Bluebird Update
As some of you know, we are a part of the Western Bluebird Recovery Project. We host many bluebird boxes around the vineyard, and things are getting exciting! Check out our Winemaker Russ Rosner's notes on the progress of our many Western Bluebird families:
715: 4 WEBL eggs (warm). Last egg laid 5/15 (?). Estimated hatch date 5/29.
706: No change (complete nest, no eggs).
705: ~2” WEBL nesting material, now with ~2” swallow nesting material on top.
701: 6 WEBL eggs (warm). Last egg 5/14. Estimated hatch date 5/28.
704: 6 WEBL eggs (warm). Last egg 5/8 (?). Estimated hatch date 5/22.
702a: 6 (?) WEBL chicks. Hatched 5/12.
702b: Swallow nest. No eggs.
703: 5 WEBL eggs (warm); first egg laid 5/1(?), last egg laid 5/5 (?). Estimated hatch date 5/19.
709: Complete WEBL nest; no eggs.
710: Empty.
707: 6 (?) WEBL chicks. Hatched 5/17. (This hatch date is one day earlier than predicted.)
714: HOSP nest.
712: 6 WEBL eggs (warm). Last egg laid 5/12 (?). Estimated hatch date 5/26.
Now we have something very disappointing to report. We found a dead male WEBL partially squashed/run over on our winery drive just near box 706 (the first box you come to on the right as you come up our road). He was tagged - #2251-82871. Most likely he was the male of the pair for that box; it’s fortunate that they had not yet laid any eggs.
Next Sunday, the 24th, we will begin the first banding of our new fledgelings.
