What time did you see them last night? I'm sure they do fledge first thing in the morning. I've also had a clutch that fledged right before dark. They are really hard to spot in the trees, but if you watch where the parents go with the mealworms, and listen for them begging, you can sometimes spot them. My Blues usually bring their young back to show them the feeder and the bird bath within a week of fledging. Hopefully you'll be seeing them soon.

I checked the nesting box before I came inside for the night last night. It was probably about 7:30 p.m. It will be fun to watch them when they come back to my yard. I think they are in the trees in the neighbor's yard, but not 100% sure. Thanks.

mlkbskt, when you say you checked the box at 7:30 last night, did you mean you opened the box and looked in? If so I would say they probably fledged shortly after you did that. You shouldn't open the box after day 12/13 from hatching to prevent premature fledging. Since it was day 18, they probably should have been all able to fly well but had you not checked the box maybe you would have gotten to see them go this weekend like you were hoping. Hopefully they all made it fine!

Donna

Today = 18 days since 1st 3 baby bluebirds hatched in my frontyard birdhouse and 17 days since the other 2 baby bluebirds hatched. We had a rainstorm late yesterday, so I thought the babies would not come out until this morning. Fortunately, it was a "normal" rainstorm without all the high winds we've had in the last couple of months.

I got up very early this morning and I think there is only 1 left in the box. I hear his lonely little sad chirping and have seen the dad bluebird 5 times since 7:00 a.m. come to this one. They could have come more times, but this is all I have seen. The next to last time the dad bluebird just popped his head in the box and did not feed the baby, or I didn't see anything in his mouth to feed as he went in, but the baby quieted down for a while. The last time, he did feed the baby and checked in on him 3 times, and "bonked" his reflection in my window 3 times. He doesn't see me as the room is dark and he sees only the reflection of what is outside.

I saw 1 in the backyard kid's playhouse and this one was soaking wet. It could have been that he just got wet from the heavy dew we have here today. The babies seem to love the little shed and kid's playhouse we have because they are also made of the cedar that their house is made of. My husband said that they probably think they are in a giant birdhouse - lol.

I hear at least 1 in the tall trees in the woods in back of our house making the same little sounds asking to be fed.

I so much wanted to see them fledge this time, but I guess I missed it again. The only thing I can hope is that I can sit where I am in the bedroom window where I have a direct view of the birdhouse opening and hope that this last one fledges today or tomorrow. I'm really not sure he'll be ready to leave until tomorrow, so I've got a long wait in store, especially since I have to be getting ready for my son's wedding.

Donna, No. I did not open the nesting box. I know better. I do read Sialis.com. Anyway, when I checked Friday night, I looked into the hole in the front of the box to see if they were still there. They were.

So, when do you think they will be back in my yard again?

I can only speak from my experience.

I don't feed the birds, but a group that was in my back yard in Spring of 2009 left under dire circumstances when they fledged. I came home to a snake lying under the house and all the birds in the neighborhood were screaming. We got rid of the snake and put snake away under the house and I worried for 3 weeks whether they had all made it or not. 3 weeks later on a Sunday morning, the daddy bluebird brought themm all back for us to see. Well, it seemed that way to me, anyway, and I was greatly relieved because all 5 babies were with him. He used to come up and sit on the fence about 10 feet from us and watch his birdhouse.

It seems if they've been fed, that they would come back sooner.

A snake?! Oh ick. I'm glad your babies got out safely. Thanks for telling me your experience. I am hoping to see them back at the feeder and/or birdbath, AND I sure hope for a 2nd brood in my nesting box too.

I have a full, completed nest made of white pine needles in my nesting box tonight, just four days after the five babies fledged. Mama has been building, Papa has been staking his claim to the box, and both Mama and Papa take mealworms to the trees to feed the fledglings. I am so excited to think I may get a 2nd brood. ~Margie

Congrats on the new nest! Sounds like things are going like clockwork for you! That is great the adults are still feeding the fledglings, last year I had 5 fledglings and the adults started a new nest 2-3 days after fledging and that was all they were interested in, they stayed in the yard and didn't take care of the fledglings. Somehow two of them made it though. This year I have the same female but I think she has matured as the babies fledged today and she has been taking worms from the feeder to feed them. Last year once they fledged she never took any worms to them from the feeder at all. The male this year is doing great too with feeding them. Not sure if all six are out of the box yet or not. I did see two of them fledge. Plus I have another pair of Blues starting a new nest in a different house on our property! They won't get the benefits of the mealworm feeder though as that is in the first pairs territory.

Donna

Thanks for your post, Donna. I cannot wait to get home after work tonight and check the box. I put new mylar on the sparrow spooker last night, so I'm ready just in case. This is pretty exciting for me as the current fledglings are my 1st successful nest and now hopefully a 2nd brood the same year. I feel very fortunate!

Very interesting about the territorial blues and your other blues not having access to the mealworm feeder. Won't they even try to visit it?

Should I do anything? The last baby is still in the box. The parents hardly came to feed him yesterday. He sounds strong and not distressed when he chirps. This is the beginning of Day 20 since hatching for this one. I'm posting on here since I already had so much information about him and his family on this line. If I don't hear from anyone I'll repost under a new posting.

I'm just devastated. The little baby did not make it through the night. I had seen the daddy a few times during the day, so I assumed they were feeding him like they should. I have read on Sialis that bluebirds fledge a few days after the others, so I thought he would be all right. He looks so perfect in every way, he just was not big enough to get out and join the world as fast as his brothers and sisters. So sad. :(

Margie, the Blues that are nesting in our yard (just fledged yesterday) use the mealworm feeder on the deck. The other Bluebirds are at the back of our lot which is about 300+ feet from the nestbox the first pair used. Plus there is a woods in between so the other pair of Bluebirds won't even probably come in to our yard at all. I think they will stay more at the back of the lot (next to a hay field) and over to my brother in laws yard as it is closer to the nestbox. I had two nesting pairs like this last year too, no conflicts as their territories never crossed. The backlot pair, even if they did come up in our yard, wouldn't know what the mealworm feeder was anyway as Blues need to be trained to come to feeders. I have a jailhouse style feeder to keep out the larger birds so a Bluebird would show no interest in it unless it had been trained to know there were worms in the dish.

Hope your second nesting is as successful as the first! I am hoping my six babies all make it and stay around for the second nesting. This was the first time I ever had a Bluebird lay six eggs! I was so glad to see this morning when I checked the box that they all had fledged too!

Katie...I am so sorry about that baby Blue. You would think they would have kept feeding it. I do have some advice though if this ever happens again. I had heard from someone that has been Bluebirding for quite a few years that he thought the adults forgot about two babies that remained in the box, so what he did was open the door of the box and propped it open. It worked for him, the adults then started feeding the ones that hadn't fledged yet. Not sure if this would always help but can't hurt. You would think at day 20 that little one would have been a pretty good flyer too!

Donna