Hello all,
I figured I would post some unusual activity from the yard. Yesterday, July 3rd
the second batch of tree swallow eggs hatched. After the first nest
successfully fledged I removed the nesting material and within days the second
nest was being built. I believe but can not confirm it was a different female
from the first but possibly the same male. There was a extra female that hung
around the entire first nesting cycle. I assume she could not find a cavity of
her own which explains the late nesting. There was fighting between two females
for the second nest sight, so I guess there is a small possibility the original
female may have nested twice.
At the same time I also have recently hatched Bluebirds and House Wrens in
nearby paired boxes on their second nests. What is interesting is that neither
I or my neighbors had House wrens nesting until last year and now they are all
over. They totally displaced the Carolina Wrens in three nearby home’s nest
boxes. Most interestingly, a little while back when the first batch of House
wrens fledged from my neighbor's house they took cover in one of my trees for
the first day while the parents continued to feed them. The female Bluebird
using a nearby nest box waited until they were on their own and then attacked
them. She even had one pinned down on the ground. It survived the initial
attack but I would guess had to have died later as it looked badly injured. I
know House Wrens can be a danger to Bluebird nests. Maybe this was simply a
defensive Bluebird protecting her nearby nest, but it was interesting to me to
see the tables turn. The male Bluebird took no part in the attacks but the
female would attack on and off for close to 20 minutes. I felt bad for the
fledgling house wrens but let nature run its course as I observed. Even common
birds never cease to surprise me.
Dan Ellsworth
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