Time to Put out the Welcome Mat for the Tree Swallows and Bluebirds

It is a lovely 64 degrees today with winds out of the southwest at 15-20 mph.  I'm not crazy about the wind part, but it helps to know from which direction it's coming when you want to clean out all fourteen of your nest boxes and get them ready for the season.

I usually host 3-4 pair of bluebirds and 10-12 pair of tree swallows each year.  Bluebirds have a large nesting territory.  The literature states that they need 300' between their nest boxes.  Tree swallows only need 100'.  So, I place a few bluebird nest boxes among the tree swallow boxes and the rest around the perimeter of the property.

I leave the nesting material in the boxes during the winter so the bluebirds will have a warm place to rest, albeit they may be a bit crusty from the detritus left from the boxes' previous inhabitants.  Today was a perfect day to get on the 4-wheeler and make the rounds.  I'm leaving them all open until tomorrow to make sure they're nice and dry for the guests that will be arriving soon.

Three of the Tree Swallow nest boxes that have been cleaned out.

I have added screws inside the doors of all my nest boxes for my Van Ert traps.  If an English House Sparrow (HOSP) shows up, I can quickly deploy the trap in the box.

Inside of nest box door with screws in place to accept the Van Ert Trap.

A Van Ert trap -my favorite nest box trap (NBT).

A HOSP can easily enter a 1.5" hole that is sized for a Bluebird, but to reduce the amount of risk and stress that I have with potential HOSP attacks, I make the entrance to the Tree Swallow boxes more HOSP-resistant by adding these slot entrances.  I cut the internal hole to be much bigger, then screwed the plate over it.  It's not HOSP proof, but it keeps the majority of them out, especially during the spring and summer when they will fatten up after the lean winter months.

Slot entrance for Tree Swallow nest box - cut from vinyl siding - 7/8" tall x 2 1/4" wide.

As I drove around to all the boxes I came upon some of my now crunchy, dried-out milkweed stalks.  This picture may not look like much to you, but it makes me smile.  Somewhere nearby, or maybe even a mile away, a seed from this plant landed and is currently working its way into the soil where it will sprout and provide food for Monarch caterpillars.

Empty Butterfly Milkweed pods. The hundreds of small promises of life have already spread themselves in the wind.

It doesn't seem fitting to add a picture of the remains of a dead calf to a post about birds, does it?  Apparently, the coyotes had themselves a large feast last night.  I'm sad for the calf, but that is the way things are here in the Ozarks.  You never know what you will discover on my birding trails.