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Having good results so far this year. First sighting of EBBs was April 22. As of June 3 there are seven pairs nesting. Those seven pairs have laid 28 eggs and one pair is currently feeding five hatchlings.
This activity is on par with last spring and started about three weeks earlier than 2023. I’m hoping to match last year’s fledged young at seven pairs, 49 eggs and 46 fledged. It’ll take a few double brood pairs to get to that number but regardless it has been a very successful nesting season here on the WI/MI border.
I have built 26 Gilbertson PVC boxes so far this spring and located many of those on my two trails. I have also managed to give away nine nest boxes to area residents. In addition I have seven Tree Swallow pairs nesting, a stinkin House Wren pair with seven eggs in my yard nest box (he better stay away from the nearby EBB nest box) and a very mad Chickadee mom sitting on seven eggs. Mom Chickadee gets furious when I stick the endoscope camera in the entrance. Most of my moms just sit there paralyzed when they see the camera entering. Not Chickadee mom. She goes ballistic attacking the little LED light looking in on her. So I am minimizing my intrusion into her world.
I have not experienced any predation this year or last but I can understand the frustration some have talked about here. The latest video from Backyard Birdhouse on Youtube showing a stinkin Wren destroying and stealing a EBB egg is upsetting. The natural world is beautiful and cruel.
Tim C. WI/MI border.
How fun to have a dee nesting! They are a lot more skittish and sometimes will abandon a nest when they are monitored too often. So you are smart to let up. Do you look in all your boxes that way? with an endoscope camera? That’s probably a good option with the dees. I think I would have problem counting my bluebird, tree swallow and martin nests with an endoscope. I often reach in and count the babies by touching them. Sometimes there’s too many little bodies to visually count.
Hope you have a good season. I have several second nests on my little trail. Not necessarily the same bird or even the same species.Tammy
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