I'm in agreement with Donna in that you should remove the dead baby. It could draw ants, etc., to the nestbox. Increasing your offering of mealworms is also an excellent idea, since Dad is having to feed by himself. The mealworms will allow him to spend less time hunting for food and more time feeding and protecting those babies. His hesitance at the mealworm feeder may offer a clue as to what happened to Mama, though. Is your feeder close to the nestbox? It's possible that Mama was attacked while at the feeder. Try to make sure that there is some cover for the birds so that they will have a better chance of survival in the event of an aerial attack by hawks, etc. Raptors are very smart and can become accostomed to the timing of your feedings, too, then use this to time their attacks. Donna's questions regarding the set-up of your nestbox are also pivotal. Your blues are vulnerable to attacks from all kinds of climbing predators (snakes, raccoons, etc.) if the box is not mounted on a slick metal pole equipped with a predator baffle. I use the stovepipe baffle on all 35+ nestboxes that I monitor and it works beautifully. Keep us posted on Dad's progress. Kathy

At 8-9 days old Dad can do it no problem, especially with only 3. As Michelle said get some meal worms out there for him to help. www.sialis.org has some information about losing a parent. You should both read up if you have nestboxes. Im sorry to hear about the loss. What happened?

That's a wonderful video, joan754 - I wonder how the baby got to be so fat when it expends all that energy on flapping its wings. Is it nyjer seed that Dad's feeding it? Claire

What I notice is all the lookalike couples of all ages that I see. When observing those of unknown determination, such as during random encounters in public places sometimes I wonder if I am instead looking at brother and sister. But then they may touch or do something else that implies they are a pair. How is it that there is both a physical resemblance and they happen to be predisposed to get along? I wonder if instead there is a greater tendency to see things in a better light or to compromise when the other also looks like one's self. An interesting possible variation is that what appear to be gay couples may not as often have these shared facial features. Much smaller selection, so less apt to wait for that mirror image?