Except for the barn owl, our region’s birds are predictable when they nest, how often they nest, and for the most part, how many eggs they lay. (Barn owls may nest at various times, but seldom in the three coldest months.)

As a rule of thumb, precocial birds, like ducks, geese, turkeys or grouse, have only one nesting a year. That nest usually has many eggs. The young after hatching are feathered and within hours are moving around with the hen.

However, this poses more risks. A mallard duck with 10 ducklings has obstacles to overcome. Snapping turtles, hawks, weasels and feral cats will all take a toll, and by midsummer, that clutch of eight to 10 ducklings may only be three or four birds.

Altricial birds lay fewer eggs but receive more parental care in the nest until being able to fly.

In this week’s column, I’ll list a few examples of both altricial and precocial birds and their number of eggs and how often they’ll nest.

Bald eagles, whose young are now close to fledging, are altricial birds. They are a bit of an exception, though. If the eagle lays her two or three eggs and they don’t hatch (infertile, exposure) their nesting opportunity for the year is finished. If a robin loses its first nest, the pair will rebuild and nest a second time.

On average, most of the altricial birds have two broods each summer, usually four or five eggs, and with any luck many of those will make it till autumn.

I’ll list a short sample of some common local birds, a few of which may be familiar. Some of this may surprise you.

• Cardinal: 3 to 4 eggs, 2-3 broods each year.

• Eastern bluebird: 4 to 5 eggs, usually 2 broods (3, but rarely) each year.

• Common grackle, 4 to 5 eggs, 1 brood each year.

• Tree swallow, 4 to 6 eggs, 1 brood each year.

• Barn swallow, 5 to 6 eggs, 2 broods each year.

• Barn owl, 5 to 7 eggs, sometimes 2 broods each year.

• Ruffed grouse, 10 to 12 eggs, 1 brood each year.

• Hooded merganser, 6 to 18 eggs, 1 brood each year.

• American robin, 4 eggs, 2 broods each year.

• Blue jay, 4 to 5 eggs, 1 brood each year in northern parts of U.S. but 2 broods locally.

• Golden-crowned kinglet, 8 to 10 eggs, 2 broods each year.

• Baltimore oriole, 4 to 5 eggs, 1 brood each year.

• Great horned owl, 2 eggs, 1 brood each year.

• Cowbird: Number of eggs not really known because female parasitizes other nests, laying a single egg in the unfortunate host bird’s nest.

Some surprises here are tree swallows, which are cavity nesters like bluebirds, and are rather hardy birds, arriving early in spring and “hanging around” into early fall. But they only nest once.

Golden-crowned kinglets, one of our smallest songbirds, nests in the coniferous forests of Canada and lays a large number of eggs. Even more surprising is that shortly after the first young leave the nest, she is almost immediately nesting again, letting the male feed the fledglings for a week or two. (Nesting in the boreal forests, the summer nesting time is much shorter as well; nature, often a mystery.)

Expect to see some of these young birds in your travels in the next week or so.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: A young opossum is called a(n): A. pup; B. cub; C. kit; D. joey.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: The opossum has 70 teeth, the most of all our mammals.

Email Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com