Usually when the chicks fledge we in the bluebird restoration ducttape the box (keeping the ends inside the door) to keep other birds from stealing the box while Mama Blue rests for a few days, up to a week ....
The first fledging I had on my trail was at my neighbors' house and I suspect they decided to have their second brood here in my back yard. I swear I see fledglings hanging out with Daddy Blue while Mama is busily building an awesome pine needle nest out there by the orchard. Finally! of my 4 nest boxes in my yard one has tree swallows, another chickadees, and now my favorite location has my favorite bird....I'll try to get pics soon....
Happy birding!!!
Jo
Jo, glad to hear from you. I never thought about ducttapping the box between nestings but it sure sounds like a good idea. In previous years, it's always been the blues that come back for 2nd and/or 3rd nestings; however, this time, it's already been 7 days and they haven't started rebuilding yet. However, they appear throughout the day (male and female although i cannot say for sure that it's the same pair) for their handouts of mealies. And, as i mentioned before, i can call them to the feeder from whereever they are it seems. I only have 3 boxes - 1 in the front yard and 2 in the back yard. One of the boxes in the back yard houses black-capped chickadees and the other is empty.
Glad to hear that you have your blues residing near you. Can't wait to see the pics.
Doris
Good Morning all of you BB lovers. Well, good news to report from here - my mama bb started building another nest. Actually, right after i sent my previous post, i looked out the window and there were my bb pair and this time they brought 3 of their babies with them and they were all chowing down on mealies. I sure hope the other 2 babies survived. That evening, i checked the nesting box and, sure enough, there were some pine needles in the bottom. She's not as fast this time but the nest is slowly but surely coming along. It's curious that she waited so long between the last fledgling and her starting a new nest - generally it's only a few days, this time it was 10 days. Maybe her other offspring were driving her nuts and she was having second thoughts about doing it again. :)
Jo, where's the pics? :)
Hey Doris! Good news on your second nesting getting under way! I have had a pair once that took two weeks inbetween nestings, not sure why they waited so long either!
You won't believe this but my momma blue has started incubating her second clutch of six eggs! I couldn't believe when I looked on Friday and saw egg number six. Her first nesting of six all hatched and fledged but I am only seeing four of the fledglings with Dad. Would love to have seen all six but I am glad four made it thus far. My Momma blue doesn't have a real good track record with fledglings as she has always been so intent on her next nesting that she doesn't feed them much...leaves that up to Dad.
I am still hoping for a second nesting but again..just hoping these fledges all stay away from harm and that this second nesting has no problems.
Good luck on your second nesting Doris and Jo...hopefully your Blues are doing ok too!!
Donna
Donna, second nest is looking good; papa seems very 'committed' and even brings the mama a mealie now and then. Haven't seen the babies from the first nesting in a couple of days; hopefully, they are just hanging out somewhere else. So, you are having a second nesting of six, neat. I had one of them a couple of years ago but my females generally lay just the 5 eggs. Do you know anyone whose blues have had a clutch of 7?
Hey, remember when i posted that black-capped chickadees used the bb house in my back yard and had a whole bunch of babies that hatched. Well, they fledged yesterday. My hubby and I were having our coffee on our screened in porch yesterday when i saw a little one blast out of the nest. We sat there for 1 hour and watched all of the 10, one by one, take off on wobble wings. :) It was amazing. Our first time ever watching a fledge of any of our birds. Some of the little ones just made it to our spice bush, others almost flew into the shed and still others made it all of the way to the trees . They all eventually made it to the trees and sat there hollering for their mama. Just love this. Sure wish i could see my blues fledge but they always do it when i'm gone on not watching.
Hope your mama blue turns into a better mama with this nesting and that all of your baby blues survive. Jo, hope your nesting blues are doing well also.
Have a nice day.
Our bb just hatched about a couple of days ago we had four babies. So now they are busy getting food for them, We got mealworms but can't coach them over to get them. Any ideas we tried close to there house, we tried just putting on the deck where we have the other suet in a dish, and we tried in the bird feeder. Also we just tried putting it in a bb feeder the other years they used that, The feeder is the one I have as a picture of as my profile.
We also have black-capped chickadee's in another bb house and they had five eggs, don't know if they are getting to fledge yet or not don't want to open it and they fly out. Would like to get a pictures of the chickadee's also when they do fledge do you clean out the nest like the bb's so they can start over again?
I am just glad we got our bb's back, also remember when I told you that we bought a Sparrow Spooker and we put it up and it does work. They aren't scare of it at all.
Happy bb days
Phyllis (Illinois)
One of the most amazing sights I ever saw occurred yesterday. On my trail of 50+ nest boxes there is a home recently sold to a new owner and I've been trying to meet them and get permission to check on the nest box in their yard. Having seen a car in the driveway I decided to ring the doorbell ( no luck so I tucked a flyer and my card under their porch chair) Just as I was turning to leave Mama Blue flew the 75 or so feet to where I stood, got my attention and flew directly back to her box where Daddy joined her) On the last check I'd noticed the beautiful nest they'd built and filled with 5 eggs was empty, and sadly guessing a predator, or maybe a house wren had taken all the eggs, I removed that perfect nest, saving it to replace any wet ones in the future. The nest had been rebuilt and as before, had 5 new eggs!
Something tells me Mama Blue recognized me and wanted to show me she was proud of all her hard work. ( It took her only 9 days to rebuilt and fill her clutch) Awesome! Just hope the new owners don't think I'm overstepping my bounds here...
Like you, Phyllis, I have chickadees ready to fledge. This may be their only brood of the season, but they are so fun to see in their soft mossy nest...
....and Like you, I'm feeding ,mealworms to my new pair by the orchard and the ones who come from across the road in front. It never takes long for them to find the worms, especially the live ones.
Good luck my bluebird friends, pics will be here soon, unloading the camera today if all goes well.....
Jo ~
Phyllis....the easiest way to train a Bluebird to come to a feeder or a dish is to watch where they normally perch and place a dish of mealworms on the ground below this spot. They are drop feeders so they sit on a perch and watch the ground for movement. Once they see the movement of the worms in the dish they will drop down and investigate. Once they know there are worms in the dish you can then move it to where you want it and into a feeder. Good luck!
Yes clean out the Dees nest after they fledge as you should always clean out an old nest so the box is clean if another birds comes looking. Dees don't typically have more than one nesting per season though.
Glad your spooker is working!
Doris, how cool you got to see all your Dees fledge! They are such cute little birds! I have seen alot of my Blues fledge but never my Dees.
Doris, I can't believe you asked about having seven eggs! I went out to take a photo of the six eggs and discovered Momma wasn't done laying on Saturday like I thought. She laid another egg on Sunday so there are seven!
Jo, that is so cool about your Blues at that house! Good luck getting to meet the new people, hope you don't have any problems with them!
Well aren't you the lucky one - a clutch of 7. Wow. And, I might add, this is a really great picture. Mine is still building her 2nd nest.
Keep us posted Donna.
doris
Hey Doris, how is the second nesting going? Have you seen the fledges yet from the first nesting? My second nesting is due to hatch on Sunday (day 14). I have a friend that has Blues too and she had six eggs in the first nesting and now six in the second too! Hope all is well with you!
Donna, the 2nd nesting is going fine. She finished the nest (not nearly as tall as the 1st one), laid 5 more eggs and began brooding yesterday, May 29. Regarding the fledglings from the first nesting - mama and papa brought 3 of them around a couple of weeks ago and they've been chowing down on mealies also. Actually, they've been brow-beating their parents into feeding them most times. I have a cute story to tell. One of the fledglings, a little male still sporting spots on his feathers, was in the bird bath by himself. All at once a great big Robin landed on the bath also and made a move toward the baby blue and he met him half way and just glared at him, held his ground and the Robin flew away. Gutsy little thing, huh?
I'm doing well, thanks for asking. We've have some super, super hot weather here lately with heat index raising the temp to 100 degrees. A storm blew in last night and cooled things off thank goodnes..
hugs,
Doris..funny about your fledglling standing up to that Robin! Hope all is going well on your second nesting.
Here in our yard the Blues second nesting has hatched...all seven of them! Now I am considering doing a nestbox switch but I am so undecided. They are in a Gilwood box that has a 3 1/2" W by 4 1/2" D floor. I could switch them to an Xbox which has a 5 1/2" W by 4" D floor. Do you think I should move them? There isn't much room in those Gilwood boxes for seven nestlings..it was cramped with six! Here is a photo of the seven....
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