Second pair of Bluebirds nestbuilding....

13 years ago

The first pair of Bluebirds this year chose a nestbox at the back of our property not that far but out of sight of the house. They have little ones that are eleven days old today. On Monday I heard and saw a male Bluebird singing in the yard and checking out the boxes, of course that always means immediately checking other Bluebird boxes to make sure they are ok and they were. (I have a pair at the park near our house too with three due to fledge this weekend) So I watched and listened and he pretty much flew around the yard and perched and sang his heart out. Tuesday he was still out there singing until late afternoon when I heard an answer to his song, a female Blue had shown up, she seemed very skittish though and the next day I didn't see any female until later morning but I am pretty sure this one was not the one from the day before as this ones coloring is sky blue and the other one wasn't, plus this one is very bold and started to take grass in the nestbox the same day. So she is now slowly nestbuilding in the box at the edge of our garden, easily seen from my bathroom window. Three years ago we paired the boxes in the yard and put three up along the back of the property just hoping to get two pairs of bluebirds nesting, finally we should as long as nothing interrupts these two. So hopefully shortly I will be monitoring three pairs of Bluebirds and hopefully the ones at the back of the lot will have a second nesting there too. Here is a shot of the two new ones from the bathroom window....

Donna

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Comments (6)

craftylady6
13 years ago
She IS a pretty female! I'll keep my fingers crossed and tie blue ribbons for your new arrivals!!

sandra
kendra2003
13 years ago
She is an interesting color of blue. It looks more like the color of a blue parakeet. How far away is this box from the one with young in it? I'm curious how close they are nesting to each other.
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Comments (8)
Kenn and Temple, AWESOME photos! Thanks for sharing. Janie, I read that too (about the male taking out materials to encourage the female to speed up nest building). I'm not so sure that applies to this male and female though :) If you watched the first 4 or 5 days of the videos, Daddy took out more than Mama brought in!!!! And today is Day 14, so if it's supposed to get Mama to make the nest faster, I don't think it worked :) I know I'm over simplifying this...I know that they respond to a complex combination of clues like supply of food, etc. And our weather has been up and down and up and down, too. As far as the female taking out nesting material, with this pair only the male has done it. And in the early days of nest building, I could see that what Daddy was taking out "didn't fit." But also in those early days, he took out as much as she brought in!!! Some days it was hysterical seeing him in the box taking out stuff with her at the hole 'chattering' then her going in with him only to have him slide quickly out with his 'treasure' LOL But yesterday's little piece of ? that he took out...really now! That's a bit obsessive :) I have to watch not to anthropomorphize too much! I'm hoping Mama will start egg laying SOON (as in this week). But I've been fooled by birds before...they don't seem to take MY feelings into their egg laying decisions!! Bluebird blessings, Linda...and may none of us have to deal with HOWRS or HOSP!
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No Bluebirds 4 me unless a new pair finds my yard
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Comments (7)
Oh Lisa!!!! I forgot about him bringing the poop sacks.....now I am really crying!!! I thought that was so funny and I remember watching 4 him and opening the door and saying "don't u drop that here" and he would drop it in the grass. I am really gonna miss him. What a special little bird he was :( I remember ur TRES :( It is really sad the way I get attached 2 my birds....like losing a part of the family. I sure hope I get another family of blues. In the mean time...I will protect the tres. Karen
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Nestbuilding Commences! At last
Q
Comments (3)
UPDATES: For some reason they have stopped building. They built it for a couple days and just abruptly quit. The pair building is still here and even showed up this morning when I visited the box. It is a warm 70 degrees today. I don't think I've ever had a pair just stop like this for no apparent reason. Has anyone else? Sadly, I haven't seen the 2nd pair. Sigh....did trapping Mr. Blue really deter and scare them off?? I hope that didn't do them in. I appreciate 1 pair but I was so psyched! Think this happened last time 2 pairs showed up. The Tree Swallows were active at the 2nd pair of boxes where I caught the blue and also trapped the 2 male HOSP. The birds, like the weather has been, are slow to change. But It's so weird that given the temperature, there's no nest building going on!! Maybe a mate switch but I doubt it. Anyone else ever having nest building just stop abruptly???
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HOSP take over Bluebird Nestbox!! $%$#@!
Q
Comments (2)
Sorry to hear this Tim. If I were you I would remove the HOSP nest and hope the blues return. I doubt you will get the female HOSP now that the male has left. In my experience with TRES I see them highly motivated to run off any bird in paired boxes when they are nest building. Once they are laying/incubating and feeding nestlings they focus much more on that then defending the other box. I have lots of paired boxes and that is what I have found anyway. As far as the Blues letting the HOSP take over the box...well they know they cannot win I suppose, no eggs or nestlings to defend so it is hard to say. I think each bluebird is different too on how hard they defend things. This year I have a hugely territorial male, never had one like this before. He has chased off my chickadees and is trying to chase off all the Tree Swallows in the yard. He is defending four nestboxes, two of these are 65 yards or so from the box they have eggs in. Nothing will be nesting in the box paired 35 feet from the blues nestbox...he won't allow it. The chickadees weren't even house hunting, just trying to eat out of the birdfeeders and he won't allow it. A couple times I have seen a HOSP come to the feeder and I quickly try to get the bb gun but the Male bluebirds chases it away before I can even think about it. He won't stop chasing until it is out of the yard too. I am curious to see if he calms down a bit once the eggs hatch which should be next week. Good luck to you, hope your blues can get down to business now that that HOSP is gone. Donna
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dzyg
Original Author
13 years ago
Hey Kendra, I think the distance between the two is very close to the 300feet, if not at that mark. Thing is the ones at the back of the lot don't come up into our yard, if they did there would maybe have been a problem. I think she is an intersting blue too, like she is faded or something. LOL! She has built her nest quite fast, I keep watching but not actually looking in the box until this morning. Looks done to me but they never agree with that of course. Guess I have to start checking though so I can get that spooker up as soon as she has an egg.

Donna
kendra2003
13 years ago
I wonder if some of the young ones will inherit her color. It will be fascinating to find out. Please do keep us updated.
kenn3d
13 years ago
Hi Donna, and congrats again on your nesting season.

Did you mean you have 11 Day old chicks in the box? Or do you have a pair with fledglings which are 11 days outside the box?

Our 1st-nesters are about 50days old now (a full month in the wild). And our six 2nd-nesters are 11 Days old since hatching. We have just one pair, but they do stay busy. :)

Continued best luck to you and your birds.

Kenn

Here is a link that might be useful: Kenn & Temple's Family Blue
dzyg
Original Author
13 years ago
Hey Kenn, the eleven day old chicks are still in the box. The photo was of a second pair of Bluebirds that just showed up and started building a nest. The first pair built in a house at the back of our property and the new ones chose a box next to our garden by the house. Our two newest ones had one egg as of yesterday, they work really fast!! That female only showed up a week ago yesterday! The ones at the back of the property are 16 days old today so should be fledging soon. I sure hope they come back for a second nesting too. The Blues at the park fledged last weekend so I am awaiting a new nest being built by them too.

Donna

Second pair of Bluebirds nestbuilding....

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Second pair of Bluebirds nestbuilding....

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