It was another beautiful, cool day on the Flatwoods Park Bluebird Trail and we have our first eggs! We have a Carolina Chickadee (CC) nest with 7 eggs! We have a total of 20 complete or partial nests (8 BB, 8 CC, 4 TM). See attached spreadsheet for details. We are very excited about the number of CC and TM nests we already have this year, because two years ago we tried a new plan to increase our smaller native birds' populations. A report came out saying the bluebird population was doing well, but that the population of the smaller birds, like the Carolina chickadee and titmouse, was declining. Bluebirds are very territorial and generally won't allow another BB to nest within 100 yards, but they will allow another species to nest nearby. They recommended pairing a bluebird box, that has a 1 1/2 inch opening, with a box with a 1 1/8" inch opening, for a smaller bird, like a CC. The report said that the bluebirds couldn't enter the CC box, so would go in their own box, and would allow the CC to use the box with the smaller hole. We paired several boxes two years ago and weren't very successful last year. This year it seems we are off to a very good start with the paired boxes and we hope the number of CC and TM fledglings will increase this year. Stay tuned!
It was a wonderful wildlife day and in addition to the bluebirds, we saw titmice, mourning and ground doves, black and turkey vultures, wood storks, an ibis, a great egret, downy, red-bellied, and pileated woodpeckers, cardinals, pine, yellow-rumped, palm, and yellow-throated warblers, adult and juvenile little blue herons, a great blue heron, a belted kingfisher, a blue-gray gnatcatcher, a Carolina wren, a white-eyed vireo, wood ducks, and a red-shouldered hawk. And then, we saw three one year old alligators! I guess we're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy! Blooming in our native garden is our vining coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) a favorite of our ruby-throated hummingbirds. Along the way, we also spotted a little wetland plant called hat pins (Eriocaulon compressum).
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