Oh no Tim!! If I ever smell something dead at a nestbox irregardless of the age of the nestlings.. I will open the box and check it out, better to get what is dead out to help any remaining from sitting in there with a decomposing body. You mentioned blowfly...how many where there in the nest? I think it normally affects the nestlings when they are younger though not the ready to fledge ones but they say if there are greater than 10 per nestling it could be deadly. I have lost nestlings to blowfly but this was when they were approx 8 days old.
Sometimes you just never know what happened.

I was so hoping you would have a successful end to your season! At least the others seem to have made it out and you only lost two though and not the whole nesting!!

My season is almost done..just four TRES nestlings left and they will be gone any day now.

Donna

Donna, there was a fair share under the nest and a good amount on the nestbox floor.

I should have opened the box about a day earlier. There's a lesson learned.

I'm glad that at least half the brood made it.

Good luck to your final nestlings!

~Tim~

I too was so hoping you'd have a successful fledging. You work so hard it this. I'm sorry for your loss. I know you did everything you could. Sometimes we just don't know what happened.

I stumbled upon your post when I was trying to determine what happened to my 2nd brood, and the post was all too familiar.

We've had successful broods for 5 years until this round. I did notice that the female nested several weeks later in the season than they have in the past few years and I'm wondering if the heat wave has been to blame for this brood's demise.

Our female bluebird incubated for almost 3 weeks (I keep daily notes on the cycle), and we were certain that the heat wave was too much for the eggs. On day 19, I was shocked to see that 3 of the 4 eggs had hatched, although only 2 of the birds gaped when I looked in.

The next day only one bird was in the box! No sign of the nestlings anywhere on the ground, no sparrows, etc. or signs of misconduct. I suspected that they had died and possibly they had been removed by the female. Does anyone know whether the adult blues will remove dead nestlings?

When I checked on him yesterday, he looked rough - listless and unusual. Photo is from day 5 - seems like the nestling would've had more feathers by day 5.

Today, day 6, this baby has disappeared from the nest.

Tim - I too thought something was funny about this brood, although I never actually saw them dead. I do wonder if the heat had anything to do with the health of these nestlings. Maybe that's what happened to yours, too. Are you located in the south? It is an anomaly and I worry that they won't nest again in our yard.

Will look for any other clues as to what might have happened when I clean the box out, but it is indeed a loss - we all get attached to the little guys...

No NC, I actually live in Ohio!

The neighborhood with this brood had many loses. The 1st brood had 5 eggs. Only 2 hatched and they perished within 3 days or so of life.

Later on I found Mr. bluebird dead in the grass in the yard,standing straight up, no sign of attack. 1st bluebird I had to bury in a while :(

I removed the nest contents, and the bluebirds built over the old nest. So I removed the entire thing. Again they built a nest over top the old. This was the brood of 4.

NC, contrary to what others say, I HAVE had bluebirds use a box in which a previous nest attempt ended in failure.

I heard and saw a couple of the fledglings from my brood of five here at home! However I didn't see more than 3-4 birds. Now I'm worried that 3 of the 5 may not have survived this long. Previously, all 5 were alive about a week after fledge. Wish I could get to see them more! They've ventured farther out of the neighborhood more.

~Tim~

Ohsoblue - that's true - it would be nice to see the juveniles more often! Only once have I had the juvies come back and hang out around the house - see pic.

It's troubling to read that your male was found dead - that would be devastating! I guess we're both used to seeing them do well and now we've both experienced losses. I think that Ohio's climate is similar to NC in the summer - maybe the heat is to blame there as well.

The good news today is that both male and female were back this morning and visited the 2nd bluebird box that I have. So hopefully these, or others, will nest again. I don't recall whether they have broods in the fall or not...

Take a walk through your neighborhood and listen for the bluebirds - they may be some of yours! : )

NC I got to see them once more. This was within the last week. I saw 5 birds, no ID on who was juvenile and who was adult.

~Tim~