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Busy Backyard Birds



Marilyn and I have had a number of interesting "happenings" in a rather brief 
time.
During  one week we noticed a pair of Brown Thrashers frequently in the area 
.....and thought "ah ha,  maybe a nest."  Later I heard a few excited birds 
and when I looked up from weeding , I saw two thrashers diving at the tail of 
a blacksnake as it slithered very fast to the open land behind the 
yard..frequently turning its head and giving the "Y tongue hiss" at the 
birds.  Not long after I found their weakly constructed nest just hanging on 
to the interior of a wax myrtle.  The nest had one baby.  Sorry  to report 
that later the baby had slipped out of the nest and no longer survived.  The 
nest was canted and loose at one end.

Later one Bluebird house was occupied by Titmice.  This one fledged about 4 . 
 This was the first Titmice that we have had to nest. The Titmice seemed to 
be much less noticeable in their actions building a nest and taking care of 
the young. I did not even see them build the nest.....I just found 4 eggs in 
it once when I was checking the bird   house and did not ID the eggs until I 
saw the Titmouse.  The male seemed to be absent most of the time. 
 
The second house had 5 Bluebird eggs at last count but not much action by the 
pair.

Back to Brown Thrashers.  While checking a different wax myrtle prior to 
trimming it I found another nest with 4 large eggs in it.  I am not that 
knowledgeable on the ID of bird eggs but in this case I did not have long to 
wait before it was obvious.  The female Brown Thrasher was in the bush and 
came to the nest in a loud manner. I left! The last inspection indicated all 
still OK.  I am concerned about the snake population and have put "snake 
away" around the base.  Well someone did...I would not interfere with  nature 
;-)  I work it out of sight to make sure that birds do not eat it.  Anyone 
have any suggestions?? How about mothballs? 

Question: An acquaintance told me that a Brown-headed Nuthatch pair were 
nesting  in a Bluebird house in their yard. Apparently the Bluebird pair went 
in and out of the birdhouse and also physically attacked the Nuthatches, I 
believe, when outside near the house.  And that they had seen the Bluebirds 
keeping the Nuthatch from going in the birdhouse. They asked if this behavior 
was common. I told them that I did not know but that I would ask the CBC.  
Any comments????  I realize now that I should have read the comments earlier 
about Bluebirds but did not due to situation not under my control.

Thanks for any comments,
Marilyn and Jim Bardsley

___________________
James J. Bardsley, Ph.D.
Murrells Inlet, SC