A few weeks ago, I peeked into one of our bluebird nest boxes and noticed that there were all sorts of strange "non-bluebird" like things being added to the top of an old bluebird nest still in the box from last summer.
Bluebird nests are pretty utilitarian and are usually just made with small twigs and lots of dried grasses. When a new birdbird couple decide to use the box, they either clean and neaten up the nest from the previous year (if still there) or they build a fresh, new nest. Either way, bluebird nests are simple and very, very neat.
This nest was different ...
It was a hodge-podge of all sorts of things! It looked like it was made with an array of grasses, moss, some Easter basket type, plastic grass and what appeared to be lots and lots of Renard's fur.
Renard has been shedding like crazy and I've just been throwing his fur outside after our Furminator sessions. Some little bird obviously thought his super soft fur would make a perfect lining for a nest. I have no idea where the Easter basket grass came from, but it certainly gives the nest some colorful and shiny flair!
I hadn't seen any birds coming and going from the box and had no idea who was building the crazy nest, so I decided to leave the nest in the box and see what happened.
This morning I checked in again on the nest and was surprised to see 7 small, white, red-speckled eggs in the nest.
After a bit of online research, I think this might be a Carolina Chickadee nest. Hopefully I'll see the parents soon, but no matter what kind of eggs these are, I'll plan to take lots of photos of the baby birds while in the nest like I've done before for bluebirds.
ps - We have bluebird eggs in our other boxes now too, but the box with the mystery eggs is the only one I have that allows me to easily take photos, so I probably won't get any photos of bluebird babies for the first clutch this spring.
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July 8, 2015
I found a nest like this on my porch. The bird that comes out of her nest if I get to close. She looks like a house wren.
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