Nest Watching

Day 1 of Nest Building 3/07/18

This week has been a busy week! The bluebirds started building their nest on Wednesday, March 7! I spotted the female going in the bird box with pieces of straw. On Thursday, there were pieces hanging out of the nest box! So we knew there was some building going on. When my husband went home for lunch, he checked the box and sent me the first pic of the nest! That night we were able to start the official “Nest Watch” on https://nestwatch.org/ Anytime, you find a nest and commit to watching it – you should send your observations to The Cornell Lab of Orinthology. You can become a “citizen scientist” and your data will helpthem track trends in birds including when they nest, how many eggs laid, how many hatched, and how many survived. This is a nationwide tracking status. They study the current conditions of the bird population and how it changes. There is so much interesting information on this site. I highly recommend reading it even if you haven’t found a nest yet. You’ll be ready for when you do!

Now back to BackerNest1 (that’s what I’ve called it). On Saturday morning, I was able to spend a few hours observing and the female was super busy! Apparently, “The Hustle is Real”! She is ready to get this nest built and lay some eggs! This momma ain’t messin’ around!

She went back and forth with straw bits and pieces….and then she showed up with a beak full! I was excited to get a few pics of her hardwork!

Lastnight, we had quite a bit of rain so this Sunday morning wasn’t quite as productive. Maybe due to the wet nesting materials. But, I did see some building going on. She should have the nest completed possibly tomorrow and then will start laying her eggs shortly after. Bluebirds lay one egg a day and usually will lay 5-7 eggs. I will keep you posted.