dracowildlife's Journal

We have stopped looking in on the three hatchlings in Nestbox Delta, as they appear almost ready to fledge. Parents have been very aggressive in recent days when we looked into the box. which we take as a sign the young birds are near to fledging. Our last picture showed their features had become blue.

The first of four eggs in Nestbox Charlie has hatched, and a picture of the hatchling was submitted as an iNaturalist Observation.

We found two hatchling House Sparrows in the Nestbox Alpha (we thought we had disturbed the eggs enough that they wouldn't hatch). We removed the hatchlings, and they fell to the ground and disappeared into the underbrush to an unknown fate.

We used a special covering to provide a deep soaking to the roots of the Bur Oak and Palo Verde trees we had planted in the pasture in 2015. The Palo Verde is making a valiant recovery.

We observed on 7/13 that the Lark Sparrow that established a nest in the northeast corner of our carport has had four hatchlings. We believe this is the same bird that had a nest in the southwest corner of the carport and had at least one successful fledgling last month.

The three Eastern Bluebird hatchlings apparently fledged successfully from Nestbox Delta on or about July 9. We cleaned out the nest box but don't really expect a new nest. In the meantime, there are four hatchlings in Nestbox Charlie. Two of the hatchlings appear to shoving the other two out of the way, so it's wait and see to find if all four will fledge.

The last two days, Patrick has used a new Swisher rough cut trail mower to mow in two areas: about 3/4 of an acre at the front of the property and about 1/2 acre in what will eventually be Acre 20 to cut down the King's Ranch Bluestem in the expectation that the silver bluestem will take over. The Swisher is towed by our ATV and cuts as well, or better, than the brush hog used this spring by the man we hired to mow.

We renewed our family membership in the Native Prairies Association of Texas.

On Wednesday, July 12, we took a tour on the Vanishing River Cruise up the Colorado River at Lake Buchanan. We saw Redwing blackbirds, a considerable number of Great Egrets, and some nice scenery.

The lark sparrows in the nest in our carport have fledged, but not without difficulty, including one that had a run-in with our big black dog. It seems to have survived its encounter. A total of four birds were in the nest.

Four Eastern Bluebirds apparently have fledged from Nest Box Charlie in the last 24-48 hours. We saw them yesterday in the vicinity of the nest box. We cleaned out the nest box this morning, although we don't expect a second nest this late in the season.

Nest Box Delta is being visited by red wasps. They had tried to establish nests, but Patrick has been removing them. We have put soap on the lid of the nest box in an attempt to discourage them, but a few were present this morning.

We spent yesterday and today trimming some of the larger mesquite trees to enhance their growth and applying Remedy and a surfactant on those bushes which we thought would not be useful in the prairie. We used a dye to show to which plants we had applied the herbicide. We are both eager and anxious to see the results.