Date: 5/24/26 3:45 am From: Alfred Maley <alfredmaley...> Subject: [NHBirds] GCFL Completes Nest in Three Days, Some Sort of Record
Mrs. Great Crested Flycatcher completed her nest in the Wood Duck nest box
in three days, a heroic effort. The first day involved countless 13-14
second trips down to a pile of pine needles and 4-5 seconds to dump them on
the 8x8” floor on the nest box. The second day was a repeat except that it
took 9 seconds to spread the pine needles to her satisfaction. This
“carpet” is 2 inches thick. Yesterday she completed the nest itself, in a
back corner, using finer materials and down feathers from a Wood Duck nest
that I cleaned out a week ago. Now Mr. Fly is eager to help with the most
important part, egg creation.
The Wood Duck nest , one of two in the yard, “jumped” a week ago. The
second nest is in the second week of incubation.
None of the 9 Barred Owl nest boxes that were occupied last year have
occupants this year. This is the time when I could easily see 25 Barred
Owls in a day in Hampstead, counting young and adults. That drove ebird
nuts.
