05.22.10

New Arrivals

During the weekly nest check I discovered the eggs have hatched. Not sure if there are six or seven...one seems to be a little tucked in more than the other.

05.08.10

We Have Eggs

With the crazy weather we've been having, I have waited to check-in on the bluebirds. Today when I came up to the box, I tapped and out came the mother. I took off the top and snapped a photo...7 eggs!! Very excited to see how many hatch.

04.18.10

The Beginning

As previously mentioned, I will be taking part in the Colorado Bluebird Project. Not only will I be monitoring my own nest, but I will also be monitoring several next that are on a trail around the school.

Today I had to make a few modifications to my nest box since it does not open. I was actually a little surprised to find a completed nest in the box. (And I was hopeful that my tinkering didn't disturb the nesting couple.)

I think I will have to take down the box this winter and do some repairs - or a full replacement. After six years it's beginning to show its age.

03.31.10

Colorado Bluebird Project

I'm excited to announce that I am an official volunteer for the Colorado Bluebird Project here in Castle Rock. Over the course of the next 5-6 months, I will be one of the five other people/groups observing the new nesting boxes that are going in at Bison Park. I was hoping to be a part of this group because I work at CSE, adjacent to the park, and I've watched the kids building their boxes.

We will be using Google Docs to record our observations over the coming months and I'm excited to see how many of the boxes get used. Over the past two years I have seen several bluebirds around the school so I'm hopeful.

At last night's meeting I had an interesting conversation with an older gentlemen who lives on the east side of town. They just recently saw six Western Bluebirds in their backyard. I live on the west side of town and have never seen a Western, only the Mountain. And he doesn't see any Mountain, only the Western - very interesting.

I will also be making some slight modifications to my backyard box so I can monitor this nest more closely as well. I will be reporting this information to NestWatch.

If you would like to learn more about either organization, visit their web sites here:
Colorado Bluebird Project - Colorado's organization is run by the Audubon Society of Greater Denver. If you aren't in Colorado I'm guessing you could find a local project.

NestWatch - Operated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, this is a wonderful way to get your family involved in data collection and help scientist learn more about our feathered friends. It's easy to register - I have my account and group created, now I'm just waiting for the birds to nest. I will be monitoring both the bluebird and swallow nests.

03.30.10

Just now I saw a male and female at the nesting box.

We had a fair amount of snow on March 19th, but I did see a pair around the box after this storm. The storm was fairly mild - not really any wind.

Today is the first sighting of any bluebirds since the second storm we had on March 23/24th. We had blizzard-like conditions and over a foot of snow. I'm unsure if today's pair is the same one we had prior to the storm.

03.16.10

Permanent Resident?

Well, we've had a pair of bluebirds around for a few days now. (I'm hopeful they're here to stay.) Chad said there were actually two pairs out back today fighting around the nest box. I hope they can all survive the cold, yucky weather we have in store. (We had a dusting of snow Sunday night - beautiful today and tomorrow - and then snow again at the end of the week.)

03.13.10

Male

Caught this male hanging out on the neighbor's tree this morning. Haven't seen any action around the nest box the last several days. (I like the snow-capped Rockies in the background.)

03.11.10

Another Female

Not sure if this is the same female bluebird, but she was out cleaning herself this morning.

03.10.10

Today I saw a pair of bluebirds in the neighborhood on the way to school. Still haven't seen any around the nesting box. Light snow tonight...not sure how much we are expected to get.

03.07.10

No Weekend Siting

I cleaned out the nesting box on Friday before heading to school. I was amazed at how many twigs the little house wren had managed to get in the box.

I saw the pair again Friday night, but I didn't see them the entire weekend. I also haven't seen any bluebirds in the neighborhood or around the school.

03.04.10

Today I saw both the male and the female. They both seemed very interested in the nesting box...looks like I had better clean it out!!

03.03.10

They Have Arrived!

This evening while watering my plants in the basement I had a VERY pleasant surprise...a female bluebird sitting on the nesting box fixing her feathers. I felt this was a little early, but looking back at this blog I discovered that they appeared exactly one year to the day as last year. (I'm just hopeful that this year is better.)