Respite for the bluebird before the house hunt resumes
This week marks the beginning of the return of the migrating birds. Tree swallows were spotted darting about in high speed chases, blue bird couples are looking at houses together, and a large flock of red wing blackbirds spent the week foraging on the property. In light of the aforementioned observations, NJ Audubon’s Sherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary land management team had to put on their realtor outfits and get our homes cleaned up for the new prospective tenants. Each of our houses had to be opened and cleaned out, as a host of diseases and parasites can linger in the houses even over the winter, and we do not want to allow these malefactors to continue harming the beautiful birds that come to nest with us. We left the houses open to let them air out for a few days, and now they are all closed back up, ready to accept their new families.
The highlight of the day was a Cooper’s Hawk. The blackbirds weren’t as happy to see this guy as we were
By Will Jayne
Volunteer
Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary
