[Bluebird-babble] Western Fremont Co. nestings

[Christina.Mitchell at UCHSC.edu]

Hi, all--
 
Here in Coaldale, we have 3 White-breasted Nuthatches incubating eggs--one clutch with 7 eggs, one, 6; one, undetermined #.  (Boy, those moms stayed stuck like glue on the nests when I open the boxes.)  One Juniper Titmouse has laid 5 eggs (not sure if she's done laying); two Mountain Chickadees have what look (to my human eye) like completed nests but no eggs yet.  One pair of Mountain Bluebirds have committed to and at least partially completed a nest (both parents shared their displeasure with my snooping by repeatedly swooping within inches of me); no eggs yet.  We're still awaiting the first arrivals of our 2 other primary cavity-nesting species--Ash-throated Flycatchers and Violet-green Swallows.
 
Our most prolific nester, by far, are the deer mice.  I accidentally sent 2 nursing moms scurrying out of nestboxes--with young hanging off each of them--when I first started checking about 3 weeks ago.  I now can recognize those nests and just leave them alone.  (I'm not that fond of deer mice but I am fond of the many critters that eat them.)  Luckily, we still have about 50 unoccupied nestboxes for the late-arriving and/or late-committing birds to choose from.
 
A double stroke of luck--our property is smack in the middle of the priority block of our Breeding Bird Atlas--II quadrant.  We are really going to nail the details and timings of our p/j cavity nesters for that effort, thanks to the Bluebird project!
 
Tina Mitchell
pinyon-juniper habitat, 7100', 18 miles east of Salida
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