Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Nesting Activity Continues at Avimor

This afternoon on my walk back to work from my lunch break at home, I determined to remove the finch nest on the fireplace vent of a home we recently sold. I stepped up on to a chair to look into the nest to make sure the house finch chicks had fledged last week. They had successfully fledged, but there are already now a few more eggs in the same nest. This is the fourth brood attempt at the same location. Two sets of eggs have hatched while one set of eggs was destroyed by a predator. I believe the first set of hatchlings were also taken by a predator as they were gone well before they were fully developed.

I decided to check all the coniferous trees along the back of the model homes and I discovered three more active finch nests with eggs or recently hatched chicks. In the little pine behind our sales office back door there is a third finch nest with eggs. Amazing!

I also found two more Robin's nests with chicks and eggs in the deciduous trees. In just about every small pine tree along our greenbelt you'll find an active finch nest. We have a Barn Swallow nest with eggs in the entry of one home. I prevented the nest from being built above the door of another home. I have observed Say's Phoebe's and Western Kingbird's gathering nesting materials. I know one pair of Say's Phoebe's already successfully nested on the light behind the Avimor Water Reclamation building, but it looks like they are building another nest somewhere. I am not sure if it is the same pair or another.

It appears the Bullock's Orioles have hatched as I see mother Orioles taking food to the hanging sock nests.

The mother Swainson's Hawk sits steadily on her eggs. She occasionally cries out and the male brings her a snack.

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