"Spring"ing down the Bluebird Trail

There are more things growing in the garden this week than just the beautiful spring flowers, shrubs and trees!  Some of our bluebird chicks that hatched last week are now growing their pinfeathers.  We expect our first fledglings next week so if you visit the garden please be sure and be on the lookout for those immature little bluebirds.  The chicks in my photograph just have their down right now but take a look at how adorable they are.

This week was a very exciting one on the bluebird trail at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. The bluebirds have been busy getting their chicks raised up and ready for their big new world. We noted the same number of nests in the boxes as we had last week but the number of chicks has more than quadrupled.

A visit to the garden this week might have afforded you the opportunity to view the following species of birds which we noted on our regular monitoring of the bluebird trail:  Canada Goose, Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture, Mourning Dove, Eastern Kingbird, American Crow, Tufted Titmouse, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, Eastern Towhee, Chipping Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, and the House Finch. We also took note of a Canada Goose on her nest so it's not just the bluebirds and the gardeners who have been busy this week at the garden.  We'd love to hear from you if you have the time to post a comment.  What birds are you seeing in your own backyard?

We are having a problem with wasps in some of the nest boxes so we are investigating our options in dealing with these pests.  And, if you have had success in this area we'd love to hear from you on this topic too.  We can all learn from one another in so many areas.

If you are monitoring a box in your own yard at home you might find that the female doesn't always fly out of the box when you knock on the side.  This happened to us twice during our observations this week.  For one of the boxes we had to circle back around to check it later and in another box the female would simply not budge off her nest.  She may have been busy laying a new egg or maybe birds are a little bit like us.  Maybe they don't want to get out of bed on a chilly morning either!

We hope you'll visit the garden this week.  There is always something new to discover.  Just don't forget to bring your binoculars!