THIS IS THE time of year when the baby birds are out and about. The growth and changes happen fast. One day they are gaping, pleading, insistent little things, completely dependent, and a few months later they are ready to migrate with the adults. In between, they have a lot to learn and accomplish including growing to full size, growing in one set of feathers and then fully changing them for a second set, learning how to fly, sing, feed, all those little things.

Smaller birds become adults quickly, in their first year. In fact the first clutch of bluebirds will stay with the parents and help raise the young from the second clutch. If you haven’t cleaned out your bluebird houses, this is a good time. You may still encourage a second nesting. If you do put up nest boxes for bluebirds you might want to consider how to space the boxes in the field. I found that by placing my bluebird boxes in pairs I would get more bluebirds and less of the competitive species. Keep an eye on your birdhouses and you’ll learn quickly: house wrens use multiple birdhouses, nesting in one and using one or two additional birdhouses for decoy nests. House wren nests are easy to detect, they simply stuff the bird box full of little twigs.

Larger birds like eagles take up to four years to become mature breeding adults. Their feathering from one year to the next is so different that it is easy to know whether you are looking at a first, second, third year bird, or a mature adult. Their nests are huge piles of branches preferably in or near the top of a white pine with plenty of clearance to make it easy to leave and return to the nest. The requirements of a nesting site are so specific that according to a presentation I attended in Michigan, there were only four hundred suitable locations for nests in Michigan.

My least favorite example of breeding habits is the brown cowbird. The cowbird is a nesting parasite. The female cowbird will lay one egg per day for as many as twenty-three days and she places her eggs in the host nest of another bird. Most species of birds will then raise the birds as their own young, frequently at the expense of their natural young that are either pushed out of the nest or don’t survive the competition for food as the baby cowbird dwarfs the other young. One species that has learned to adjust is the yellow warbler, if the nest is parasitized by a cowbird she will start over by building a new nest on top of the first. Sadly very few species have developed defense mechanisms and cowbirds are a very healthy population. Our habit of fragmenting forests has put more birds at risk by creating edge access where it would not have existed otherwise.

So what can we do: Put up nest boxes, experiment with placement. Keep your hummingbird feeders filled and clean. Remember to not mow until late June. Watch for the monarchs, various species fritillaries and the many other butterflies out and about. And enjoy.

Daniel Peak is a bird, butterfly and dragonfly enthusiast sometimes seen in and around the Viroqua area. He welcomes questions and can be contacted at d_peak@hotmail.com.