Birds & human-made nest sites

Birds Found Using Man-made Structures and Earthworks in Columbia County Breeding Bird Atlas II

The statewide Breeding Bird Atlas II ran from 2015-2019. During that time many atlasers spent hundreds of hours documenting breeding birds in Columbia County and ended by confirming 139 nesting species.

There were a number of interesting nesting reports and we thought it would be nice to examine what species were found using human-made structures and earthworks. Usually one expects that all the birds would be nesting in nest boxes, however that is not always the case. After the five year study, 31 species found nesting in structures or earthworks.

Wood Duck and Hooded Mergansers were found in duck nest boxes and also in kestrel nest boxes. Volunteers Bob and Gerry Benicoff were monitoring kestrels boxes at Schoeneberg Marsh Waterfowl Production Area with their cell phone and were surprised to find a Wood Duck in one box and a Hooded Merganser in another box. Mark and Jenny McGinley monitor 16 Goose Pond duck boxes at Schoeneberg Marsh but it appears in some years that there are more nesting pairs of ducks than nest boxes.

Rock Pigeons are common nesters around farm yards in buildings and silos. Bill Smith found pigeons nesting on the I-94 bridge over the Wisconsin River near a Peregrine Falcon nest. Mourning Doves were found nesting in open buildings and Mark and other atlasers were surprised to find a pair of doves nesting on the porch of a Purple Martin box.

Mourning Dove nest. Photo by Mark Martin

It is not hard to know what structure Chimney Swifts nest in. A new nesting structure was discovered when Michael John Jaeger found a pair nesting in an unused cement silo.

Black Terns are the only terns to nest in Columbia County and we found terns nesting on Black Tern nesting platforms that we constructed and helped DNR place in large wetlands.

In the 1980’s when Mark and Sue helped Mike Mossman and Liza Hartman wing tag and monitor Turkey Vultures we only thought that they nested on the ground in rock outcrops in the Baraboo Hills. In the atlas project Kelly Mcquire with DNR reported a pair nesting in a neglected barn (see photos below). Brand Smith and Mark found a pair nesting in the ground floor of an old barn. JD Arnston confirmed a pair nesting in a large grain silo in Portage while Vernon Herr had vultures nest in a treehouse that his son built for Vernon's grandchildren. Vernon enjoyed seeing vultures around his yard. Many hunters erect elevated hunting stands and those that are open on top can be used by nesting vultures. Photos below by Kelley Mcquire.

In the first Breeding Bird Atlas no Ospreys nested in Columbia County. However in the second atlas about 18 pairs of Osprey were confirmed nesting, all on man-made structures. Structures included communication towers, nesting poles/platforms erected by the Fish and Wildlife Service; powerline poles, especially those with V supports and poles that the American Transmission Company placed nesting platforms on to. The most unusual location was an osprey nest on the stadium flood lights at the Pardeeville High School.

Osprey nest on top of Pardeeville High School Stadium Lights. Photo by Mark Martin

Osprey nest. Photo by Nydia Kien

In two years we found a pair of eastern Screech Owls nesting in a kestrel box along a roadside. If the box was in a white oak woods we would call it a Screech Owl nesting box.

The only woodpecker we found nesting in an electric pole was a Pileated Woodpecker.

American Kestrels usually nest in cavities including nest boxes, however one year at Goose Pond we also found them nesting in the top of our barn at the Kampen Road residence.

An American Kestrel in a nest box with eggs. Photo by Pat Ready

In addition to the Peregrine Falcons that nested on the I-94 bridge they also nested every year in a nest box placed on a stack at the Portage Power Plant. Historically peregrines nested in the rock wall at Gibraltar Rock State Natural Area.

Eastern Phoebes are known for building nests in ledges or beams on buildings. During the atlas we also found them nesting in a duck hunting blind, while Brand Smith found a pair nesting on an air conditioning unit of a truck trailer.

JD Arnston and Mark were surprised one day while walking along a wetland berm and when they saw a Great Crested Flycatcher fly out of a nest box. It was easy to open the box and confirm a nest.

Great Creasted Flycatcher nest in a wood duck box. Photo by Mark Martin

Members of the swallow family all nest in man-made structures. Purple Martins are entirely dependent on Purple Martin nest boxes and plastic and home grown gourds. Tree Swallows readily use songbird, duck, and Purple Martin nest boxes.  

Paul and Glenna Schwalbe observed a pair of Northern Rough-winged Swallows trying to nest in a vent from the neighbors clothes dryer. They then erected a PVC nesting tube on their house that the rough-winged use every year. We erected a PVC nesting tube below an elevated deer stand and the swallows also found and used that. Brand Smith found rough-winged nesting in pipes of a “parked” truck trailer, shown below.

Truck trailer nesting site. Photo by Brand Smith

Cliff Swallow, called Eave Swallows by the Amish, these birds nest under bridges and under the eaves of buildings. One Amish family pointed out the 2 x 4s they erected under the barn roof to help the Eave Swallows attach their nest to the barn.

“Eaves Swallows,” as they’re called by some in the Amish community, or Cliff Swallows, nesting under the barn eaves.

Barn Swallows like to nest in barns and on objects like light fixtures on buildings. At Goose Pond we erected Barn Swallow nest cups that they used. In the Jungemann Barn at the Kampen Road residence, we pound three nails close together in a triangle on the barn beams to help support their nests.

Black-capped Chickadees sometimes nest in songbird nest boxes. When we find a newly built nest we place a smaller one inch diameter hole template over the entrance to eliminate competition from tree swallows.

The only White-breasted Nuthatch found nesting in a box was in a flying squirrel nest box that we have on our Wildland property.

Our “friends”, the House Wrens, nest in songbird, duck, and Prothonotary Warbler nest boxes. We found House Wrens nesting in the cap on a propane tank and in shopper stopper boxes.

House Wren nest in a propane tank cap. Photo by Mark Martin

A favorite bird to erect a house for is the Eastern Bluebird  that also can nest in kestrel boxes. Thanks to members of the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin for helping increase the number of bluebirds in Wisconsin.

American Robins are also known for building nests on supports of buildings or below window supports.

European Starlings  and House Sparrows. Starlings nest in buildings, and in kestrel and duck nest boxes.  House Sparrows also nest in buildings and in songbird and kestrel nest boxes. 

House Finches, a new species to Wisconsin since the 1950’s, like to nest around houses and other buildings and in hanging flower pots,

Prothonotary Warblers are only found nesting in floodplain forests along the Wisconsin River in Columbia County. Two landowners southwest of Portage have erected many Prothonotary nest boxes and have had great success.

Killdeer with eggs amongst the gravel. Photo by Mick Thompson

Four species were found nesting in man-made earthworks: everyone is familiar with Killdeers that like to nest in gravel areas including the parking area at the Kampen Road residence and in our parking lots. Belted Kingfishers, Bank Swallows, and Northern Rough-winged Swallows were found nesting in quarries or man made bank cuts. Near one large wetland reserve parcel we found three pairs of Kingfishers nesting in the banks of adjacent quarry. 

This is a good time of the year to construct and erect nest boxes for our feathered friends. The web is full of information on nest box plans for many species of birds including BRAW’s website for bluebirds.

John Jurgerson, Purple Martin Landlord

John and his Purple Martin nestbox. Photo by Mark Martin

If there was an award for dedication and patience for people that erect nest boxes it would go to John Jurgerson from Rio. John and his father made and erected Purple Martin nest boxes beginning in the 1970s.  In the 1980s, John purchased tapes with the “dawn song” to attract Purple Martins. He has worn out a number of boomboxes that now play CDs of the dawn song from before dawn until sunset.

Since that time, John had just one pair of purple martins lay one egg in 1992 that did not hatch. John is dedicated and has patience!! For decades, John has maintained at least three large martin boxes and one or two gourd racks. For many years, he has attracted a few sub-adult martins that nest later than the older adults, and still none nested. 

Last year, he was rewarded to have three sub-adults around all summer in addition to some birds that visited for a few weeks. A female and male were banded, likely by Dick Nikolai with Madison Audubon’s assistance, at Amish Purple Martin landlords in the northern part of Columbia County. The banded female and the unbanded male nested in his T14 nest box and raised four young. When not working around the yard, John could be found in a chair watching his martins along with Wood Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, House wrens, and Tree and Barns Swallows that nest on his property.  His brother Jerry helps maintain all the other nest boxes.

If you see a person in Columbia County wearing a purple, “Purple Martin landlord shirt”, stop and visit with John. 

Written by Mark Martin and Susan Foote-Martin, resident managers, Goose Pond Sanctuary

Cover photo by Mark Martin

Red-winged Blackbird

King of the cattail, the wicked black bird with his yellow epaulets flares his wings, exposing scarlet shoulders and a penchant for conflict. We are encountering, of course, the red-winged blackbird, one of the most abundant birds on the continent of North America.

Their territoriality sticks with many people, be it on bike paths, wetland walks, or a hike near some cattails. Male red-winged blackbirds spend more than a quarter of daylight hours defending territory. A number of hypotheses might explain the fierce defense of red-winged blackbirds. First, the parental investment theory holds that as the age of the nest increases so will the territoriality of the parents. Research suggests this is a strong tendency for red-winged blackbirds, and this theory further predicts that territoriality will increase with an increased clutch or brood size, which is indeed the case for these blackbirds.

Photo by Monica Hall

Interestingly, a Journal Sentinel article was published last year on June 29, 2018 detailing red-winged blackbird “attacks” on pedestrians along the lakeshore. These were likely birds with defending nestlings about to fledge; according to the first Breeding Bird Atlas, the median fledgling date was July 1. These blackbird attacks were desperate attempts to protect their investment in young, and the fiercest attackers might have had more young to protect.

Second, the renesting potential hypothesis predicts that nests later in the season will be defended more fiercely due to slim odds of successfully reproducing again so late in the season. Again, this appears to hold true for male red-winged blackbirds.

An unamused sandhill crane getting mobbed by a red-winged blackbird. Photo by Arlene Koziol

A red-winged blackbird mobs a swan family to protect a nearby nest. Photo by Alrene Koziol

A story, from Antigo on August 11, 2017 shows pictures of a red-winged blackbird attacking and even landing on a bald eagle. According to the photographer, there was a nest nearby. Here, again, we see an extreme example of aggressiveness in this bird, and it can be explained by the renesting potential hypothesis, since the odds of the bird renesting and successfully raising a clutch after August 11 were near zero. The latest date for fledged young according to data from the first Breeding Bird Atlas was August 19, so if the chicks in this nest had not yet fledged, they were likely a second or third nesting attempt.

In summary, early on in the season, early to mid-June, the aggressive birds are likely protecting a nest, and that nest probably is farther along and holding more eggs based on the aggressiveness of the bird. Later in the season, red-winged blackbirds will fiercely defend a renesting attempt, as it’s the last chance for the bird to reproduce that season.

While extremely common and abundant, red-winged blackbirds have undergone a 30% population decline since 1966. This might be attributed to a number of factors, including continent-wide wetland losses and degradation. While we’re not at risk of losing red-winged blackbirds any time soon, their overall decline suggests a worsening of habitat, especially for wetland birds.

Red-winged blackbird nest parasitized by a brown-headed cowbird in an upland setting. Photo by Drew Harry

Another reason to protect these wetland habitats is that red-winged blackbirds have reproductive success in wetlands and marshes. According to the Breeding Bird Survey, only 2% of nests in marshes were parasitized by brown-headed cowbirds, whereas 17% were parasitized in upland settings. Nest success was 48% in wetlands but only 33% in uplands.

At Faville Grove you can find boisterous red-winged blackbirds throughout the sanctuary. They’ve just returned to the area in the past week.

 Written by Drew Harry, Faville Grove Sanctuary land steward

Cover photo: Kelly Colgan Azar

Black-billed Cuckoo

On a June morning, I struggled my way through the wetland margin of the Laas Tamarack. Wanting to find what breeding bird species resided in this largely inaccessible and otherworldly tamarack bog, the allure of the unknown was soon filled with regret and rubber boots full of murky bog water. This was to be expected.

A brushy tangle of tamaracks and understory. Photo by Drew Harry

Many of the birds I heard and saw were also expected: yellow warblers, robins, gray catbirds, red-winged blackbirds, common yellowthroats, cedar waxwings, chickadees, wood ducks, and a green heron. Delightful, no doubt, but they didn’t include any of the hoped-for birds, like a mourning or Canada warbler, or a white-eyed vireo. The sunrise through the tamaracks, in combination with the morning dew, gave the needles a bluish tinge. Meanwhile I appreciated the treasures of the bog: pink lady’s slippers orchids, unique sedges like cottongrass, and blueberry and huckleberry. Of course, the hummocks of sphagnum moss offered a delightful color palate of red, green, and brown; while also varying the topography so that I had to listen for rare birds instead of also looking for them.

After wandering around the outskirts of the tamaracks and appreciating the sunrise, I stopped and touched a particularly burly young tamarack. From this tree, at about eye level, flushed a good-sized bird that jolted me back from the tree; a moment later I realized it was a black-billed cuckoo, and a moment after that I saw it had flushed from its nest. Here was a delightful find!

The nest defied the warm and homely expectation of care instructions for eggs. Instead, the black-billed cuckoo that I found opted for a few sticks crudely stitched together in the crook of the tamarack. I would not make it back into the tamarack to monitor the nest, but with a frail gust, those eggs could have easily tumbled to the ground.

This type of nest construction is actually typical for black-billed cuckoos. While cuckoo relatives in England will parasitize the nests of other birds, the black-billed is less likely to do so, but still has been known to lay eggs in the nests of other birds. I’d like to think the cuckoo, upon finding the nest of a robin and envious of the cozy design, decides instead to squat its eggs in the more hospitable robin nest.

Cuckoos, more often heard than seen (with their three-noted coo-coo-coo), thrive in brushy and gangly thickets. Where I found this cuckoo nest, I had to cross a wetland edge of a few feet of water, then stumble my way through an almost impossibly thick maze of shrubs and small trees. This is just how the cuckoo likes it.

The beautiful, but intimidating to hikers, tamarack bog. Photo by Drew Harry

Where I’ve encountered cuckoos in thickets, they’ve been hilariously hard to spot. I might excitedly point out the bird to our summer interns, only for the bird to sit still for minutes on end. When it starts moving again, it’s still hard to spot with its brown to olive plumage and namesake black bill, but a white underside and red eye ring reveal flashes of this brilliant bird. I recall one summer when I looked at a black-billed cuckoo with the interns, and the bird seemed to mirror our movements through the brush. Here we were, hunched over and rocking our head every which way, and there went the cuckoo, looking at us, moving quickly in short spurts and navigating the jungle of brush.

Black-billed cuckoo photo by Tom Murray, FCC

During the breeding season, black-billed cuckoos are relatively common throughout Wisconsin. However, indices of population from breeding bird survey routes suggest a steady decline of the cuckoo population in Wisconsin. Since habitat in Wisconsin is sufficient to support this species, it is thought that spraying for gypsy moths might affect food availability, or pesticide spraying may kill caterpillars and thus eliminate an important food source.

Cuckoos love caterpillars, and where you have an outbreak of caterpillars—especially tent caterpillars—you will often find cuckoos. Breeding bird survey data from Wisconsin reflects this element of cuckoo ecology, as the density of black-billed cuckoos is highly variable, and peaks every 8 or 9 years, almost always coinciding with a caterpillar outbreak. One interesting adaptation that black-billed cuckoos have to eating sometimes spiny caterpillars is that they shed their stomach lining, coughing it up in a pellet.

You won’t be able to find any cuckoos right now at Faville Grove, and you’ll likely have to wait until mid to late May to see one, but North Shore Road is a reliable spot to find this secretive bird.

Written by Drew Harry, Faville Grove Sanctuary land steward

Black-necked Stilt

We were very excited in May when it appeared that a pair of black-necked stilts might nest at Goose Pond... and were very disappointed when they left us.

Black-necked stilts with their black neck and long, skinny legs are is easy to identify by looking at field marks of shorebird photos in bird identification books.

Black-necked stilt ready for its glamour shot. Photo by Arlene Koziol

Sam Robbins in 1991 wrote in Wisconsin Birdlife that their status was accidental with only four records. The first record was in 1847 when a flock was seen at Racine and one was collected. The second record account in 1951 was of an individual at Horicon Marsh. This bird was also collected for a museum collection. The next record in 1986 was also from Horicon Marsh, and in 1987 a stilt was sighted at Schoeneberg Marsh/Erstad Prairie. Luckily for the stilts, by the 1980s photographs were used instead of shotguns to verify rare sightings. 

Black-necked stilts are a southern species that is usually found from the gulf coast to the southwest states. On their wintering areas, stilts are frequently found with avocets, another large and colorful shorebird. Researchers reported a stable to increasing stilt population between 1966 and 2014.  In the past 25 years, stilts have expanded their breeding range north.

Black-necked stilt parent and chicks. Photo by Richard Armstrong

In 1999, Jack Bartholmai, an expert observer and photographer, recorded the first black-necked stilt nesting at Horicon Marsh. Their population has slowly expanded at Horicon Marsh and this spring 30 individuals could be found. In 2004 a pair nested at a wetland restoration in Jefferson County, and last year a pair raised young at the Mud Lake State Wildlife Area near Reeseville in Dodge County.

Black-necked stilts copulating. Photo by Richard Armstrong

Jim Shurts and Mark found our pair of stilts on May 13 on the east pond (the wetland attached to Goose Pond, but privately owned on the east side of Goose Pond Road) while our team conducted our Great Wisconsin Birdathon. For the next 10 days, we frequently saw stilts, and most sightings were from the flooded food plot north of the west pond and south of Kampen Road. Richard Armstrong photographed them copulating on May 17 and Mark saw them copulating two days later. Mark also saw a stilt aggressively chasing a late-migrating yellowlegs from the area where they spent a lot of time, and where we thought they would nest.  Stilts nest near water and we were considering fencing off the nesting area to protect they nest from ground predators. 

Graham Steinhauer, our Goose Pond Sanctuary land steward, saw the stilts for the last time on May 23. Sam Robbins would have never guessed in 1990 that stilts would nest in Wisconsin. Next year we hope they return -- and nest this time -- and then they can then be recorded as a “confirmed nesting” instead of “probable nesting” in the Goose Pond block of the Breeding Bird Atlas II.

Written by Mark Martin and Sue Foote-Martin, Goose Pond Sanctuary resident managers

Cover photo by Arlene Koziol

Henslow's Sparrow

Photo by Arlene Koziol

The Henslow's sparrow is a small songbird with a dull brown body and a streaked breast. This bird is restricted to open habitats, typically grasslands, of the midwest and northeast. Over winter, these sparrows spend their time in longleaf pine and bog habitats of the southern US. The pairing of globally rare breeding and wintering habitat makes the bird rare across its range. Endangered in seven states and threatened in Wisconsin, the Henslow's sparrow would seem a banner bird for grassland conservation.

Yet, the Henslow's sparrow lacks the iconic status of the dickcissel or meadowlark. The sparrow's understated plumage and faint call—a simple tsillik—undercut its zealous heaves. David Sibley describes the call as a “feeble hiccup.” Additionally, the bird is notoriously difficult to spot. Hiding in a dense accumulation of litter a Henslow's sparrow will whistle its call, unseen. If approached, the bird often flees on foot, its brown feathers matching the dullness of a few year's foliage.

The nest resides on or near the ground, where the female incubates eggs for approximately 11 days. Chicks will occupy the nest for about 9 days, being fed a diet of grasshoppers and caterpillars.

As far as managing for Henslow's habitat, the birds present an interesting dilemma. On one hand, Henslow's sparrows need two to three years of litter accumulation in order to breed in an area. Conversely, the birds tolerate a low amount of brush and need dense stands of grass for suitable habitat.

Burning will maintain the open habitat and stimulate grasses, but the sparrows dislike nesting in recently burned areas.

Photo by Carloyn Byers. Read more about Henslow's sparrow nesting in our Into the Nest series.

Henslow's sparrow nest, drawing by Carolyn Byers. Read more about Henslow's sparrow nesting in our Into the Nest series.

A patchwork of burning, like we have here at Faville Grove, can encourage Henslow's sparrows to nest in an area.  Areas with multiple years of standing dead vegetation provide cover and nesting areas for these discrete birds. Recently burned prairie provides good foraging habitat, and the dense cover of new growth can hide fledgling chicks.

This past week, the interns and I stumbled upon multiple Henslow's sparrows in the sanctuary. We first heard the calls of dozens of other birds, eventually focusing in on the Henslow's repetitive calls. Standing in a field of smooth brome, the calls seemed bromidic, or trite. As we sat there for five minutes, the bird finally emerged onto a cup plant and hoisted its unenthusiastic call our way. The bird may not be a banner for conservation, but it belts out its calls oblivious to human concerns, embedded in a mosaic of grassland habitat.

Written by Drew Harry, Faville Grove Sanctuary land steward