More Bluebirds

We have a second brood of baby Bluebirds in the nesting box (say that three times fast!) Neither the Tree or Barn Swallows did a second a round this year. I was really hoping the Barn Swallows would after the disaster, but they did not. There are four baby Bluebirds in the nesting box. Mom and Dad and the siblings from the first brood are all hanging around still. It's been great to have them and I was so pleased when Dave checked the box last week after noticing activity. I've noticed the House Wren has been very active lately and I'd like to get a look in their box to see if they are doing a second round. I wonder if the dry conditions are having an impact on the birds and their choices to do another round or not? We usually have two broods from the Tree Swallows. I'd also like to add that I have not seen a House Finch out here in months and months. I wonder if the eye disease wiped out the local population (that in the immediate vicinity). We definitely saw many birds suffering from it and it was awful. I see House Finches when I'm visiting my parents, but have not seen any here in probably a year. Also of note, almost all the fields where Bobolinks would nest were mowed by mid to late June and definitely all done by Canada Day weekend. Odds of any nesting success must have been slim to none in those areas. We did go out June 23rd and we heard many Bobolinks calling, but a week later the habitat was destroyed. I think, again, due to the dry summer, this lead to the hay being cut even earlier than usual. And in case I didn't mention it, we had s successful Baltimore Oriole nesting somewhere nearby. We had a male with two juveniles visiting the grape jelly feeder on a regular basis. Grosbeak numbers seemed to be down this year. We occasionally saw one female and two or three males, but that was it. There was one or two males who visited the grape jelly on a regular basis and that was it.

Great story!

Nesting barn swallows delay renovations at Mississauga’s Riverwood Conservancy Published on Monday July 30, 2012 Emily Jackson Staff Reporter Renovations to the carport of a Mississauga heritage house will have to wait until a group of stubborn barn swallows vacates the premises. The swallows, which prefer to nest in old structures such as barns and bridges, have spent their summers at The Riverwood Conservancy’s 93-year-old Chappell House carport for as long as volunteers can remember. So when the wooden roof was blocked off to protect the birds during construction — the city deemed the roof structurally unsound and planned to rebuild — the birds simply broke through the barrier, made nests and laid eggs. Longtime Riverwood volunteers alerted the city to the birds’ somewhat precarious situation. To the delight of conservationists, and perhaps the barn swallows themselves, the city removed the barrier and delayed repairs until the birds fly south to Central and South America for the winter. The city followed the guidelines of the Endangered Species Act, said project manager Laila Gabiazon, and will preserve the birds’ habitat when construction continues this fall. The birds’ clout in municipal decisions stems from the federal government’s designation of the species as “threatened” in May 2011. While there are about 4.9 million adult barn swallows in Canada, the population has declined about 30 per cent over the past 10 years. This is troubling because the birds eat insects, including flies and aphids, according to a Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada report. “The magnitude and geographic extent of the decline are cause for conservation concern,” the report states. Exact reasons for the decline aren’t known, but it is partly because of the destruction of old structures where barn swallows prefer to mate, such as open barns. A switch to modern agricultural methods could be another contributor to the decline. Riverwood is extremely pleased the city stopped construction, said Dave Taylor, education program director at the public garden and nature preserve in the Burnhamthorpe Rd. W.-Creditview Rd. area. “The laws make it pretty clear on what you can and can’t do,” he said. “Barn swallows are more numerous now, but because barns are being torn down all over the province they’re losing numbers and declining.” But these fortunate barn swallows got to keep their summer home. Their first brood has already fledged, Taylor said, and they’re starting on their second round of breeding.

This article on a "miracle" baby Golden Eagle is a nice read to start the day.