Hi COBirders, Following up on Hugh Kingery's note - I have a bluebird house trail at the USAFA, and had a reality check this weekend.
On 6/13 I took my wife on the walk with me to see all of the wildflowers along the way, and nest boxes rimming with fertility - about 50/85 boxes had eggs or young, and only a few signs of predation - a few missing eggs. Had mixed species with about 1/3 W Bluebird, 1/3 mixed White-breasted and Pygmy Nuthatch, Mountain Chickadee, and Tree and Violet-green swallows, and 1/3 House Wrens. Very promising! Saturday 6/26, I checked agan after being out of town for 10 days. Predation happens. 20 boxes were ripped off the trees and split, shredded, chewed, clawed, rolled around, and the inhabitants devoured. I had reinforced the wire from last season since raccoons were breaking the wire to get the boxes on the ground. No wire broken this year, but the wood holding the wire is still on the tree, and the rest of the box on the ground! Bears are pretty strong. Along with a few boxes raided of eggs by raccoons, so far this season 14 nests were completed successfully, but 26 were predated. Not a good success rate. Many boxes still have young and eggs, but I am not too hopeful for their survival. Things looked so good two weeks ago! This is the second year in a row that I feel that I am just providing a bear/raccoon buffet! Feeling a little depressed, Steve Brown Colorado Springs -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
