As a follow-up to my post about the VG swallows fighting their way out of a
nesting situation in my swallow box, I'm pleased to report that a pair of
business-like, no-nonsense Tree Swallows moved in and are presently incubating.
Not as much racket and drama, but pleasant little presences. Meanwhile, a friend
of mine less than a mile from me, had Trees starting to nest in her nestbox, as
they have for the last 15 years. Then something went wrong, perhaps one of them
perished, and the attempt was abandoned. She had laid out feathers for them on
her lawn and they had taken them all up into the box. But after they abandoned
the nest, Violet-Greens began hanging out there, snapping and crackling, but not
really making any serious nesting moves. The feathers began to re-appear on the
lawn. Not under the nestbox directly, but back in the same place she had laid
them out. In fact, she got them back with interest. We can't figure that one.

I'm enjoying the observation reports very much - nest box activity, corvids
hunting squirrels. And yes, squirrels are definitely nest predators.

Happy watching.

Chris Maack
Anchorage, AK
73201.3124 at compuserve.com