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Not off to a great start this year!!!

15 years ago

WOW..the weather sucks, no other way to put it. The Robins survived 2 feet of snow after they got here. The Blues were late thank God! The nest building has started and stopped several times. Today was the nicest day in a while and no Blues anywhere to be seen nor heard. I only saw the female yesterday, she was going from box to box to box. I'm actually thinking this female is still a bit young and the male has gone off to find a more suitable mate. I am scared to death for the TRES and the Martins, there are no bugs flying out there. I do not believe anybody has babies yet , nobody has messed up my pond (and the Robins usually do making mud)no moss is missing (Dees)and nobody is flying off to nests with meal worms. The fish in the pond are barely eating as the temp is still a bit too cold to feed them, the frogs are as skinny as I have ever seen them.

Please GOD bring us Spring.

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Comments (4)

ohsoblue77
15 years ago
Hang in there Liza! I know how you feel! We didn't get any snow in April (Thank god!) But we (Ohio) just broke the all time record for wettest April ever! And the records go back to the 1800's!! 2011 is now the #1 wettest April on record!!

Trust me though, your TRES and Martins will be fine! Not quite as positive about the Martins, but I've seen my Bluebird AND TRES stick around and survive in 40's and rain! They are much more hardy than you would think!

My bluebirds are Finally nesting and at my second site those wretched HOSP took over a nestbox with a completed TRES nest. It happened yesterday when it was rainy and cold. But I'm happy to say that both Mr AND Mrs HOSP are no longer with us! The Van Ert did its job as usual!!

We haven't had that great of a spring either, but in the last week we've had some 60's, 70's, really high winds at times, and more sunshine. My Tulips are in full bloom along with the Cherry trees right next to my house.

It will get better Liza! The last 2 years I haven't exactly had the best starts to the season and mid way is usually when things can get bad, but by the time the season ends I've fledged Bluebirds and TRES, despite some tragedies. (Lost an entire clutch of baby blues and 3 females last season but Mr. blue raised and fledged 4 youngin all by HIMSELF! Thankfully the weather was constantly warm and hot. )
Hope it gets better for you! This entire country is in a rut! Gas and Grocery prices continue to rise, there's been over 600+ Tornados, etc. But that's off topic. Point being, you have to keep your head held high!
Good luck!
-Tim-
lisa11310
Original Author
15 years ago
The Blues were back today and there are a few more pine straws in the box. They are SO quiet. Not a peep from either one of them. The male has tried talking and wing waving but the female does not respond......this could get interesting.
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bluebirdbabe
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same here Lisa....I have not seen or heard my blues since all the cold/rainy/windy weather. I have seen 1 tres. On a good note; the orioles, hummers and rose breasted grosbeaks are here :) but I want my blues back!!!

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dzyg
15 years ago
Here in WI our Robins have survived alot of snow and alot of cold too. Here it is first day of May, temp this afternoon has "finally" reached 39 with 20 mph winds gusting to 35 again. It has been quite windy this Spring, which really cools things down. We have no Bluebirds around yet, neither in my yard or at the park where I monitor nestboxes. However in my yard nesting pairs normally don't show up until middle of May so I am not worried yet. Down at the park though we usually always have a Bluebird nest started in April, nothing yet. We have Chickadees building both here and at the park right now. We have TRES everywhere but they disappear in this cold weather always to eturn though. We have one pair that stick it out in the cold though, they seem to always be around. TRES have all seemed to have started putting nesting materials in the boxes, not alot yet though.

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