Seems this particular spring is harder on the birds around my yard than previous springs. I know every spring I’d find dead hatchlings under a bird house or below a nest. Once sparrows fought over a bird house and several unfeathered corpses later lay on the ground.
But this year there was the joy of watching various birds explore houses, perching on top, looking in the small hole. Then maybe a different species bird the next day, same routine.
The bluebirds were house shopping very early in the season looking at the flashy boxes but merely perching on top of the bluebird house. Some time later it was actually the bluebird house they were filling with dried grass. It was lovely to see the two birds fly from the nearby trees to the house, and sit on the fence. Clearly their eggs hatched – I could here the tweet of little birds. And the parents had to fight off marauding sparrows.
And the chickadees were also looking for a nest site. Were they planning to take that other bluebird house even though a woodpecker had enlarged the hole?
The wrens take a long time in this process. It seems the male selects a box, fills it with some twigs and sings his heart out hoping to entice a female. When it doesn’t work he tries with a different nesting box. And on it goes.
Plenty of robins around but they’re nests are up in the trees. Generally can’t see them.
Late in spring there was conflict at the suet feeder with a blue jay and a huge crow – could that have been a raven? Fights at the feeder with the blue jay driving off the big black bird. This was the first year I noted the blue jay eating suet. The bird is a horrible pest at the seed feeders.
The blue bird nest was empty; no chirping birdies.Then one afternoon I heard the blue birds sounding the alarm. I got out in the yard in time to see the big bully blue jay fly off and there was a fledging blue bird in the grass, still alive, able to hop under cover. I did my best to keep an eye for any return of the jay. As best I could tell all the blue birds were reunited.
Meanwhile every time I was at the house front I enjoyed watching the wrens feeding their brood. I could hear the hatchings eagerly chirping as a parent entered the nest with a nice fly or grub.
Another day I saw the jay raiding the chickadee box! I don’t know if there were eggs or babies, but some twigs and small nest feathers lay on the grass. Appears to have been pulled out of the house. The chickadees didn’t return.
And a couple days later I drive up my drive to see a blue jay’s front half in the wren house! Horrors! The wrens were in a furry. I quickly got out of the car, too late. There was only silence from the bird house.
And you think that is enough? I went around clearing out the houses. Many birds will have a second clutch. I even took down a wren house that I forgot to clean out last year. There was a complete skeleton of a chick inside! It must have starved. I could even see the individual ribs. So sad.
Then today among the pine trees I found a dead fledgling blue jay. I buried it. It just doesn’t seem to stop. Truly a wonder with this mortality rate that we have any birds, let alone how difficult humans have made their environment.
I like to lay in the hammock under the crabapple tree. I actually observed the robins making a nest over the last couple days. They are also fiercely territorial and cleared the general area of the blue jay anytime it got near and chased the red squirrel out of the tree several times. Yesterday I found a broken blue egg in the grass under the nest. Today, however as I walked thru the yard there lay the entire nest, two broken eggs nest to it. It is a big, heavy nest with a circle of dried mud at the top; but now empty and useless.
Back under the pines I saw another jay fledging, alive, hopped a bit for better cover. There was a small jay nearby, I assume female. Not making a fuss at my presence. Surely aware of the chicks presence. Better to leave them alone.
So I have to use some type of predator bird guard on the houses, making the hole smaller, harder to be raided. Should I give it another go next year? Wonder why this spring was so difficult. Oh yes, I want to find a super soaker for use against the jay – or an airgun, perhaps. I don’t want to kill that bully bird but it has wrecked such havoc on the bird population. It is a disappointment.
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