Natural History. Stewardship. Sustainability.
Bluebird Houses and Other Nests at Hartley: 2004-2009
Do not look into the houses because this may cause birds to abandon the nest.
Hartley Nature Center looks into them following a protocol that greatly reduces disturbing the birds. And that is of course, how we get the below results.
In 2007 we had 3 different species in our houses: chickadees, house wrens and tree swallowsThe lack of bluebirds appears to be not having the boxes placed in the right kind of environment; they like an area of lawn grass, pasture grass, a short grass or sedge cover in front of their house. We didn’t know that when the houses were placed. In which case why they successfully nested in the first year at all is in retrospect surprising. The tall tansy fields don’t do it for them. Eventually Hartley would like to move the unused houses to more ideal locations, with proper vegetation cover for their needs. |
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The chickadees made a beautiful green moss nest in box 9, but for some reason it was abandoned. Its nest disappeared little by little probably because other birds or mammals were using the materials in it for their nests, which is what the little critters often do. In 2009 they abandoned their nest again, and it was used by bumble bees, which is good because our native pollinators need protection and habitat. The flowers in the butterfly, moth, and hummingbird rain garden probably were an important part of the bumblebees food source. |
The House Wrens were another pleasant surprise, They came in after an unsuccessful Tree Swallow nesting; house 11 hasn’t been successful over the years, but this year the wrens apparently completed their venture there. In 2009 they nested in most of our boxes to the exclusion of the tree swallows. The summer was very cold and cloudy which made it very difficult for the swallows. The few tree swallows that looked interested in the spring were not seen again. |
The Tree Swallows do well year after year(except in 2009) and they are seen to use the adult aquatic insects (dragonflies and others) flying up out of the water of Hartley Pond all spring and into summer. In 2009 unusually long-lingering cool weather seemed to be the reason for their failure to raise any families. |
While some birds prefer nest boxes for their young, others are happiest under the wide overhang of the HNC building roof! American Robin and Eastern Phoebe have been seen nesting there, although we don't know their success rate, due to the difficulty of checking the nests.
