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Re: Mystery of Missing Nest
HI, ALL . . .
> In the spring, I had a beautiful chickadee nest in a
> box that was taken over by bees. I just left it alone
> all summer and fall and figured I would remove the
> nest after the freeze. I went to remove it curious to
> see what it would be like, and the whole thing was
> GONE! Did the bees eat it? Did birds take it out?
It is not at all uncommon for birds to steal each other's nesting
material, so this may explain how a nestbox could first be filled and
then empty.
I observed a Blue Jay (not bluebird) pair in Minnesota stealing what
they surely must have thought were Grade A prime twigs from another
jay's nest and incorporating them into their own. I also saw another
pair "borrow" twigs from an earlier nest they had started and move
the twigs to a new nest site.
With regard to the question of the missing nest cited above,
collecting mosses and fur is pretty time-intensive, so it could be
that a titmouse or chickadee pair found the abandoned box laden with
nest material and snitched it. The bees certainly wouldn't have
remove the nest; I've had bumblebees take over old bird nests in
bluebird boxes, building several little wax cups that they then
filled with nectar, but they never removed anything.
So here's another scenario:
The bees moved into the box after the chickadees left and added their
own nest, including the waxen nectar cups. A while later, a Southern
Flying Squirrel happened upon the nestbox, looked in, and found some
sweet tasty honey (and maybe even a few fat bee larvae). The squirrel
munched down on the honey and then began carting away the nesting
material; it certainly would have smelled good and could be used as
nest material for the squirrel.
Whatcha think?
BILL
**********
BILL HILTON JR.
"The Piedmont Naturalist"
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History
1432 DeVinney Road
York, South Carolina 29745
USA
e-mail: <hilton@rubythroat.org>
Voice & Fax: (803) 684-5852
Operation RubyThroat Website: <http://www.rubythroat.org>
"Never trust a person too lazy to get up for sunrise or too busy to
watch the sunset."
BHjr.
**********