Peek inside some of the nestboxes in the wild wild woods . . .
This box (above) holds a Tree Swallow nest -- a cozy cup formed of grasses with feathers for additional warmth. As she laid the eggs, one each day, she hid them under the feathers until she was ready to incubate them.
Now they are clustered together; she sits with her body pressed close to them until they hatch.
The nylon lines suspended on this nestbox deter other species from claiming all the boxes; Tree Swallows and Bluebirds are aerial feeders and can maneuver between the lines to access this box.
Five Eastern Bluebird eggs are cozy in their nest cup of woven grasses. This nestbox was lined with a deep soft cushion of moss by Chickadees before the Bluebirds took possession.
That pair of Black-capped Chickadees moved to another nestbox where they laid a clutch of 7 eggs. Six babies hatched and five survived a wet cold week of weather. They all gape hungrily when a parent brings food. The little one on the left is closing his beak after gulping an insect. The others are still calling for a meal as the adult departs to hunt another.
In another nestbox, House Wrens have woven a grass shelter within a twig structure (below). Two eggs so far; they usually lay 5 or 6, sometimes as many as 10.
