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The HOSP has been back this morning bothering the TRES (that are back this morning) at the paired boxes, Chickadees were checking them out this morning too. Fricking HOSP! However I did manage to shoot the little shit so I don’t have to worry about that one anymore!!
I am hoping the Nuthatch is incubating now since I am not seeing her at the hole anymore. Still is freaking me out a bit that I don’t see her when I have been watching her at the hole since last week.
I think I am talking to myself here….lol
Donna in WI
Well I went out at 6AM and tied up four of the six streamers. Didn’t see the Nuthatches at all but have no clue if she could have been in the box, I was very quiet. Around 7AM I filled the birdfeeders up and a Nuthatch came in and got a peanut. A little bit later one went to the box, went inside and then back out into the woods. I am guessing the female is in the box and the male went and fed her. She didn’t come up to the hole though. So I think all is good, probably wouldn’t of had to tie up the four streamers but oh well. Hopefully the dang HOSP will stay away!
Donna in WI
Oh crap!! Saw the Nuthatch this morning and things looked normal. Our weather took a nosedive and the temps are 30 degrees cooler today then they have been for the last few days. Cold and windy. So just before lunch I look outside and see a bird fly up to the Nuthatch hole. Grabbed the binocs and OMG it was a male HOSP. looking into the box. I ran outside, it flew to a tree in the woods, I don’t think I scared it at all as I was still about 100 feet from the box when I went out the door. I ran out and checked the box though cause I had no clue if the HOSP had been there before that or not, the birdhouse is at an angle from our house so not that easy to see and you need binoculars. No nuthatch in the box and the eggs were all hidden, lots of grey fur or something covering everything, thank GOD they don’t have a nestcup or I bet that HOSP would have been in there in a heartbeat destroying those eggs! Now what do I do?? No clue if Nuthatches will tolerate a sparrow spooker but I couldn’t do nothing so I put one up. I watched a lot this afternoon but never saw the Nuthatches come back, although I could have missed them but I have been seeing them so much in the morning that I thought for sure I would have seen them. Of course this change in weather would mean hunting bugs would be harder so maybe she was out finding food. Tree Swallows have left too. So anyway I am going nuts here not knowing if the Nuthatches came back or if the HOSP scared them away before I even saw it, or if the spooker has scared them. I did not want to open the box up later as it was raining then too. Ugh! Damn HOSP!! I am so hoping I see them normally tomorrow morning!! If I don’t I might tie all but one streamer on each dowel up. I only put three on each one and with the bigger overhang of the Xbox I can’t see it really bothering them but who knows. They land on the side mostly anyway and climb around to the front.
I saw the bluebirds once this morning but then not again at all after that. Chickadees are everywhere and liking that the swallows left but still don’t seem to be trying to build in any of the birdhouses although one pair is excavating a cavity just in our woods line. I can actually watch them from the house with a pair of binoculars.
Donna in WI
Oh, oh, oh…..forgot to add. Had a male and female bluebird in the yard today! Gosh I hope they stay around. They were out back, then out front, then at the neighbors, then back in our yard and then they flew down towards the park. Didn’t see them again after that. They were over by a pair of boxes (30 feet apart from each other) on the east of our house, pretty much the best bluebird area in the yard. Tree Swallows have taken one and are defending both. Chickadees have shown interest in the other but get chased away by the TRES. I went out to look in the one this afternoon and the Chickadees were scolding me so I do think they want that box. So, I got my trap box out, took that box off the fence post and put my extra Xbox on the post (it is baffled) and put that out 25 feet from the one the TRES want. That way just in case the Blues come back and the Dees want the one, the TRES the other, there is still an extra box over there. Hoping they will come back or at least nest down by the park.
Donna in WI
I decided to peek at the nest again this evening. It was around 7PM. Talked as I walked up to the box, tapped on the box several times while talking softly. Unscrewed the screw and slowly opened the front…..dang out flew momma Nuthatch, hit my arm on the way out. Scared the crap out of me. She scolded me for a bit, I took a pic and walked away.
Looks to be four eggs in there, you cannot see one of them in this photo. No nestcup whatsoever, just eggs in the nesting material. I am guessing she is still laying since I found the first egg on Friday, today would make the fourth one. I think I will wait to look again until maybe this coming Friday and see what I can see. Not even sure if I will be able to count them since they aren’t in a cup or anything, will be easy to miss one. Here is a crappy cell phone pic…
Donna in WI
It is interesting having these Nuthatches. I had to add a baffle to this birdhouse today, only one that has never had Bluebirds or Dees in and last one of mine to baffle. I have been observing that she is in the house all morning and I don’t see her in the afternoon but I hadn’t been checking until early evening and she has never been there. I went to put the baffle on around 3PM and made lots of quiet noises walking up to the box, nothing, so I assumed she was not in there. Hadn’t seen her peeking at all. Got the duct tape on the pole and was putting the metal plumbers tape on to hold the cap and out she flew. I was standing behind the box but dang she scared me. She scolded me for a bit and then left. I tried to hurry as much as I could. Since she as gone I decided to look again and see if I could see how many eggs there were. Nope she has them all buried in the nest, I didn’t try to feel around at all, figured once she starts incubating I can get a count. It is interesting that they hide the eggs like Chickadees. However it is even more interesting to see how much she stays in the box. I see her peeking out the entire morning and him feeding her and she isn’t done laying yet. Most birds lay their eggs and then go about their day and don’t stay in the box/cavity. 3PM and she was still in that box! Hopefully she isn’t an afternoon egg layer, don’t want to think I disturbed that!
Here she was this morning….and I have to add, I was walking up slowly as I didn’t want to flush her out of the box. I was about 30 feet from the box when she must have gotten uncomfortable and she just ducked back in, never flew away, just went back in the box.
Donna in WI
Well we have egg/s! I watched her yesterday and all morning she was poking her head out of the entrance hole and he was feeding her. Afternoon, didn’t see her again. It was the same the day before so I thought I bet she is laying eggs in there already! So early evening I went out and looked, nest is pretty shallow like you said about your nuthatches Gin. I thought I could see an egg slightly through the nesting material, felt it lightly and yep there as an egg. There might have been two, not sure. Everything was covered like a chickadee almost except no blanket, like she hid it in the nesting material. Will check again in a few days, sounds like they have a pretty decent sized clutch normally.
Donna in WI
Gin Brown headed nuthatches would be so cool. We don’t have them around here. We often have red breasted nuthatches at our feeders and trying to nest in dead trees in our woods but they always seem to fail. Darn red-bellied woodpeckers pretty much ruin all natural cavity nestings around here it seems.
Donna in WI
I know Tammy, isn’t it cool! Hopefully they have a successful nesting. Last year I had a Nuthatch taking mealworms away each day, I am assuming to its young somewhere. Would be cool if being they are nesting here if they bring their little ones to the feeder. Not sure if that will happen or not though but I do know they love mealworms. Had a Chickadee checking out a nestbox today, hoping they take that one too as it is the most easily watched from the house. Still haven’t seen nor heard any Bluebirds around yet.
Donna in WI
I did take a very quick peek in the box tonight when I didn’t notice them around. It was windy so I barely opened the box, I just needed to see if anything was in there. She had an inch or more of stuff, didn’t open it far enough to see what the stuff was but there is definitely a nest! Yeah! From what I am reading it is not very common for White Breasted Nuthatches to nest in a birdhouse so this is pretty cool. She was in the box most of the day, would peek out here and there and sit at the hole. Never saw her bring anything in at all so I am really not sure if the nest is done or what, didn’t look for a nestcup since I barely opened it and closed it pretty quickly too. Not sure if the WBNH do the caulking thing or not, I hadn’t read that on them, just the sweeping. I know red breasted nuthatches spread pine sap around the hole of their cavity to deter other birds and predators.
Donna in WI
Ok, I copy the image addess when I right click and post it on my page on fb and I get a photo link to this page! I mean it will work if someone clicks on it but I want it to play on my fb page like a normal gif file.
Donna in WI
Cher I tried that (I am talking about the gif file of the birdhouse how we/the birds/predators see it). I saved it to my computer and it works there but if I post it to FB it doesn’t work as a gif, just a photo that doesn’t move. What am I doing wrong. The image address you have above is to the photo that the OP posted of the bird on the unbaffled box. For some reason I cannot get the image address of the gif file, only the page address. I so want to repost this as it is such awesome info.
Thanks
Donna in WI
Hey Cher, how do I copy that image to say post it on FB and have it work right?
and yes I agree, baffle that pole!!
Donna in WI
