Nest Box 22

There are three main cavity nesting species here at the James Reserve:

Violet-green swallow tend to have a clutch size between 4 to 7 eggs. It will take 14 - 15 days for the eggs to hatch once the mother starts incubating the eggs. Some eggs may not hatch because one of the parents is infertile, poor incubation (common with young females with little incubating experience) or the egg shell is week. Once the eggs hatch the young birds will not fledge from the nest for 16 to 22 days. If the food source is in plenty a violet-green swallow pair can produce a 2nd brood in the same nesting season.

Western Bluebirds tend to have a clutch size between 4 to 6 eggs. It will take 13 - 14 days for the eggs to hatch once the mother starts incubating the eggs. Some eggs may not hatch because one of the parents is infertile, poor incubation (common with young females with little incubating experience) or the egg shell is week. Once the eggs hatch the young birds will not fledge from the nest for 17 to 22 days. If the food source is in plenty a western bluebird pair can produce a 2nd brood in the same nesting season.

Mountain chickadee tend to have a clutch size between 5 to 9 eggs. It will take 14 - 15 days for the eggs to hatch once the mother starts incubating the eggs which begins with the laying of the penultimate, or next to last, egg. Nests are made of moss, bark, fur, plant fibers, and feathers. Once the eggs hatch the young birds will not fledge from the nest for 19 to 21 days.

Take Snapshot of Current Image
Javascript version

ARCHIVED IMAGES

2010 Nesting Season

Information:
No activity

2009 Nesting Season

Information:
No activity

2008 Nesting Season

Information:
04/14/08 – Nesting material starts to be brought in More Information from Cornell Lab of Ornithology
04/18/08 – First sighting of Bluebird in nest box
04/25/08 – Nest building begins in earnest
05/02/08 – First egg laid, both birds roosting in box overnight
05/03/08 – Second egg laid, single bird roosting
05/04/08 – Third egg laid, single bird roosting
05/05/08 – Fourth egg laid, single bird roosting
05/06/08 – Fifth egg laid, single bird roosting
05/07/08 – Sixth egg laid, single bird brooding
05/08/08 – 05/14 – Bluebird incubating eggs
05/21/08 - Eggs hatch (appears that all 6 hatch)
- Lost 1 chick. 5 remaining
06/09/08 - Box getting crowded

Western Bluebird

Nestbox 22A

Start Date

End Date

Nest Building

7 days

4/25

5/02

Clutch Size

6 eggs

5/02

5/07

Days of Incubation

16 days

5/07

5/21

Number of Eggs Hatched

6 eggs

5/21

Days to Fledge After Eggs Hatch

- days

5/21

Number of Birds that Fledge

5 birds

2007 Nesting Season

Information:
4/8/07 - Western bluebird pair begins sleeping in box
4/29/07 - Nest building begins
5/11/07 - Nest building appears complete
5/20/07 - 1st egg laid, 8 AM
5/21/07 - 2nd egg laid, 9 AM, incubation begins
5/22/07 - 3rd egg laid, 10 AM
5/23/07 - 4th egg laid, 9 AM
5/24/07 - 5th egg laid, 11 AM
6/6/07 - All eggs hatch
6/9/07 - Only 4 chicks visible, not clear what happened to 5th.
6/23/07 - A 2nd chicks dissapears
6/28/07 - Remaining 3 chicks leave the nest

Western Bluebird

Nestbox 22A

Start Date

End Date

Nest Building

13 days

4/29

5/11

Clutch Size

5 eggs

5/20

5/24

Days of Incubation

16 days

5/21

6/6

Number of Eggs Hatched

5 eggs

6/6

Days to Fledge After Eggs Hatch

23 days

6/6

6/28

2006 Nesting Season

Information:
4/8/06-4/25/06 - A Nuttall's woodpecker, Picoides nuttallii, has been sleeping in the box at night (It had moved from Box 27) More Information from Cornell Lab of Ornithology
4/25/06 - A mountain chickadee moved in and started nest building after the woodpecker left in the morning. More Information from Cornell Lab of Ornithology
4/25/06 - Nutall's woodpecker returned that night but decided to leave 45 minutes later. (possibly chased out by chickadee) It moved to Nestbox 27 that night. Mountain chickadee did not return either
4/26/06 - Box visited by bluebird
4/28/06 - Mountain chickadee returns to nest building
4/29/06 - Mountain chickadee building then visited by bluebird. Mountain chickadee not seen
5/1/06 - Western bluebird visits
5/3/06 - Western bluebird visits
5/5/06 - Chickadee returned, bluebird visits, violet-green swallow visits
5/6/06 - Mountain chickadee returned. Then a pair of western bluebirds visit right after
5/8/06 - Western bluebirds start active nest building
5/13/06 - Mountain chickadee returned
5/15/06 - Western bluebird visits

2005 Nesting Season

Information:
4/17/05 - Active nest building begins.
Activity stopped in the nest. Possibly a decoy nesting to discourage another pair from using box. We saw this occur last year on box 27. Territoriality may be another factor. Another possibility is that housing construction that is occurring close to area of box 22 discouraged them from using the box.

2004 Nesting Season

Information:
5/3/04 - Active nest building begins.
5/10/04 - 1st egg is laid
5/14/04 - 5th egg laid
5/19/04 - Eggs hatch
5/31/04 - Feeding Time
6/4/04 - Feeding Time
6/10/04 - 1st chick fledged the nest. The next day the remaining 3 chicks fledged.

Western Bluebird

Nestbox 22A

Start Date

End Date

Nest Building

13 days

4/20

5/03

Clutch Size

5 eggs

5/03

5/7

Days of Incubation

13 days

5/06

5/19

Number of Eggs Hatched

4 eggs

5/19

5/23

Days to Fledge After Eggs Hatch

23 days

5/19

6/11

Nest Box Information

Box Number	22A
UTM Northing	3740989
UTM Easting	520896
GPS waypoint	4
mounting location	metal pole
aspect	300
box age	2003

design (door, material)	side cedar
box floor width	6 in.
box floor length	6 in.
Box height	4' 8"
hole direction	5°
hole size	1.5 in.
height of hole above floor	7.5 in.