What you did was totally fine, if the baby wanted to get back out it could have. The parents should still be going to the box to feed it though. I would make sure it is still alive. Maybe you just aren't seeing when they go to the box. What you did would not cause the baby to die.

I would have chased the squirrel away first myself and then waited to see what the baby Blue would have done or maybe would have put it in a tree. Keeping it out of harms way though is the best thing to do, not sure what the squirrel would have done to it but I wouldn't wait around to find out either.

Hope it is ok yet!!

Donna

You had no choice but to intervene. Who knows what that squirrel would have done? If the baby got out of the box before, he/she can certainly fly out again, so I don't think you did any harm. Keep a watchful eye, and I'm sure the parents will either be back to feed, or the baby will launch again and the parents will find it.

I have had to return babies to the box several times. The parents will hear it and know it is there. They will feed it as needed but may still hold back a bit as they may be trying to coax it out again. I would suggest you monitor a little more closely. If they did hatch May 1st it's a bit early to fledge, however it could happen. If they hatched a few days before May 1st then they could be right on schedule. The fact that the Parents are taking worms to the trees is a good sign. This baby may have hatched a day or two behind the others or may have flown into the door itself on it's first flight and was a bit disoriented. Either way you did a good job. Now get yourself a calendar and start writing everything down. First sighting (if they are not yr round) Nest building, first egg, first hatch, fledge...If you knew exactly when they hatched you would know if they were ready to fledge. The Sialis.org site has the nesting timetable and tons of other info. How about an update???

Thanks to those of you who posted suggestions. I opened the box to find that 3 of the 6 birds made it out. 2 were dead. The 3rd, probably the one I tried to rescue, was still alive. I took him out and put him at the edge of the yard. Within minutes the male parent was flying down to him. I thought he had a chance. Over the next few hours he fed him and tried to coax him to fly. At nightfall I put him in a flower pot up off the ground because we have cats and possums that roam through here at night. But this morning he was dead. I am happy that 3 of the 6 seem to have survived. We had two days of 90+ degrees and I'm wondering if that heat with 6 birds in the box was too much.

I'm not new to birds but new to having bluebird houses. Had fun watching them last year. I haven't monitored the boxes daily and documented as most of you seem to do - have feared I would frighten the parent birds away. I'll do more reading and become a better caretaker.

Thanks for your input!

Glad to hear at least 3 of them made it, sorry that last one died. Could have been a number of things that killed the ones in the box and the last one. 90 degree heat should not have killed them. When you clean out the nestbox, if you haven't already look for blowfly larva, they are small grayish black larva that look kinda like a piece of rice except bloated when they are full. I have lost baby Blues to these larva before always later in summer when it is hot. They say less than 10 per baby is ok but more than that and it can kill them. You would defianately see them in the nesting material, most likely on the bottom of the box when you clean it out. Or it could have been pesticides that killed the babies too. People spread it on their lawns to kill insects/weeds and the birds feed the bugs sprayed with the stuff to thier babies and it kills them. Has happened all to often. Sometimes you just don't know what happens.

Definately go to silais.org to read lots of info on hosting Bluebird and other native cavity nesting birds. There is load of useful info there!

Get that box cleaned out and hopefully Momma Blue will start a new nest in a few days!

Donna

I'm happy to report that Mr. & Mrs. Blue have been checking out our other box all day. I'm hopeful that we still might have a healthy family! Thanks for all of the encouragement. We did not find larva in the box and we rarely use pesticides (but of course don't know what neighbors use).