Birdhouses Closed for Business

Before the birds begin making their selection for new birdhouses for the season, we chose this grey, cold, wet day to get the houses cleaned out.

Some interesting finds and observations included:

> One nest had a prominent blue jay feather featured, although it hadn't been used by one:

> Three plumb mice promptly jumped out as we removed the thick nesting material, jumping wildly into the air, practically onto us, but landed in the snow below and scurried away:

Another house, at the top of the property and usually used by bluebirds, had a small, very messy, loosely built nest made of small twigs and moss. It looked like it must have been very uncomfortable for baby birds:

We have never seen this type of nesting materials in this birdhouse before. Perhaps, it was a Carolina Wren's, Northern Mockingbird's, or Great Crested Flycatcher's nest? 

Northern mockingbird nests are composed of a lot of twigs, and seem to resemble the nest we found the best.

(Photo: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/)

As we made our way back to the meadows, we flushed out a very wet Coppers Hawk, who routinely can be seen here, by the vernal pond:

The newest birdhouse hasn't been used recently and was completely free of bird nesting material:

The birdhouses will all be left wide open this year to hopefully break the cycle of house sparrows using them.

Every bird is on their own for the nesting season this year!

Birdhouse Upkeep!

It's time to clean out birdhouses before new nesting begins and replace old worn out homes. It is important to remove old nesting material to reduce disease and parasite infestation.

The 8 year old birdhouse's roof had rotted through and is being replaced here above with a copper roofed home, which last longer. This home had been used by swallows all last summer.

I traveled around to the different homes to see if I could find clues of who had been nesting this past year and what kind of materials were being used to build the nests.

Up at the top of driveway, at the crest of the hill, is birdhouse #1, which is usually used by bluebirds. When I went to open it, a bluebird can flying out. I left the nest in place, as we have many cold days ahead. It is common for bluebirds to pile up and roost in birdhouses to stay warm, as pictured here:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyChm1V_nsmuPiWzKQkwM1y1BTpHE98TPNGdJ9tmcZrn_H0s-PXl9nF7_4AasdpAGgTMifn4r61LodVCYaOu8Gs4ybAU7muDFLVBelFAqfyNIitmU14A3b4w6C3fPrJTlpyXkHvl45roT7/s1600/bird1.jpg

I was surprised to see a mockingbird feather in here, too. The hole has been made larger and is a well used nesting box. I'll go back in a few weeks and remove the nest then.

On the east side of the upper meadow is birdhouse # 2, where there are several layers of nesting material. On the top of the pile was a male northern cardinal feather, perhaps used for decoration, as I have never see cardinals use this box. There were, also, numerous white, grey and brown feathers. I have seen many sparrows nesting here.

On the southeastern side of upper meadow, shaded by evergreens, which explain the moss growing on top, is birdhouse #3.

 The nest includes plastic material, a few feathers, and soft plant material. There were bluejay feathers present.

The last nesting box, #4,  is on the eastern corner of the fence and was replaced at the end of summer but is still not in use. The old birdhouse had fallen apart and was a 

favorite nesting spot for bluebirds. 

We hope they return. 

We look forward to the coming spring, filled with many new bird families!