Day 190: July 8th - Good neighbors

Continued hot in the 90s, a bit less humid and still calm

       And so the heat wave continues.  Less humid, yes; but still warm enough to make sitting out in the sun a bit uncomfortable.  We were in Wappinger earlier this morning at another of our grandson’s baseball games.  On the way back down to Orange County, we stopped at one of our perennial favorite birding spots, Stony Kill Farm in Fishkill. 

      Budget cuts throughout the state have impacted man of the environmental educational facilities and Stony Kill was one of those programs decimated by said cuts.  The farm is still maintained, however, to the point where we can still visit and bird the grounds.

      This morning’s most interesting sighting was that of two Bluebird nest boxes mounted on fence posts bordering the fields of the farm.  Rather than bluebirds, however, we found a couple of other tenants utilizing the boxes to bear and rear young.  In one box, a House sparrow was busy flying back and forth between the fields and her brood, a bill-full of insects and grubs quite apparent upon each return visit.

       I had seen at least one sparrow with food prior to realizing that the bird was nesting in one of the bluebird boxes.  Later, I saw the sparrow emerge from the box and then return with the meal.  While away from the nest, the sounds of chicks within was more than obvious.

   

    As I watched and photographed the sparrow making her foraging trips, I noticed a second box no more than 8 feet away and to the right was also the site of nesting activity.  This time, however, it was a tree swallow which busied itself making similar forays to and from the nesting box with similar intent.  It was nice to see that these two different species were cohabitating in such close proximity with no issues about whose territory this was.  The fact that they were using nests provided for bluebirds perhaps made them more than tolerable of one another (if we would like to believe they think and act like we humans do!)  I’m sure that both families will go on to grow into fine adult birds and that they too may someday nest side by side.