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Photo © Keith Williams

June 2019 News


NestWatcher Finds Albino Tree Swallow

NestWatcher Edie Wieder found an albino nestling Tree Swallow in a nest box in Needham, Massachusetts. Because Tree Swallows often incorporate white feathers into their nests, you could almost overlook this all-white bird among the nest materials.

Monitoring nests provides a great opportunity to discover and learn, no matter how many years you’ve been involved, but a sighting this rare might come only once in a NestWatcher’s lifetime. Read about this rare discovery in our latest blog post.


What’s The Buzz?

NestWatcher Lee Pauser submitted two videos along with an observation that his Northern Flicker nestlings sounded very buzzy, almost like a bee hive. In our recent blog post, we explore how Northern Flicker nestlings might be able to scare off predators by mimicking bees. Listen in on the nest box and decide for yourself if these little flickers are scary—or just noisy! Read the blog post here.


Meeting Of The Minds

This month NestWatch staff hosted the North American Bluebird Society (NABS) annual board meeting at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, NY. We met with seven leaders of NABS to discuss research ideas, website and mobile app tools, and trends in cavity-nesting bird populations.

We are grateful to NABS for financially supporting our project to scan and digitize ~62,000 historical bluebird nest cards which were mailed to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology from 1965–1999. Sign up for updates on how to participate in this project, launching soon! And be sure to connect with NABS on Facebook.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Cornell Lab of Ornithology