Dave, you aren't highjacking my thread. I started this to encourage more people to post and comment on bluebirds. I always enjoy your pics. I haven't been taking any, not much going on. The three eggs should hatch today, then there will be a little more activity in the back yard.
One of the second brood juvies practicing on his wing waving.
Dave, congrats on actually catching the fledglings-all your photos are so wonderful. The time you spend with those birds really shows your love for them. I love that you called your backyard a flying circus-I feel the same way here with all my birds fighting the feeders.
Red, your little juvie is also wonderful. I love the way it's waving that wing.
Love, love all Blue Birds, and your pictures, both Dave and Red are fabulous!!!!
walked out to water the flowers this am, and started getting buzzed my mom and pop--almost stepped on this little guy. This was the second batch w/ 5 fledging each time.
Nice shot!
Darling baby!
Thanks, here is one from last year of papa
Dave, just saw the picture of your fledge's 1st flight. Excellent!!
Hi, I am new to this thread, but maybe someone can help. I have 5 young that just fledged yesterday. Unfortunately I missed it.
Anyway, now parents have taken young somewhere, which I know is normal, but the parents are still in my yard chirping allot. Are they calling to the young? Or are they just chirping to be making noise? I have cleaned out the nest box already because after first batch left they started nesting again the next day.
To my knowledge all 5 young are ok. Last brood neighbors cat got one. Only one survivor out of 3. But this time all five were good last time I was able to look in nest box. With the last brood, when parents took them away they stayed with them for a few days. This time they are still here but calling. Is this normal?
Thanks for any info. By the way, all of the pics are great!
I'm not sure what the calling is about. Normally the fledglings return to my back yard a week or so after leaving the box. You'll probably see them again.
My third clutch of three eggs should have hatched on 11 July, so I removed an egg this morning and checked the contents. It's been over 100 degrees every day they have been in the box and egg failure is high in hot weather. The egg had a yolk, but no embryo. Tested the other two with same results, so I removed the nest so Mama won't be inclined to endure the heat of that box any longer.
We are leaving for Santa Fe in the morning, so I won't see the bluebirds for awhile. I hope they don't attempt another nest this season. Just too hot.
How do you test? I've seen dave talk about candling, but have not researched it.
You can hold an egg up to a bright flashlight and see if there is an embryo inside. In this case there wasn't, so I cracked the eggs, convinced that they weren't going to hatch.
Well the calling has stopped after one day. Didn't see the blues for a few days, assume they are with their young. Male was back this morning eating mealworms and a checking out the nest box again. It's ready to go, but so hot here in Indiana, 90's+. I'm sure they will all be back. Thanks for the input.
Hot here too 95 or better every day for more than a week and several days over 100. One day 106. Don't know what we did growing up without air conditioning. Guess that's why we had all those fans at church.
I figure I should keep Red's thread alive while he's gone. Let me see what I can find.
This is the female as she arrives at a perch.
And this is a shot of the male as he ducks as a mockingbird buzzes in.
Here he is wing-waving.
One more.
Another as he wing-waves
This one from two days ago.
Great shots, as always, Dave. We are still in Santa Fe. Occasionally I wonder what my bluebirds are doing. About the same I'd guess except they don't get their mealworm breakfast.
All so lovely Cousin. Sounds as if you're homesick Red. lol
Fantastic motion photos Dave.
Yes indeed, great job capturing them Dave!
We returned home from Santa Fe to find the bluebirds have built a fourth nest and it has two eggs. It's so hot, I'd hoped they wouldn't try to nest again this year. Unless the heat breaks, I'm not real optimistic about these eggs hatching.
I think we need to design some bluebird boxes with solar-powered exhaust fans. keep my fingers crossed.
Spectacular photos Dave. Love all the wingspreads!
Red, hope those eggs hatch.
Mama appears to be incubating the two eggs. I noticed her staying in the box on 05 August. It is 104 degrees in the shade this afternoon, I can't imagine the temperature inside that box in the full sun. She gets so hot, she can't really sit on the eggs, gets up so she can get a breath of air at the entrance to the box.
Interesting! I wonder if in situations like this where the temperature in the box is higher than her body temperature, whether her body acts as a cooling action to keep the eggs within the optimum incubation range.
Just had my first baby bluebirds fledge this week. I miss seeing the parents and older sibs from the last clutch around, so I bought some mealworms hoping to attract the family back to my yard (or maybe other insect eating birds). Have put them out on our platform feeder in a little glass dish as per the recommendations on many websites, but they've been untouched for two days now. What am I doing wrong?
PS - the picture is of the four babies in the nest the last time I took their pic before leaving them alone at day 12
Dave, I don't think the mama BB can cool eggs by sitting on them. I've never seen exactly what a BB's body temp is, but most songbirds have a body temp of 104-108 degrees F. I have read about BB studies that show when outside temps reach 107, eggs will become addled. This recent brood had the first six days of incubation, and a couple of days before that in that range, so I suspect they are addled and won't hatch.
Next year, I'm going to let my pair do their first nesting in the box they have used for 3 seasons and then move it to a place where it will have afternoon shade.
mom, I've had people who see my BB's feed, go buy mealworms and think they can attract them. I've not seen that work. The worms are usually eaten by some other species. I think a nest box is a better attractant. If they return to the nest box, you can put out some mealworms and if you keep them out consistently, probably keep the birds around. I feed mine year round out of a little feeder that I stick in the ground on the edge of the patio. They come up within a few feet of us.
I expect you are right about the eggs hatching, Red. And if the outside temperature gets above 105, you can imagine how much hotter it must be inside the box. But sometimes nature surprises us. We should find out for sure in a few weeks.
The hawks got all three of the fledglings from our last brood and the adults had run off the juveniles from the nesting before that one, so I only have the two adults coming for meal worms, and they only show up morning and late afternoon. They are about half way through their annual molt and looking anything but pretty.
I just discovered a camera card from back in June, that I had not reviewed. This was taken from about 150 feet with the 600mm.
From that distance it is pretty easy to stop them in flight.
At 1200mm you can sometimes catch a fledgling sleeping
We were SO happy to see our four baby bluebirds splashing in the birdbath tonight - haven't seen them since they fledged last week. And one of the two sibs from the previous clutch was here, too.
As expected the two eggs in the fourth clutch didn't hatch due to the excessive heat. I removed them and the nest a few days ago. Neither had any sign of an embryo. I haven't seen Daddy in a few days and I always get anxious about one of the bluebirds when I don't see them. There are a pair of Cooper's Hawks that come over daily. I put worms out this morning and missed who ate them, but they are gone, so one or both of the bluebirds was here this morning.
Red, it's such a priviledge for us to be able to watch their activity daily. I like many others missed seeing our little feathered friends and often wondering where they've gone to or what happened to them. I too noticed Blue Birds were not seen as abundant as it was when the weather was mild. xiamenmom, how nice to have the little ones returned for a visit.
Sweet shot of the juveniles xiamenmom!
This was the first year or bluebird houses actually had bluebirds in them...This spring is was so fun to watch them...and now they are all over out dogwood trees...I guess getting their bellies full of the lipid rich red berries. The flock has been around now for about two weeks and seem to be growing each day...Good news for us can't wait to put up a few more bluebird houses this winter and see what happens.
Make sure you place the boxes a good distance apart. Otherwise what will happen will be constant fights between the males when they start nesting in the Spring. 300 feet apart is a good figure to use, but you might get them a little closer if one box cannot be seen from the other, such as on opposite sides of your house. Bluebird males are VERY territorial when nesting and will defend a 300 foot radius and anything within it, including other boxes, and/or food and water sources.
the other tree is on the other side of our cook shed not quite that far but they are not visible of one another.
