As of May 24 nesting status is as follows:

Breeding Summary (year to date; includes data from all attempts, even if not yet completed). 

• 52 Total Nest Sites

• 37 Total Nesting Attempts (all Eastern Bluebird)

• 134 Total Eggs

• 70 Total Young

• 25 Total Fledglings

Species summary (completed attempts only):

Species:

Completed Attempts

Total eggs

Total live young

No. fledged

Un-hatched eggs

Hatch Rate

Fledge Rate

Eastern Bluebird

20

83

41

25

24

49%

30%

Carolina Chickadee

1

0

0

0

0

N/A

N/A

Issues & notes: 

• Course issues:  None.

• Monitoring kits:  No issues.

v App techniques and issues:  Major issue with the app.  I checked boxes 10-18, working in reverse order, working offline as described last week (no data connection).  Nonetheless I still ran into trouble on hole 16.  Somehow the app decided that we had NO nest sites saved (see screenshot below).  Despite closing & reopening the app, connecting to data and logging out and back in I could not resolve this issue until I got to around hole 12.  Of course all data/photos from holes 17 and 16 were lost.  Fortunately I had a form with me to record observations and I kept notes.  Once I got home I went on the website and added my observations and photos.

 

 

So--my unfortunate conclusion is to bring a recording form with just in case this happens.  Attached is a blank form (pages 1 & 2 are the front 9, 3 & 4 are the back 9).  Please let me know if you encounter this yourself (and any other app issues).  I am going to email Cornell with this problem and I’ll let you know what they come back with.

As always I appreciate your patience with this, but if issues continue I think we’ll have to reevaluate whether to continue using the app.

• Box issues:

• • C10BL4 has a sizeable wasp nest; I put a piece of duct tape over the entrance hole as a reminder to leave this box alone. 

  • Unfortunately it looks like there was predation of eggs in the following boxes (nests found empty before viable fledge date):  C10BL2 and C11BL1.  I didn’t clean the boxes out because I couldn’t see the previous visit records and wasn’t sure of the attempts’ status.  They can be cleaned on the next visit.

• General note(s):  None.

Of course as always, please email me with questions, issues, and suggestions.

Thanks for all you do,

Bill