I had nearly the exact thing happen this year (2025). This box had crisis last year when I found the nestlings wet, their nest soaked and berry seeds abundant. What I was told was that the parents were feeding them non-native berries because there weren't enough insects! I took the nestlings out, cleaned the box, replaced with a dry nest and supplemented with mealworms. Two males and a female ran nearly 100 mealworms into that nestbox within the next 20 minutes! It was a rescue mission. The nestlings all survived and fledged three days later. But this year, that nestbox wasn't touched until way late in the season. I was glad to see they were back, better late than never. But maybe not. Four eggs, four nestlings, all looked well. I checked them a day ago, providing rehydrated mealworms. I noticed some dog doo near where I put the mealworms. I wonder if that could affect the nestlings by contamination. I took the bos down and it felt light. I wondered if they had fledged but it was too soon. All four melding together and decomposing! This park is chemical-free, the only one in Orange (CA). All the other nestlings in the other five boxes had a good run. This was a special box and had yet another disaster this year! No evidence of foul play, no insects, etc. Another seasoned monitor told me it might be due to the male not returning, maybe killed in a fight, and the female abandons the nest. The nest box is down, washed out and waiting for a thorough cleaning. I hope they return to this box next season. We'll see. Very sad.

aloha43, I am glad you saved the birds and have a good track record with other birds. I do not know the answer to your question but I would like to invite you to share your story and join the blue bird nut cafe forum. It is similar to this website but much more active and if you post your question there, you will get more help and answers. Hope to see you there. http://bluebirdnutcafe.yuku.com/ -Tyler

4/22/2017 Update It's been more than a month since I started. Mid-March this is what I did to kick start my lawn rehabilitation project: dethatched aerated pulled a few weeds out overseeded with a rye/fescue mix put down 1/4-1/3" of top dressing put down alfalfa meal Front Lawn Color is improving. The lawn is greening up at different rates, almost following the strips of sod that were laid down when the lawn was put down last year. Still patchy in in areas, certainly more than the backyard. Lawn lacks that thick, healthy look. Not sure if the seed I bought was good, if I have not waited long enough or if the birds ate it all. Plenty of rain the last 30 days. Lawn seems to be draining better and is not as boggy. Very few weeds, I pulled maybe 2-3 in this area. White flecks in the pictures are cherry blossom petals. This is probably the best part of the front lawn. Really greened-up well and is very thick and healthy looking. You can see how different strips of original sod are greening at different rates. Backyard Color has improved here too, better than front yard. Still patchy in an area that is typically shady. Seed seemed to take better here and I see lots of new grass sprouting up. Drainage seems to have improved but that's only after 1 month of observation. More weeds in this area, pulled perhaps 10-15 by hand. Questions Aside from cutting and weeding, anything I should be doing at this time? The patchy areas - reseed those or just be more patient?

I did a Y-DNA 37 markers test at FamilyTreeDNA. There were no big surprises. I had researched my line back to colonial Virginia and found my first ancestor had come to Prince William County, VA in about 1724. He had come from Wales. He was granted a large tract of land (over 500 acres). It was surveyed by a young George Washington. By 1737, he was selling out and removing to the south west part of Virginia to what is now Pittsylvania county where he established a 420 acre plantation. Much later, his first parcel of land back in Prince William Co. became part of the Quantico Marine Corps Base. My parents had said we were Scotch-Irish, but they did not know much about their ancestors except for their grandparents. My genealogy search did find one Scot by the name Hugh McCoy who married an English lady named Jemima Franklin. The ancestor of these Franklin(s) had come from Acton, England. I had not unearthed my Irish. I suspected that my mother's line, Marlow, was rich with Irish, but had met a brick wall in that line after the 2 generations back. I did find that my mother's grandmother was from a Ratliff family who had come from Kentucky to Missouri shortly before the US Civil War. I had not documented a single Irish person, although, there could have been some because the ethnicity of most of my family tree is unknown. I took the DNA test in hopes of finding an Irish match. I struck out. I got only a couple of matches. That was disappointing but not a surprise since my surname is relatively rare. Before public phone searches were tamped down, a white page search found 250 names in the US, 25 of which had the spelling of my name and 200 were an alternate spelling. (Both spellings has been documented in an early family in Illinois.) My DNA test showed 100% European ancestors: Great Britain, 74%; Ireland, 23%; and East Slavic, 3%. Here's the problem: I took the Y-DNA 27 marker test. The Y-DNA is passed from father to son and changes only randomly. Its a good marker for diving back 5 generations. However, it traces only the male line. There could be plenty of Irish hiding in my female line which constitutes 50% of my ethnicity. Also, maybe not many people in my line has taken a DNA test with this particular Company. I need to take another test, mtDNA. The mtDNA is passed by a mother to all her children. However, this won't guarantee a large number of new matches since it depends on how many persons in my line who have taken the mtDNA test.