2006 Nest Box Report

Friends of Fresh Pond Reservation put up and monitored eight nest boxes on the Reservation in 2006: the four tree swallow boxes built in 2004, and four boxes designed for chickadees and other small cavity-nesting birds, built in 2005. Because of shoreline restoration being done around Little Fresh Pond and construction at Neville Place, where the boxes had previously been located, all of the boxes with one exception have been moved to new locations. The exception is a box for tree swallows that was placed on the west bank of Black's Nook.

On March 16 the eight boxes were put up on metal posts with wire mesh predator guards. See the map below for locations. Boxes were visually monitored at least every week, and tree swallow boxes were opened occasionally to check progress and detect unwanted inhabitants. This procedure does not appear to unduly upset the birds. The smaller boxes were visually monitored, only .

Box Location Map: There are no letters or numbers on the boxes themselves.

Numbered Boxes are for Tree Swallows    1. Black's Nook    2. Kingsley Park Bio-swale    3. Weir Meadow Bio-swale, East    4. Weir Meadow Bioswale, West

Lettered Boxes are for Chickadees, etc.    A. Black's Nook    B. Kingsley Park Bio-Swale    C. Weir Meadow Bioswale, East    D. Upper Weir Meadow

Tree Swallow Box Checks:

Date	Box 1	Box 2	Box 3	Box 4
May 18	Swallows seen entering box	Swallows seen entering box	Swallows seen entering	No birds observed
May 29	Swallows seen entering box	Swallows seen entering box	No swallows were seen near box	No birds observed
June 1	Box Opened: About four very young birds. Photo below	Swallows seen entering box	Box Opened: Five eggs. Photo below	Box opened. No nest
July 13	Box taken down. Empty nest removed.	Box taken down. Empty nest removed.	Box taken down. Remains of at least 3 very young chicks found.	Box taken down. No nest.
Conclusions	All four young fledged and left the box.	A brood was successfully fledged. Number unknown	This nest was unsuccessful. Reasons unknown	This box was not used, perhaps due to proximity to other nest sites.

Chickadee Box Checks:

Date	Box A	Box B	Box C	Box D
May 22	House Wren seen entering box	Swallows seen entering box	No birds observed	No birds observed
May 29	House Wren seen entering box	Swallows seen entering box	No birds observed	No birds observed
June 1	House Wren seen entering box	Swallows seen entering box	No birds observed	No birds observed
July 13	Box taken down. Empty nest removed.	Box taken down. Remains of at least two chicks found.	Box taken down. Remains of at least 3 feathered young chicks found.	Box taken down.No nest.
Conclusions	A brood was successfully fledged. Number unknown	This nest was unsuccessful. Reasons unknown	This nest was unsuccessful. Reasons unknown. Species unknown.	This box was not used, perhaps due to location near human activity.

 

Box 1-Black's Nook About 4 very young birds were observed. The head and beak of one is visible on the left in this photo.		Box 3-Wier Meadow Five eggs observed. The photo shows one, in the middle.

Elizabeth Wylde
for Friends of Fresh Pond Reservation