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I have an EABL egg already.
Just in time for days of ice rain, cold and more rain.
We have not had good weather here in Southern Ontario, much colder than usual spring, and the Tree Swallows came back yesterday….just in time for a massive ice storm. I was shocked to open one of my few remaining boxes tonight to find there was a EABL egg! The box was just a few pieces of grass on Tuesday. Boy. No regard for the weather eh guys? (Guess this one is staying up…I took down the others on the property due to HOSP pressure and permission to trap and remove HOSP being revoked, stupid ‘politics’ and such…was going to take down all of them because I was so frustrated by the incident, and by losing so many last year to the HOSP, even when I WAS trapping, but will see how things go with only the two remaining boxes. These two were the least affected by HOSP so maybe there is hope. Why punish MYSELF for other peoples issues? I enjoy the TRES a lot. Maybe the sparrow spooker will be enough for a while? And I estimate the EABL have been nesting here for 20 years now so feel bad if all the boxes go. but I am digressing….last year was a bad year.)
So ya…I have an egg already! Just in time for terrible weather. I hope it passes quickly and the birds are ok. I think my blues will be ok but I do worry about the TRES surviving this weather….
It has just warmed up for us. But somewhere in there my bluebirds laid 5 eggs. It was so cold here that I had to flip mealworms to my martins that came during that cold spell. Can you do the trapping discretely by using an inbox trap instead of a repeating trap.
Tammy
Sadly the egg did not survive. She laid at least one other, probably more but when I checked the box after it warmed up again I found egg yolk on the two eggs in the nest. After watching it for a week the eggs remained cold and unmoved. I saw Mr. Blue wing waving on the paired box so hopefully they try again.
I could an inbox trap but by the time the HOSP has bonded its usually meant loses for me…so its frustrating. I just don’t want to keep losing so felt I maybe should just take all boxes down. (and taking all boxes down would prevent other humans using them against me to.).
Did you take a photo of the eggs or put a dot on them to see if they are unmoved? My eggs were laid in very cold temps. Maybe not below 0 but definitely in the one or two digits. And I bet they are fine. It’s amazing how they can survive!
Tammy
A HOSP bonding with a box is a WIN for me! I love to see that. That means I wont’ every have to worry about that HOSP again. It’s the best thing that can happen here….other than to have no HOSP at all.
Tammy
Tammy is exactly right – when those HOSP “bond” with a box that means they will leave other boxes alone for Bluebirds (maybe) and that I will not have to worry about them any more because they will be “gone”. I usually wait until there is an active pair building a nest and then get them before the nest is too large.
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