How 'bout a few more bluebird pictures?

Two more, a little earlier.

Next shot. The one on the left obviously has been in the water longer.

Should I or shouldn't I go back in? ...

Dave, I want to try hosting some BB's next year.

How far from your house do you have your BB houses. Do you only have one BB house?

I only bought one BB house.

What advise would you give a beginner like me?

Thanks,
Hack

Hack, unless you have a very large lot, you probably will only have room for one box. In any case I would start off with just one. Bluebirds are VERY territorial and during mating season the male usually will not allow any other male within about 300 feet of the nest box. Mine is worse than that. He will not allow any other birds, male or female, within that radius, even if they only want to get a meal worm from the feeder.. He chases all birds except finches. I have heard of people that have two or more boxes within a 300 foot radius but their boxes are placed out of sight and on opposite sides of the house.

My nest box is about 30 feet from my house. It is placed where it is so that I can photograph it easily. Once they nested in a box I put up for the chickadees. That box was only four feet from my kitchen window. Normally they will not nest that close.

I would put the nest box up now and let the blues find it. Try to locate it away from any seed feeders because they prefer solitude when they are nesting. Often they will go right to it and visit it every day over the winter to maintain their ownership rights, especially if housing is scarce in your area. If you have other birds, especially house sparrows that show interest in the box, plug the hole or take the box down. House sparows are a huge threat to the blues. Controlling them is priority one if you want to be successful. If you need advice in this regard, D-mail me and I will give you some specific information and advice about house sparrows.

A friend of mine, Bet Zimmerman has a wonderful on-line site where you can learn all about bluebirds and hosting. Check it out and bookmark it. It is an invaluable resource. I will be more than happy to share anything I know, but her site is a virtual encyclopedia of bluebird hosting.

Dave

http://www.sialis.org/




This message was edited Sep 8, 2009 1:26 AM

Oh, Why not?

One more and I will get off this sundial theme. Here one of the younger (43 day old) juveniles shows up.

This is the one female of the brood of five that fledged back in June.

Here she is in a profile shot.

One of the youngsters, 43 days old today.

One of the older males.

Here is Papa, I think. He is looking so bad it is hard to tell. But by the end of this month he will have his new coat and he will look clean and sharp.

And this is Mama, also looking pretty bad.

They are so beautiful and healthy looking Dave!

Thanks a lot CousinDave. Mrs_Ed also put me on to a article she wrote with your help. I'm going to study it, haven't done so, yet, though.

I'm gonna put the BB box up on the far side of my house, away and out of sight of all my feeders.

But, I'm thinking about the mealworm feeder, I figure I'd need put it on the BB box side of the house, too, but when would you advise putting it out. Right now it is on the side with my other feeders and is only feeding mealworms to at least one Carolina Wren. I haven't observed a single BB, yet.

Hack

Morning Hack:

I would put the nest box up first. Put it where you can see it conveniently from in the house or from a blind. If you plan to shoot pictures, try to imagine where you would shoot from and try to avoid a cluttered background. Same advice when selecting a permanent place for your meal worm feeder.

Keep an eye on the box and if and when you see BB's checking it out, either in, on, or around it, place a few meal worms in an open dish on the ground near the box so hopefully, they will find them. Then, gradually move that dish closer and closer to where you plan to permanently keep your meal worm feeder. And yes, I would select a spot away from the seed feeders. Many birds, including house sparrows, will eat either seeds or meal worms. The last thing you want is for the house sparrows to discover you are serving mealies. This moving the dish business may take a week or so, but first you need to attract the blues.

If you can, provide a separate water source for them. They prefer shallow water, an inch or so deep for bathing. As you may have noticed, I have a sun dial with a bowl-like design that is perfect for that.

I have Carolina wrens that vist my meal worms feeder too. They stay all winter but don't eat too many. My problem is with the song sparrows. In past years I have only had a few but this year there were at least five or six pair nesting and now I am overrun with them. Sometimes I see as many as a dozen lined up. A couple of the females are still feeding fledglings.

Good luck. Keep me posted.

Dave

Dave the 1st few shots were with the 40D at ISO 3200...are you using any noise reduction software...just curious as the shots are pretty clean at that ISO. Do you expose to the right?

Thanks

This message was edited Sep 9, 2009 3:22 PM

Hi Al:

I have noise reduction software but seldom use it. The pictures you refer to were taken with the 500mm lens using extension rings and at incredibly close range. (Six to eight feet). Under those circumstances I don't get much noise, even at those high ISO levels. I usually push it up there and shoot wide open, to achieve a fast shutter speed. Almost any movement by me or the bird when we are that close to each other would likely cause a blur.

Those pictures were cropped very little if at all. Had I been shooting from a distance and cropping I suspect we would have seen some noise. (And I expect you may never have seen the picture).

Dave

Thanks, Dave.

I'll let you know how things develop - I envy you your set-up.

Hack

Well, today we are making our weekly trek to Baltimore and tomorrow we go to Pennsylvania to attend the annual NABS (North American Bluebird Society) convention, so I will be out of the net for a while. So maybe I should post a few recent pictures before we leave.

These first ones are from yesterday.

This message was edited Sep 10, 2009 3:18 PM

Different bird.

This message was edited Sep 10, 2009 7:41 AM

Again

A younger one, day beore yesterday (43 days old)

Been playing around in photoshop

One more without change. All three.

Thanks for the info Dave. Have fun for all of us

Enchanting, Dave. Have fun at the convention.

Oh Dave, how cool is that! To pull the subject out in color with the rest B&W......Love it!!

Cool Dave, I really likethe B&W background. Which Photoshop do you have?

I've been using Picasa 3 and PhotoPlus (both freeware), but I've been wondering about Photoshop CS4 or maybe Photoshop Elements. I've got to go back and find the link Mrs_Ed gave out that compared types of photo editing software, I believe Elements is what I could use for what I do.

But I wonder if Elements could do what Dave did with the B&W background?

Dave, I know you're "off the net" for a spell, so anybody else who has an opinion, feel free to chime in.

Hack

I found Mrs_Ed's link, If anyone is interested in comparing Photo Editing Software, check out:

http://photo-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Ooops, I really didn't mean to hi-jack Dave's thread. I'll shut up.

Hack

Hack, let us take this discussion over here on your thread:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1035089/

Good idea, Mrs_Ed.

Wish I'd thought of it.

Hack

Have a great time at the Bluebird Convention Dave!

I wonder if he'll be the only human there…

LOL!

I was hoping I wouldn't have to explain that.

Dang, I wish I could do cartoons. That conjures up such an image.

Good one, Marna. I can imagine a convention of birds talking about the humans whose yards they are living in.

Thank you Pele. It will be my first and I wonder how I will like it. I mostly want to be able to put a face with some of the names I have been corresponding with for several years.

Plan B is Hershey Park, if it looks like the convention is going to be a total bore.

Good one, Mrs_Ed!

Hack

Well since Resin is gone for a while, I figured I better just jump on in…