2009 – Week #19 Mississippi Gulf Coast Blue Bird Trail Update

Well, here we are, heading for the middle of July, and it’s Week #19 of the 2009 Mississippi Gulf Coast Blue Bird Trail Survey in Long beach.

It seems like we were just observing New Years Day, and the year is already half gone!

Brand new Blue Bird babies were in the nesting boxes again this week on the Long Beach Blue Bird Trail.

Master Naturalist Buddy John and I did the Blue Bird Trail Survey in separate sections Friday morning, with John doing the first 7 nesting boxes, on the occupied part of campus, and your author checking nesting boxes 8-13 on the undeveloped, wooded north section.

After having only 17 eggs in the boxes in last Friday’s Trail Survey, this week we found that 9 of those eggs had hatched during the past week, and we had 3 boxes with a total of 9 new, tiny little Blue Bird babies looking for food from their parents. What a great sight!

Here are Survey Totals this 2009 Season so far:

86 eggs laid: 9 have been sterile, 4 lost to a predator.

55 babies have flown the nest. – Last Year: 39 babies had flown the nest as of Week #18. Last Year Total Blue Bird babies flying from the nesting boxes: 45.

8 eggs in nesting boxes currently.

9 babies in nesting boxes currently.

Here are the results of Friday’s Blue Bird Trail Survey of the individual nesting boxes, on Friday morning, July 10, 2009:

Nesting Box #1 – Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last Week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Nesting Box #2 – Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last Week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Nesting Box #3 – Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last Week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Nesting Box #4 – 5 Blue Bird eggs. – Last Week: 5 Blue Bird eggs.

Nesting Box #5 – Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last Week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Nesting Box #6 – Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last Week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Nesting Box #7 – 4 Blue Bird eggs. – Last Week: New nest built, 4 Blue Bird eggs. – Third Clutch.

Nesting Box #8 – 4 Blue Bird Babies. – Last Week: 1 Blue Bird Baby, 3 Blue Bird eggs.

Nesting Box #9 – Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last Week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Nesting Box #10 – Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last Week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Nesting Box #11 – Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last Week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Nesting Box #12 – 4 Blue Bird babies. – Last Week: 4 Blue Bird eggs.

Nesting Box #13 – Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last Week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

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Area lawns and vegetation here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast have greened up during the past few days, after a couple of downpours earlier in the week. So nice to see at last, after more than a month without any precipitation.

The next two Fridays, July 17, and July 24, John and I will do Weeks #20 and #21 Trail Surveys, and then early Saturday morning, July 25, I will leave on the long drive north up to my home in Wisconsin, for a lengthy visit there with family, and to participate in the Annual Boscobel, WI Civil War Weekend Reenactment.

I am looking forward to seeing most of my family during that time, including my daughter-in-law and my two grandsons, who will be visiting at her parents’ home just off I-55 on my trip north, about an hour north of St. Louis. So, I will stop off and see them during Sunday, the 26th, before continuing on home that evening.

Have a great week!