Checking Rivermont Birdhouses
Scared to get involved with checking birdhouses? Don’t be. The procedure is pretty simple. Contrary to popular belief, you won’t need to peer into the hole in the front of the birdhouse to check it. Birdhouses don’t need to be checked daily (we aren’t trying to harass the birds, unless they’re sparrows). Once or twice a week is fine.
The Michigan Bluebird Society has a fantastic page. I encourage you to read it over. Below some highlights are noted.
Ideally we’ll have teams that sign up to monitor a set of holes, so that one or two team members are out of town, there are other team members to take up the slack. You and your team can decide to usually go as a group to monitor, or to go individually on set days.
Checking houses while playing your round of golf is okay only if you do not hold up play. When checking at any time you want to be courteous to not only the birds as you approach their houses, but also your fellow members as they play their rounds of golf.
You can submit your results at each of your stations using this form either on the fly on your smartphone or data-enabled tablet or by filling out the information from your computer later. You will be required to register a username and password and login in order to fill out the form.
If you’re ready to monitor, click here for the form to fill out for each birdhouse.
When to check
According to michiganbluebirds.org, the best time to check the houses is in the afternoon and definitely not near dawn or dusk. Houses should be checked once a week.
How to monitor
- Approach the birdhouse from the side, not — neither you nor the bird want a beak-to-face meeting.
- If you notice wasps coming in/out, you can either carefully check the box for a wasp nest or note your concern and let Mark’s group check.
- Still from the side of the birdhouse, gently tap on the house and wait a moment in case mom or dad is inside — parents won’t typically remain in the box.
- There’s a nail on top (front right) holding the front door closed. Remove the nail, open the door and look inside. Note without touching:
- Nest type (see Nesting Info below)
- Number of unhatched eggs
- Number of hatched eggs
- Number of fledglings
- Close the box and replace the nail.
Nesting Info
I found a great site for comparing the eggs. Click here for that – the second picture is particularly useful. Pretty sure I’ve seen black-capped chickadee eggs in some houses, but not tufted titmouse eggs.
The following table summarizes some of the nests and eggs and was derived from audubon.org.
| Species | Nest Description | Eggs | Incubation period | #days fledgling remain in nest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Bluebird | Nest in cavity (built mostly by female) is a loosely constructed cup of weeds, twigs, and dry grass, lined with finer grass, sometimes with animal hair or feathers. | 4-5, sometimes 3-7. Pale blue, unmarked; sometimes white. | 13-16 days | 18-19 days |
| Tufted Titmouse | Nest (probably built by female) has foundation of grass, moss, leaves, bark strips, lined with soft materials, especially animal hair. Bird may pluck hair from live woodchuck, dog, or other animal, even from humans. | 5-6, sometimes 3-9. White, finely dotted with brown, reddish, or purple. | 12-14 days | 15-16 days |
| Black-capped Chickadee | Nest (built by female) has foundation of moss or other matter, lining of softer material such as animal hair. | Usually 6-8, sometimes more or fewer. White, with fine dots of reddish brown often concentrated around larger end. | 12-13 days | ~ 16 days |
| House Sparrow | Nest (built by both parents) is made of material such as grass, weeds, twigs, trash, often lined with feathers. | Usually 3-6, sometimes 2-7, rarely 1-8. Whitish to greenish white, with brown and gray dots concentrated toward larger end. | 10-14 days | ~ 14 days |