Well the good news is that the nest is only slightly damp around the edges. The wood inside the box is damp too. I think the Duck feathers shed the rain right to the sides of the nest. Smart Mom. The even better news is that it has only made it up to 68. Tomorrows forcast has been revised to inclued strong thundershowers but now only 84 as a high. Rain will end Sat with a high of 83. I am leaving the vents taped, 68 is a little cool but Mom is on the babies now and I am sure all will be fine. Karen, it should have stopped raining there by now...so I don't think we are going to have to try flinging crickets! LOL Donna, I think your babies will be fine ( I forgot are these TRES or Blues)? I thought I warned you earlier that just when you thought you made it through all your worries a whole new set would pop up! Lots of posts in April on "how do I keep my babies warm" now we are moving on to "how do I keep my babies cool" LOL There have been some very inovative things done from putting a big smiley umbrella over the box to covering the box in styrafoam. I take an ice pack and put ON TOP of the box (not in) and cover it with a towel during the hotest part of the day. Don't really know if it helps the birds but it helps *ME* Right now your Mom is taking care of temp controll. Go back and look at pages from last summer, I am sure you will get a kick out of some of the things we have done to our boxes!

I know it's about day 5 or 6 for a Blues to raise a brood without the Mom. I want to think it would be about the same for TRES but they take more time before fledging. The bird was flat been run over, not that I could tell a male from a female anyway. We learn so much about Blue behavior but a Swallow is a completely different creature. I am ashamed of myself for not studying up on them like I have the Blues. I am just relieved that I spotted a parent, I think theres hope.

Ow, this is sad....picture isn't pretty I found a nest in my yard that had come down from a maple tree. The nest is made mostly of grass and mud, and was sitting firmly on a branch. In/under the nest was a nestling that looked to have been attacked before the nest was knocked out. I've seen robin fledgelings hopping about the yard for the past couple of weeks, so I'm wondering if anybody can ID the nestling assuming it's not a robin? Thanks, vince

Ok, these are wild birds, not pets. They are cute and we become very attached to those we monitor closely but you have to remember they are wild, they are not tame and shouldn't be tame. You can do blowfly inspections of the nests very easily without holding one of the baby birds. Besides the fact that blowflies normally feed at night and drop off the babies and go into the nest during the day. Just because you haven't caused any major problems yet doing this doesn't mean it won't happen. Monitoring nests is done to prevent problems but there are guidelines that should be followed and checking them when they are close to fledging without suspecting a problem is really a very self centered thing to do. Photo ops are not a reason to open a nestbox when you could cause them to fledge prematurely. Yes books can be rewritten but you seem to have forgotten they were written from experience. I have often checked nests every day up until day 13 then I have stopped and I don't touch the babies to do checks. Once, just once I did a blowfly inspection of a nest on day 14 and you know what happened? Later that day one of the 14 day old nestlings fledged and he couldn't fly a lick and ended up spending the night in our garage as we didn't know he was there until the next morning. I put him back in the box which then cause another to try to fledge and that one couldn't fly either, also the first baby fledged again. I had to put a hole reducer on the box to keep them in there and I hated to do that. Had I not opened that box on day 14 (and I did not touch the babies, just inspected the nest and lifted it slightly) I would not have had to put the reducer on. I took the reducer off on day 16 and they all fledged, one still couldn't fly very well though but the other three could. They did all make it though but it was lucky cause I know that one spent at least that first night on the ground. Fledgling day could have been way later had I not opened that box and the babies would not have been put in harms way because of something I did. I now do all my blowfly inspections (of the nest not the hatchlings) during the first 12 days from hatching and around day 7 I take a turner and lift the nest up and brush out the bottom dust on the nestbox floor, this is where the larva would be when they are tiny. I really think you are setting yourself up for heartbreak if you cause something bad to happen to one of your nestings because of unneeded monitoring and touching the babies. I hope you don't but you really might one of these days. Good luck to you and your Blues! Donna