Feathers and Fuzz

one woman's cure for the empty-nester blues

Ugly

Rat Snake Attacks Bluebird House With 5 Nestlings

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Rat Snakes are incredible detectives and able climbers. As such, they regularly prey on nestlings, especially during the warmer months. In June of 2015, five nearly-mature Eastern Bluebird nestlings were victims of a snake attack.

What follows is the story of the attack and its aftermath. Feel free to skip it and just jump to the video.

The Bluebird parents were on watch and saw the snake’s approach. The male parent did his best to warn the nestlings. This warning signals them to fledge if they are able. But, these nestlings did not heed the warning although they were mature enough to fledge. Once the snake blocks the doorway, there is no escape. It’s a long story, but this time the snake did not win.

I happened to be watching the live feed from the bird cameras and saw the snake in the Bluebird house. I headed out immediately, golf club in hand. After opening the side of the box, I carefully raked all inhabitants out — then collected up 4 of the 5 nestlings. No idea where #5 went — undoubtedly s/he found shrub for cover as instinct dictates.

I came back inside … hoping to learn from the saved video how the snake even got in the box. The pole was baffled, so access should have been prevented. As it turns out, this was a very small snake and he gained access through a 1/4″ gap in the baffle’s mounting hardware. Back outside I went, armed with duct tape to seal the gap.

Victory was Short-lived

Proudly, if a bit unnerved, I returned inside to watch the live camera feed and monitor for the Bluebird parents return. What I saw was the snake — back in the nest box!! As it turns out, the snake had gotten back in the box while I was looking at the camera history from the first attack. He was there the whole time I was calmly taping up the gap.

Calm dissipated. Anger took hold. The snake was permanently removed and the nestlings were once again returned to their box.

Parent Bluebirds Stayed Away

Think about it. The Bluebird parents watched as a snake entered their house — twice. They were not about to stick their heads in the door! I tried many things. First I put the nestlings in an open box (which I guarded) by the mealworm feeder. Fail. Finally, I removed the roof from the Bluebird house and stapled fiberglass screen material over the top. It worked! The parents were back to caring for their young.

Nestlings Did Eventually Fledge

Three of the four nestlings fledged within 24 hours. The fourth nestling clearly had an injured leg, but managed to fledge a couple days later — MUCH to the delight of the exhausted parents who had been calling him out non-stop.

Lesson Learned

There is no doubt the nestlings’ viability was compromised by the attack. Normally, after nestlings fledge, the parents come to the mealworm feeder like crazy to bring them food. That was not the case with this brood. My takeaway from this: If an attack can not be prevented, the predator is the victor.

Final Warning: This video is graphic!

UGLY: Flying Squirrel Attack on Titmouse Nest

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The video in this post is UGLY. It shows an attack on an active Tufted Titmouse nest by a Flying Squirrel (Flyer). The assumption, due to the timing of the attack in April, is that the Flyer was a nursing mother and was in need of protein. In fact, this may very well have been the female Flyer who was raising her young in a nearby owl house on the property.

The first attack occurred just before 1:00am. You will see the Titmouse look at the Flyer — more like “What are you doing here?” than fear. That quickly changed. The Flyer chased the mother Titmouse out of the house then proceeded to prey on the three-day-old nestlings. The Flyer returned two more times during the night. By daylight, only two of the six nestlings remained.

Amazingly, the mother Titmouse did return to the nest the next day and resumed care of the nestlings. (With the help of friends, we placed an upside-down trash can over the house with the hope of retaining access for the Titmouse while preventing future attacks by the Flyer.)

Three days later, one of the two remaining nestlings died and was removed from the nest by the mother. The one remaining nestling also died and is shown in the video being removed from the owl house.

In the whole of this nightmare, I was left with a feeling of deep admiration for the mother’s commitment to her young. The female Titmouse returned to care for her young in spite of her own brutal attack by the Flyer the night before … and … she braved the presence of a huge trash can covering her house. Finally, even when her last nestling perished, she chose to remove it from the nest rather than abandon it. Her spirit fuels me still in designing and testing a Flyer-proof predator guard. See the Post entitled: “Human versus Flying Squirrel Birdhouse Modifications”.