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I wanted to share a short story about Tree Swallows on my Bluebird trails. There have been a noticeable reduction in TRES this season and after monitoring boxes over the last two weeks I’ve discovered three TRES nests with hatchlings which have either been abandoned or experienced some type of predation. Initially the hatchlings appeared to be well developed; almost full size prior to fledging. My next visits to three of these boxes I’ve found all hatchlings dead and partly decomposed and very stinky. When I empty the contents and do a quick inspection of the contents I have not found any parasites. Bluebird nest boxes have not experienced this decomposing, but I have had a couple of boxes with signs of predation, missing eggs, eggs on the ground under the box or just abandoned nests.
I’ll keep an eye on this. My experience has been that TRES only raise one brood and move on. I don’t know if that is normal. Many Bluebird pairs will produce a second brood. The season here is short and I haven’t had any third broods.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
I had success in my yard with TRES this year but on my trail it seemed to be a down year. A lot of HOSP problems I had to deal with…one adult male was killed…bluebirds eggs were tossed and they left. When cleaning my boxes I found one box with a single abandoned TRES egg inside with no other evidence of activity. Another box I found an adult female sitting on eggs…her beak and eyes were open but she was dead in that pose with no injuries. Very strange year.
I will share that for my yard box I had a baby who jumped out of the nest. I was successful keeping him in the box the rest of the season by attaching an open cardboard box to the pole beneath the nest box and for some reason it kept him from leaping out again. Hope this helps as an idea for others who have this happen. Last year I lost a couple that did this so I was desperate to find a solution and it worked!
No new news on the TRES. All have fledged and I still assume TRES will only have one brood each season.
I’ve begun removing nest boxes to bring them home to clean and store them for the off season. I’ve almost totally moved to PVC nest boxes. Easier to clean, easier to monitor and lighter to transport (about ten boxes are a mile hike to the farthest location). I used to prefer the wood Gilwood versions until I got tired of cleaning the TRES poo off the interior. The interiors became whitewashed! TRES are on the other end of the spectrum from bluebirds for clean nests.
I still have two EBB boxes with hatchlings that will probably fledge soon. No new nest starts since early July. I also have two nest boxes with lil stinker hatchlings. Those lil stinkers (House Wrens) have been very productive this year.
Truthfully, I like those lil stinkers. It’s weirdly entertaining to watch them fill every cavity with sticks until I observe them settle into one box. Then I can clean out the others to encourage TRES, EBBs and Chickadees.One success I had this year… on one of my bluebird trails I have a small clearing in the woods that is probably less than a third of an acre. The trail property owners mow the trails once in early July so this clearing continues as a small meadow. I’ve had Chickadees in a box in each of the last four seasons. This season, after the Chickadees fledged sometime in early June I noticed what looked like a EBB nest in the box. Then an egg. Then four eggs. Mom has not allowed me to check the box for a couple weeks as she sits in the entrance and gives me the eye! So I say hi and move on. The last couple days she/he has been out hunting and I got a peek at four beautiful hatchlings. I’m guessing they are about half grown and will fledge in the next week or so.
Overall a good season though a little less productive than the last three seasons.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Congratulations on your good season, Tim. It sounds like you had a lot of activity to keep you busy. Do you have an estimate on how many blues fledged this season? Have fun cleaning the “messes” You deserve some tome off for a while.
David
Stafford, VADavid, I’ll get back with some numbers for the season later. I will say that it hasn’t been as productive as the last three seasons. Partly due to natural swings in nature and partly my limitations this season at monitoring trails. Maybe the numbers will surprise me when I get them all totaled.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
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