- May 24, 2022

Bluebird Trail Report 5/23/22

Below are the 5-23-2022 Bluebird Trail Reports for the following Parks:

Balm-Boyette Preserve: 5 CC fledglings, 1 TM nest
Hunter's Green Park: 9 BB fledglings, 4 BB chicks, 11 BB eggs.
Lake Park: 37 fledglings (34 BB, 3 CC), 14 chicks (11BB, 3CW), 21 BB eggs.
Lettuce Lake Park: 5 BB fledglings, 2 CC chicks, 5 BB eggs.
Sargeant's Park: 5 BB fledglings, 5 BB eggs.
Flatwoods Park: 96 fledglings (75 BB, 18 CC, 3 TM), 7 BB chicks, and 44 BB eggs. See attached spreadsheet for details.

It was a beautiful day on the Flatwoods Bluebird Trail. We had 18 new fledglings and 4 more second nestings today, for a total of 9 second nestings! Last week I noticed that the BB eggs in box F16 had been in there for 4 weeks, which means that they might be infertile since they should have hatched after about 2 weeks. Healthy eggs produce heat, and when the mom doesn't detect any heat, she will abandon the eggs. So today, I was going to empty the nest, and usually the mom builds a new nest and lays more eggs. This mom couldn't wait for me to empty the nest and she laid 4 new eggs on top of the 3 infertile ones. That's why there are 7 eggs in that box. The 3 old infertile eggs will still be in the nest when, hopefully, the 4 new eggs produce chicks that fledge.

We witnessed some interesting sights on the trail today. We saw a Red-shouldered Hawk carrying a snake, and saw a Brown Water Snake wrapped around a Catfish that was stranded in a drying puddle. Hopefully our rainy season is right around the corner and the rain will begin filling up our lakes and ponds again. We also saw a beautiful Swallow-tailed Kite, heard Bobwhite Quail everywhere, saw White and Glossy Ibis, Black and Turkey Vultures, an Osprey, Red-bellied and Downy Woodpeckers, Great Crested Flycatchers taking food to their young, White-eyed Vireos, American Crows, a Blue Jay, a Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmice, heard a Brown Thrasher singing his repertoire, a Northern Mockingbird, Eastern Towhees, a Northern Parula, Summer Tanagers, and a Northern Cardinal.