Removed nest and five eggs today
This morning I finally took down the Gilbertson PVC box with the five eggs in it. I had waited an extra eight days.
I held the eggs up to the light and saw nothing. Four of the five were discolored, with about half being blue and the rest being more grayish. I broke one of the eggs and found only eggwhite and a yellow yolk. No blood or any sign of fertilization. The female watched me take the nest box down, yet she spent the next several hours seemingly looking for it. Maybe she was upset and didn't know what else to do. Papa came to investigate and together they would sit on the fence and look up to where it was, then Papa would fly up onto and under the roof, which was still mounted on the pole. From time to time they sat just outside my window, looking in as if pleading for me to put it back.
I have been dreading doing this for several days, and I decided not to let them nest in the PVC box again. At least not for now. It was very close to a fence and had no baffle. I put it up, hoping the chickadees would nest in it and I was very worried when the bluebirds chose it, and more so when she laid five eggs, fearing if they all hatched, it would be too crowded in there.
I uninstalled the nest cam from the PVC box and put it in my box with the slotted opening. They watched me do this and I expected they would check it out as soon as I was finished. Instead, they seemed to be more interested in my dummy box. I keep it in the lower part of the back yard and can slip the VanErt trap in when a HOSP starts snooping around. I didn't want them nesting in that one either. No baffle, too close to another fence, and besides, I had just spent three hours installing the nest cam in the slotted box. So I took the dummy box down and moved it into the shed. After fluttering around for a few minutes where the dummy box had been, they moved to the box I had chosen for them. Finally, as dusk approaches, I can see them going in and out of that one.
One positive thing from all this was that I was able to get a lot of close-up pictures, although the photo quality is not the best. It has been very overcast all day and when most of these were taken, it looked like it might rain. The birds seemed unconcerned with me, however, even when I was only a few feet from them.
Here are a few. This first shot is just to show the Gilbertson before I removed the PVC portion, in case someone may be unfamiliar with that style box. The dome you see in some of the shots is a cover I put over the camera, to keep out the weather.
Papa seemed especially interested in the hole I had drilled in the roof where the camera was mounted. He pecked at it repeatedly for at least 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, Mama pretty much was a spectator. For the most part she sat on the roof of the nest box or on the fence, looking somewhat lost and forlorn.
I suppose the experience was enough to ruffle Papa's feathers a bit, as you can see in this last shot. :-)
Comments (15)
mac60
dave_in_vaOriginal Author
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