Carolina Chickadees checking out my new nestbox

A male chickadee flew over to the fence near my nestbox, he then when inside, came out, and called to his female. She flew over and went inside. We just put the nestbox up 2 days ago.

Eastern Bluebird feeding one of its young.

Another picture of an Eastern Bluebird feeding one of its young. The nest box was located in my backyard. Three Bluebirds hatched and fledged. The dad was diligent in feeding his young!

Eastern Bluebird Nestling

Eastern Bluebird Nestling that was getting close to fledging. From Spring-Summer 2022. My first attempt at installing a bluebird nest box. Three bluebirds successfully hatched and fledged.

Eastern Blue Bird feeding its nestling

Eastern Bluebird feeding its nestling. Nest box was located in my backyard spring-summer 2022. My first attempt at building one, installing, and monitoring it! Three Bluebirds hatched and fledged.

The Seasonal Evolution of a Duck Box

I have had this Duck Box on the edge of the East Fork of the Eno River in my backyard for 7+/- years. This is the first year it served as a successful nest site for 2 species, Wood Ducks and Eastern Bluebirds. Red Shouldered Hawks on the other hand have always found the Duck Box a productive hunting perch.

Still Hungry

Ready to flee the nestbox

Eastern Bluebird Nesting

rodent or bird?

Found in old wood garage building, easily accessible to animals. My two questions are
a) bird or rodent
b) which way up? ( I didn’t collect it)

Newly hatched Carolina Wrens

Of the five eggs in the nest, three had hatched between about 5:30-7:30 this morning.

First Egg in Carolina Wren Nest

This is a combination of several captured videos of the Carolina Wren’s nest in the nest box in our back yard. Video was captured on July 13, 2022 starting at around 6AM.

Total clutch size reached 5 eggs

ID needed for feathers and nestbox

Feathers were at John Paul’s Landing Park (24202 West Rd, Cypress, TX 77433) and the nest box was at Paul D Rushing’s Chain of Lakes. (9114 Katy Hockley Rd, Katy, TX 77493)

The feathers were about 2” long. They didn’t look like wing feathers.
The nest box was about 20 feet up on a pole. It was made of wood. A gray baby bird with a yellow beak poked its head out.

First egg in carolina wren nest

This is a combination of several captured videos of the Carolina Wren’s nest in the nest box in our back yard. Video was captured on July 13, 2022 starting at around 6AM.

Total clutch size reached 5 eggs

Purple Martins

This photo taken in July, 2022, the first year for this Purple Martin colony at Beltzville State Park near Lehighton, PA. The gourd rack was erected and is managed by the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society.

House Wren Nest Box

My first nest box nest!

Bluebirds Fledged

I saw two fledge, but I am not sure if there were others. They were hidden way up in the tree.

Bluebird family

A juvenile bluebird assists in feeding the brood. Eastern Bluebird

A juvenile bluebird has been assisting mom and dad with feeding the brood. There are four hatchlings in the nest.

Pothonotary Warbler fledgling

All fledglings left today. Friday, July 8, 2022.

Prothonotary Warblers

First ever seeing these birds in our area, husband thought they were Goldfinches, but I knew the goldfinch doesn’t build in boxes.
When I finally found the info on this bird it said it is one of two warblers that build in cavities or houses. Such a BEAUTIFUL bird they all fledged today!!

Bluebird Hatchlings

All 5 bluebirds have hatched! I’ve seen adults stop in to feed very frequently!

Bluebirds Hatch!

Today the first two (I promise there’s another hatchling under the bird with it’s mouth open haha) bluebirds have hatched!

bluebirds

I want food

food please!!

Male bluebird is watching me protecting his chicks

Bluebird Meal!

When I approached the box, I saw the mama feeding her young. Bluebird young are fed exclusively plant and berry matter. After she left, I checked the box and was able to watch the (confused) babies eat their meals!

baby chickadee

Bluebird Nest

Looking out at the world

Carolina Wren building a nest in our back yard birdhouse

I watched this wren work over the weekend to complete the nest. A week before, an English Sparrow was observed on the top of the house for a number of days, She left some bedding. Then the Carolina Wren arrived and completed the nest.

Eastern Bluebirds: eyes open; feathering up

The three nest mates are coming right along. This will probably be the last time I open the box until they fledge.

Tree Swallow male

Male tree swallow bird guarding on 14 may 2022.

Five Eggs, Four Mouths, 3 Sleeping Nestlings

Eastern Bluebird – five eggs laid, 4 hungry young on May 7, 2022. At least 3 sleeping nestlings on May 13. Not sure if the fourth is still there and is just hard to see. Time will tell!!!

Wren nest building

Wrens are busy building nest in a birdhouse they’ve used for several years now.

6 Carolina Chickadee Nestlings!

All 6 of the Carolina Chickadee nestlings finally hatched! Mr. and Mrs. Chickadee are working very hard to feed and raise their young. One day very soon, those little nestlings will grow into happy, cheerful Carolina Chickadees just like their parents. Welcome to the world little ones!
Both pictures taken on May 9, 2022

Eastern Bluebird Hatchlings

Eastern Bluebird hatchlings – one egg left. I see a small puncture / crush on the last egg. Not sure if it is starting to hatch (to the best of my knowledge, that’s usually a morning thing), or if it was accidentally punctured.
Time will tell. Won’t check again for at least 3 days from now.

The First Carolina Chickadee Nestling

When I visited the nest box to check on the Carolina Chickadee nest, I was surprised at what I saw. The first Carolina Chickadee nestling hatched! I was so filled with joy that the first little Chickadee nestling finally made it’s way out the shell. Welcome to the world little Chickadee! Now to wait for it’s siblings to hatch too.

Picture taken on May 5, 2022.

Carolina Chickadee Nest 2022

The Carolina Chickadee nest is located in this viewing, nest box that we put up in our backyard. Both pictures taken on April 24, 2022

Mrs. Carolina Chickadee incubates her eggs

Mrs. Carolina Chickadee keeps her 6 eggs warm. Picture taken on April 27, 2022

6 Carolina Chickadee eggs!

Mrs. Carolina Chickadee laid 6 eggs in our nest box! April 23, 2022

White-breasted Nuthatches

Eastern Bluebird Nest Building Underway

Nest building started Sunday, 4/10/22.

Great Horned Owl

Successful GHO clutch in 2021. Nest constructed from Nest Watch Plan for Great Horned Owl.

Carolina Chickadee nest beginning

The camera inside a chickadee nest box captured this chickadee bringing in nesting materials. Once the chickadee just opened her beak and slung pieces of moss all over the bottom of the box.

Great-crested Flycatcher box

Cleaning house

Great Crested Flycatcher removing the fecal sac.

Tree Swallow with chicks

Nesting Asilomar Birds

I am so lucky that I get to witness these astonishing bird interactions and activities just in passing. I can’t imagine what it would be like to monitor these birds all day long. The drama! I love Violet-green Swallows as they are very beautiful and graceful in the air but also tenacious at the nest: moms don’t leave if the box gets opened, they are scrappy when fighting with the Western Bluebirds for a home, the juveniles return to the boxes when they’re bored of foraging on their own. Just immense personality. And really understudied compared to the Tree Swallows, which have a wider range. I’d like to conduct more research on the VGSW and figure out why they have years of total nest failure and other years are successful. Someday, when I have more time. There are other images of some of my favorite park residents, which include the Western Bluebirds, Pygmy Nuthatches, and Northern Flickers. All are amazing individuals who I love.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

We have a pair of Bewick’s Wrens that discovered an unoccupied bird house in our garden.

Chickadee brood

Mrs. Barred

For the fourteenth year we have Barred owls nesting in view of our breakfast table.

Carolina Wren Eggs

It’s a family affair

Bluebird family (siblings and parents) all pitch in to feed the nestlings

Feed us Mommy!

Mama Eastern Bluebird bringing food to the hungry nestlings.

Our favorite kind of guests

We have several nestboxes that we monitor and maintain on our property. Each year, they are full of babies…some having 2 to 4 broods with us.

Breakfast Has Been Served

A female Eastern Bluebird leaves the nest box after a quick morning meal delivery.

Bundle o’ Flicker Chicks

A pile of nekkid northern flicker chicks, 8 in total. Or is it 9?

Tree Swallow Babies

Bluebird Babies & Eggs

Nuthatch in a Bluebird House

Nuthatch feeding young in a bluebird house.

Monitoring a Kestrel Nest Box

For two seasons I monitored Kestrel Nest Boxes on behalf of the American Kestrel Partnership. At their recommendation, I used a camera mounted on a pole that I could operate remotedly. This made our monitoring much less disruptive to the nest. All the young fledged successfully.

Resourceful Nuthatch

I have several bluebird houses that frequently attract other species including this white breasted nuthatch. The nesting site is about 10ft off the ground with several small branches suitable for perching nearby. The bird skipped between perches before entering the house to feed its young.

Crowd of baby bluebirds

This is a photo of one of the batches of Eastern bluebirds that successfully fledged from one of our bluebird nesting boxes. We provide live meal-worms in a special feeder. The parent birds quickly (usually) find the feeder and make good use of it. Their frequent flights to and from the feeder back to the nest box provide beautiful flashes of color as they struggle to keep up with the ever-hungry chicks.We are convinced that at least a few of these chicks have hung around, knowing that there is a good supply of food both natural and feeder-based.

Tree Swallows

Young tree swallows in their nest box

Violet Green Swallow

Violet Green Swallow on eggs in a nest box

Owl Bucket Filled for the Nest Season

A young owl was seen in the bucket which had been seemingly un-used for many many years.

Breeding photos

Apart from the Black Crown Night Heron nest on a rock just off shore, these are nest box pictures of four cavity nesting species.

Female American Kestrel feeding nestlings.

Female American Kestrel feeding 5 nestlings.

5 Little Bluebirds

This picture was taken in the spring of 2021. A pair of bluebirds successfully raised these five youngsters.

Bluebird triplets

The Good Parents

The Old Trolley Line Trail, Sturbridge, Massachusetts

Lunch at the Eddon Boatworks Martin boxes

Bluebirds in Virginia Backyard.

Our first year putting in a bluebird nest box in our backyard was a huge success. We saw 3 different broods born, fledged 13.

Eastern Bluebird Young

Flicker family

Moved this house last winter due to chronic vacancy and voilà, they like the new location!

Tree Swallow with Young

Tree Swallow in a nest box with newly hatched young.

Eastern Bluebird Eggs

Eastern Bluebird eggs in a dark nest box.

Eastern Bluebird Female on Nest

New kid in town

Newly hatched Eastern Bluebird

Carolina Wren family

Adult Carolina wren feeding chicks

Lunchtime!

Adult chickadee bringing food to the chicks

Sacajawea Audubon Bluebird Trail

These photos are from our bluebird trail of 100+ nest boxes, NW of Bozeman, MT. This trail was started in the early 1970s and is monitored by chapter volunteers. NOTE: We have Federal and State permits to band and handle cavity nesting species.

Eastern Bluebird helpers

This is our first year with a bluebird house. We are in a suburban setting with no Tree Swallows to compete with bluebirds. A pair of Eastern Bluebirds has been nesting each spring at the home across the street so we added the bird house and put a cup feeders with meal worms. After the pair’s first brood fledged, the adults selected our birdhouse for the second brood. Sometime around July 21, I repeatedly saw what I believe is juvenile male perching near to adult, and both visiting nest box as seen it first image. I am sure female was in the box. (There are four chicks.) On August 19, I observed the juvenile male enter box with grasshopper (?) and minute later exit. Note in second image that the wings have male blue but shoulders are still dark. Isn’t this clearly a juvie? Today is 8/20. I observed three drab birds on the next box at the same time. Granted, one could be adult female but at least two are juveniles. I frequently see two of these drab birds at morning feeding frenzy with one entering box, and a second waiting. Are helpers all that rare and we are just lucky?

Playing Hide and Seek

A flying squirrel jumped out of a bluebird box and landed on a nearby tree.

Feeding time just before fledge

Feeding time just prior to fledge

Juvenile helper Eastern Bluebird Poop Sac Removal

I have observed a juvenile bluebird assisting with family duty during this breeding cycle. In the photo depicted, I captured the juvenile removing a poop sac. I had additional photographs of the juvenile feeding the babies.

Young House Wrens

Six house wren chicks over the course of about ten days.

Bluebird Juvenile Helper Feeding

This Bluebird Juvenile from first brood is helping mom and dad feed this second brood. This is the second day I’ve seen this Juvenile carrying food to nest to feed.

Fledging Bluebirds

Eastern Bluebirds fledge successfully.

My first American Kestrels

My first pair of nesting Kestrels. I was hoping for Screech Owls or Kestrels. I’m thrilled!

Eastern Bluebird Eggs

Eastern Bluebird Fledglings

Bluebird fledglings ready to go

Watch Eastern Bluebird Egg Hatching!

This is the second brood this year for a young breeding pair of Eastern Bluebirds.

Baby bluebirds hatching

Wren

Bluebird nest

Give that baby a worm!

8 day old Eastern Bluebirds in a nestbox in our pasture.

House Sparrow or something else?

Nest looks like a tree swallow, but these are not ts eggs.

Barn Owl Cam

This Barn Owl Box has been active for five years. Presently three chicks are growing fast. Watch them grow and learn how to be Mother Nature’s rodent control. Barn Owl’s a value-added community member. Please help protect them but eliminating all rodenticides. Thank you.

Purple Martin nests

We Claim This Box

I opened this wood duck nest box to find a neat Carolina wren nest inside. No eggs yet.