BRAS Bluebird Newsletter July 2017

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1 BRAS Bluebird Newsletter July 2017 Happy July! I hope you all had a relaxing and safe holiday and are enjoying summer! The bluebird trails are slowing down now that most of the tree swallows have fledged. Interestingly we have had reports of very late nesting tree swallows this year. Two nests had eggs which were laid just last week! Very unusual! The house wrens are still going strong, and of course house sparrows unfortunately don t seem to take a holiday! It is exciting to open a nest box however that was cleaned out due to a recent fledging and suddenly see a new second (or third) bluebird nesting! Don t give up checking nest boxes just because most of the tree swallows have fledged. I encourage you to check the nest boxes you monitor at least every 7-10 days through July and then at least once in mid-august. Our records show that the latest bluebird fledging in our group was on Labor Day a few years ago. That is still weeks away! Some of you know that three American Kestrel foster nestlings were placed in an active kestrel box at LCCC in June with the two original nestlings. This was a new experience for our kestrel program and we are happy to report that all five young kestrels have successfully fledged and appear to be doing well. Many organizations and individuals worked together to make this experiment happen. The story and accompanying photos are attached to this newsletter mailing. Fostering orphaned young birds into other active nests has been done successfully by bird rehabbers with many bird species including bluebirds. The ages of the young need to be closely similar-within a day or two in the case of bluebirds - so that the young will fledge together and not outcompete each other for food from the parents. Recently we had a good age match in two of our BRAS nest boxes for placing an orphan tree swallow from Lake Erie Nature and Science Center but unfortunately the little swallow died before he could be placed. An important aspect of fostering any species of orphaned young nestlings is communicating accurate information about the nesting history, especially first egg dates, clutch size and hatch date. I hope we can help with more foster rescues in the years ahead. I appreciate receiving responses from several of you when we were trying to find a swallow family to place the orphan swallow. Thank you! Black River Audubon Society s bluebird program has dedicated monitors! Here are a few of them: Monitors Jim and Jan Wolf check boxes at Bacon Woods. Monitor Tim McDaniel and his son James check their trail at Forest Hills Golf Course. Traveling by golf cart is part of the fun for James!

2 New monitor Stephanie Spahr at LCCC. Monitors Leslie Martincic and Ginny Cestaro at Columbia trail. Monitor Noel Breuer at Hale Road trail. Larry Wilson monitors bluebird boxes at Days Dam and also coordinates the Black River Audubon Society kestrel program. He is holding a newly banded kestrel chick Each person who monitors a bluebird box is making a difference in the nesting success of our native birds. Sometimes I find evidence that species besides bluebirds and tree swallows are being noticed and cared for in original but effective ways. Below is a photo of a killdeer nest at Crook Street which bluebird monitor Ed Wransky helped protect by placing orange cones near the camouflaged eggs. He knew the park mowers might not easily see the nest and did what he could to make it noticeable to them. At Columbia Metro Park employee Jack Enyon protected a killdeer nest also with orange cones. Both nests successfully hatched the young killdeer eggs. Unsung heroes!

3 The results of the early season count on June 1 st are on an excel spreadsheet which is a separate attachment to this newsletter. Here is the summary of the totals compared to 2016: Black River Audubon bluebird trails Tree swallow eggs plus chicks Bluebird eggs, chicks and fledglings Black Capped chickadee 14 0 House wren 0 36 Tufted titmouse 12 0 White breasted nuthatch 7 0 Pioneer Ridge Landlords Tree swallow eggs plus chicks 8 13 Bluebird eggs, chicks and fledglings (There were no black capped chickadees, tufted titmouse or white breasted nuthatch) Private homes Tree swallows eggs plus chicks Bluebird eggs, chicks and fledglings Black capped chickadees 9 0 House wren I found it interesting to see that there were a lot more tree swallows this year on the trails plus at Pioneer Ridge and private homes. The bluebird numbers were lower this year on the trails and at Pioneer Ridge although private home numbers increased. We had several days of very cold and rainy weather the first week of May and this could possibly explain the lower bluebird numbers in many young bluebird chicks were found dead that week on the trails. The bluebirds at private homes almost always have food supplemented so there was not the loss of as many chicks when severe weather occurred. There was a dramatic increase in the number of house wrens on the trails this year. Cause? Possibly the habitat has gotten more wren friendly, i.e. more shrubs and overgrowth? This isn t as common at private homes where yards don t usually change dramatically and are trimmed more often. We will need to re-evaluate nest box locations on the trails before next year. Sadly, in 2017 there were NO black capped chickadees, tufted titmouse or white breasted nuthatch reported from any of the trails, private homes or Pioneer Ridge. Cause? Perhaps increased wren activity

4 and predation? Other reasons? The total numbers for all species for the early season June 1 count in 2016 was 1583 and this year it was It is easy to see that the increased totals could be attributed primarily to the increased tree swallow numbers! I am looking forward to seeing what the final counts for all of our nest box inhabitants will be when we tabulate the final year end count around September 1 st. Hopefully the bluebirds will recover their numbers with the second nestings that are occurring in many locations. Keep checking those boxes and counting! Here is a little quiz for you. In the photo below what two species of birds have put nesting material in the box? In the second photo what species put the object in the nest with the white tree swallow eggs? Answers: In the first photo, the lower part of the nest is a typical eastern bluebird pine needle cupped nest with a small leaf. A house wren has started to build her nest of twigs over the bluebird nest. In the second photo, the clutch of tree swallow eggs was nestled around a rock! Amazingly none of the eggs were broken when a human shoved this item in through the nest box hole. I always wonder what makes some people do things like that?! Birds on Signs could be the category for the following photos. Hope you enjoy the humor in some of them and perhaps recognize the location of the signs too!

5 The tree swallow at High Meadows advertises a popular trail there. The fledgling bluebirds at Royal Oaks are interested in physical fitness stations! The female bluebird above nested in box # 10 and must have liked that number for disc golf at Bacon Woods. The male bluebird in the next photo chose to draw attention to his wild side at Bacon House. The male bluebird at Royal Oaks probably doesn t want to be caught but certainly should be released! Well, it is time to finish up the typing and send this newsletter to you! I hope you have enjoyed watching and helping native birds this summer. May those who cherish nature have the will to protect it Challenging words for all of us, right? Thank you for continuing to help and protect hundreds of birds this year by doing it one nest box at a time! Newsletter and photos by Penny Brandau pennybrandau@gmail.com