after 40 years!!!!

allan_2009

17 years ago

Never had Bluebirds before-Live on the Chesapeake near Annapolis-100 ft from water-had tons of Martins,wrens, cardinals, and an ocasional Balt oriole. Bought 2 eight hole (castle type ) round houses in N.C. Loe & behold, momma blue bird is on her 2 nd batch in one of the bottom apartments!! Raised at least 3 in the first batch & dad helped feed her & babies after dissapearing for about a week. No other birds in other rooms- snake guard on pole. House sits 50 ft from water about 7 ft up. I'm on my 3rd bag of 2,000 mealies! House "not by the book" but I'm NOT complaining- even saw another pair looking at the other house in the front yard--"When it rains, it pours"!!!!! ALLAN

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Comments (6)

kendra2003
17 years ago
After 40 years, a big congratulations is in order. That is great!
rebecca57
17 years ago
It took me 5 years to finally get successful. I live in Ga. Please keep checking Sialis.org. You will learn so much! Oh, and post here with any questions or concerns. You are family now!
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lazypup
17 years ago
I am in N.E. Ohio (5 miles S.W. of the point where I-80 crosses the Ohio/Pa state line).

I am 62 yrs old and for the first 20yrs of my life I lived on a dairy farm about 6 miles from here. In those days this entire region was polluted by the steel mills, but the mills closed in the late 70's and the every year we see more and more species of birds and animals returning here that we only read about as kids.

Just this year I got my first look at Bluebirds & Baltimore Orioles. We currently have two families of bluebirds nesting in a pine about 60ft from our back door and the orioles are nesting in a pine right beside it.

Immediately to the east of our house is a 18acre field and we see upwards of 12 deer out there every day. Sometimes the deer actually come in our back yard.

Two weeks ago i got a quick snapshot of a flock of 21 wild turkeys out in the field and we have Bald Eagles nesting in a woodlot about 250 yrs behind our house. I actually got to see the mother eagle teaching a pair of eglets how to fly. What an experience that was. One of the eglets actually landed in our yard and the mother sat on a limb about 60 ft above the house encouraging it to fly again.

There is one pair of birds that frequent our yard that I have not been able to identify. They are bright yellow with coal black wings and a black crown on their heads. at first i thought they were goldfinches but when i saw them up close they are much larger than finches. These birds are as big as a robin or bluejay.

We have flocks of gold finches so it is easy to see these are not finches when they are all together in the yard.
bigmatt
17 years ago
Allan,
Thats, Great !
You say there are tons of Martins,Are they nesting in the same house with the Blues?Do you have any Bluebird houses setup ,besides the Martin house?How is your House Sparrow population?I also live in Maryland,I monitor 2 small trails,working on setting up another.I am hosting 2 pairs at the moment.I have had a tough time this season with the HOSP,I have trapped a least 11 pairs trying to use boxes,I lost a CACH in May,and lost a Male EABL last weekend ,due to HOSP attack.Keep on your toes.I am hearing a lot more Bluebird chatter in Maryland this season.

Matt
Balt. MD
ken3592
17 years ago
That's awesome, Allan, congrats!

Lazypup, that bright yellow bird you mentioned sounds like it might be an Evening Grosbeak, Eastern Meadowlark, or a Yellow-Breasted Chat. I felt like trying to identify it after hearing your description, ha.
allan_2009
Original Author
17 years ago
Bigmatt- Thanks for the warning we have plenty of sparrows. Mrs BB is ALONE in round house(8 appts) & Martin houses are 125 ft away on end of pier. I have a BB house 5 ft from her but she choose round house so I put a bowl on single BB house for mealies. Good luck with your BB's & GO ORIOLES & RAVENS( teams that is) Allan

after 40 years!!!!

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after 40 years!!!!

Comments (6)

kendra2003

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allan_2009Original Author

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allan_2009
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