Bird Box Check 2011

The opportunity at last presented itself for me to mount my trusty stepladder and do the annual winter bird box check. I like to wait until winter to both inspect results from the previous season and to freshen things up for the coming spring. At present, that means looking at ten units scattered across the woody buffer south of the house. Results? I knew we had one success, documented in this blog during the spring. That was a new box occupied by White Breasted Nuthatches. It appears I had a second success--or at least near success (shown) in a box that the previous year had been deemed a turkey. It had a complete nest and some biodisturbance. I'd say it was Wrens, Titmice or Chickadees based on materials used and size of aperture. One other box---one I never held much hope for--had a starting effort of twigs. Everything else: just as I left it the previous winter. So we try again. We have two new boxes (one is to go up soon), another moved, and the rest---we'll leave for one more season. We'll hope for better results in 2011!