Ruud Kleinpaste: Birds' nests on your property

It’s breeding time for birds! 

As a bird nut (and a registered bird bander) I have a nest box for little owls. Further down in the Quarry, my Bird mate Peter and I are looking after other owl boxes and monitoring their success. So far one female on four white eggs. 

Photo / Supplied

These introduced little owls came from Europe and are well established in the South Island, especially around Christchurch. I love hearing them call at night – it’s so special! 

And although you may not realise it: there are likely some other bird species making nests and breeding in dense bushes in your garden 

I have noticed so far: 2 blackbird nests, 2 Song thrushes. I’m still looking for a Dunnock nest (hedge sparrows)... Tricky!! And, at neighbours, a swallow nest as well. 

Nests under cover. Made from clay, filled with feathers… and underneath an enormous heap of poo – yes it can be seriously messy. 

When the chicks are big enough, I’ll band them with some “bling”. 

I also suspect a sneaky bellbird (which has become very, very quiet all of a sudden) but haven’t found its nest yet. 

Silvereyes will always be at my place (I feed them in winter, so they are used to my garden; the juveniles are real little punks). 

Silvereye nestlings. Photo / Supplied

Code of Conduct around nests: 

If you do stumble across a nest in some shrubbery (while pruning, for instance), have a quick look to see if there are any eggs or young birds in it (It could be an old nest from last year!); if so: back out and conceal the nest as much as possible. Put branches back in their position asap; that gives them privacy from preying eyes of predators (including harriers!). 

Most bird species can cope with a bit of disturbance – depends on how far in the brood-cycle they are. Usually when they have young in the nest, parents will keep on feeding them; eggs are a “rather new” investment for the parent birds, and they may sometimes pull the plug on that nest. 

Blackbirds (and thrushes) are often quite touchy: I noticed that as soon as the nest has been “discovered” and their privacy is breached, the young will fledge far too early and before they can actually fly away from cats and dogs! 

This puts them in a much more vulnerable situation. 

During the breeding season (which can go on till late summer for some species! Multiple broods for parent birds if the season is “good”) the young birds sometimes do silly things, like fly clumsily into your windows. 

If you find those stunned mullets on the ground, carefully pick them up and put them in a dark card-board box for an hour or so. Out of the light and no interaction; No Feeding; nor Watering, no Handling. Keep them quiet for a while and you’ll be surprised how they recover from such a knock! 

If your patient is a rare/endangered bird, please contact a local vet and organise some professional hospital care! 

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