19 affecting things like blogging. Angie works from home most of the time now and the computer area is tied up during her scheduled work hours. By the time I get home from work at night, I am too tired to blog. After checking 3 of the 4 nest areas the last couple days, it is time to fire out a blog so I really don't fall behind.

The Forgotten Land has eggs in the box I call "Old Reliable". I do wonder if it is the same pair of Tree Swallows coming back to it?

There's 3 other nests in development from the box relocating I did. I've seen a few other swallows around so it will be interesting to see how many I end up with.

Over at Lambton, swallows have returned to the same nest box and have eggs.

I filled the Chickadee nest tube with wood chips. It was excavated weeks ago but the birds did not return. I hear them in the area and believe they chose another location.

A House Wren is back and has filled up a lone nest box that I set up last year when I was trying to help the Chickadees.

Interesting is that another pair of Tree Swallows are in the area and looking to claim a box in between the Chickadee nest tube and the active Wren box. I found grassy material in the box and then sticks on top. I am thinking the Swallows are having a little battle with the Wren over this box. On Friday I made the decision to take down the Chickadee nest tube and set up another nest box in case the Swallows want to move a little bit further away. As I was doing the nest box work, a man approached me, remaining physically distant, and thanked me for what I was doing. He's been enjoying the bird activity while he walks his dog. I said I was glad he was appreciating the birds. He didn't quite understand why I was taking down the Chickadee tube even with my in depth explanation.

What's really cool is there is a male Eastern Bluebird hanging out in the area. He's been seen a few times now. Man I wish he would call in a female and claim one of the remaining nest boxes.

He is around often. I swear he's there just to tease me. Like I said, he's just hanging around.

I only had my small lens. Isn't that the way?

Moving on over to the Creek. Lots going on there. A blog should have been done just on the work I did this spring. There was those 2 rotting white nest boxes I discovered. I replaced both. I knew of 2 forgotten nest boxes up the hill, interestingly enough, set up by another organization. One of those I brought down to this spot. Swallows have claimed it and have eggs.

The other box up the hill was crooked. Birds tried to use it last year but with the hole pointing upward, I believe they abandoned the nest because of the rain getting inside. It was set up with grass and feathers but didn't go any further than that. Weeks ago I re-positioned the box and Swallows are now using it, also with eggs inside.

There are 9 boxes in the Creek area. I checked 7 of them and 5 have nests. Egg counts are 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Another box has a nest in development which I will inspect two weekends from now and see what's going on.

Five eggs. It looks like blood on a couple of them. Hmmm?

Six eggs! Seven is my record. NOTE: on average, Tree Swallows have 5 eggs. Six eggs does not surprise me because that happens more than when I find four eggs as the final amount in a box.

The remaining two boxes I will check later in the coming week. It appeared there was bird activity at both when I walked through there last week.

It looks like I am going to have a really good nesting season at the creek.

The Creek is a really interesting spot. Angie and I have recorded 80 bird species over the last few years. It's a quiet green space without much human interference and it shows. I really should do a summer bird list to see how many actually nest there.

We had a new bird species added to the Creek list today being a pair of Eastern Meadowlarks. This late in May, I am wondering if the birds are going to nest here?

We get other cool sightings like this mink.

Or this pair of courting frogs (toads?) with a minnow audience right in the creek.

I will do my best to be back with another blog very soon after my next inspection of Area One.

Thanks for sticking with me here!

Forgotten Land - Are We Ready for 2020?

So I've been puttering around the Forgotten Land for a few weeks now. Thankfully it really is a forgotten green space and my goings on in the area are solely me. I may see one or two people and that's it.

I have pondered giving up on the location, especially after last year and how poorly things went. My hopes of luring Bluebirds back here does fade but it will never truly go away. Any of the areas I am monitoring boxes, wishes of attracting Bluebirds is always there. There is one box at the Forgotten Land that does keep me monitoring the area. It's a lone box off the main road. It has had 19 Tree Swallows fledged over the last three years.

While I don't advertise the exact locations to any of my areas, a few trusted friends are in the know. They help keep eyes on the locations and send me bird reports that I really do appreciate, especially as the birds are slowly coming back. One of them informed me that he saw a Tree Swallow in the Forgotten Land last week. Today I went through there and saw a bird near that lone box. I do wonder if it's one of the same birds from past years that nest here?

A photo from last year. I only had a small camera with me today so I didn't try to photograph the bird in a nearby tree.

I've been worrying about these birds coming back and how it's turned unseasonably cool the last number of days. Those winds are pretty brutal too. I just have to wish the best for them, to tough it out and may we have nests on the go in another month or so.

The lone box from today's visit. I did find a couple feathers inside so I assume the bird is using the box at night maybe, or has been checking in periodically as he's claimed it.

There was a controlled burn here last week. With all the overgrowth burned away, I discovered that all the old nest boxes here were not cleaned up. Someone had thrown them into the field and they got swallowed up in the green. Now they are exposed once again. I piled them up and hopefully can get them removed. It is too bad the burn did not take care of that.

Another thing I worked on was moving the boxes away from the sports field by the school. I found some strength to pull out 4 t-posts with my bare hands and set them up a couple hundred feet away. These posts have been in the ground for over a decade. I know I was unsuccessful past attempts at tearing them out. Perhaps my frustrations with the pandemic gave me that extra something I needed?

With the posts set up elsewhere, I brought the boxes home and fixed them up a little. A few walls reinforced and I painted them all. One I added some bark to the front just for the heck of it.

It's kind of like that old saying "putting lipstick on a pig" but the boxes will hold out for another nesting season, if not longer.

I set the boxes up few days later and now we wait.

Here's hoping to good nesting season here in the Forgotten Land; but if that lone box is the only nest, I am okay with that too.

I should add that I moved the one box remaining on the east side of the area as well. It was where all the Bluebird drama took place a couple years ago. I didn't want to move that box for sentimental reasons but finally did this year. I forgot to take a photo of it for the blog. Next time.

Thank you for giving this a read; and two words I hope we don't have to keep saying to one another sooner rather than later... "STAY SAFE".

Lambton March 2020

Well, March is here, it's warming up and it's time to get out to the boxes for pre-birds-arrival inspections. I visited the Lambton site on March 02 and physically inspected all 5 nest boxes.

Everything looks good to go for the season other than some pole grease and wood chips in the nest tube to hopefully bring back the Black-capped Chickadees for another year.

The Chickadee nest tube. Some of you may recall the battle I had with a male House Wren constantly making life hell for the Chickadees at another box nearby.

After the Chickadees left the nest tube last year, I put in new wood chips in case they wanted to nest again. The birds cleaned most of the chips out but did not re-nest. It was worth a shot. I had a pair re-nest in our backyard box one summer.

It seems a Downy Woodpecker used this nest box to roost in throughout the winter. We also experienced this at home with a couple of our boxes. Too bad they won't nest in a box as I'm told they prefer to make their own nest cavities.

I will leave the box as is for another few weeks in case the bird still uses it at night.

This box is probably going to need replacing after the season. It had a nest started in it last year but the birds abandoned it. The year before that, Swallows did nest successfully in it.

It was a quiet walk, lacking birds other than 1 Northern Cardinal I could hear. Eyes were upon me from one of the watchers of the woods high above me.

Here's hoping to a better nest season than last year here but 7 Chickadees and 5 Swallows fledgling is nothing to complain about.

2019 Final Tally and...

I really dropped the ball with the 2019 nesting season. One part is the cold wet spring we had, which delayed some of the nests and the birds' nests were all over the place with stages.

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.

The Late Nest

Back in mid-July I reported having discovered a late Tree Swallow nest at the Forgotten Land. I suspect it may have been the adult pair who were in a box nearby where 4 of their 6 eggs were stolen although I really don't know.

I chose to leave the nest be for many weeks and not disturb the birds.

Recently I went back for a check, figuring they would be gone by this time. I had hoped for an empty nest other than the usual mess of fecal sacs. Unfortunately my find was this, the 4 eggs still in the nest. Who knows what happened? I hope it wasn't my one surprise visit to the box that spooked them off IF it was the pair that was in the other box. *sigh*

I cleaned the box out. That's a wrap in the Forgotten Land. A season best to be forgotten. I won't knock having 6 fledged from the one box but am disappointed about what has happened to the other 16 eggs and young.