Congratulations on your first egg! It's been really windy here today too, but it hasn't deterred the blues from going in and out of the box, despite the blowing mylar strips.

Congratulations,Sandra! I will follow this thread too!

Thanks Kendra and Sissy! So far we have three eggs! I havn't checked today yet, I don't want to bother her if she's done and incubating. They accepted the spooker nicely! I had pinned up a few streamers and let them down bit by bit..

Both birds are eating the dried mealworms. The female does eat suet and I think the male is eating a bit. He still fights with the window in the morning and evening... must be something with angle of sun?

The HOSP were nesting in the gutter, but one good rain took care of that. I'm thinking of moving my "trap house" hopeing for more trappings. I may try someone's suggestion to put a live bird in my ground trap. I'm just afraid of letting it go during the transferr.

HOpe everyones' blues are doing well and are safe!

I'm having trouble with mockingbirds at my window feeder. I'm working on a solution.. will let you know.

Here's a pic of blue in flight from my front window. I have more, but not great ones just yet.

some pics.. nothing too great, but kind of fun to look at.

Ok, thought we were done at four eggs.. looked today to find 5!! After reading some other posts, I"m SOOO glad I've been trapping and killing those HOSP!! And I have a spooker set up. I ordered scare tape, the mounting brackets and clipps from the ground trap guy. I'll be able to make 2 for the price of one... if I decide to put up another box at the back of my property. I think I would need two boxes, one for trapper and one for possible bb's.?

I put that stretch and seal stuff on my window where the window feeder is... Boy blue doesn't really like it, still "sees" some competition, but it's not so bad. Hope hubby can find some good non glare stuff at work soon! I hate not seeing out my window at the bb house! He still fights the big window on the side.

Do you think young birds will expend this kind of needless energy? Will after time do they settle down and get more comfortable... fight when necessary??

Luring female to window feeder, gee that worked SO well.. lol!

this is a pic when they were nest building. Hubby isn't too good at feeding wifey.. but at least he's looking out while she's busy making house!

They hatched either Sunday or MOnday. I tried to check Sunday, but moma wasn't having any of it.. she wouldn't leave so I left her alone. I marked my calendar when I should stop looking in, but I want to try to get pics every other day or so.. just to log our little family.

Hope all is well with your blues!

Hubby and I are going to make a window feeder to exclude larger birds. We are working out the details now, will take a picture

Well, looks like we are past any wren problems. I still can't tell for sure if we got all five eggs to hatch.

That sure looks like five heads to me. This is so exciting. They have grown so much already. Isn't it such a relief when you know they are too big for the wrens? I don't expect wrens to be a problem for a while here, but you just never know.

Hum, the nest seemed wet, we had a huge storm over the weekend.. Should I do something?

Oh, yes, definately five have hatched... :)

Last Nest pic here.. they are about 12 days old.. Looks like at least one is a male..I think?

I'm make some prepreations in hopes they hang around here. My mealworm feeder is becoming mockingbird proof and I'm temporarily hanging a feeder just form him/her out away from my back window. I hope it helps keep them occupied and away from my blues.

Great pics! I am enjoying following your Bluebird story.

Thanks Terrene for the reply! I'm glad my thread is being enjoyed!

I'M SO NUTS!! I just bought a chair hunting blind so I can take pictures of my blues, hopefully the fledglings too! I'll share of course when I get some pics. I HAD such a great set up with the window feeder, but he still fights with any un covered glass. I've order some nonglare window glass and will try it out tomorrow.

I'm making a mealworm feeder out of a feeder I got from ebay. I'm adding some plexiglass to make it mockingbird proof, especially since that one mockingbird killed a fledgling here on the forum.. scared me to death!! I'll send pics of that too.. I'm working slowly to get them used to the feeder and I'm going to add two strips of plexiglass to allow only a 1 1/2" slot opening. I'm hoping the strips will help with letting the parents feed the babies right through the slot in the feeder.. here's pics

I put 1 1/2" holes in both sides of the feeder. I cut up a cheap craft organizer so I can feed both suet and mealies. Next time camera is out I'll take pics of the set up. Windows are thilthy, thanks papa blue!

This is what the feeder looks like before I put a plexi glass front on it with two 1 1/2" holes. I just laugh and laugh at the mockingbird now! The strips weren't effective as the mockingbird had squeezed through to get inside the feeder.

My mockingbird proof feeder is working well. The mocking bird only gets some scraps just inside the hole. I have another piece of plexi glass I can and will drill the holes higher so he doesn't get anything. Hopefully he'll just leave this feeder alone!

I've tried so many things to get the male to stop fighting the window. The anti glare glass reduces reflection to shadows, but he started fighting with it again after a few days. He doesn't fight the window that is covered up by the curtain, so I bought a sheer curtain to hang inside and so far so good. Doesn't make sence though, he can see his reflection pretty well now. I'm almost tending to think he is fighting ME!..

Here are some tryout pics taken from the blind. In broad daylight and 8 ft away.. really couldn't miss huh! I'm going to get more pics once I lure him to some photogenic spots. That's how I got the one pic with daffidils.. if you saw it.
My beauty..

Looks like things are progressing almost like text book here. Babies fledged last Wed. and I'm seeing more of them. I've only seen three at a time and two this morning. I was kind of sad not seeing more, but everyone here said they may be around so I'm keeping my hopes up that more of the five have survived.

I'm DIEING to get some good pics of the babies! Moma is eating some of this store brand peanut nuggets. So I'm going to try to lure her to the back deck and maybe once we get some sun I can get some pics with the babies.

I've been watching the nest box and I was seeing the beginings of a new nest, YEA! Today the nest looks close to complete... I've even gone out and found grass and pine needles to help out since everything is so wet.

I did find a wren in one of my boxes, so it looks like I'll NEED a guard this time around. I tried one last round but took it off since there was already hatchlings and the parents couldn't navagate it. I"m going to add a predator block on the hole, should have it anyways, and maybe that will help them land at the hole.

I'll start another thread soon, this one is getting way long...

I'm SO hopeful the babies will come to my feeder. With the suggestion of some here, I attached a stick to my window feeder, yea it was tricky. This afternoon dad sat on the stick and called out!

Also, I got the collidesape film today. I put a sheer window curtain on the outside which does work, no fighting, but it could be a hazard if they get snagged in it. I'll let you know how it works.

Also, I put out this caged suet feeder I modified earlier in the year. I put it up because it was hard for them to get in. I use a pliers to widen a few holes and moma has already gone and fed!! This feeder is off the deck where the babies can land and be fed easily. I hope I can get some pics there too.. I think my brain will implode if I don't get some good shots.. I just keep trying things and the birds have been such good sports! I'll post a pic of the "adjusted suet feeder" later.