Second pair of Bluebirds nestbuilding....

16 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
16 years ago
She IS a pretty female! I'll keep my fingers crossed and tie blue ribbons for your new arrivals!!

sandra
kendra2003
16 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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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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My bluebirds have been building a nest since early - mid week last week and look about finished, here in N.E. Ohio The latest weather I just saw, after 3 straight 80 degree days, says we are gonna be in the 40's by the end of the weekend! BAD!!! Cherry, Dogwood, and Magnolias have ALL broke out into bloom! Other trees are pushing out leaves. The trees are WEEKS ahead of normal. Really hope my blues don't get a cold spell. Like tobygirl, I also lost a nest of blues to a sudden cold snap. One evening they were very poorly tending to the young. It was around 70 then. The next day, 50! 4-5 nestlings starved to death. I pulled the plug on the attempt after observing them laying in the nest stiffly, with no ability to chirp and couldn't raise their heads. When there were winds and cold rain. ~Tim~
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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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Comments (9)
Yes, I get mobs of TRES and I worry each time they will ovewehlm the other birds but they don't. In my yard I have two boxes paired (about 30 feet apart) on the east side of the house, then in the back yard I have two boxes paired on the west side of the house and in the front yard I have two boxes paired on the west side. The boxes on the east are sortof in sight of the boxes in the back west side (a big tree is inbetween) and are about 68 yards from them. The pairs of boxes in the front west are in sight of the boxes in the back west and are about 64 yards apart. I normally have three or four pairs of TRES nesting and a pair of Blues and sometimes a pair of Dees too in our yard. Then I have three boxes at the back of our lot, not in sight of any of the yard boxes and are over 100 yard away from the yard boxes, these normally have two pairs of TRES and one pair of Blues. Then about a half mile away is a park where I had five (now seven) nestboxes. I normally have two or three pairs of TRES and a pair of Blues, may be different this year with the extra two boxes. So as you can see we have lots and lots of TRES in the area. They were mobbing the Blues yesterday but mom is incubating what I think are five eggs so I am not too worried about the TRES this year since the Blues are so far ahead. Weather has been pretty cool here lately so the TRES aren't real serious yet. Last year the TRES kept chasing away the Dees from the paired box (TRES wanted one and the Dees had started a nest in the other). I added a sparrow spooker and the TRES just used it as a perch. The TRES didn't deter the Dees at all though and once the Dees laid their first egg, I added a wren guard. By this time the TRES were nestbuilding so they weren't worried about the paired box anymore. Good luck, hope yours Blues renest! Donna
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dzyg
Original Author
16 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
16 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
16 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
16 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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