Checking in to see what's going on in our bird boxes. Mrs. Bluebird has made only a few trips into the box today, making only minor adjustments. They seem to be done building the nest, she should start laying eggs in a few days. 

Checking In On Our Bluebirds, April 12, 2021Mrs. Bluebird has made just a couple trips into the box this morning. We're waiting for her to start laying eggs.
Our boxes at the Piermont Public Library drew an unwelcome visitor this morning -  a brown-headed cowbird. Cowbirds are brood parasites, that is, they lay their eggs in other bird's nests for the other bird to raise. If they lay their eggs in the nest of a bird a small as a chickadee, only the cowbird chick is likely to survive. Let's hope the cowbird saw that no one had a nest in the boxes and moves along. 

And, our chickadees popped in again to check the box out yet again. 

An Unwelcome Visitor and Chickadees Still Deciding April 12, 2021A brown-headed cowbird looks to see if anyone is using the box and our chickadee again checks the specs to see if they're to her liking.

 

Please note it takes a while for the video to upload and process after I write the blog post. If the video doesn't play for you, please try again in a few minutes. 
 

We're looking inside a nesting box with the bluebirds in West Newbury, Vermont. The chickadees are in Piermont, New Hampshire. 
The cameras are permanently mounted in the boxes and we can watch without disturbing the birds.