Determined Bluebirds!

Daddy Blue is determined to have some offspring this year!
as some of you know the first nesting ended up in a black rat snake. (That one is gone, but there are surely more)
Then, while I was struggling trying to get a baffled pole &nestbx mounted they picked a horrible site. earlier this week I saw Mama Blue go into a long ago mounted box that I thought was home for either an owl or squirrel. Inside was a nest with 5 lovely blue eggs. the next day the eggs were gone.
So....that is the history of this years nesting attempts to date.
Currently...DaddyBlue showed no interest at all in the baffled pole box mounted approximately 15 feet from the site of the original nextbox that he chose and used for 3 years (this is #3)....Instead he would do his soft little sing/chirping voice and stare or fly to the site of the old box. I finally put it back where it has been and he immediately began hopping in and out giving moving in orders to Mama. That has been going on for 2 days and today I discovered an entire nest built. It appears to have no bottom however except for the wooden box itself. I think this female is a first year mother. Daddy's previous mate disappeared last year when the 2nd group of nestlings were 10 days old. A Coopers Hawk had been seen in the area.
After th first egg is laid I will remove the rain gutter downspout. I don't think there are any other predator "avenues" to the nest except for a gutter on the opposite side and other end of the house.
Updates will continue...hopefully with a successful outcome!

Sheri

Daddy Blue & Mama a favorite lookout station

new nest

Daddy enjoying a mealworm meal!


This message was edited Jun 13, 2009 7:31 PM

mealworms for Mama

This message was edited Jun 13, 2009 7:32 PM

Love your pix Birdie! They definitely do not choose the sites/boxes we think suit them best. Keep us posted.

A pair of Carolina Wrens decided to nest in the baffled box. This of course kept Daddy Blue busy protecting his territory (at least he noticed the next box though!) After cleaning her twigs out a few times, I finally jammed a prescription bottle into the opening. that Mama Wren was very interesting to watch. It amazes me how they pick such long twigs and manage to get them inside that little hole. I must admit to having more than a few good laughs while watching her antics and acrobatics. But after a Titmouse brought her young brood over for mealworms I decided the area was getting a bit crowded for the BB's. so I closed the restaurant and plugged the hole. Hopefully things will be quieter in th BB neighborhood in the morrow!!
Sheri

If only we could teach the birds to read our bird watching books so they would know what is best for them.

Ditto kudzu1. I often shake my head in wonder at, what I think, are awful sites.

1st blue egg today!! and off comes that downspout...don't care how much rain we have!!

Good Luck

3rd egg this morning

So pretty!

There was no 4th egg as I had expected to find this morning. I wonder if there will only be 3 this time as she just had 5 eggs last week., and this is her 3rd clutch this year. Hmm...lets see, that would be 13 eggs that she has laid since the 5th or so of May Now I don't know when the 2nd group was laid, but don't think they were very old last week when they got nabbed. I'm amazed that she can still keep on producing more.
I'll keep you all posted.

Well, Friends, Here's an update:
4 eggs hatched on 7/3 and the 5th on Sat July 4th. I have taken pictures every couple of days and all 5 are growing wonderfully. I removed that downspout, so hopefully no snakes can scale straight up a brick wall (don't tell me if they can), and these little guys will be safe.
Unfortunately I cannot post any pictures as my new virus and malware removal has apparently deleted the program so I need to find the original disc. As if that isn't bad enough, my camera has developed a foggy area that spoils a portion of the picture.
Since I don't have the money to buy another camera for quite a while I can only tell you about the progress of these 5 nestlings and their parents until something changes.
I just thought some of you might be curious about this nest.

Wing waves to ya'll
BirdieBlue

Thanks for the update. Good to hear that all is well with the birds. Sorry to hear of your computer and camera troubles and I hope they get rectified.

I figured out how to move a folder that Tech Suport helped me down load..so here ar some not so great pics since the babies hatched 7/3&4

this was the evening of the 4th

just 36 hours later, look at how much more of the nest cup they fill!

24 hrs later 7/7 in the morning

next day about 7pm.

I took 3 pictures since they were opening those big yellow mouths and singing for me (just could not resist!!)
Oops, my mistake - these were on the 8th in the evening

Here's two from yesterday opening wide for me. The parents usually sit in their tree and just watch me as stick my litttle camera into the box for the pictures. i am amazed at how much they trust me, and surely would take fewer pics if they were freaking.

Today 4 of them are 7 days old! they have little tiny pin feather nubs starting!

and 1 more from today................it didn't load

They are so sweet. Birdie I follow you threads and enjoy watching their progress.

I thought that foggy area was worse than it is. Just need to not have anything important in that lower left space when I compose my shot.
I enjoy seeing the progress and it just amazes me how much they can change in just 24 - 36 hrs

Sheri

Nice to see the pictures, Sheri. Thanks, I know it was a lot of trouble..

Very nice Sheri!

Great pics! It is amazing to see how fast they grow.

Glad to see they are doing well!!

I didn't get an posted of Mom & Dad , but they are each cramming their beaks full of as many meallies as possible just like in Dave's pictures. It is really funny to see them try to get just one or 2 more in there when there must already be at least 7 or 8 dangling and dropping + wriggling to try to get loose!
Also, My camera does best close up as only have a 5Xzoom.

Happy BlueBirding to ya!

Broken hearted Birdie
Took picture today - single dead baby, appeared unharmed. nest undisturbed.
closer study of yesterdays picture looks like only 4 of 5 babies there.
I am baffled. Could a snake have scaled strait up 6' and gotten them? Seems like they all would have disappeared at once if it was a snake.
well, that box will never be up again, no matter how much Daddy Blue might go to that area looking for it. There is a baffled pole box available and I pray they will use that one day. I cannot take watching them grow and develop and then losing them like this.
Who knows, maybe Daddy will check out that baffled box and even get Mama to try one final time this season.

Sheri so sad to hear the news. I had a snake take 6 baby Chickadees last week.
Gary

This message was edited Jul 13, 2009 11:57 PM

So very sorry, Sheri. I know how it hurts.

Dave

Sorry Sheri....

((((Sheri))))

I have though about this last loss and think it very likely that Chipmunks got the babies. I do have lots of Chipmunks and have seen them scale straight up the brick walls in the front trying to get to birdseed. I also observed one last year kill and then eat a very small corn snake (it even rubbed the snake all over itself for some reason).
I do remember on Saturday that the parents were very skittish and diving alot in the little side garden area when I went out, which was unusual. Also I remember thinking there was something scurrying in the flower bed. (Elvis, my Poodle, even sniffed around and I told him to "leave it" - he tends to start digging when he smells a Chipmunk).
Anyway, that might explain why 1 of the 5 was missing on Sat morning. I am thinking that the Chipmunks just kept raiding the nest thru the day and that the finalk baby may have died because it could not thermoregulate by itself.
I have read a number of articles about Chipmunks being very aggressive with hatchlings and even fledglings when a meal opportunity is available.
Just thought some of you might want this final bit if info. I don't know what i could have done it I had discovered it in progress, but will always wonder if I could have moved some survivors and the nest to the baffled box. Oh well.


Over and Out.
Sheri

wouldn't the parents remove a baby that had died, the same way they remove eggs when they chicks hatch? I would imagine that occasionally baby birds don't make it for whatever reason, and the birds can't just leave them to rot in the nest. But I don't know much about bluebirds.

Does your home sit near a wooded area or field? A few years back I bought a ceramic bluebird house. The instructions said to mount it on a stationary post, which we did. I have never seen any bluebirds, in fact, no birds seem interested in it....maybe the ceramic material is just too foreign to them. We live in a wooded area on about 1 acre, but not right next to actual woods or fields, and someone just told me that near open or wooded areas is the only place you will find bluebirds..

jmp24, it is true that they prefer open fields but that is probably because they are insect feeders and find more grasshoppers, caterpillars etc., in the grass than in the woods. But historically they nested in abandonded woodpecker holes and even today they will take what is available. I have seen them nest in some WP holes that were 50 feet off the ground and at least 30 feet back into some rather deep woods. It probably wasn't their first choice but when real estate is scarce, they must make do with what is there. However, I have never seen BB's nest in a ceramic or ornimental birdhouse. I am not sure the makers of such orniments worry about such things as a 1 1/2 inch opening or air vents and a clean out trap. If any bird would nest in such a house it would probably be a house sparrow. They will nest is just about anything.

And not to be intentionally disagreeable, but I am sure the birds can and routinely do lift a nestling (dead or alive) out of the box. When a tiny house wren attacks a nest box that contains nestlings (bluebirds or otherwise), you will often find the babies dead on the ground under the nest box.

Last year, when the new female bluebird came, challenged and drove my sitting female away, she left five chicks, six days old. At first Papa fed the babies and would not let the new female inside the nest box, but after two days he accepted her as his mate and then stood by as she proceeded to attack the chicks. I noticed the comotion and checked the box and found two chicks dead and two others seriously injured, all from being pecked on the head. An hour later I checked again and the box was completely empty, but I heard a peep-peep-peep sound from about 20 feet from the box and found one chick in the grass, seemingly unhurt but obviously hungry. I returned it to the box while Papa and the new female watched, but they would not feed it and the next morning it, too was gone. While I did not see it happen, there is no doubt in my mind that she removed those birds. She then proceeded to build her own nest and successfully fledged four babies.

One last point. In almost all cases the female eats the empty egg shells after the chicks hatch. But on one occasion I did see a female fly away with half of a blue egg shell.

Dave