Search for a new Papa

One more . Another spider, and she apparently found this one herself.

Dave, that is a truly wonderful outcome and it all happened so quickly on the heels of such gut-wrenching sadness.

Yes, Margaret. I am still amazed that it went so smoothly. In the past three years I have lost two females and each time their replacements cleaned house and started their own nest I have heard of new males coming onto the scene after chicks had hatched and refusing to help care for them, and indeed, chasing them away as soon after they fledged as possible. But this was so quick and smooth it is almost like the bad parts never happened.

Here is another picture of step dad.

This message was edited Jun 8, 2009 5:23 PM

Probably means the new male is closely related to the old male and knows it - so the chicks are also related and share a large part of his genes.

Resin

They are a beautiful pair Dave...I'm sure they will give you another nest full before the season is over. They both look very healthy and happy! Interesting about the spiders too...I will have to watch for that!

Dave....fabulous happy ending to Papa blue's demise. What a "good guy" this step-Dad is; I am so happy for Mama! You must be SO RELIEVED!!!!! :-D

Wonderful news Dave. Whew!! Thanks for the neaat shots of the spider transfer for the babies, too!

I took a lot of pictures today. Seemed like they were constantly bringing something to the nestlings.

When they couldn't find them fast enough, they hit the meal worms.

Here's a closeup of Mama

It was 95 degrees here today and you could tell it.

Another shot of Mama

Wonderful pics Dave! So glad everything is going well!

Wow 95 degrees? yuk!

love that shot of Mama!

Love the pics...as always.

Resin: interesting comment about the males being related. I have much to learn about bird nesting!

We're still waiting for 2nd nest BB eggs to hatch.....should have been Sunday but she is still sitting in there and I don't see any feeding activity other than Papa bringing her meal worms. I'll peek in tomorrow and see what is going on.

Well, we are almost half way through the nesting period and everything seems to be going well. This is the first time I have monitored via the nest cam, and I feel like I'm missing something. I prefer to open the door and look but with the pvc style house, it is harder to do. Their eyes should open tomorrow but with the limited picture quality of the nest cam, I am not sure I'll be able to tell. I just got back from a couple of days in Carolina and was happy to see the birds have survived without my help. They were obviously glad to see me, however.

Here are some pictures I took late this afternoon. Another 90-plus degree day, so lots of mouths open.

Starting off with the new male (I can't bring myself to call him Papa).

This message was edited Jun 13, 2009 11:16 PM

Another shot.

Here he is in flight, chasing a HOSP. Incidentally, Rose, this was taken with the 100-400mm from about 15 feet.

Here are a couple of Mama.

Another.

Did I mention it was HOT?

The new male seemed to really be suffering in the heat. Maybe because he was chasing most of the time.

I saw him take two baths within 30 minutes. Here he is after the second one.

So glad to hear everything is going well Dave!

Wonderful pics!

So glad to see all is still well with the babies and ND (New Dad). ;)

The ND is working hard for his keep. lol. One dedicated SD (Stepdad)!

How do you keep the birdbath water cool for them.I dipped my hand in and the water was hot . I added afew ice cube to cool it off

Great pics, Dave.!! 95 degrees....WOW. Still late spring here....I worry about the cool, rainy weather with the BBs. Mama spends a lot of time in the box with her head sticking out.....seems like she is trying to keep the temp inside warm for the hatchlings. Five babies and all is well. The male has really stepped up his territorial attitude since the eggs have hatched. I watched him relentlessly chase a catbird off of the bird bath today....he used to be so docile and polite!

Is your birdbath near the BB nestbox? I have avoided placing one nearby, so as not to induce bird traffic near the babies

This is so exciting Dave. We have babes in our nesting boxes as well. They are 4-5 days behind yours.

Birdie....no, my backyard bath is on the other side of the garden from the nestbox. The nestbox is mounted up on a pole about 7' behind a large arbor....they can see the entire yard from there but the arbor structure gives them some seclusion from the bath traffic which almost always comes from the opposite direction. Like you, I have been careful to not invite birds near any of the nestboxes........ esp. theirs :-)

I changed their meal worm cup this morning to a shallow ceramic dish...I was using a small metal toy "pot" from my daughters kitchen because it had convenient handles on the side for securing it on the arbor but I was afraid that it would get hot once we kick into summer weather. They watched me swap it out from a branch up above and the male followed me back to the deck making this funny clicking noise. I guess he didn't like me walking away with his dish! Mama immediately went over to the new dish, checked out the worms and dug in. He wouldn't go over for quite a while although he kept checking the babies and following Mama around. All is OK now but they sure are fun and funny to watch!!

Sacarvounis - I noticed the blue birds, especially the male, seem to know when I'm replenishing the food, or near the nesting box. I always look around to see where the birds are when I'm approaching, but even when I don't see them they zoom in quickly. I finally figure it out. They watch and guard from great distances away. We have a very large schoolyard meadow with softball fields in them. The blue birds will perch on the metal backdrops behind home plate and watch. They are so far away they can be seen only through binoculars. But they can see very clearly.

I feed and offer water in a totally different location from the nesting boxes, too.

We finally have our first family of bluebirds after having a nesting box up and available for 6 years. The babies hatched about a week ago. We bought some mealworms, and we'd like to feed them. My questions are: How far away from the nesting box should we place the mealworms? Do we put them in a shallow cup? On the ground? In some sort of feeder? What prevents other birds from eating them? Any information would be much appreciated.

We just found this thread tonight, and really enjoy the photos and input from all of the bluebird lovers on this site.

Here's a good site for bluebird info:

www.sialis.org

I put the mealworms in a heavy shallow dish that is about 15' from the box on top of a large arbor. We occasionally have a pesky robin or mockingbird horn in on the worms but since these bluebirds are tamer than the other birds that like the worms, I can stand about 6' away and they can feed in peace. There are feeders designed for mealworms but I have not tried one....yet.

Good luck!

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your bluebirds.

Most people start by putting the meal worms in a cup and placing it near the nestbox where the blues will see it. Then you can gradually move it to where you want your feeder to be permanently. In my case I feed them on the deck behind the house which is about 25 feet from the nestbox. Ideally it should be further but I am limited by the size and shape of our lot. I also like to shoot pictures of the birds and the deck is perfect for that. I started with a dish with a few worms right under the nestbox. They found it right away. I moved it about 10 feet toward the house and in a martter of a few days moved it to where I could see them from my breakfast nook.

In warm weather meal worms will crawl out of a container if the surface is rough, so it is best to find a shallow glass bowl. Something like an ash tray will work. Shallow enough that the birds won't jump into it but deep enough that the worms won't crawl out. The birds will perch on the sides of the bowl.

Other birds that eat insects will surely raid your meal worm dish if they find it. Robins, mockingbirds, catbirds and most woodpeckers love them and will clean you out if you let them. I have chickadees and titmice that come, especially when they are nesting, and I order extra for them.

If the bigger birds pose a problem you can buy a cage to put your feeder dish in. The bluebirds and smaller birds (chickadees, titmice, downy woodpeckers, and unfortunately, house sparrows, if you have them, can fit into any opening the blues can squeeze into. If you find you want one, send me a D-mail or post a comment here and I will send you a link to where I got mine.

There are several on this forum who host bluebirds and we experience the typical joys and sorrows that go with hosting. Again, welcome. I am sure you will find a friendly, helpful group here.

If you like to look at pictures of the birds, check out my SmugMug site.

www.SecondCousinDave.smugmug.com

Here is a shot of them both. Still hot here yesterday.

And the next shot.

I found the sialis site right after I posted this message. Lots of good information. We took a margarine container and thumbtacked it to the top of the nesting box as suggested on that site. We started off with 5 mealworms as a test, and the bluebirds took them all within just a few minutes. Unfortunately, when we refilled the container, a house sparrow was the next one to find the mealworms. The male bluebird chased him away, and we moved the container about 30 feet away. We kept watch the rest of the afternoon to make sure the sparrows stayed away. The container is still where we moved it, and still has mealworms in it.

We bought a mealworm feeder several years ago (pictured), but not a single bird has ever dared to enter. Should we try it again? Thanks for all of the helpful comments and the great photos.

I wouldn't use it yet. I'd stay with the open dish until the blues get used to it, and maybe move it only about 10 feet at a time.

I have a feeder like the one you pictured but have had very little luck with it. I had two fledglings go in (separately) and panic and they tried to fly out through the plexiglass side panels. I had to go out and open the top so they could get out. After that I switched to the wire cage style. Some people say they remove one the panels until the birds get comfortable with it and then put it back in place. Others say they put a couple of strips of masking tape on the sides and that seems to help.

I have problems with the house sparrows too. Unfortunately they are smaller than bluebirds so the cages don't keep them out. And they will eat anything.

Dave

Dave I never thought that Robins would run the BB completely off till I saw it happen. The BB moved their nest for the second nesting back to their past years nesting box in a neighbor's yard. I guess to get further away from the robin nest. I don't think that box has ever been cleaned. I still see them everyday but they act afraid to come for mealworms. Papa's lookout perch is only 30 feet from the feeder. I see him just sitting there while the robins get mealworms. I have not seen any fledglings since the robins found the meal worm feeder. Today I saw papa Robin using the nestbox the BB used for the first nesting as his perch.