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Question re Fledging

17 years ago

Over the last few years we've always had our fledged bluebirds come back with Mama and Papa after a couple of weeks, but this time it's been different and we wonder if this is out of the ordinary (i.e. bad news) or not.

We had three fledge just over 2 weeks ago. Only one has returned with Mama and Papa -- Papa tends to be the one doting on it... a couple of times we've seen Mama fly off to a distant tree after feeding at the magical mealworm bowl but no sign of the other two. Mama started building a nest just a few days after they flegded and already has 2 eggs laid. We hope nothing has happened to the other 2 birds. Have any of you ever had this happen and then suddenly see the siblings appear later on...?

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Comments (4)

mac60
17 years ago
Bridget,
I don't have any words of wisdom for you. However, your story sounds just like what is happening here. I've only seen 2 of the 4, dad does appear to be doing most of the feeding, and the pair does have a new nest (haven't checked in a couple days to see if we have eggs). This is only my second year and my notes from last year are not nearly detailed enough. I just feel like all four fledglings should be coming to the feeder instead of only 2. I am looking forward to reading more input from others.
lisa11310
17 years ago
aaaahhhhhh but you dont know that it's the same babies all the time......a couple years ago my "six pack" had me so worried......only 2 or 3 would come, I though surley they were the only surviors. One day just before Mom laid her first egg of the second clutch there were all six sitting on a branch together. I never saw them all together after that.
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kenn3d
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Hi all,

Our 1st-nesters all (5) fledged fine on April 25th. We heard and saw all 5 in far trees mostly for 7 days. On their 7th day in the wild they all returned to our near trees and one came to the deck to be fed worms by both parents.

In the past 2 days however, we've seen just 4 together and apart all over the yard including the deck, but have not been able to veryify the 5th... we worry that one may have been lost to we know not what. We hope to be surprised to see all 5 together again soon, but know the many dangers to new baby birds.

Oh, and Missy has 3 blue eggs in her 2nd nest as of this afternoon :)

Best luck to us all,

Kenn
bridget_bb
Original Author
17 years ago
So it seems we're not alone in our worries! Thanks for the info everyone... I'll be sure to zoom in extra tight with the binocs next time our little one is here.... see if I can figure out for sure if it's the same bird or not.
Hope we all get to see our families all together again before they all go their separate ways for good!

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