During the summer, at least several visitors came into the Information Building to inquire about the two blue birds seen near the back of the building. Of those who saw the pair of mountain bluebirds, Sialia currucoides (Bechstein), only a few realized that the birds were nesting behind a half-closed window shutter on the second floor. When the nest, made up of grass, dead staghorn lichen and one piece of twine, was first discovered on July 11, it contained two eggs.

On subsequent visits the female was nearly always seen on the nest, incubating her undersized clutch of eggs. On July 21, two helpless, pink mites were seen for the first time. The babies grew rapidly; 20 days later one was still in the nest but the other had ventured as far as the ledge a foot away. When the nest was visited the following day, both young bluebirds had departed.

Other nests were found during the summer, most of them being located by observing the adults carrying food. In this way, a second mountain bluebird's nest was discovered in a hole 20 feet up in a mountain hemlock, several hundred feet east of the Lodge.

The nesting hole of a red-breasted nuthatch, Sitta canadensis Linnaeus, also in mountain hemlock, was watched by numerous members of the morning Garfield Peak field trips. The dead stub, to which the nuthatches came regularly with food, was conveniently located near the first lookout along the Garfield Trail.

Mountain chickadees, Parus gambeli Ridgway, were found in a snag at Cold Spring Campground, and a pair of violet-green swallows, Tachycineta thalassina (Swainson), evidently reared a family in a cavity in one of the Wheeler Creek pinnacles. The swallows were observed making frequent trips to a small hole in one of the tall, spire-shaped formations, presumably feeding their young.

The nests of two Oregon juncos, Junco oreganus (Townsend), were discovered quite by accident when, in each case, the incubating female was flushed from her nest, well-hidden in a depression in the ground. One nest contained three eggs, the other held four; both were located between the highway and lower Munson Meadow. Unfortunately, there was not an opportunity to observe the hatching and growth of the young. Perhaps our visits were too frequent, perhaps some catastrophe overtook the females. At any rate, the nests were abandoned and neither adult was seen again in the immediate vicinity.

References

Farner, Donald S. 1952. The Birds of Crater Lake National Park. University of Kansas Press. ix, 190 pp.

Farner, Donald S. 1952. The use of the Wheeler Creek Pinnacles by nesting birds. Crater Lake Nature Notes 18:9-10.