Below are the Weekly Bluebird Trail Reports for the following Parks:
Balm-Boyette Preserve: one Carolina chickadee nest with 5 eggs
Hunter's Green Park: 2 BB nests, with 9 eggs
Lake Park: 15 nests (12 BB, 2 CC, 1 CW), 25 eggs (19 BB, 6 CW), 19 chicks (14 BB, 5 CC). Joni Hartzler reports that box L9, which had 4 BB chicks, was stolen--box, predator guard, AND chicks!
Lettuce Lake Park: One bluebird nest with 4 chicks
Sargeant's Park: One bluebird nest with 5 chicks
Flatwoods Park: 37 nests (30 BB, 6 CC, 1 TM), 73 eggs (69 BB, 4 CC), 30 chicks (12 BB, 15 CC, 3 TM). See attached spreadsheet for details.
I'm happy to note that box F28 that was missing eggs a few weeks ago, now has a new BB nest with 4 eggs. Also of note is the fact that box F21 still has a bat in the box even though it also has 3 BB eggs.
In addition to all the bluebirds flying from the nests, we saw a lot of other birds and wildlife. We were especially happy to see a Brown-headed Nuthatch climbing around a pine tree. We've been seeing them more lately and that's a good sign for a declining population. We also saw Common Gallinules, Great Blue and Little Blue Herons, Great Egrets, White Ibis, Black and Turkey Vultures, Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks, White-eyed Vireos, Fish Crows, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Wrens, a Gray Catbird, Eastern Towhees, a Common Grackle, Northern Parulas, Palm Warblers, and a Northern Cardinal. Foraging on the grass were 2 Swamp Rabbits. And we couldn't believe our eyes, when we saw a huge gator with several young sunning themselves together.
The nice rains we've had have really caused a lot of flowering plants to begin blooming. We saw this aquatic plant Water Shield (Brasenia schreberi) in bloom for the first time. Butterweed (Pachera glabella) was blooming profusely in the moist areas. Blackroot (Pterocaulon virgatum) has started blooming, and we were happy to spot a tiny little orchid called Spring Ladies' tresses (Spiranthes vernalis).
Mary
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