I Wish You Bluebirds
"I wish you bluebirds in the spring
to give your heart a song to sing!"
It was only a few hours after installing the bluebird house that this male and female both came to inspect it! I felt very lucky! Then as I was watching the couple considering their new home to raise a family, a tree swallow speedily flew close to the male's head and then a battle of sorts ensued. Within seconds everyone dispersed. Over the next few days I didnt see the bluebird couple at all but I did see tree swallows appearing to build a nest inside. Didn't they know this was a bluebird house?! I was disappointed and submitted to the fear that I would never have bluebirds taking up residence there. I lost interest in watching the activity around the house but I presume during this time there were eggs in the nest. and then we went on vacation and were gone for 2 weeks. It must have been during the time we were gone that they fledged because shortly after we got back, I went out to check inside the house and there was an empty nest. I removed it and within hours after doing so, the bluebirds came back! I was hopeful they would have a chance to take up residency and raise their little bluebird family.
Sure enough, Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird did claim ownership and worked diligently on their little nest. Once the nest was built I was impatient to see eggs appear. I checked the nest daily. Finally, I saw one egg then another and another and finally a fourth one. I had read the female will lay one egg each day and that seemed to be about what happened. I had read that she doesnt start sitting on them until the final egg is laid. I worried when I would go for a couple of days without seeing her. I have the house erected on a fence post in my front yard and I can easily see it from my bedroom window. But the Mama was a good mama and she dutifully sat on her baby eggs until they hatched, about 2 weeks later. I counted the days so I would know when to expect them to fledge. I checked on the babies every day until around day 13. After that time if I wanted to check on them I used the opening that had plexi glass between me and them and they could stay safely in their nest without risking falling out or prematurely fledging.
There is a lot of housekeeping duties to be shared between the Mr. and Mrs. including disposing of the dirty diapers! And there were a lot of dirty diapers!! I never knew there was such a thing as a fecal sac and that the parents removed them multiple times daily. Im not really sure what I thought happened to all that bird poop! I guess I never really thought about it until now. This duty kept both of them pretty busy!
It was important to me to be able to witness and document through photography the fledging of the babies. I knew their ages within a day or two of accuracy so I had a pretty good idea of when they would fledge. On what could have been day 17, or 16, I was in my tent much of the day. I noticed the parents did more sitting outside the house, perhaps calling to them to encourage them out. Every now and then one of the babies would poke his head out and assess the situation. There was furious feeding going on too. I stayed in my tent for the better part of 2 days. Of course I realized that they could fledge right after sunrise before I got outside but I was going to give it a reasonable try to witness it. At some point I hadn't seen any activity and no sightings of the parents. So I opened up the safe side of the house and was so disappointed at what I saw: an empty nest! Those little babies fledged without me seeing it! I was so disappointed but also excited at the hope of seeing them around the yard.
Since the babies fledged, I have diligently left live mealworms, morning and evening, out for the family. I havent been able to observe them actually eating them during the morning but have during the evening feeding. In fact, around 6:00 they start coming around, I think waiting for me to leave them some. This is the perfect time to hide in my tent, camera ready and take some snaps! I have been experimenting with set ups and it's a lot of fun! The fledglings havent gotten brave enough to pose for me on the set ups although I have seen a couple of them fly toward it, hover in the air above the set up, then reconsidering and flying back to the utility wire that they love and trust.
I have been lucky enough to see my family of bluebirds since they fledged. All I have to do is play on speaker a recording of bluebird calls. Usually within 15 minutes they come. Of course, I reward them with mealworms! Ive also tried blueberries and grape jelly, neither of which they have even tried I don't believe. The fledglings are funny to watch because they aren't quite sure what all the clicking sounds are. They stretch their little bluebird necks as tall as they can and become motionless. I don't mean to frighten them. I hope they get used to it like their parents have. Their parents need to advise them, "When you are as beautiful as you are, you are going to have paparazzi stalking you!"
Pretty exciting when they come back to visit the old homestead. I had read somewhere about putting some hay or some kind of insulation in the birdhouse for them to use duiring the winter. On this particular occasion they didnt just hang around their house the male peered inside and I guess he wanted to test out his new blankets! I think he approved as he stayed in there a good minute or two!
Thank you for following my blog and reading about my bluebird adventures! Until next spring's new crop of babies...
"May all your blues be birds!"
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Great story…We’ve been watching blue birds off and on for several years. Most times they occupy the same house and sometimes they argue ownership with local sparrows, but most of the time they win the argument. Sat up new box in another location last year and yes we had a family of blue birds in that one too. Great photo’s and wonderful story.
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Ronald Moredock
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April 7, 2020
We set up a blue bird house this February. We had a couple set up and make a nest in it. We have been observing the next very consistently, and have provided meal worms for the parents to feed the youngsters. We didn’t open up the house or go close, so we are not sure but it sounded like at least 3, maybe 4 babies in there. We watched all of the feeding and cleaning. The parents spent a lot of time dive bombing a blue jay the kept coming to our feeder. This morning……no feeding. The parents were coming to the meal worms just like before, but not taking them into the house. I finally gave up, and checked inside the house. An empty nest! We missed the graduation into the world just as you did. With us just sheltering at home due to Covid-19, I was sure we would see them escape the bird house.
I hope we will see the family as you have been able to. Perhaps the parents will bring them over to the meal worms in the next few days. Great photos of your brood.
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Jan Trabue
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How exciting!! I just had a brood and I was sure Id see them fledge too but 5 fledged during the night and the final 6th one fledged during the 60 minutes i took a break from waiting for her to fledge!! Oh well. Such is wildlife! But yes it is so much fun and quite entertaining! Thanks for the feedback and compliment!
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