A walk on my nest box trail

Click on any picture for a larger view

My Trail is located in Omaha, Nebraska in a city park. The park was created as part of flood protection system that also includes multiple other parks. The habitat of the trail consists of a mixture of immature woodlands and open prairie and small ponds and creeks. All of the trail resides in the un-maintained area of the park. There is a path of grass mowed around the perimeter of the park on an irregular basis that runs near the box locations. While I do not have pictures of all the boxes or scenes of my trail these pictures are representative of the boxes on my trail. There is a much larger lake as part of this park, but at it's closest point it is well over 300 feet from my trail.

My trail like many others has tree swallows. The picture the to left is a Gilbertson style nest box with seven tree swallow eggs in it. There are some parts of my trail that I haven't yet placed the boxes where they should be. I have only had this particular trail for three years (2001), originally the boxes were all like this one on the right on a fence line. I have since replaced all the fence line boxes but two. The house (human dwelling that is) in this picture is new this year (2001).

This particular picture illustrates what a trail monitor might watch for. When examined closely the male and female tree swallows are both on this box. They remained there for quite some in fact until I got within about five feet of the box. The front and top opening NABS style box with a Noel guard on it had six tree swallow eggs in it.

The picture on the left illustrates five stars (eastern bluebirds) of the show in a Gilbertson style box. They do seem to be a bit crowded now but they will soon have the whole world to explore. The first egg of this clutch was laid on 4/14/01 and should fledge any day. Notice they are well beyond the stage of opening their mouths every time the box is opened. On the left, there are four siblings. Five eggs were laid but only four hatched. These are obviously much younger birds. In both of these instances the adults of these nestlings were flying around snapping their beaks all the while I was taking these pictures.

Here is a Peterson nest box mounted on a pole with one egg. This egg was laid 5/16/01. This same box last year fledged 8. It was a slow starter last year as well, but the results were very good. On my previous monitoring trip the week before there were just a few pieces of grass with no definition of who the nest might belong to. The picture to the right illustrates the box and pole. Notice in no pictures do I have pole type predator guards. I have no problems with snakes at this time.

Another picture (upper left) of the inside of a nest box. This one of a house wren nest in a NABS box. Notice the twig base with a grass cup. One that grass cup is inserted this nest can no longer be considered a "dummy" nest. At this point this nest is protected by law and should not be removed. Wrens often will fill every cavity in their territory with twigs and spider egg casings. Preventing other birds from using the box. These dummy nests can legally be removed. I personally consider house wrens more of a threat to other native cavity

nesters than house sparrows. The best solution is to locate your boxes at least 100 feet from trees and shrubbery and preferably 300 feet. Also weekly monitoring will help if all "dummy" nests are removed. Again you can consider a nest a "dummy" nest if the nest cup is not

complete. The picture to the right illustrates another poor box placement. It is on a fence line too close to trees. This is the box the wrens used on the upper left. The box on the lower left is of a wren nest with eggs. I lifted the nest out of a Gilbertson style box and laid it on the ground for the picture.

Other pictures taken on my trail that I did not use in this pictorial are below. Most are just scenery, but they also provide an overview of what my trail consists of. Some of them do show the environment around the nest boxes.

Although stated elsewhere on my web site I have been bluebirding for about fifteen years, on various trails throughout the Omaha area. I have assisted others with setup, overhaul and maintenance of trails in the past and will likely do so in the future. I have worked on Bluebird Conferences for Bluebirds Across Nebraska (BAN) and was even involved in the first bluebird conference in Nebraska before BAN came into existence.

Additionally I have written an article on passive bluebirding for my web site that has more of the details of my trail. That file is located at The Passive Bluebirder and a message that I posted to Bluebird-L about my trail is located with other trail monitors messages in the Best of Bluebird Mailing Lists Classified page at My Nestbox Trail.

Thanks for walking my trail with me, do come back often and go for another walk as I will update these pictures during the season.

Trail Pictures from the 2002 season.

Some bluebird eggs in a NABS style box. Five eggs is a very typical number on my trail (as it is on most) for a first nest attempt of the year. This nesting appears to be a bit late for a first attempt. Also notice that the eggs are all blue a small percentage of bluebird eggs are white.

This Gilbertson style PVC box has been assaulted by someone with a paintball gun. In fact it was in this condition when I visited the trail the week before. When I returned the following week to replace the box I found a wren nest with a cowbird egg in the box (see the picture on the left).

For some it may be hard to believe why I like the Gilbertson style PVC boxes on my trail. Well besides the house sparrow resistant factor of these boxes I like their light weight. Just imagine walking through the material in the picture on the left. The blue/purple flowers are from Crown Vetch. If you have not had the pleasure of this plant on your trail, then imagine walking with your feet tied together about two feet apart and you must high step all the way. Crown Vetch is a vine type plant that makes walking very difficult.

This pair of boxes makes a first for my trail. Although many of my boxes are paired to allow Tree Swallows and Bluebirds access to a nest box, this is the first time that this has worked for me. In all other instances the pairing has resulted in one species or the other to occupy one box while the other goes unused.

My Backyard

I also have a Gilbertson style nest box in my backyard. Last year it fledged 7 house wrens and this year there is a chickadee nest in it. The picture to the left shows the moss nest of the black capped chickadee. Unfortunately my yard is more inclined to be house wren habitat and it appears house wrens have done their dirty work and removed the six chickadee eggs that were in the box a week ago. The back yard opens to a neighbors open field (about twice the size of a football field), see the picture on the right. I am pretty much in the center of Omaha and as such I have never had any luck getting bluebirds to nest in my backyard nest box. I also never had a house sparrow nest in my back yard Gilbertson style nest box, despite having more than a few house sparrows in the neighborhood.

I I have converted my backyard into an environment that is more hospitable to wildlife. Including berry producing plants such as: chokeberry, cranberry, cotoneaster, and other viburnums. Flowering plants (including the berry producing mentioned) quince, coral bells, butterfly bush, lantana, and other native flowering plants. I have a pond with lilies (non-native, but hardy) that provides plenty of water for the creatures that visit my yard. Below are a couple more pictures (different views) of my backyard. My front yard (no pictures sorry) has nearly no native plants and looks pretty much like any other yard in the neighborhood. I rarely use pesticides or herbicides anywhere in the yard and typically fertilize with an organic fertilizer.

The pictures to the left are of my pond, and to the right is a view from the back of the yard toward our sun porch.

Maps