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Dead bluebird in my box ~ what happened?

12 years ago

It is March 1st and we found a dead male bluebird in our box this morning. After a winter of about 10 blues feeding, my blues dwindled to two males and one female about a week ago. There was some box activity until about four days ago. Something told me to check the box this morning as it hasn't been checked since the end of last summer. When we opened it, there was a dead male bluebird inside. It didn't look like he had been there for too long; no composition. Does anybody know what might have happened. We've cleaned that box out and have it airing out now. Hope to close it up and have a pair still nest; hoping it's not too late!

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Comments (5)

rayinri
12 years ago
Very old male bluebird. Died of old age. Very natural and normal over winter. Better he die now than in spring. When nesting and have young to feed. I find 1-2 dead a year in my 50 box trail.

Ray
tmann05
12 years ago
Where are you located? This winter was extremely harsh and on my trail I found 3 blues dead in a box, 2 in another, and 1 in another. I am in Ohio. A guy in Cincinnati Ohio found 9 dead in one box from the cold.
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Aloemem, I am with Tim and Kendra. Get rid of those terrible House Sparrows. Once they claim a box, they will generally not give it up, and then the Blues have no chance. Most of the time, Bluebirds prefer a nestbox that is out in the open. Maybe you could mount your new box on an inexpensive T-post, and put it into an open space. You could plug the box up for awhile to try encourage the House Sparrows to leave. I just use a wadded up plastic grocery bag to plug mine. Whatever you do, don't allow those House Sparrows to build and lay eggs in your Bluebird house. It is legal to remove their nests and eggs and to eliminate them. As Kendra said, the Van Ert trap is wonderful. HTH~~Angie
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cindy.holiman2511 I have just found this forum, but wanted to respond to your post. Please get bluebird boxes that you can open and monitor. The blues are people friendly and will not abandon the nest even if you check it daily. That way you can head off some problems like wasps and ants in the box. Last summer I found a dead baby bird in one of my boxes and was able to remove it so the parents could continue to raise the others to fledge. In addition, the blues will nest up to 3 times per season, so you need to clean the old nests out of the boxes as soon as the babies fledge. Snakes are one of the worst predators so you need a snake baffle or do as I do. I twist deer netting around the base of the pole up about 2'. The snakes get caught and I cut them out and release them miles away in the woods.
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Hello, I am so sad. I had a successful bluebird nest of 5 eggs. Attached a sparrow spooker after first egg hatched. Mom hatched all five eggs and babies were 9 days old today. This morning went to straighten Mylar strips on sparrow spooker and box was quiet. Soon discovered one baby blue bird dead inside nest and 4 were missing! No evidence of the four. What happened? Can sparrows kill and then push a 9 day old baby out of nest? I saw sparrows on top of box about 3 hours after I discovered the babies gone and one dead. Please help!
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rayinri
12 years ago
I am from Rhode Island Trail is in northern RI Bluebirds are not hardy there flocks crash will high snow levels. And cold. Mild seasons
they expand there local numbers. When there found dead in spring means there food supply was low and they expired. You will also see
some dead threw out spring after a late cold snap the birds will just end up missing but we know it was the late cold snap. Many are weaken from the trip north once they show up and winter returns large numbers perish. It weeds out the old and sick.

Ray
suzihall4
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you for the help! We have had a male disappear in the middle raising a brood leaving mama and one baby from a previous brood to finish up, but have never actually seen a deceased adult. It was sad, but as you say better now than later, which happened with the other one last year.
tmann05
12 years ago
I would like to invite you to join the bluebird nut cafe forum. It is much more active than this site and we have many veteran bluebirders that can give quick answers. Check us out!

http://bluebirdnutcafe.yuku.com/

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