The James Reserve has approximately 40 nest boxes throughout the reserve which are monitored by Walter Sakai of Santa Monica College and the staff at the James Reserve. For more information on this monitoring and banding project visit the seasonal bird banding and nest box utilization records at the following page: http://www.jamesreserve.edu/databases/biodiversity/BBanding.html

In the early spring of 2000 we installed very small micro-video board cameras with 6 LED IR illuminators inside of two nest boxes which are in close range of our Trailfinders Lodge Scientific Laboratory at the James Reserve. These nest box cameras were installed for the purpose of observing the behavior of cavity nesting birds. Click on the camera installation link above to learn more about the installation process and technical information.

2000 Nest Box (with cameras) Summary: Nest box #31 had 6 Western Bluebird nestlings in it which were preyed upon by a gopher snake. Shortly after we snake-proofed the nest tree with shade cloth, a pair of Violet-green Swallows started to bring in new nesting material. Later on, the Violet-green Swallow nestlings were preyed upon by California ground squirrels even after we had placed sheet metal around the base of the tree. The point of our nestbox cams is not to show predation. However, we have learned that it is extremely important to consider the possibility of predator access when choosing a nest box tree.

2000 Nest Box Season Summary: We had many successful Western Bluebird nests in our nest boxes this year. Several of the juvenile Western bluebirds were seen at the mealworm feeding station throughout the summer and fall. Many other cavity-nesting juvenile species were spotted in mid-to-late summer on the reserve such as White-breasted and Pygmy Nuthatches, Oak Titmice, and House Wrens.

YEAR 2001 NESTING SEASON

In light of the unsuccessful nestbox (with cameras) season we had last year, I have made some changes to the boxes this season.

Starting in mid-March, I took nest box #31 and box #21 off their host trees and mounted them on metal poles. Please see the Nestbox Camera Installation page for details. In addition to mounting the boxes poles, I have added an outside electrical junction box on the back of each nest box. This solves the problem of having all the extra wires and connections inside the nest box. The poles have an aluminum squirrel baffles around them to keep predators from crawling up the pole

The Violet-green Swallows nest in box #31 successfully had four chicks which fledged on July 5, 2001. Click here to see archived images:
http://www.jamesreserve.edu/VRfolder/JRWebcamVR.html

As of October 7, 2001, an Oak Titmouse (Baeolophus inornatus), has been night roosting in box # 31. This bird usually enters the box around 4:30 PM and leaves around 6:30 AM. To see archived pictures with a live view of the box please access this link: http://www.jamesreserve.edu/VRfolder/JRWebcamVR.html

YEAR 2002 NESTING SEASON

Nest box # 31 has a Western Bluebird nest in it with 2 chicks (June 26, 2002)

Nest box # 21 has no nest in it this year.

Nest box # 8 (our new nest box camera) has a Violet-green Swallow in it with three chicks (June 26, 2002)