[Tweeters] Fledglings!

[N D]

Hi Tom and all,

Personally, I use wooden nestboxes with appropriately-sized holes.
There used to be an individual whom made nest boxes and gave them away
for free through the physical WDFW site up in Bothell. I got the
leftovers of these about 5 years ago, and have built up a nice
collection of boxes in my ¼ acre yard all of which seem suitable for
chickadees and house finches. I also have a lot of trees and I have an
empty lot next door which cannot be built on. The squirrels tend to
raid the bird feeder which I hope keeps them off my bird nests
although a neighbor has been traping the squirrels and relocating them
at the local park!.
I also let the grasses, ferns and berry bushes grow REALLY long all
summer at the bottom of the yard for the juncos and the towhees. My
Salal forest is coming along. It’s a complete jungle down there. Every
fall, after everyone including the fawns have gone, I chop it back. I
usually get 1-2 broods of every regular species. The bushtits take
care of themselves.  My black capped chickadees are currently in a
nest box on a tall wide metal pole-post (from a leftover chainlink
corner post) that nothing can climb. I nailed the bird box onto a long
stick and inserted the stick into the post and glued it down with hard
as nails.  It wasn’t used for the first three years until this year! I
opened the box a week ago because I assumed it was empty and Ms BCCH
flew out at my face and skulked in the cedar trees until she went back
to brooding her clutch.

Other boxes nailed to the underside of my deck (where the squirrels
can’t get to) were always taken by house finches and juncos. I have
since moved some of these nestboxes to cedar trees facing northeast to
keep them cooler.

My Black headed grosbeaks nest in my cedar trees. They usually have a
good brood every year. When the babies fledge they make the cutest
sounds. Almost sound like chipmunks.
And my neighbor in Maple HIlls has Evening Grosbeaks nesting in the
woods across from her house!!  It's beautiful here. A gorgeous valley.
The crows and jays aren't too numerous here either but we have plenty
of hawk action.

Nadine


On Fri, Jun 9, 2023 at 11:24 AM Tom Benedict <benedict.t at comcast.net> wrote:

>

> I’m impressed! How do you keep the crows and jays from raiding the nestlings of the other birds?

>

> The crows and jays in our neighborhood wipe out pretty much all the other broods.

>

> Tom Benedict

> Seahurst, WA

>

> > On Jun 9, 2023, at 10:32, Tom and Carol Stoner <tcstonefam at gmail.com> wrote:

> >

> > It's fledgling week here in West Seattle.  The crows have 4, the bushtits have at least 3 and the house sparrows and dark-eyed juncos have a few.  It's been fun watching the bushtits arrive in flocks again and teach the young 'uns how to use the suet feeder.

> >

> > Carol Stoner

> > West Seattle

> >

>

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