Can
you identify what's in this photo?
Each Wednesday morning
on Camp Lutherlyn's Facebook page
the Lutherlyn Environmental
Education Program posts a photo.
Readers
have all morning and afternoon
to
make their best guess about what the photo is.
Around
6 pm LEEP provides the answer and a brief explanation.
Each
week's What is it Wednesday post
will
also be posted on the Nature of Lutherlyn blog,
after it is posted on Facebook,
sometimes
with additional bonus information.
In
addition to bringing you current editions of What is it Wednesday
on the
Nature of Lutherlyn blog,
we
will be reposting old editions,
creating
a What is it Wednesday archive.
This photo was posted as a What is it Wednesday on
November 28, 2020.
And
the answer is....
at Lutherlyn’s
Terra Dei homestead.
Different types of birds create different types of nests, so examining the nests can tell you what kind of birds were nesting in those boxes. This box had two nests in it! It is not unusual for two different kinds of birds to use a nesting box at different times during the nesting season.
The top nest, which takes up most of the box and is made primarily out of twigs, was probably made by a house wren.
The nest on the bottom was made out of grasses and finer material and was probably made by either bluebirds or tree swallows. Tree swallows include feathers at the top of the nest, and there were no feathers left behind in this one; but bluebird nests are usually thicker and tree swallow nests thinner, and this one was thinner, so it’s not clear which it was.
If you want to know what kind of bird made a nest in your bluebird box, "What Is In My Bluebird House?" from Ohio State's Buckeye Yard and Garden Online is a great resource: https://bygl.osu.edu/node/465#:~:text=Bluebird%20houses%20(hereafter%20called%20bluebird,Male%20eastern%20bluebird.
November is a good time of year to clean out nesting boxes, so they are ready to use when birds start nesting again in the spring. These nests were found while we were cleaning out nesting boxes as part of our fall cleanup around Terra Dei homestead.
The Terra Dei nesting boxes are designed to encourage birds who are insectivores to live near the gardens – they help control insects that are garden pests by eating them! We enjoy watching the birds who make their homes around Terra Dei and are grateful for their help in the garden!
Like and follow Camp Lutherlyn on
Facebook, to see What is it Wednesday posts when
they come out and have the opportunity to share your guesses in the comments!
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