Bird Nesting 2016

Awwww, how lucky you're! Congrats. That's a way to go Blue Bird mama! :)

On my end I've good news and bad. The good news is that I saw several Wrens pledged from the nest the other day. The bad news is my Chickadee chicks all were killed, by what I don't know. I saw 3 that didn't make it. Perhaps that was the reason, the parent birds went and built a new home? I don't yet know for sure.

On the bright note. My 2 Bluebirds have been coming, and they had me trained well. They both came, the male bird will hover over my window as if begging for food. I promptly complied, and they -- the couple seem to be very pleased with me. lol They must be nesting somewhere nearby, where I've not found out yet. The WBNHs first brood must have pledged? I saw the parent birds occasionally come and go with new nesting materials on their beaks.

Sorry to hear about the lost young ones.I hope that the new nesting will produce a good brood
That BB pair looks good also. Too bad they are not nesting in your BB house. Maybe next brood.

David

David, thank you for your kind words. I've to admit, I was tossing and turning last night missing my Chickadees brood. By garly, that was my first brood in the garden. Like I've mentioned when I prepared the nest for them in early spring, I found un-hatched eggs from the previous season. I was hoping for some success this year. :((

One consolation, this early morning, I already see one Chickadee back to the same nest box. So hopefully they're more resilience than I give them credits for? I hope so.

Pictures shown are those of Kingfisher. I was stunned as how big the bird seems. Good day to all.
Kim

Kim & all,

We do love our birds just like family don't we. I hope that your birds will occupy the house again and start a new family.

I did get a couple of photos of the young hatchlings this afternoon. One seems hungry all the time while the others are resting. There are 5 little ones in the nest.

How delightful! Thank you David for sharing those precious photos.

My Chickadees 2nd nest box.

Oh Kim...I'm so sorry about the baby Chickadees. It's so sad when the parents work so hard to keep them safe. I love all wildlife, but even though I know it's part of the natural cycle, it's something I always have trouble with.

Glad to hear they seem to be working on a new family and it looks like your Bluebird pair will have one soon. I think birds and other wildlife instinctively know they have to move on and try to increase their species. As humans, we tend to carry the sadness of their loss longer than they do.

The Geese and Goslings are beautiful!

David, congrats on the new Bluebird family! Thanks for sharing the pics of the little ones. What a beautiful family!

It has been rather quiet the last week. My Chickadees quietly come and goes at the nest site. The WBNHs brood has pledged apparently. I was going through the empty-nest syndrome. Then, just a bit ago. While I was out in the garden. I noticed a pair of Phoebes flying about where I was, chirping, and chirping like something is out of the ordinary. And it was. Their newly pledged chicks are perching on the low branches nearby. I quickly took some pics. of the young'uns and left as not to frighten them too badly. :)
NAN, as always I appreciate your kind words. Happy birding everyone.

Awww...how adorable they are! I've never had Phoebes here. Thanks for sharing those pics.

We're finally starting to green up, but the weather has been weird. It went up to about 80º for a couple of days then dropped to the 50s and 40s. It poured last night and the night before we had a hail storm.

If there is any nesting going on I don't see any of it yet. We have so many birds, I'm reluctant to get nest boxes that would just accommodate a few of them. I sure do enjoy your pics, though. :o)

Here where I'm Phoebes are often being heard than seen. It's their nesting in the garden that piqued my interest in serious birding. One early spring, a pair of Phoebes decided to build their nest on top of my garage's flood lights -- which prompted hubby to have to disconnect the electrical connection to the lights, for the birds' safety... That very spring, I was lucky to have found their pledgelings gathered in a group on a tree branch awaiting for the parents to come and feed them... then I became a full pledged birder. :)
Since then, the birds did never return to the same spot to nest, I only saw them flying about the area and hear their songs....
Back to the present, another pair of Tree Swallows visited the gourd houses....more about these after I run my morning errands. Please stay tuned.
Oh, the Phoebes pledglings are still out there on the Henry Lauder walking stick's low branches this morning. :))

Interesting story about the Phoebes. It's wonderful that you have some nesting this year.

You piqued my curiosity about their song so I went to All About Birds to listen to some recordings. I don't know what type of Phoebe you have. I went to the Eastern Phoebe page of recordings. They have 10 recordings there!

We supposedly have them here during breeding season so I wouldn't be surprised if I've heard them. I sometimes hear unfamiliar birds that I never see way up in the trees.

A little while ago I saw a very fat Downy WP female at one of our feeders. She looked to be full of eggs. The WPs nest in tree cavities all around here, but not always in our yard even though they spend all day here at our feeders. I hope she has a successful brood!

Kim - congratulations on the new find. I don't know whether we get the Phobe's up this way.

Here are a few photos of the little bluebirds and the parents. The birds are 9 days old and should fledge around May 8

This message was edited May 1, 2016 9:08 AM

This message was edited May 1, 2016 9:09 AM

Here are a few more photos of the little BB's and parents. Anxiously awaiting May 8.

Wow great shots!
Congrats on the growing family. May 8th isn't that far off.

That photo of the 2 adult birds is terrible.

Here is the one that I meant to send

David, May 8th is the estimated date when the little ones will leave the nest? I so love those beautiful BBs! Here I discovered a Mockingbird nest with 3 eggs over the weekend. Today my husband and I took a picture of my sweet Chickadee sitting in her nest. I hope this brood will be successful finally.

Such a sweet-looking pic David!

Kim, those Mockingbird eggs are beauties and the Chickadee is adorable! She didn't even seem to notice you guys were there.

Kim - those shots of both nests are great. I have never found a Mockingbird nest although there are many of the birds around here. Yes, MAY 8 is our expected fledge date according to the "Cornell" spreadsheet. It has been correct on 100% of my nestings so I intend to be armed with my camera the entire day.

NAN - I agree that the eggs are beautiful. I have only had one photo of a bird on the nest and that was last year.

David

here are two of dadbird posing yesterday

"dadbird" is proudly posing if I may add. lol Thanks David. I'm keeping watching for your May 8th pledging day!

I was very pleased to find out the where-about my BBs couple are nesting this spring. They're presumably over my neighbor 2 houses over. I happened to speak with my neighbor this morning about the nest box he has in his yard. He told me they are Blue Birds' house. Oh joy! The moma and papa routinely come to my backyard mealworms feeder. Now and then I see the moma will carry a beakful of food with her and flew off. Now, I know the rest of the story. lol

Oh just a little bit ago. I think I heard little birds chirping from the Chickadee's nest box. I'll enlist hubby's help to take some more pictures of the nest box this weekend.

Couple of day ago, my husband was getting ready to clean up the back deck after a thunder storm. He spotted this juvie wren. Temp. was unseasonably cool, the pledgling had a hard time to fly, we kept our pet dogs indoor to give the juvies a chance in nature. :))

Papa Blue aka Blue eyes at the feeder.

Papa Blue aka Blue eyes at the feeder.

Papa Blue aka Blue eyes at the feeder.

Sorry for the replication posts. I was on my smart phone -- go figure!

Happy birding! Well it's almost a happy thing, if I wasn't attacked by the parent bird! One may have heard /read about how Mockingbird ' s natural instinct to safeguard their young. I have seen the bird hovering over my big dog's head some years past. But for me to experience a whack on the head? That ought to teach me a lesson for real. You see, there are 2 hatchlings of the 3 eggs, I was so happy for them but inadvertently I was too close for comfort. Momma bird, or that could be papa? Swooped down from the roof top and bam whacked my head with all its might while I tried to capture these photos! !! I hope you enjoy this little story that I've shared. Happy Mother's Day.

Wow!! you have had quite a good time. Finding the BB's is wonderful and your photos of "Blueeyes" and the little Mockingbird hatchlings are great. That last shot must have been when the head-slap took place : ) The little wren looks lost. Did it finally get to the trees?
Here is another photo of "Dadbird" today. He had just fed the young and returned to the shepherds hook. I borrowed my wife's camera for this one as mine was in my office. Hers was on the table next to the sliding door.

Good morning David and all. David I was concern for the little Wren. But yes, it did 'warm up' and flew away. In fact, I set out mealworms and water in the little bowl for it. It sensed danger and took off before I got too close. Natural instinct once again. :) I suspected its immature eyesight didn't see me from a distance? Anyhoo, the little one was safe.

Tried out a mealworm 'cake' from the box store a couple of time for the birds. It was a big hit! Happy birding everyone.

Wow, you guys have lots going on!
Congrats on all the hatchings and eggs. Beautiful pics David and Kim. Kim so glad the little Wren is okay.

David, your dad Bluebird sure seems to really love that shepherds hook. Most of my feeders are on shepherds hooks and I attach branches to the post of some of the hooks. The birds love it. I first started doing it with Hummingbird feeders several years ago. Some of the hummers make the branches their base of operation where they can sit and watch for intruders.

Kim, sorry you got attacked in the head, but it's really great to know that the parents are so devoted to their babies.

We have lot's of bird pairs in our yard, but I don't really know where most are nesting. Because our yard and the whole neighborhood has mostly large, mature trees I'm sure most of the nests are quite high up.

Today is fledging day and I believe that 2 of the 5 have flown out of the nest. i was away at church and a Mothers Day luncheon with my wife for most of the afternoon. When I checked to see if the parents were still around they dove at me as i stepped off the deck toward their nest box. Here are a few photos of the birds remaining in the box. I believe that 2 have already flown, as I saw 2 little birds following the female in the trees. Guess the other 3 will go tomorrow. I am going to try to get photos of them.

Well, as always happens, the birds fledged while I was out shopping with the wife. We returned home and I went out to see if the parents were around and seeing none went to the box, It was empty. So the 5 bird have flown. I took down the box and am cleaning it today. It rained most of yesterday. Saw "dadbird" back this morning so I want to get the house back on the pole.

David, sorry you've missed the remainder 3 fledglings while out and about with the Mrs.
My Mr. has been looking at your baffle system for the free standing BBs house, and he must have been secretly wishing that I would not add that to MY "honey-to-do list". lol

As for "dadbird" returning to the Shepherds hook as shown. Woohooo! Here's to send good wishes to the BBs family for a second brood to be.

Thanks Kim. It has rained the entire week so I have not got the nestbox back up yet. The baffle is just a 2 ft length of stainless-steel stove pipe with a cap. I put a hole in the top to go over the 3" PVC pipe. 2 long screws in the PVC pipe allow the baffle to wobble or tilt if something tries to climb it.. I have a barrier of hardware cloth on the inside of the stovepipe cap too prevent anything from climbing the pole and trying to get through the small gaps in cap where the pipe goes through. It is really a simple task. The most time consumed is getting the materials and preparing the cap and hardware cloth.

I have had 4 active nests in my yard this year. One bluebird, two chickadees and a wren.
I was going to tidy up some stuff around the side of my porch and found this little wren's nest tucked in a pot that was very conveniently under the edge of a tarp. The picture shows it after I had lifted the tarp. The mother was scolding me for sure.
I very carefully replaced the tarp. Last time I checked the babies had fledged.
Does anyone know if wrens reuse their nests ? I am wondering if I should leave it as is and maybe have it used again or can I clean up the pot now and do no harm?

helenchild, congrats on all the active nests in the garden. We're in the same region and share more common birds in our garden. :)

As far as bird nesting and care, I try to clean mine out -- those that I can -- in hope to prevent mites and diseases for the birds. I love Wrens, but these birds-- they will find all sorts of odd places to nest. In spring time during nesting season I try to keep the garage doors closed because they'll build nest inside! I wouldn't like to find them trapped inadvertently and can't get to their young, not to mention the clean-up afterward.

I wanted to share some pleasant news -- for me -- in the garden. While gardening yesterday, I discovered this momma Mallard with four of her darling babies. This early morning she brought the babies back. Only difference is, there are two male Mallards accompanying them. These reminds of my past wonderful experience with wild Mallards nesting in my own garden. I'm so thankful for these.

This message was edited May 14, 2016 7:30 AM

David, I meant to thank you for your sharing.... I'll bookmark that for my Mr. 's "honey-to-do list" just in case. Have a pleasant weekend to all my birding friends. Please continue to post and share you pictures.

Awww...David, how cool that your baby Bluebirds fledged! Sorry you only got to see two of them. I guess it's just a reminder, when they're ready to go...they're ready to go.

Helenchild, congrats on all the nesting activity! It's a shame you missed the Wren babies fledge, but I'm sure you'll have more.

Kim, ooooh...congrats on the Mallard ducklings! I absolutely love baby ducks. Our Mallard pair that visit must have babies somewhere nearby, probably by the river right near our house. For the last week or two he comes or she comes, but they don't come to eat together. This happens every year since they've been coming for a long time.

NAN, I watched the remarkable wild ducks (Mallards ) nesting for 2 years in a row ... their parental instinct is amazing. I can only guess yours don't come to feed together because one of them has to take turn to watch / care for the offspring?

This is but part if nature life cycle. But it makes me sad. The ducklings. ... started out as a clutch of 4. Today there is but one left. At sunset, I found the Mallards drake and hen with one baby. They were heading toward a safe roosting place no doubt.

NAN, I watched the remarkable wild ducks (Mallards ) nesting for 2 years in a row ... their parental instinct is amazing. I can only guess yours don't come to feed together because one of them has to take turn to watch / care for the offspring?

This early morning I noticed 3 Mallards flew in to the point, soon thereafter I spotted them with probably the lone duckling?