Bluebird Trails Report 4-12-2021

We have a good report from all four County Parks today:

• Balm Boyette has 3 titmice nests with 13 eggs.
  

• Lake Park has 14 nests (11 BB, 2 CC, 1 TM), with 25 eggs (18 BB, 2 CC, 5 TM), and 26 chicks (16 BB, 10 CC).
  

• Sargeant Park has 1 BB nest with 5 eggs.
  

• Flatwoods Park has 30 nests (22 BB, 5 CC, 3 TM), 49 BB eggs, 38 chicks (6 BB, 19 CC, 13 TM), and its first fledglings, 5 CC. See Flatwoods Park Spreadsheet for details.

With a very rainy weekend, which was needed, I always worry about the tiny chicks getting wet in their nests and am very happy that all of our boxes are pretty secure. Last year we not only painted all our Flatwoods bluebird box roofs so they would last longer, but replaced them with roofs that had longer overhangs. This helps to not only keep the rain out, but it prevents birds like crows, from being able to sit on the roof and to reach in the box with their beaks and remove the chicks and eggs. So it was nice to see that the birds seemed to stay dry and safe this weekend. I've included a picture of one of the boxes with a roof with a longer overhang.

In addition to the bluebirds, Carolina chickadees, and titmice, we saw lots of other birds. We saw great blue, tri-colored, and little blue herons, 3 wood storks, 6 wood ducks, a red-shouldered hawk, black vultures, cardinals, a fish crow, and a ruby-throated hummingbird feeding on the firebush in our native garden. Sherry also took great photos of an alligator, and a gopher tortoise eating grass as he quickly moved along.

At Clay Gully we saw a Pop or Carolina Ash tree (Fraxinus caroliniana) with its winged seed pods, and some blooming pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata).