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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.

**********