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Good news!
I had two eggs in a nestbox on Wednesday last week. I expect when I return on Tuesday I’ll see a few more nests and hopefully eggs.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Yes, I’ve found Merlin and ebird very useful. I’m not really an experienced birder but Merlin’s Sound ID is amazing.
I can ID many of the common larger birds on my own but I’m challenged with all the small sparrow and warbler sized birds. I’ve decided on my daily hikes that when I, or Merlin hears a species that I don’t know I will try to get a visual. Then I can add it to my ebird “Track” which keeps track of my distance traveled, location and what birds I’ve gotten a visual ID of.
Even if you are sitting in your yard you can use the track function to document birds you see and then name your own personal location (such as “Home Backyard”) and mark it as a “Stationary” birding session. I’m still learning it’s options.
Recently I spotted a Ruby Crowned Kinglet and a Yellow Rumped Warbler. I’m still looking for my dad’s favorite little bird, the Red Breasted Matress Thrasher. : )
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Very nice. I guess after many successful centuries of reproduction the bluebirds overcome a lot of challenges. Good to hear they are doing well.
First fully assembled nest found yesterday. No eggs yet and most nestboxes are empty. Things should move along in the next week with warmer weather and a good soaking yesterday and today.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Frost every night here for about a week. I’m seeing pairs of EBB checking out nestboxes on my trail but no worries about keeping eggs warm. They’ve not started building nests yet. But they are busy checking accommodations. I’ve put out 22 nestboxes and have about a dozen more to locate.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
BTW, I’m just joking. I would never bother the little Turd birds. They are very cute even though they are the neighborhood bully!
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Grrrr! Those little stinkin wrens are back up here. I have a chickadee nestbox with a camera in it in the backyard and this afternoon a lone Wren entered the box and stuck around a minute. I need to put a good curse on that little rascal.
Weird… I looked at ebird migration reports this morning and there were no wrens north of Green Bay (the city, not the bay). One of two things must be true… 1 – they really do ride on the backs of migrating Canada Geese. Or, 2 – who the heck pays any attention to the little Turd bird? Which results in no sightings reported.
Yesterday I saw my first spring flock of Canada Geese. So therefor there may be some truth to their “passengers” theory.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Happy day! M&F EBB spotted this morning entering one of my trail nest boxes. That’s almost four weeks earlier than 2023. Happy, happy!
A couple other boxes are being watched very closely by Tree Swallows.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
I’ve installed 16 nest boxes on two bluebird trails over the last 48 hours. I also carried a “Leopold” bench out to my largest trail to sit and listen. I was excited to see Tree Swallows (4) swooping around the field two days ago so I quickly installed two boxes in the area when I saw them inspecting what I call a “decoy” nest box. The decoys are there to give those little rascal House Wrens something to fill with sticks. It stays up year round unlike my bluebird nest boxes which I remove for winter.
After installing the rest of the 13 boxes on that trail I sat down on the bench to rest and watch. As I sat there I had Merlin listening and my ebird app open to document birds I saw. I swear I heard a bluebird but I was skeptical. Maybe it was just a very horse Robin. I happened to look at Merlin and there it was, an Eastern Bluebird was documented on the screen. Would Merlin make a mistake like that? After listening for a few minutes and searching with my binoculars I decided to take a walk to see if I could get a visual. Of course it stopped singing and I never saw it. I guess I won’t know if it was really a bluebird. It seems early compared to last year’s first sighting on May 16. But it has been a very strange winter, so maybe. I’ll go back this afternoon and again tomorrow and see if I can get a visual on it.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
How are the relocated blues doing Michele?
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
The Wisconsin part of Michigan : )
I’m on the UP border in the Iron Mtn area, specifically Niagara, WI
Nope, I gave up on FB many years ago. I’ve been learning to use ebird for info on migration. It seems to be fairly accurate. It’ll be a few weeks before the migration reaches here. We had six inches of wet snow a week ago and temps are not ideal yet for bugs that bluebirds seem to prefer.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Thanks Tammy. I’m monitoring that web site and as I see more sightings north of Green Bay I will kick it in gear placing boxes. It’ll only take a day or two to get the trail installed.
At the MBS fest there was one presenter that resided in Antrim County Michigan who mentioned he was seeing bluebirds in March. Antrim is close to my latitude but lake Michigan makes the climate there less variable than here on the WI/MI border.
I know a lot of folks leave their boxes up year round but I’m afraid that doing that will only weather the boxes prematurely. And the guy from Antrim County said he leaves his boxes open all winter after having mice take up winter residence in closed boxes. Many of hos boxes were made unusable (urine). I’m learning so much from this and other sites. But being in the north where we only have migrating bluebirds it is difficult to apply some practices where they are present year round.
Thanks for your advice. I’m hoping that last year’s May 16th first siting is a little earlier this year.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Not an expert here but I did hear a speaker at the Michigan Bluebird Soc in March mention that if the bluebirds do that it might be because the original eggs are not viable. On the other hand if another bird chases the originals away it may be building on top of the old nest. I don’t know what the correct action is. I think I would just monitor the nest for a few days and see if it is bluebirds. If so I would probably carefully remove the older eggs. Of course you may be able to identify the species using the nest materials as a guide.
I do remember the speaker talking about putting pairs of boxes a few feet from each other. If the second pair (if that’s your situation) are not bluebirds they may take the other box. I don’t think a second pair of bluebirds will nest in the second box but other species may take it.
Good luck and thanks for sharing. Keep us informed of what happens next.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
