dracowildlife's Journal

Had to seal off Nesting Boxes Alpha and Bravo because sparrows were beginning to make nests. Hope to reopen in three or four days to give Eastern Bluebirds another opportunity to occupy the boxes.

Two Carolina Wrens (subject to identification by others more qualified in distinguishing the varieties) have established a nest in what we thought was a decorative nesting box made from old license plates that we hung in a Mexican Plum tree right outside our office window. Despite the unusual construction, the pair were evident today in bringing nesting materials to the box. As we were observing their efforts, in a very short span (less than two minutes), the tree was also visited by a female Northern Cardinal (who appeared to be checking out an old nest that was used last year by a pair of Northern Mockingbirds), another wren (we think Bewick's, but are not positive), and a Northern Mockingbird.

Here's the kind of sad-amusing part: we were recording all this with our new DSLR camera with great excitement and glee -- only to learn that Patrick had removed the memory card to use in the computer and, consequently, there were no photos recorded to be shared. Sigh. It was exciting, though!

The mass of American Robins that visited our pasture-prairie almost every morning and flew from south to north every evening in mass formations during most of January appear to have moved on. We had never noticed such a phenomenon before -- but then again, we haven't been as observation of wildlife and nature as we have been in the past 18 months!

The struggle to keep the House Sparrows away from the cavity-nesting boxes reached a new level this morning. Using our new BB gun, Patrick managed to scare them away (yes, he made a positive identification they were House Sparrows). The Eastern Bluebirds continue to appear nearby as if they want to take residence, and, of course, we are trying to give them an opportunity.

A local meteorologist was quoted in today's newspaper that "winter was over." The Mexican Plum outside my office window agrees, starting to blossom. At least a dozen Red Admiral butterflies were flying from blossom to blossom and were joined, at times, by , variegated fritillary, a too-fast-to-identify swallowtail, and what I believe to be a Texan Crescent. Temperatures in the 80s, blue skies after an early morning of rain and thunderstorms (1.3 inches).