Nest Boxes Activity Reviewed

Now that nesting season is done, I couldn't resist the temptation to inspect my battery of nest boxes to see what happened this summer. I came up with interesting results. Of the six I can check, five at least saw some degree of nest building. The one I knew of (shown) had a definite Titmouse look: liberal use of cedar needles. One other box had something like it. Two had ringlets made of twigs. I don't know who laid those down, but both were incomplete. One used hay straw (I had some leftover last year and left it out as mulch.) And I cannot tell if either of the complete "Titmouse" nests saw the thing to its end. I am encouraged there were few losers: some birds started work at almost all of the boxes, which is more than in 2008. Yet, there were too many aborted starts. My strategy in 2010 will be to put more boxes out and better the odds. We shall see what comes.