Nature Miramichi:

On Monday this week Deana and I thought we had better check the nest boxes at Miramichi Marsh in advance of an expected thaw this week. In fact, the ice on the third pond that we didn’t need to cross looked very treacherous.

Tree Swallows:

There are 13 boxes that the club maintains. There are a few other that were installed by Ducks Unlimited in about 2006 but have become overgrown and are difficult to get to and don’t seem to have any swallow activity. Of the 13, twelve had nesting activity from last season. This is unusual in that the 6 boxes surrounding the western most island have tended to get little use other years. The 13th unused box, since re-located, was not in a very open area which the swallows prefer. Of the 12, 2 had very shallow nests of grass and a few feathers. Hard to say if they were successful nests. Two others had 11 eggs between them that were unhatched. The eggs in one did not seem to have embryos (1 was already open) while the eggs in the other did. One box was at a serious slant due to the failing post. The substantial nest was at an even more alarming angle for some reason. We found the remains of 2 hatchlings that seemed to have become smothered. As a clutch is usually 4 hatchlings, maybe 2 or so did survive. Two of the nests were very substantial with a lot of grass and a variety of feathers. They looked very cozy with deep “pockets”. None of the boxes had been “squatted” by mice of flying squirrels.

Ducks:

There are 7 duck boxes that are monitored and the results are submitted to Ducks Unlimited. Two of the boxes were on snags that collapsed. They are frozen in at the moment but can hopefully be retrieved. Of the other 5 boxes there were no signs of nesting activity. This is usually the case each year. That is not to say there was no

nesting activity at the Marsh last season. Mallards, Ring-necked Ducks and Hooded Mergansers were present all season and Northern Shovelers, Wood Ducks, American Wigeons, Green-winged and Blue-winged Teal were seen quite often.

Peter and Deana