[Bluebird-babble] 2007 nestbox summary

[Cheryl]

We have 14 acres between Hartsel and Buena Vista and I purchased two blue
bird boxes to put out this year along the entry to our land. That’s how I
ended up on the mailing list. We had blue bird nests in both boxes and the
birds were flying in and out with food so I can only assume there were
babies in there but I was afraid to open the box and disturb them. Can
someone please give me some basic information as to what the birds will
“allow” you to do? I’d love to look in next year and see the eggs, babies,
etc. Also, I’d like to put out more boxes but I always thought they should
be along the road since that’s where we see the blue birds all the time. Is
it worthwhile to put boxes in other spots? Thanks for any info


 

Cheryl Earnest

  _____  

From: bluebird-babble-bounces at denveraudubon.org
[mailto:bluebird-babble-bounces at denveraudubon.org] On Behalf Of
Christina.Mitchell at UCHSC.edu
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2007 5:05 PM
To: Bluebird-Babble at denveraudubon.org
Subject: [Bluebird-babble] 2007 nestbox summary

 

Hi, all--

 

Sadly, but inevitably, our breeding season has come to an end.  We have 71
nestboxes on 39+ acres in central Colorado--pinyon/juniper/scrub oak habitat
at about 7200' in the rain shadow (eastern flank) of the northern Sangres.
We've had nestboxes up for 7 years, but this is the first year I've
monitored them during the breeding season.  (In the past, we've simply
cleaned out the boxes at the end of the season and guessed at what might
have used them.)  This summer, we had 7 different species using the
nestboxes; 23 boxes were used by birds (and lots by mice and chipmunks) and
2 boxes by 2 different species (Violet-green Swallows moved in right after
White-breasted Nuthatches fledged).  The big species surprise was one pair
of Western Bluebirds; we've never had them summer in our habitat before.  

 

Here's the summary.  

 

Mountain Bluebird:  26 eggs; 14 fledged; 53.8% success. (We had 2 very late
nests--total of 10 eggs--that never hatched and probably never had a chance.
If I adjust for those, the rate was 87.5%.  I like that better, although
53.8% is better science.) 

Western Bluebird:  6 eggs; 6 fledged; 100%  

 

Non-bluebird species—

White-breasted Nuthatch:  14 eggs; 14 fledged; 100% 

Violet-green Swallow:  37 eggs; 29 fledged; 78.4% 

Mountain Chickadee:  18 eggs; 18 fledged; 100% 

Juniper Titmouse:  11 eggs; 5 fledged; 45.5% 

Ash-throated Flycatcher:  9 eggs; 8 fledged; 88.9% 

Total:  121 eggs; 94 fledged; 77.7%  

 

The juniper titmice either were the unluckiest or made the worst choices.
Only 1 of 3 nests raised any young at all; eggs were removed early on by
some critter (snake? chipmunk?) in the other 2.  The Violet-green Swallows
had the highest (and only, actually) mortality among the nestlings--5 dead
in 2 boxes, no apparent sign of predators, unknown cause of death.  

 

It was a very fun undertaking.  We have 30 more nestboxes that were
unmonitorable this year (placed too high or built so that the bottom
opened--great for cleaning, but not for monitoring). My husband's going to
reposition or and/or revamp those over the winter, so I'll have even more
next year.  Thanks to Kevin and the CBP for providing the encouragement and
support to get me motivated to give it a try!

 

Tina Mitchell

Coaldale, CO

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