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Fresh Pond Reservation
2011 Nesting Box Report

Nest Box Map

The Fresh Pond Reservation Nesting Box Project began in March of 2004 with a Friends group program where four nesting boxes for tree swallows were assembled. A year later we built four boxes for chickadees and other small cavity-nesters. In 2008 the Cambridge Water Department came on board: their carpenters made us 11 more boxes for tree swallows. They made an additional seven boxes in 2010, three for wood ducks and four for screech owls. Twenty five of these boxes (one wood duck box was stolen) are now set up around the reservation.

The tree swallow boxes are taken down in the fall for cleaning. Tree swallows are notoriously awful housekeepers, and by the time the babies are fledged, their nests are filled with feces. We remove the nests, wash the boxes with bleach, and store them for the winter. In March, before the swallows return from their winter quarters in the south, we put the boxes up again, with screen predator guards to keep out marauding chipmunks and raccoons. In recent years we have seen the birds hovering over us as we put up the boxes. They apparently remember their previous year's accommodations, and are anxious to move back in. Volunteers monitor the boxes, but we no longer open them to check on the eggs and babies as we did in the beginning. Although this practice does not appear to disrupt the rearing of young, it clearly upsets the birds, as well as the inspectors.

This year's results from the tree swallow boxes appear to be about average. All fifteen boxes contained nests, nine of them successful, as evidenced by the quantity of feces in them. Three contained unused swallow nests, and one was stuffed with sticks but not used as a nest (behavior typical of house wrens). One box was used by chickadees, apparently successfully.

The four boxes for smaller cavity-nesters contained three (or perhaps four) apparently-successful nests. Two had twig nests typical of house wrens. One of them was built atop a nest made of pine needles. It is not known whether the needle nest was complete or successful, or what kind of bird made it. One box contained a typical black-capped chickadee nest that looks as if it had been used.

Activity has not been observed in the four boxes made for screech owls. These birds emerge from their cavities in the evening, when low light conditions make observation difficult, and occurs after the official "closing time" for visitors on the reservation. The two wood duck boxes are now set up in North Pond on the golf course, an area that is off-limits to non-gofers, and where they are not visible to us from the perimeter road.

Tree Swallow Boxes

Box #
Location
Date   
Species
Conclusions
1
Water Dept., Ranger Station
August 17
Tree Swallow
Successful Nest (Used, empty)
2
Kingsley Hilltop
August 17
Tree Swallow
Box contained a nest with the body of a chickadee,
Built over an unused tree swallow nest. Unsuccessful nest.
3
Kingsley Bioswale
August 17
Tree Swallow
Box contained a used tree swallow nest.
Uncertain.
4
Weir Meadow Bioswale
August 17
Tree Swallow
Box contains ants! Tree swallow nest
appears used. Possibly successful nest
5
Fresh Pond Shore near Little Fresh
August 17
Tree Swallow
Successful Nest (Used, empty)
6
Water Dept. Parking Lot Island
August 17
Black-capped
Chickadee

Used Chickadee Nest - Successful nest
Dead Tree Swallow
7
Lusitania Meadow, East End
August 17
Tree Swallow
Successful Nest (Used, empty)
8
Black's Nook Willow Tree
August 17
Tree Swallow
Successful Nest (Used, empty)
9
Fresh Pond, Post 1292
August 17
Tree Swallow
Completed tree swallow nest, doesn't look used
10
Neville Community Garden Area
August 17
Tree Swallow
Box stuffed with sticks, not used as a nest
11
Neville Back Hillside
August 17
 
Successful Nest (Used, empty)
12
Butterfly Garden
August 17
House Wren
Successful Nest (Used, empty)
13
Lusitania Meadow, West End
August 17
Tree Swallow
Successful Nest (Used, empty)
14
Lusitania Meadow, East End
August 17
Tree Swallow
Partial nest, unused Unsuccessful
15
Nest to Road North of Water Dept.         
August 17
Tree Swallow
Successful Nest (Used, empty)
  Total Nests

 

15 Nests: 9 successful, 2 possibly successful.
4 nests not successful.

Chickadee Boxes

Box #
Location
Date
Species
Conclusions
A
Woods btwn. Black's Nook, LFP Dec. 31
House wren
Stick nest typical of house wren
B
Edge of Woods Lusitania Meadow Dec. 31
Chickadee
Moss nest typical of Black-capped chickadee
C
Edge of Woods Lusitania Meadow Dec. 31
House wren
Stick nest typical of house wren built on top of a nest made of pine needles
D
Edge of Woods Lusitania Meadow Dec. 31
No nest
  Total Nests 3 Successful,1 Box Unused


Elizabeth Wylde
for Friends of Fresh Pond Reservation
December 31, 2011

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