Lewis Road Riding Ring Bluebird Trail Update

Eastern Bluebird on nest by Lisa Gerbec. Mama didn’t want to abandon the nest, even for a minute!

We have had a lot of activity in our now 9 nest boxes this year. As of May 30, we have

• 6 tree swallow eggs in Box #1, with incubation starting 5/21,
  
• 5 tree swallow eggs in Box #3, with incubation starting 5/22,
  
• 4 eastern bluebird eggs in Box #5, with incubation starting 5/25,
  
• 5 eastern bluebird hatchlings in Box #8, due to fledge approximately 6/3 – 6/9
  

All of these boxes have sparrow-spookers, which so far have been effective in repelling house sparrows.
Unfortunately, we have also had a total of 6 tree swallows found dead in boxes so far this year. The birds do not appear to have been attacked nor starved (an early theory), but seem to have had a severe case of diarrhea. Perhaps a disease? Boxes that were found with dead birds have been sanitized. 4 of the corpses have been turned in to the regional office of ODNR. We are hoping an evaluation will give us some answers. If you have any information, please contact WCAS.
Monitoring continues at least twice per week. We are hoping for additional broods!