There is a pair of Bald Eagles nesting on property that borders mine. I can watch the nest from my picture window. What a treat! Once the trees leaf-out I won’t be able to watch from the house but can still go out into my field and observe with my scope & binoculars.

They renovated an old Red-tailed Hawk–Great horned Owl nest starting in September of last year. I kept hoping they would actually nest here. It is surprising since there are homes & activity fairly close to them. February 28th, I noticed they had begun incubating– could tell by noting they now SAT IN the rather than flying to it and standing. It has been exciting to watch them & I feel priveliged to have them select this area to raise young.

I hope it results in success. Too much can happen. People are a concern—if people approach too close, it could cause them to abandon the nest or leave the eggs unattended for too long a time. Also I hope the birds are capable of having fertile eggs that will hatch.
I will keep you posted. Birders around the state are reporting Tree Swallows— time to start preparing my boxes & gourds. I have not seen one here yet.

Well, another year has passed. It has been a cold & icy winter. I am anxiously awaiting warmer weather and SPRING! The male Red-wing Blackbirds returned on February 17th. Heard one calling.

Have been listening to the Woodcocks calling & performing their amazing courtship flight in the field behind my house. I have gone out several nights and sat in the field at dusk to have them call and land within 15 ft. of me. I encourage you to read up on these birds and learn their calls. You may have them calling in a field near you! Go to Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s website: www.birds.cornell.edu and click on Bird Guide. You can look up any bird species and learn a great deal about them.
I will blog again with an exciting new nester near my home!

07.13.07
Age: 20 days old

Beautiful weather again. Rained last night.
Woke up just after 7:00 am—2 still present in box. Fell asleep and then woke up about 8:10 am and the box was empty. Remaining 2 fledged. I was hoping to witness them fledging. Did not think it would happen so soon in the day. Box #9 successfully fledged 4 out of 4 nestlings.

It seems so strange to see an empty nest on the TV screen. I will miss them. This was my last TRES nest for 2007. Now the TRES will be gearing up to migrate in the near future.

I will add some additional info plus hopefully some photos. Stay tuned!!

07.12.07
Age: 20 & 19 days

Gorgeous weather again. Low humidity 80’s

2 FLEDGED!!
Sometime between 1:00 and 4:45 pm, 2 nestlings fledged. I was gone.
2 are left. One is perched at the entrance, the other appears lethargic/sleepy in the box. I know it hasn’t been fed as often as it should.
Where did the two go? I have been watching and listening for them. Ten TRES are sitting on the power lines.
The female just fed the young bird in the entrance. Via the TV, the other simply sits in the bottom of the box and cheeps occasionally.
Just saw a bird (possibly female) feed a young TRES on the electrical lines. Was it one of the recently fledged birds? About 12 Tree Swallows are perched currently on the lines.

2 present in the box tonight.
The end is near . . .

07.11.07
Age: 19 & 18 days old

Weather gorgeous—low humidity, 80° breezy

Strange TRES (HY) again in box.

I am concerned although probably don’t need to be—one nestling hogs the entrance and gets fed. The other three seem to have given up cheeping and trying to be fed. They are huddled in the box often facing the back of the box, sleeping. I wonder if this is unusual or not. The female continues to feed whoever sits in the entrance. If no one is there, she enters the box.

07.10.07
Age: 18 & 17 days old

At 7:31 pm—No nestlings have fledged. It is suppose to rain and possibly storm tonight.

Something must have happened to the male. I have not witnessed him feeding since early yesterday.
Strangely the nestlings have not been perched at the entrance much since late afternoon. Female has been entering the box to feed.
All present tonight.

07.09.07
Age: 17 & 16 days old
71°/92°

Photographing from car blind. 8:10 am.

–Have not seen male feeding that often. Female looks ragged.
–About 9:30 am a hawk—either Sharp-shinned or Cooper’s blasted through into maple tree in front –first one next to driveway. It then shot out winging around the west side of the house. Songbirds were going crazy—in an uproar—Purple Martins & Tree Swallows primarily. Don’t know if it had a bird or was in pursuit of one.The birds were alarm calling, chasing and circling over west side of field. Since that occurrence, it has been very quiet here in the east yard. Usually TRES & PUMA are perched on power lines and busy flying around the yard.
9:47 am Female parent finally fed. Wonder about the male parent. Have not seen him feed for possibly an hour.

–Nestlings that hog the entrance too long begin to be tugged at by the nestlings in the box. They get tired of not being fed and/or having opportunity to peer outside. It is humorous to watch. The bird gets yanked—you can see it moving backwards in small movements and then it tries to keep itself shifting forward to stay positioned in the hole.
–Watched feedings this evening from about 7:30 pm -8:15 pm. Female was feeding quite frequently but only flying to the entrance and feeding whichever bird was perched there.
–The nest is a flattened, fecal littered mess.
– No one fledged today. All are present and accounted for tonight.

07.08.07
Age: 16 & 15 days old
61°/92° Sunny

Sunrise: 6:26 am Sunset: 9:15 EST

6:08 am: Nestlings began quietly cheeping.
6:27 am: First feeding
*Photographed from car blind.
Oldest nestling spending most of its time perched in the entrance to the box. Parents continued to feed but this one was hogging the food since parents could not enter the box. When the young bird would drop back down into the box, the parents would then fly into the box to feed others. From my vantage point in the car I can see the nest mites crawling all over the nestling and the front panel of the box.
Hatch Year (HY) birds would make numerous approaches and land on the box. They could not enter it because of the nestling parked in the entrance. This nestling would gape at them in an antagonistic manner when they would approach or land.
(Recorded) HY TRES entered the box with the nestlings. Pecked occasionally at them—it was very crowded. Female parent entered with food and fed one. Once again she seemed oblivious that there were 5 present in the box.

07.07.07
Age: 15 & 14 days old
89°

7:26 am: Strange TRES in the box. Does not harm them. Simply sits in nest box, moves around and then leaves. (Record)

Much swarming from TRES—most appear to be HY birds.
The strange TRES are nearly all HY bird—dull brownish plumage on upperparts and pure white underparts. Some still have a bit of the flanges visible on the bill. They all act like “bad” boys and girls. They seem to take pleasure in harassing the parents and keeping them from being able to feed the nestlings. They also seem to be trying to trump each other as to who can physically get into the box– a kind of bird “King of the Mountain” game. (Excuse the anthropomorphism–giving them human characteristics).

They will enter the box often after chasing another bird away (sometimes the parents), and sit with their heads sticking out of the entrance and then gape at/intimidate other TRES that approach. As parents arrive, they will “attack” them. One stayed in the box and sat at the entrance. When a parent arrived, it sat in the entrance. Another bird flew towards the entrance with a strand of grass but was driven away by another HY TRES. These strange TRES could very likely be the young fledged earlier this summer from my gourds.
The nestlings tend to quiet themselves and become motionless when they hear a sound on the top panel of the nest box. Noise that comes from the front panel of the box elicits begging behavior.
The female parent at times lands at the box whether the male parent is inside the box feeding or is approaching with food, she will become aggressive towards him by gaping, thrusting her bill, and/or simply fly at him. Why I am not sure because at other times there is no aggression. Perhaps stress from all the interference from other TRES?
Long Recording: Eight or perhaps more TRES are swarming the box—very frenetic activity. Strange TRES enters the box. The bird moves about the nest and occasionally lightly pecks at the nestlings. Later 2 TRES enter the box and there is much wrestling because of the tight quarters with 4 nestlings present also. One bird grabs fecal matter and leaves. It is a constant movement of TRES in and out of the box. The female parent enters at the end of this recording and feeds while a strange TRES is present in the box.

07.06.07
Age: 14 & 13 days old

8:00 am: Again this morning strange (HY) Hatch Year bird entered the box. It moved about in the box then settled in a corner of the nest like a nestling and simply stayed there. Soon another TRES entered—it appeared older (??)—moved about then perched at the entrance for a while and then left. The female parent arrived—fed—did not seem to notice the presence of the strange TRES sitting there motionless. Parent left with a fecal sac. Nestlings were in a semi-frozen posture—no gaping (mouth open begging) when the parent arrived. (Recorded)

12:18 pm: When I checked the camera, I was surprised to see only 3 nestlings visible but soon realized that one nestling was perched on the kerfs inside the box. (Boxes
should have indentations, wood slits, etc. that allow nestlings to get from bottom of the box to entrance hole–something to grip. Some nestlings–especially TRES with legs not ideal for climbing–need this so they can fledge the box).

I feel sorry for the nestlings because their bodies, the nest, and the box, are infested with mites and I assume bird lice. I can see what appear as tiny pieces of white rice crawling all over them. They are constantly scratching and shaking themselves. The outside of the box looks like it has black pepper crawling all over it. To think that every bird that enters the box becomes a host. The nest camera is filthy. It is covered with the mites crawling all over it and there is a white powdery substance all over it and the lens. This white film gives the view via the TV a cloudy appearance. I guessing this is flakes of skin. (??)