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It’s Time to Clean Out Your Nest Boxes

By on February 20, 2024 in Birds, Conservation, Nestbox Monitoring

Birds can be attracted to your home simply by offering food, water and shelter. Trees and shrubs that yield fruit, berries, seeds, nuts and cones will provide food. Birdbaths or pools can be built to supply water, and feeders strategically placed around the yard will furnish supplementary food for the birds when natural sources diminish. Tangles of wild plants and dense undergrowth left to thrive in chosen areas of your property will provide shelter, protection, and natural nesting and roosting sites.

Adult Male Western Bluebird Feeding a Nestling

Some 84 species of North American birds, excavate nesting holes, use cavities resulting from decay (natural cavities), or use holes created by other species in dead or deteriorating trees for nesting. Many species of these cavity nesting birds have declined because of habitat reduction. But you can help.

Nuttall’s Woodpecker Nestling Ready to Fledge

Several of the birds that nest in cavities tend to be resident (non-migrating) species and thus more amenable to local habitat management practices than migratory species. Bird houses have been readily accepted by many natural cavity nesters, and increases in breeding density have resulted from providing such structures.

My Favorite Nestbox Design

There are probably as many birdhouse plans as there are cavity nesting birds. The important thing is to choose a nest box plan for the species you want to attract that can be opened and cleaned out when necessary. The photo above shows my favorite style birdhouse with a 1 1/2 inch entrance hole. It has been home to Oak Titmouse, Western Bluebird, Violet-green Swallow, Tree Swallow, White-breasted Nuthatch, House Wren, and Ash-throated Flycatcher where I live. I have made one improvement to this design by altering the side door to open from the top rather than the bottom. This allows you to check on the nestlings from the top without opening the door all the way. Here is a nest box specifications chart and several nest box plans.

Oak Titmouse Nestlings

I cannot emphasize the importance of monitoring any nest box you may place in your yard, or anywhere else for that matter. There are three prime objectives for monitoring nestboxes. First and foremost, with regular, frequent visits to each nestbox, you may be able to spot problems threatening your tenants. You may be able to intervene so as to protect the adults and increase the nestlings’ chances for survival. Second, you can develop a body of knowledge about the habits of cavity-nesters. Lastly, you will build a dated record of each visit to the nestbox that will remind you of the age of the nestlings in the box you are approaching, and what’s been going on at the box during the previous weeks. This record will help you understand and interpret the present visit. And the best reason to monitor your nest box – it’s fun!

Oak Titmouse on the Nest

One of the most important aspects of nest box monitoring is cleaning out the box after each nesting. RIGHT NOW, before nesting season begins, all nest boxes should be checked to make sure they are clean and ready for occupancy. Your nest boxes should have been cleaned out back in August, after the last completed nesting of whatever species used them. Since then, it is likely that those nest boxes have been used as places to roost during cold weather, accumulating bird droppings. Below is a typical dirty box that has been used as a roost.

This is an American Kestrel box that has never been used. I recently checked it and found a wasp nest inside. They are usually attached to the roof on the inside of the box. Birds won’t use a box with wasps inside. If you find a wasp nest in your nest box, use a thin spatula and crush the wasp nest against the roof of the box. If you don’t kill the adult wasp, she will soon return and rebuild. Keep checking to make sure the wasps don’t return.

This is a nest box that was used by Tree Swallows. This one apparently had two successful nestlings but wasn’t cleaned out between them. You can see the two distinct flattened nests stacked on top of each other bringing any new nesting attempt closer to the entrance hole and therefore easier for a predator to reach eggs or nestlings.

This is a great time to check and clean any birdhouses you have. It’s also the perfect time to repair any damaged boxes and get them ready for the new season before the birds arrive. Believe it or not, birds like a clean house, just like you and I!

If you are interested in monitoring nestboxes for Shasta Birding Society this upcoming season, contact Larry Jordan at webmaster@shastabirdingsociety.org

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Bluebirds: Nest Boxes and Habitat Restoration

By on December 4, 2022 in

Mike Azevedo and Georgette Howington have been studying cavity-nesting birds for decades, leading to nest-box experience with nearly twenty species. Nest boxes aren’t a hobby, but a critical component of habitat. Mike and Georgette will talk about the organization for which they volunteer, the California Bluebird Recovery Program, and why the work of replacing the homes that development has destroyed is so important.

Wintu Audubon Society is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Bluebirds: Nest Boxes and Habitat Restoration
Time: Dec 14, 2022 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 865 6523 2063
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Songster of the Conifers–beautiful but invisible?

By on July 31, 2022 in BirdWords
Red-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch

If you have entered the world of the conifers above the Central Valley, or throughout most of North America for that matter, you stand a good chance of having heard an ongoing, nasal ankh, ankh, ankh, ankh. It is the song of the red-breasted nuthatches, elfin birds of our pines and firs.

 

They are harder to see than hear; they don’t seem shy, but they are small, and much of their living happens far over our heads. Nuthatches are built for prying insects from the bark of trees. Their bill is slightly dished up and stout enough to shovel bugs from crevice hide-aways. Their shoulders are broad, relatively speaking, and provide the heft to wield their strong bills. Their long hind toe is used, uniquely in the bird world, to hold them in place while they hunt face-down on a tree trunk or branch. Their tails are stiff, allowing them to prop against a tree as they pound against it.

And what do they pound? In addition to picking insects from cracks in tree trunks, these nuthatches gather seeds from cones at branch-tips. They often wedge hard pine-nuts into crannies in the bark and then crack them open with hammer blows from their bills. Also, these versatile gymnasts, like woodpeckers, carve out their own cavities for nesting. No fools, they prefer the softer wood of dead limbs and snags for their home-building.

Males often begin several nesting holes as part of their courting. A female takes over and shapes the chosen cavity to her liking, taking about two weeks to complete the excavation. Both adults apply sap to the hole entrance–he on the exterior, she on the interior. The tiny nuthatches dive right through the hole without getting gummed up, but predators, from owls to ants, can be deterred by the sticky goo.

He begins feeding the female, and she lays a handful of eggs in their nest. The young hatch, naked and blind, after two weeks of incubation. Another two weeks and, having been fed and protected by both parents, the young fledge into the world.

There, if you enter that world of the conifers, you may be able to see them. A little luck and a decent pair of binoculars will let you enjoy the red-breasted nuthatch’s gray-blue back, chestnut underside, and black eyeline under a white eyebrow. Otherwise, at least you may enjoy their ubiquitous song–ankh, ankh, ankh…

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Wood Ducks!

By on April 2, 2021 in

A large island in the Sacramento River caused a small branch of the river to flow by some residential homes and has enabled Harvey and Jeannette Carroll to observe and enjoy a large variety of birdlife, especially waterfowl.

Early every spring a large number of Wood Ducks began visiting the channel below their house and often flew up into the oak trees apparently looking for a large enough hole for a nest.

Wood Ducks are cavity nesters. Harvey got a pattern and made several Wood Duck nest boxes which were soon inhabited and Wood Ducklings were successfully raised. Each year the Carrolls learned a bit more about making the nest boxes safe, but a friend loaned Harvey a “Nestcam” which was hooked up to a small television set and much information was available about the ducks habits.

The Carrolls will show their Wood Duck photos and tell us about their nestbox adventures at our April 14th, 7:00 PM Zoom presentation.

As several groups are doing, we are pre- registering everyone for our upcoming presentations.

This is a very simple procedure. Just go to this link https://bit.ly/3biUhBi and fill out the simple form. You will receive an email confirming your registration. The link for the presentation will be emailed to you on March 8th. We suggest you make a reminder for yourself when you get the email link.

You can also scan the QR code below to fill out the form.

When you login to our Zoom meetings you will be placed into a waiting room until the meeting begins. Participants are muted upon entry but are welcome to unmute themselves before the meeting begins. Once the presentation begins, you can raise your hand to ask questions. A moderator will control the order of your questions.

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Home, Sweet Home: Bluebirds in the Neighbor-woods

By on December 26, 2020 in BirdWords
Western Bluebird Female

Western Bluebird Female

There’s a little piece of sky fluttering through the neighborhoods and neighbor-woods of the North State. Actually, many little pieces. But they are not at all Chicken Little’s nightmare; the sky isn’t falling. They are, rather, feathered beauties, and, if one is to believe the folklore, bringers of happiness.

Western Bluebird Male

Western Bluebird Male

Western bluebirds thrive from Mexico up through the coastal states in just about any habitat that provides a mix of open woods and small meadows – say, for instance, the neighborhood woodlands of our area. Here the birds find everything they need to prosper.

Oak trees offer low branches, perfect perches from which to scan the weeds beneath, to drop down and snatch a tasty caterpillar or beetle that shows itself. That swoop-down style of hunting, for reasons that might be discernible, is known as hawking.

Oaks also seem to die for nearly as long as they live. Old oaks are notorious for holding dead limbs, and that rotting wood, with help from the squadrons of local woodpeckers, can contain entire housing developments–cavities–that bluebirds, along with others, will make their homes.

Male Western Bluebird Feeding Nestling

Within the oak woodland numerous berries are usually available to help balance a bluebird’s insect diet. Elderberries, toyon, grapes, and poison oak are high-calorie menu items, perfect for powering through the cold winter days and nights. Mistletoe berries–toxic to people but nutritious to birds–are a special favorite. Bluebirds will often defend a rich clump of mistletoe from phainopeplas or other birds that might want to claim that aisle in their grocery store; they will perch above the mistletoe and chase invaders off to their own fortunes. No reports on what the bluebirds do under the mistletoe.

There are other birds that are blue in our woodlands, but don’t mistake scrub-jays for the real bluebirds. Both may flock loosely with a half dozen kin, but the jays are long-tailed and raucous. The bluebirds are more demure. They are thrushes, relatives of robins, but with a quieter song, a chirp with a spring in it, seemingly just to keep the friends together.

With the sun behind you, males’ topsides almost sparkle with rich indigo-blue. Their breasts are decked in rusty red. The females are similar, but much paler throughout.

Western Bluebird Eggs

Western Bluebird Eggs

Together they house-hunt in spring, as many species do. Then she will build her nest, taking two weeks for the first nest of the season but, perhaps with a fatigue-induced shift in priorities, only one week for the second. In each she will lay a handful of eggs, most but not all of which are apt to be sired by the male attending her. She will incubate them for two weeks, and both parents will tend them through their fledging, another three weeks or more.

Western Bluebird Fledglings

Even with extensive habitat changes, bluebirds seem to be holding their own. The cutting of dead limbs that could provide nesting sites has been offset by providing nesting boxes. Complementing numerous backyard bird-houses, our local Wintu Audubon has developed “Bluebird Trails,” strings of boxes used by bluebirds, tree swallows, nuthatches, and others. The Audubon chapter monitors those nestboxes and tracks the results for researchers. Last year the local Trails fledged 139 young birds.

Monitoring those nests is a fun weekly activity through the spring season. And yes, it is appropriate for doing with a child. If you would like to learn more about volunteering as a Nestbox Monitor, contact webmaster@wintuaudubon.org .

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