Bluebird Update
After checking the vineyard nest boxes the other day, we found one active second clutch of bluebirds and two Violet Green Swallow clutches. The bluebird nestlings in one box didn't survive the hot weather and another pair left a nest unfinished in a box near the tasting room. The rest of the boxes are empty.
We've had a smaller number of second clutches than usual, and we're sure that the hot weather was a factor.
Marilyn van Dyk, our friend from the Prescott Bluebird Recovery Program, told us that in mountain bluebird nests it's estimated temperatures in nest boxes are about 17 degrees hotter than the temperature outside and that bluebirds, and probably other songbirds as well, can't survive temperatures beyond 107 degrees.
So far, it seems as if all of our bluebird and swallow fledglings from the first clutches are doing well and are happy catching bugs in Sokol Blosser's estate vineyard.