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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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Iron Canyon Outing

By on January 29, 2024 in

Peregrine Falcon

Join us for a 3.5-mile easy birding hike at the Iron Canyon trail on the Sacramento River Bend in northern Tehama County. The trail is on the Tuscan Formation, a vast and ancient volcanic flow that carried volcanic rocks and boulders from the Cascade Mountains down toward the northeastern part of the Central Valley. Due to the mixture of rocky grasslands, oak and juniper woodlands, and high canyon cliffs overlooking the Sacramento Valley and the surrounding mountain ranges, the landscape is home to a
fascinating array of birds. We may expect to see any or all of 4 falcon species: Peregrine Falcon, Prairie Falcon, Merlin, and American Kestrel. Other species likely to be encountered are Lewis’s and Acorn Woodpecker, Western Meadowlark, Horned Lark, Rock Wren, American Pipit, Western or Mountain Bluebird, Bald or Golden Eagle. Stay a bit longer after the hike, and we will bird at Hog Lake for waterfowl, just a 2-minute drive up the road.
Meet at the Iron Canyon trailhead at 7:15 am. The hike is easy but due to the rocky terrain, please wear sturdy hiking shoes.
GoogleMaps link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/3DzLjyJu7vsPvj4x6
Directions from Red Bluff: From Highway 99, take Highway 36 East toward Susanville/Lassen Volcanic National Park. Continue for 5.2 miles until you reach the gravel parking lot on the left.

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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
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86565232063

Meeting ID: 865 6523 2063
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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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Second Saturday Bird Walk at Cascade Park

By on February 24, 2020 in

If this years walk is anything like last year, there will be lots of Western Bluebirds. The amount of waterfowl we see will depend a lot on the amount of water being released from the Shasta Dam, but we have seen Mallards, American Wigeon, Canada geese, Pied-billed Grebes and Wood Ducks if we are lucky. The old Cottonwood trees attract Northern Flicker and Acorn Woodpeckers. Spotted Towhee and California Towhee love the brush.  California Quail frequent the park but are often hiding as many people walk their dogs in the park. Great Blue Heron and Great Egrets are typical visitors. Turkey Vultures are regular inhabitants and often roost in the taller trees at night. Robins are usually busy in the lawn areas if the berries are all gone.

After the park walk, birders are invited to inspect Carroll’s backyard bird feeders a few blocks away.  White Breasted Nuthatches, Lesser Goldfinches and House Sparrows are guaranteed at Carroll’s place at 3111 Island Drive.  Mallards are available there 12 months of the year.  A cup of coffee or tea is available as well as bathroom facilities.  Everyone is welcome.

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