Martins!

Ok, so maybe 10 years ago we decided to put up a Purple Martin Gourd System at the Goodlettsville location. We are right off of Rivergate Parkway, so certainly not an ideal location for attracting Martins; but not so far away - as the crow flies - there are some pretty full colonies, so we were game for the wait.

For the past two years, we have seen Martins checking out our system during migration, but never any takers. This year we got lucky! One pair of Martins decided to give our housing a shot, and today the babies were hanging WAY out of the hole watching for their next meal/s.


While watching the feeding, I noticed that there was some activity in the - too tall - grass directly below the Martin system.... ohhhhhhhh..... baby Martin. Silly, silly, chick must have fallen out of the gourd - or been pushed out by rambunctious siblings!


Quickly, I fashioned a Fall-Out Shelter from a box and hung it on the fence, and placed the chick into the box. I then left the premises in hopes that the adults would first, find the chick and second, feed the chick in its' new abode. I was pleased as punch to see one of the adults land on the box immediately after feeding the nestlings in the gourd -- but there was no food delivered to our wayward chick. I watched for several more food deliveries, and our chick was never serviced. Being visited is nice, but for a chick, food is far more important.



Ultimately, and after discussion with Kent, we decided that I just needed to get the bigger ladder out there and put the chick back in the gourd with its' siblings. This is always the best option for a wayward chick; but if doing so requires the use of a pretty tall ladder, we strongly recommend that you have someone there to assist! All is well now, the adults are being very successful with their hunting on the wing, and we expect these little guys to fledge any day now.

Another Big Day

Today was the Carolina Wrens' turn to get their babies out of the nest box -- well actually they used a plastic gourd for this nesting.

I was just minding my own business, leaving for work, backing the van out of the garage and noticed a lot of wren chatter. Looked in my side mirror and saw something more stout than a leaf drop down behind my car. I got out to find this little guy: I actually had to "chase" him around a bit in orde to get him out of the driveway. No sooner did I get him back with his sibs, I turned around and saw this!
Another little Wren that needed to be moved along. This one was a bit more fiesty and it took a couple more minutes. All was well though. I cornered him and got him up into the holly bush.

Happy little Wrens. They seemed a bit under-developed for fledging and I hope that they weather the coming weather ok.

FLEDGED!!

OMG! I am sitting here at the foot of my bed and this is what I am seeing when I look out the window:
These little guys are a full 8 days earlier than last year. Generally, we look to Mother's Day for our Barred Owls to fledge... but the wonderful weather has allowed Mom and Dad to be able to provide very well for these chicks. We have seen them taking in LOTS of Chipmunks - and that is perfectly fine with us!
They actually hunt in our birdfeeding area - they are afterall birds. :)

They sit in this one tree and then off they go up the hill to catch some food for their babies.

Two days ago this is all I could see:
One little Owl peeking at me from the safety of his ~up to this point~ world. Occasionally, I would see some fluttering in the background or another little rounded head jumping up behind him... but for the most part - just the top of his head and eyes.

This morning there was a new surprise when I woke up. Little Owlett almost all the way out of the box:

And his sibling was adjacent to the box on a branch!! VERY BRAVE!! Look at the Carolina Wren in the forground of this picture -- talk about brave! She does not want this mean ol owl anywhere near her nest site.

So, here they are. Ready to hit the big wide world. Hard to believe that they have completed their nesting already. This year is already flying by.....

Nest Cam Time!

Cornell Lab's Nestwatch is a great site to check out nesting birds from around the globe.

Barn Owls are back on the nest. Check it out! Nestcams - Barn Owl (Italy)

Second Family Photos

I finally got an up close view of my 2nd group of bluebird fledglings. (Mom disappeared about three days before they fledged, but Dad remained ever vigilant in feeding and caring for them.)

Once they fledged, I only ever saw Dad at the feeder. He would go in, eat a few dried meal worms then take several back to the babies high in the trees.

About a week ago, they decided to be more social - at least long enough for me to get some photos of the little darlings !

They're Hatching!!

In case you did not bookmark Spike Odell's nest cam... The eggs are in the process of hatching! They "should" all hatch today :)
Watch live video from Bluebird Box Nest Cam on Justin.tv

Spike's Bluebirds

Wild Birds Unlimited's good friend Spike Odell, installed a nestbox cam for your enjoyment! This live streaming video is a great way to get the "inside scoop" on the life of bluebirds.
Watch live video from Bluebird Box Nest Cam on Justin.tvCheck it out! The first egg (of this second nesting) was laid on June 7th. It looks like there will be only 4 eggs in this nesting.

Cornell Lab Contest

Cornell's "Celebrate Urban Birds" is having a fun contest -- Funky Nests in Funky Places. Get out your pictures of nests in strange places or try your hand at some art project - making a nest and enter to win from a neat variety of things from bug repellent wrist bands to several books - even a NEW Leica Camera!!

Check this one out from Denise Robeson in Lincoln, Nebraska:
"The dove thought it was an ideal location, apparently (right next to a lantern, you'll notice)! In my opinion, this bird's feathers are so smooth and perfect you almost can't tell the bird is "real" (not stuffed, or fake...)....but she is! She was also indifferent to my presence....caring less that I was inches away from her, taking pictures. If only all my avian subjects were so helpful! (Barn swallow mothers dive bomb me, when I even approach their nests of babies...!) I think the location of the Baker's Rack nest is especially funny, since Baker's racks are often found in kitchens, with cookbooks on them (for instance). Ms. Mourning Dove decided to cook up a little recipe of her own (for babies)!"

Nesting Complications

Notice anything wrong here?
This is not an uncommon occurance, and I receive many calls and emails from folks that see this when they open their box for monitoring.

Early in the season, Mardy called and said that there was a Chickadee that had taken over occupancy of the box that we put up specifically for the Bluebirds. As usual, I asked her to please allow the Chickadees to continue their nesting and then, after she removes the spent nest, perhaps the Bluebirds would come and try again. Several days later, I received another call with the information that the Bluebirds were now there, having decided to use the nest, and they were "fighting" for the right to use this box.

It seemed all was well, as several days later, there was laid one egg. Yea, it seemed that the Bluebirds would prevail and have their nest.... Never speak too soon when trying to determine what will happen in nature. By this time, the House Wrens had arrived in the area, and they had a different idea for that nest box. It is now clear that the Wrens have prevailed.
When the Wrens have finished, Mardy may remove all the nesting material and then possibly get a nesting pair of Bluebirds to take up residency again. Lucky for us, Bluebirds will nest several times during the season.

Hungry Babies

Got this nice little email from Janis Tomanek and the great pic of Momma Bluebird feeding one of her babies:

Thank you so much for educating me about Bluebirds.
I bought several bags of dried meal worms and put them in my feeder.
Mama Bluebird found them right away and is feeding them to her three baby Bluebirds (yum!).
I am sure she is very grateful to WBU!
What a great Picture! The mealworms that she is feeding are an easy substitute for the live mealworms that many people feed their bluebirds. The dried variety are reliably available; whereas, the live mealworms may be difficult to acquire during the heat of the summer.

Bluebird Nestlings

Wow...looks like my bluebirds are about to leave the box (I estimate that they will fledge in the next couple of days).  Mom and Dad are still busy feeding, but these little guys look like they are ready to take on the world for themselves.  It's been a lot of fun !!

Update on "Our First Bluebird Family" by Roberta

This is Day 10, there are still 6 chicks! Our Bluebird parents are still doing a great job. My husband and I enjoy observing how the female will fly off out of sight and search for food for her babies, and the male will demonstrate typical male laziness and just hop down from the birdhouse to the dried mealworm feeder we have for them, and then proceed to give those to the chicks! It always makes us laugh :)

I just LOVE this picture! They are so darling, and I was shocked when this little guy turned around and looked at me! It was the coolest experience! Thank you SO much Pam and Kent for our awesome Bluebird house! This picture was taken on Day 12, hopefully when they start coming out of the box soon, I'll have my camera handy & snap some great shots.

Cardinal Nest Update

Here are the two cardinal babies in the nest outside my kitchen window. I saw the male bringing a bug and then leaving with a poop sack. Looks like these are going to be good parents.

Too Excited for Words!

Ok, I can not contain myself!! Today I scooted home a bit early from the store so that I could watch a movie that I had never seen... "The Runaway" 1961 starring Caesar Romero - excellent movie, but it costars a Greyhound so I may be a bit biased. But I digress. I went upstairs and just happened to look out the window to see if there was any activity at the Barred Owl box. Lo and behold, there was a Barred Owl chick peaking out of the box. These first pics were taken through the window. Not great quality, but s/he sure is cute anyway.

I really wanted to get a bit higher quality pics for you all so cranked open the window, and s/he didn't seem to mind too much - though you can see the air of wariness in each of these pics.

The end of the movie came and I decided to take the dogs for a walk, and upon returning, it was apparent that this little Owlett was getting ready to experience their world more closely. I ran back upstairs to try to get some more pics. It was about 7:30pm here in the woods -- so a very low light situation for picture taking... oh and I have yet to read the manual that came with my camera so was unsure of the setting that I needed. I LOVE that you can see their little feet in the weirdly blue picture. CUTE!

I hope that this little Owlett will remain in the box tonight, as we saw two coyotes last Monday about 100' behind the house. Owletts, when they fledge, will climb out of the nesting box, and climb a bit up the tree. They will then flutter down to an adjecent tree and climb back up to continue to do this until they are into a safer place to hang out. Unfortunately, last year our little fledgling ended up on the ground (which is not uncommon) and all we found was a little piece of wing - it was very sad. :-( All that work by the parents, to come to that end....

Bird Feeder as House?

This is a ceramic bird feeder that has been in my yard for 5 years. This is the first time any bird has attempted a nest. I think it is a house Wren who has been building fast and furious. I have never seen one like this before.

Rainy Day Clean-Up

There is nothing like a rainy morning to motivate you to look to see what pics you have not posted, that you clearly intended to.... OK, that is a lie. A rainy morning does not motivate me to do really anything but go back to bed. :) I did, however, pick up the laptop and memory card to see what was there. I found a wealth of fun stuff. We will start with nesting, though it really looks like everyone is having pretty good success along these lines.

The Chickadees really got busy at the Nashville Wild Birds Unlimited store. I snapped these quick pictures a couple of weeks ago, but have not been back recently to see if they have fledged yet. Based upon this pic, I would say that the chicks were 2-3 days old that day. If that is the case, they should fledge any day now. This box is what is considered to be a Sparrow repellent box -- the theory is that it is not only smaller than the Sparrows desire, but also allows too much light into the interior. Whatever the reason, I have never had problems with Sparrows in this style nesting box. It is called a Kentucky Style Slot Box... this particular box was made by the professor that developed the style, Dr. Wayne Davis. The birds Thank You, as do we, Wayne!

This is the Bluebird Nest at my home. As of yesterday, the eggs had still not hatched.

In other NESTING NEWS... It has been confirmed that my Barred Owls have a nestling in the aforementioned Very Dangerous Nesting Box. Just Monday, we saw one of the parents taking a pretty good sized rodent into the box to feed their chick. All this rain concerns me, as I can not believe that that chick is at all dry. Kent reminds me constantly that if they had nested in a natural hole, it is unlikely that the conditions would be much better. For good or for bad, that is where they are. The chick should be fledging in the coming week.

Busy Chickadees

Believe it or not, there are 7 babies in here. This is a bluebird box in my front yard. I knew she laid 7 eggs, but I did not think they would all hatch. I have never had that many in my BB box before. Trust me...there are 2 more little yellow beaks under the dog hair.

Driveway Robins

This is a Robin nest next to my driveway. They are so close that I could reach out and touch them. I was not aware that robins were such good moms. I had a new roof put on an out building close by. There were three days of hammering and sawing and the female robin never left. She does not fly off when I drive down the driveway. As far as I can tell, she has two babies. They seem to be doing great.

Cardinals

This is a cardinal nest outside my kitchen window. I thought is was remarkable in it's construction. The female also has strategically placed a big leaf over the top. She has two beautiful eggs. I know that I will enjoy watching her raise her babies.

Bluebird Takeover

I saw this bluebird nest in Bellevue where I take agility classes with my dog. We were sitting outside and saw the bluebird pair chase the chickadee away. About twenty minutes later the chickadee came back with more of her family and the chickadee and bluebirds chased each other around the nest box. The next week I found the bluebird nest on top of the moss. The following week there were 3 eggs. I can't wait until next week to see if she has added any more.