Nesting Season

We have had an incredible weather this spring and now early summer.  It has been nice to have a real spring instead of getting into the hot temperatures right away.

I have enjoyed watching the birds building their nests.  We have a few nesting boxes that encourage Eastern Bluebird, Black-capped Chickadee, Tree Swallows and we even have a Screech owl box.  It is interesting in early spring to watch the birds battle over who will take the box.  The English House Sparrow often likes to take a box, but we keep a close eye and remove the nest and any eggs.  They are quite aggressive and will take over the boxes from native species like Eastern Bluebirds and will even raid a nest. 

Nesting Box for Eastern Bluebird or Tree Swallow

House Sparrow Nest- often contains a lot of debris, even candy wrappers

House Sparrow Egg

The Tree Swallows are pretty acrobatic and it is fun watching them snatching bugs in the air.  One year they were dive-bombing our older Jack Russell, which wasn’t such a smart thing to do.  She sprung in the air after them and fortunately couldn’t catch one.  I don’t know how they handle setting on the eggs in the little boxes as the outside temperatures rise.  I often see them sticking their heads out the “window”.  Unfortunately, this year, we haven’t been successful having a bluebird in one of our boxes.

Young Tree Swallows

 Lately, it seems like where ever I go there is a House Wren chewing me out to move away from their nest.  They nest every where- even in our fence post.  They jam the nest cavity with tons of little twigs.

The Barn Swallows have been building several nests in our barn.  They swoop around me as I am feeding the goats.  They are a bit messy so I don’t always appreciate them taking over the barn.  They work so hard building their nests out of mud and even seem to build a couple of nests before picking one to lay their eggs in. 

I enjoy the extra chatter and watching the parents going back and forth feeding their young as I am doing chores.  I only wish I could get better recognizing bird songs.

The native wildflowers keep showing up each week.  Some of them don’t last very long.  The fragrance from the Milkweed is wonderful and it is fun watching the bees and butterflies flock to the flowers.  The honey suckle is also nice even though it is not a native plant.  Most of the plants grow naturally on our property.  If we do plant, we try to only plant native species.  They are accustomed to our weather, take less water and often provide a source of food or shelter for native birds.

Birdsfoot Trefoil

Black Caps Ripening- yum!

Milkweed

Philadelphia Fleabane 

Silky Dogwood

Small Wood Sunflower

Yarrow

Venu's Pride Houstonia