Shared by Grayson Nelson, as Guest Blogger.

This photo was reported to eBird the same week that unique nesting spots were discovered. Read below to see where the bluebirds made their nest.

As park rangers work outside in their state park on day-to-day operations, they are bound to have surprising wildlife sightings. When birds show up in unexpected places, rangers take note and pay close attention to the bird’s behavior. Each park takes pride in the duty to protect bird habitats and educate guests on their behaviors.

In addition to rangers, many parks have AmeriCorps members serving at the park over the summer while learning valuable skills that help them in the field. Grayson Nelson, an AmeriCorps (Virginia Service and Conservation Corps) member serving at Machicomoco State Park, recently had a unique experience seeing birds thrive in unexpected spots and shares these experiences below. 

An egg has been found

One of the things I had been told while training is to "expect the unexpected." While I had been given a sense of what that means, the birds here at Machicomoco State Park have taught me to always keep my eyes open for unexpected shenanigans.

It all started on Mother’s Day weekend as we were hosting a program called "Mammal Mothers.” We had a tabletop display with information on the different ways mammals, and Virginia's only marsupial the possum, take care of their young. While talking about these wonderful mothers, one of our birder couples told us that they had found an egg in the middle of our timeline walkway.

The timeline walkway aforementioned, the pavilion displays education on Virginia's indigenous peoples.

This egg happened to belong to a killdeer couple, who had not been attending to the egg due to their common dance, where they pretend to have broken wings to lead possible predators away from their nests. At first, we had thought that this was a mistake because what bird would lay her eggs in the middle of a pathway, open for anyone to see or step on? However, after doing some research, we found out that killdeer commonly lay their eggs in oyster shells, the sides of parking lots, gravel, and even trash.

Killdeer on it's makeshift nest in the oyster shells along the walkway. Look closely to see speckled eggs under the back-side.

Ropes are setup to protect the nest

Over the next few days, we set out cones and bright ropes to discourage people from walking through the area. The mom also laid three more eggs in her nest. The parents have even settled down, with at least one always sitting on the nest and an intriguing "changing of the guard" display when one of them takes a break.

The eggs will likely take around a month to incubate and hatch, so with the babies arrival planned, we thought we would be able to reopen that section of our timeline walkway within a few weeks.

Area roped off to protect the killdeer's nest.

This was only the beginning of our bird buffoonery. On June 1 (Clean the Bay Day), during our Aquatic Inspection program, we saw a bluebird flying in and out of a dog waste station. Earlier, it had gotten angry at another AmeriCorps member Olivia, and we were pretty sure it was a returning customer. So, just to check that it wasn't building a nest in the station, we fiddled around with the dog bags.

As we started moving things around, the box started chirping! There were three baby bluebirds in the box, feathers and all. We were unsure how they'd managed to go undetected for so long, but we were happy to see them anyway. A sign was printed and placed near the nest that said "Out of Order. Nesting Bluebirds." While the babies continued to grow, mama bird kept watching out for them, even with the new sign on her makeshift house.

Bluebird babies in the makeshift dog waste station nest.

Time to Fly

On June 9 as I was leaving for the day, I noticed one of the four eggs had disappeared from the Killdeer nest. While I had feared the worst, that some predator had swiped up an egg before mom and dad could fend it off. The next morning, I immediately went out to do some morning roving before the park office opened. I checked the nest and 2 more eggs were missing. I took out my binoculars and scanned the field and happily found all three babies running about with mom and dad!

Three of four eggs total seen in the killdeer's makeshift nest.

This did leave the question of the final egg: Why did it not hatch? After some research, I learned that most killdeer broods hatch within the same 48-hour time frame, and after that any remaining eggs were not viable. Another sign that the egg would not survive was that by June 11, mom and dad had left the interpretive area with their three babies.

By June 12, we were researching ways to preserve the egg and the nest to use for future program. Unfortunately, the very next day we found the egg caved in. We were able to take the cones and ropes down after this. Now the timeline can be walked on without interruption.

Another exciting update: Our baby bluebirds in the dog waste container successfully fledged! Even more exciting, it was on the same day as my own graduation as a York High School "falcon". You could even say that we fledged on the same day.

The bluebirds just won't leave us alone though, as another family has taken up residence in the dog waste station closest to the park office. I don't know why they prefer these makeshift houses to the real bluebird houses scattered around the park, but we will do our best to protect them while they make their way to fledge.

A bluebird takes nesting material back into the dog waste station.

Plan your next birding adventure to Machicomoco State Park

These two bird families are only a few of our 186+ known species of bird at Machicomoco State Park. While these birds have become stars in our park because they are so out in the open, we have many species that can be heard all day. My favorites to listen for are our bobwhites, mockingbirds, and the killdeer. Come out to the park and discover which birds are your favorite. 

Happy Birding!

Find information about upcoming programs where you could learn more from AmeriCorps members or park rangers at Machicomoco by visiting the park’s event page.