nesting bird
Posted by steve bennett on July 10, 2007
Q: I checked one of my blue bird boxes and there were three dead small lizards inside the abandoned nest. The nest was not made out of pine straw. Which bird is a cavity nester which would feed lizards to their young. A shrike came to mind, but I am not sure if they are a cavity nester. The area was on the edge of the Sandhills section of NC and there was open fields with a few bushes around.
Steve bennett
Habitat: field/meadow
State: North Carolina
Habitat: field/meadow
A: Sounds to me that you're reasonably sure that the lizards were brought into the box by birds rather than got in there on their own and died. Certainly, some birds will capture small reptiles and feed them to their babies but it's definitely not a Shrike - they're not cavity nesters. My best guess is that your nesters were European Starlings! Starlings make a rather loose nest and are definitely cavity nesters. Many bluebird houses have entrances that are a bit small for a starling to enter but maybe your box entrance isn't quite small enough to exclude them. That's my best guess on what happened. Hope this helps.
John Wiessinger ( July 11, 2007)