News from the Trail
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Nest box monitoring began during March and ended in August after our final batch of fledglings took off on the 25th. We had lots of breeding success on the trail, although this year’s numbers were lower compared to the previous two years. I believe the cause of this decrease was a higher rate of interspecies competition for nest boxes. House wrens are well known nest raiders, tree swallows and Eastern bluebirds less so. House sparrows are infamous for their destructiveness. While house sparrows aren’t commonly found at the Arboretum, we had the misfortune of one nesting attempt by them this summer that was accompanied by attacks on several nearby birds. By the time I went to address this issue, I was surprised to find that a house wren had beat me to it by sneaking into the box and covering the house sparrow nest with sticks. Afterwards, the house sparrows were not seen again.
All nest boxes have received an end of season cleaning and inspection. This involved scraping the inside of each box with a putty knife to remove any residue, clearing any blocked drainage holes, checking for rot or other damage, and evicting any mice. (I’m happy to report that mouse nests have become a rarity.) A few leaky boxes will be taken down and repaired or replaced prior to next spring. A second inspection will be carried out in late winter prior to the 2027 nesting season.
It is common for some bluebirds to overwinter at the Arboretum and use our nest boxes for shelter. This fall we plan to modify a couple of boxes to be more cold resistant by plugging ventilation holes and adding insulation. Hopefully they will find these boxes helpful. I will report back next spring.
During 2026, the Arboretum held many bird-related field trips and classes. We also held our Bluebird Lottery (more information and 2026 winners on the Landis website). Looking ahead to 2027, we expect to offer many of these events again. If there are other classes or field trips you’d like to see, please email us with your ideas.
2026 Summary statistics:
Number of Nest Boxes = 42 (21 locations with a pair of boxes at each)
Fledglings:
Eastern Bluebird = 27
Tree Swallow = 22
Northern House Wren = 42
Other = 0
Total (sum of all species):
Eggs Laid = 207
Young Hatched = 130
Fledglings = 91
Find more detailed nesting information in the table at the end of the blog edition, available on the Landis website.
Note that all nest monitoring is conducted in accordance with The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Nestwatch Nest Monitoring Manual. All monitoring data is entered into the Nestwatch database, and an end-of-year summary is submitted to the New York State Bluebird Society.
For more birding news, click here to access the entire Bluebird News and Muse blog.