Mariton: Tree Swallows Getting Ready

by Tim Burris, Preserve Manager

Activity is winding down in Mariton’s nest boxes.  I have one brood of five Tree Swallows that should be leaving sometime next week.  The photo above is from last week when they were pretty tiny.  One of the adults is in the photo covering most of the chicks.  The photo below is from this week’s monitoring trip.  They are getting feathered and will soon be ready to fly.

The Bluebirds and Chickadees were fledged last week when I monitored boxes.  There is still time for Bluebirds to start a second nest, so I will keep monitoring for a few more weeks.