Bluebirds, Chickadees and Tree Swallows - OH MY!

Over the last 2 weeks, we've mounted 4 new bluebird/ tree swallow nest boxes and I now have 20 total! Thanks to all my friends for sharing their ideas and pictures of how they have mounted new nest boxes (special Thanks to Tammy Seaman for sharing her detailed plans!). I gleaned many ideas from their experiences!

With nesting season in full swing, I now have 5 bluebird pairs nesting with 20 eggs (at last check), 1 pair of chickadees with 8 eggs, and 14 tree swallow nests with no eggs yet. It did NOT take the birds very  long to find the new nest boxes!

A Black capped chickadee nest can be identified by all the moss and fine hair materials they use.

Black capped chickadee nest - photo credit - Molly Plank. Where DO they find all that moss?

*Note: This fantastic photo of a chickadee nest with an egg and nestlings was provided by my friend, Molly Plank - my chickadee eggs have not hatched yet!

We were originally going to build another 10 - 15 nest boxes this past winter, but many things got in the way, including the fact that we couldn't find a good (and reasonably priced) supply of wood. 

So, I gathered a bunch of my old nest boxes and used the still-good parts to construct 4 'new' houses that didn't leak. They'll still be replaced next year, but, for this year, they'll suffice. Then the challenges of how to mount them arose. Mr. Freeze hates the 4x4" posts. It is very hard to dig a hole for them AND, very hard to protect them properly. Besides, we have a bundle of unused t-posts, so we wanted to find a suitable method for using those. They are easy to get in & out of the ground here and they're easier to mount a wobbly predator guard on.

My requirements for setting up a nest box were:

- reasonably priced mounting supplies (in "kathy-speak" - that means, "cheap"!)

- easy! AND fast!

- easy-to-remember repeatable steps (because getting old sucks!)

- final plans approved by Mr. Freeze 😆

After reviewing everyone's ideas - and sharing them with Mr. Freeze, he came up with the optimal plan. Here's the list of supplies, tools and a description of how we did it. Now, next year we only need to build new nest boxes ...and maybe refer back to this post, so we'll remember the supplies and how we mounted them this year😁!

Supplies (per nest box):

Quantity	Supply
2	1" pipe wall brackets
2	1.5" - 2.5" (38/63 mm) hose clamps
1	1" x 18" schedule-40 pvc pipe (can buy in 6’ or longer lengths and cut-to-length)
1	T-post
1	6" wide x 5' length of galvanized stove pipe (I already had several of these, so we cut them in half with a cutter wheel on an angle grinder to make 2 - 30" long pipes)
5	8" zip ties
2	8" lengths of heavy duty wire (for mounting guard)
-	1/4" hardware cloth (cut to fit snugly inside the 6" galvanized stove pipe)

Tools:

Nut driver (to tighten hose clamps)Wire cutters

Portable Drill

1 bluebird house (add 'bird spikes' on top if you have owl issues)

T-post driver / sledge hammer

Wire cutters

With 4 newly-modified nest boxes, we found some nice spots on the trails to set them up. 

 The hose clamps are used to hold the 1" pvc pipe securely to the T-post.

You can use a nut driver to close the hose clamp, or a flat-head screwdriver.

Place the pvc against the T-post, slide the hose clamps over it, space them out and tighten them down.

 Place the pipe so that it overlaps the t-post by ~5". Tighten the hose clamps to hold it in place.

Drill a hole all the way through the pvc pipe for the 8" heavy duty wire. Drill another hole all the way through perpendicular to the first.

Drill a hole for the support wire through opposite sides of the pvc pipe.

While holding your galvanized stove pipe in place, run a support wire through one side of the stove pipe, then through the pvc pipe out the opposite edge of the stove pipe. Run the second wire through the opposite set of holes in the same manner. The 2 wires should rest on top of the t-post where they cross each other as in the picture below.

It's a lot easier to look at the picture below, than it is to describe this process in words.😅

 

Run the wires perpendicular to each other through your pre-drilled holes in the galvanized stove pipe.

Wrap a zip tie around the wires and the pvc pipe to keep the guard from sliding back & forth.

Bend the ends of your support wires over so they cannot slide out of the stove pipe.

Your 1/4" hardware cloth should be cut to fit snugly inside the galvanized stove pipe. You can get a very close size approximation by placing the stove pipe on top of the hardware cloth and tracing the circle with a black Sharpie. Use your wire cutters to cut the hardware cloth. Cut a small hole in the appropriate place for the pvc pipe then slide the hardware cloth over the pipe and into the top of the guard. Use zip ties to secure the hardware cloth to the support wires. This will prevent any snakes from climbing up the t-post and killing your nesting birds.

It's important to make sure your hardware cloth completely fills up the inside of the predator guard, so a snake cannot get past it.

Now mount your house to the pvc pipe using the pipe wall brackets. We also added a short center screw in the middle of the bracket to ensure the house would not rotate on the pipe. Make sure the house does not sit on top of the predator guard, or the guard will not 'rock' and will allow raccoons to climb it.

A very small, short screw can be screwed into the middle of the bracket and into the pvc to keep the house from rotating.

I use these bird spikes on top of all my bluebird and tree swallow housing to prevent any owls from landing on top and spooking out the nesting birds. Before using these spikes, I had found many of my nesting birds had been killed by our resident Barred and Great Horned owls. Since adding the spikes they have not been able to get to them.

By cutting a large hole in the door (approx. 3" wide x 2" tall), I can use this vinyl (siding from leftover building materials) and cut out different entrances used by various birds. In this case, Bob drilled out a 1.5" hole with a Forstner bit. But, if a tree swallow decides to move in, I can remove this plate and put a TRES slot entrance on this hole.

The doors on each nest box also have the set screws already installed for the Van Ert trap...just in case it's needed. It's old, but this nest box will suffice for this year.

These 'plates' can be easily changed out, based on which bird species is trying to claim the nest box.

TRES slot entrance - 7/8" tall x 2.25" wide. Exact height is critical to exclude English House Sparrows. Use digital calipers to get correct size.

Purple Martin Season 2025 Is Here

Dear Missouri Landlords,

Purple Martin Season 2025 has begun here on Gobbler's Knob! For the first time ever in my 19 years of being a purple martin landlord, 1 adult male and 2 adult female purple martins arrived at the same time on Feb. 28, 2025.

As of today, March 7, 2025, there are now 8 purple martins here and the first tree swallow of the season is flitting around and singing with glee as he has 14 nest boxes from which he can currently choose!

Here's a short video that I captured on the 28th of the purple martins' arrival. 

Time for Missourians to get your racks / housing up!

Wishing you all a great season!

After the Cryin' - Part Two

I should probably start by explaining why I used "Cryin'" in my blog titles. I have always been very hardcore about NOT cutting any trees down. Even to the point of the detriment of my own goals - that of creating better habitat. The whole idea of climate change does bother me and I have heard the persistent, loud, constant drumbeat about it for years. So, I was really against cutting ANY trees down when we first moved here to our 23 acres. 

But, as Bob consoled and educated (don't tell him I said that!!) / convinced me that we needed to remove some trees so the others could be more healthy and actually contribute more to our environment, I began to research and agree with him more & more. After the first round of removals many years ago - when my heart said, "STOP", our tree stand was still over-crowded and many trees were still only growing branches on one side. Others, trying to reach the sun, were putting on way too much height compared to trunk thickness, exposing themselves to potential wind breakage.

Thicket of cedar trees, multi-flora rose, Japanese honeysuckle, Winter Creeper needing to be cleared.

 

In late January of this year, I agreed to a staged approach - first, let's cut down all the small sumac sprouts, multi-flora rose, etc. and then take inventory of the native, healthy, larger trees and see if there were any new varieties of 'volunteer' trees we should make room for. 

Good grief - the birds can plant so many cedar trees and multi-flora rose!! We first had to clear this mess. We needed chainsaws, loppers, and protective gear to clear the small stuff out to get a better view of the tree stand. After lots of Ibuprofen, heating pads and ice for sore muscles and nursing our backs and bloodied faces & arms (multi-flora rose does NOT go down without a fight!), we spent 2 weeks talking and talking.

The large cedars in the background to the east were also over-crowded and providing cover for Japanese honeysuckle and multi-flora rose. Bob had been wanting to get rid of them for years, so we reached an agreement. The cedars along the outer edge of the property could remain and these could be removed.

After posting a picture of our cleaned out tree stand on a Native Habitat Facebook group, one knowledgeable member pointed out that our "basal area" of trees was still too high. So, off I go to learn more about calculating, 'basal area'. Ok, fine.... I suppose I could always plant MORE trees. You can read an older blogpost here (Tell it to the Trees), which describes all the problems of an over-crowded stand and benefits (even MORE carbon sequestration) of younger trees.

The view from my office window after we cleared out all the other junk.

Finally, with 'acceptance' settling in, I made a post on Facebook, asking if anyone locally needed firewood. My friend Doug, private messaged me and, after a walk-through with his fellow wood-cutters, they decided they could use the oak & large cedars in their wood shop - not for firewood, but for artistic creations! Even better than using it for firewood!

Doug and his 2 friends arrived, geared up and marched into the woods with chainsaws revving and running. My heart was hurting and I could hear the blood was rushing through the veins around my head. The first cut is the deepest....Rod Stewart was right. After the first tree fell, I decided I had to let go now...it was too late to try to stop them. They were on a mission and I was very impressed with their skill in sending the trees in the right directions to prevent damaging to other trees.

The first large oak to fall.

I decided to not take anymore pictures....it was too hard on my heart, so I waited until I saw the results. It was then that I realized the new potential for this area. Our quail, turkey and deer are going to be so happy! And Gary...our resident groundhog - once he gets over being pissed off about the new landscape and finds his new home, he'll be okay too.

Bob thinks we should have removed even more, but I'm happy with this.

This area - the 3 large cedars removed, some small branches cleanup - let the sun shine in!!

With the debris cleaned up - and 4 very large brush piles created, I turned my attention to the new guys in town. New shingle oaks, hickories, short-leaf pines and a hackberry now freed up and with plenty of room to grow.

The New Carbon Collectors arise!

No longer shaded & crowded, a young shingle oak now has room & sunshine to help it grow.

 

I girdled the tree in back for the woodpeckers, and the young hickory is now free.

A very young short-leaf pine was found after one of the large cedars was removed.

Another short-leaf pine growing under a large cedar is now free.

And ANOTHER short-leaf pine is now free!

A young hickory, maple and oak tree, are very happy they don't have close neighbors.

This hickory tree below was freed up after removal of a very large Eastern Red cedar tree causing it to lean from over-crowding. Hopefully, it will straighten up, or Mr. Freeze will either have to cut it down or take meds.

Young hickory tree - better straighten up buttercup, or Mr. Freeze will have to take meds!

This very, very young hackberry did not escape completely unscathed during the tree-removal operation. But, I convinced Mr. Freeze to let it stay until we see if it leafs out this spring.

A young hackberry covered up by a large cedar - a little damage, but hopefully, it survives.

A very nice, young, straight Post oak freed up.

The tree below is Mr. Freeze's prized shingle oak that we found. Due to over-crowding, it grew really, really tall to try to reach the sun. But, it's also really, really skinny. Hopefully, it will cowboy-up and survive the spring winds and be a beautiful tree.

Shingle oak - Mr. Freeze's prized tree.

This group of 6 trees now have plenty of room to stretch & grow. Eastern Gamma grass already planted here.

Oh my..... my heart is healing and I'm seeing the possibilities now!

And here, for historical documentation is a video of the final results (click on the YouTube link to embiggen - HA!):

Four of these very large brush piles were created, using the tops of the cedar trees (that couldn't be used for lumber, etc.) and the larger branches, etc. These will greatly benefit the wildlife seeking cover for the next 2-3 years, and Gary will have 3 of these from which to choose.

A large brushpile created using the tops of the cedar trees and large branches from the other trees removed. A small short-leaf pine will grow quickly now after being exposed to the sun!

Now, we need to spend the next year eradicating the non-native, invasive stuff that is likely to re-sprout: Callery pears, Japanese honeysuckle, multi-flora rose, winter creeper and any other crap that won't contribute to the new, healthier ecosystem we've created. I'm SOOOOOOO excited and impatient...but the walks to identify the native 'volunteers' through this area will be so much fun this summer!

After the Cryin'

 "Yeah, Baby, you were right about getting this done"! Now, how often do I get to bask in the warm, bright rays of the "you're right" confession? I think I was absolutely glowing.

That's what Bob said to me as "TD", from Midwest Forestry Mulching and Land Clearing made his way through our ravine / riparian area. TD was tearing down and mulching his way through all the Japanese honeysuckle vines, multi-flora rose, sprouts, small trees (including cedar!), etc. so that we can more easily manage this area.

After spending weeks trying to clear this area by hand - chainsaws, loppers, tractor and much blood and backpain, I had had enough fun.We finally had a "meet Jesus" discussion as we both realized that it was going to take a very long time for us to manually cut our way north with that approach. We had lots of obstacles facing us; a) where would be put all the stuff we cut out of here; b) it would probably be grown in behind us before we finished the whole thing; and c) we're not getting any younger and would love to see native plants growing in this area in the very near future.

This was all we had been able to clear in the last few months:

 

It looked great - but we had only made it about 150 feet northward - if that. 

And, the brush pile from just that area looked like the picture below. Even with 23 acres, eventually, you run out of room with these size piles.

It was like trying to walk through wet concrete. The vast majority of the rest of it northward (for about 600-700 feet long x 75 feet wide), was not even navigable.

I found out about "forestry mulching" on the Native Habitat Manager's group on Facebook. After watching some videos online, I was surprised to find out that's really a thing! So, a Google search and a message to this company (and he responded on a SUNDAY!), several reschedules due to problematic weather, and it was on for Thursday, January 23rd!

I can't find the words to convey how happy I am about this...check out the pictures.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

More "after" pictures:

Yowza! Next steps - instead of spending the next 2-3 years clearing all this, we can now focus on killing the invasive crap growing in here, then plant some native forbs & grasses seed.

I'm SO excited - WORTH.EVERY.PENNY!!

Purple Martin Housing Cleanup: To Clean or Not to Clean?

Well, it's more nuanced than that. After finally having some frost, we've reached the perfect weather window in Missouri where I can start cleaning out my purple martin gourds and storing them.

Since we live in Missouri, where we often get snow & ice in February & March each year (right at the time the purple martins are arriving), I cannot wait until then to clean my gourds. So, I do it every Fall, after the first frost. This year, I thought of my past militant attitude towards cleaning out my gourds - **sparkling clean and NO spots!**, and decided that I wanted to share some thoughts on how I now clean my gourds and clarify some nuanced thoughts on *why* I clean them.

My required gourd-cleaning protection (click on picture for an enlarged view)

For the last 2 years, I'm finding that I'm not quite as concerned as I used to be about getting my gourds sparkling clean. I AM focused, however, on killing the mites, fleas, etc. and their eggs. But, it's not ONLY  for the benefit of the health of the purple martins that will nest there next year. It's also a concern for where I store the gourds. I store them in our shop where I have other things that I would like to keep mite-free. Things like our side-by-side and my native wildflower seed storage bins. A bout of warm weather would result in those eggs hatching and not be a good thing for me (or Mr. Freeze) to encounter.

A couple of years ago, I bought this 100-gallon livestock tank (100-gallon livestock tank - True Value) and I love it! I can soak 14 to 16 gourds at a time in it at a time. Put them in to soak one day, then wash them out the next - and I don't have to kill myself trying to clean all 84 gourds in one day.

100-gallon Livestock Tank from True Value. 16 gourds in the tank

Many people just pull out the old nest material and rinse & dry their gourds / housing. And if you store your gourds in a place where you don't care if there are future outbreaks of such insects, you probably don't need to worry about the Bleach soak. But if you do care, then here is what I do:

• Remove all the old nesting material. 
• Rinse out the remaining loose material.
• Add water and bleach (enough bleach to make a 10% bleach-to-water solution).
• Shove all the gourds into the tank and ensure all the air bubbles are removed. 
• The longer the gourds soak, the easier they'll be to clean out. 

I'm finally done for this season, just in time for the freezing winter weather. I do have a few repairs to make this winter to some of my gourds (broken tunnels, torn treads, etc.), but I can take my time with those. 

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!