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Bluebird babies (already fledged)

12 years ago

Hi all...we have been having bluebirds for about 5 yrs and have encountered something new. Our last brood fledged 3 weeks ago. New eggs are laid should hatch this week. We feed them mealworms but all of a sudden mom and dad are chasing babies away from food. We've never seen this before, anyone have ideas??

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Comments (2)

kendra2003
12 years ago
Sure, it's very normal. The poor young ones get fed and then one day they do their usual begging, and the parents will harass them and chase them away. While they don't always do this, it is very common. I always feel sad for the poor fledglings as they look so confused why their parents are now shooing them away. I don't worry about them though, as I'm sure the parents know when their young are able to feed for themselves. It has been my experience that the final clutch does not get chased away. They only do this when they're ready to tend to the next clutch.
hallright
12 years ago
2 of the babies from our last clutch are still hanging around. They will beg, but I haven't observed the parents feeding them anymore. Interesting thing happened yesterday. There are 4 new eggs which the female is incubating. I observed one of the fledglings enter the box, and he/she never came out! It was late afternoon...quite warm...Was he snuggling with the female?
couldnt guess.
I will add that during a very cold spell in the winter, every evening 5 bluebirds would arrive and crowd into the house. In the morning, they would fly out, one by one, wake up a little, then fly off. But every evening, they would arrive, one by one, and go back into their "bedroom " together!
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Lisa: Thanks for your post. I did not see the babies last week, husband did. I have checked the nest- it is empty. I have heard some twitter out in the forest that adjoins our grounds- I'd like to think it might be the fledglings, but that may be wishful thinking. Things have been hectic lately so I have not opened the box as faithfully as in past years. There are no broken shells or feathers in box or on ground underneath. The nest was completely clean. We've never had racoons; I have heard owls very far off, but they have never appeared on the property. This box is close to our screen porch and under my office window, so I can usually monitor it by sight most of the time. This box has been in use since 2003; it's had at least one clutch per year. There's another box closer to the woods, and I've seen Mom and Dad Bluebird checking it out in the last two days. I've already cleaned out the box in question, and am going to install a baffle. It's silly to think that standing sentinel during the day will keep the nest box safe at night. Thanks again for your help.
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Thank you Lisa. Now the parents took the mealworm and flew away, so I opened the box this morning. All babies are gone, evidently fledged. There is a half build new nest on top of the old one. I think that I will remove the old one, and keep the new one in there. I think that the new one was build by a different female, not the Mom.
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Yes, that white blob was a fecal sack. They will not continue to use the nest box (though they may come back for a second nesting) so it is a good time to clean it out. Do remove the old nest because it could be crawling with all sorts of things and also because if they build on top of it, they will be too close to the entrance and some avian predator could grab them through the hole. From my experience, they tend to take off for a while, though you may hear the babies begging for food in the trees. If you feed them, they will probably come back in a week or so with their young and teach them to eat from the feeder.
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Comments (2)
Thanks Kenn, there were four. I cleaned out the nestbox yesterday and took down the spooker. That was the cleanest nest I have ever removed from a birdhouse! There was only one spot of poop in the house! I found about 10 live mealworms too and two of them grew to be very large, wonder if they were feeding on the blowworm larva, there were a few of them in the bottom too, not many though. I actually had a feeling they might leave early just cause they were getting fed however I did have a nestbox at the park this year that fledged on day 16 also. Normally around here it is day 19. I am really wondering if there is time for another nesting or not, I am thinking not but you never know. A pair at the park is sitting on eggs right now on their second nesting but I don't know if there is enough time for this pair in our yard or not. My first year of bluebirding I did have a nest that fledged in August but none last year. This year at the park the pair is about 10 days behind last years schedule. The second pair at the park never started a new nest yet. I see them often with the babies, not sure if they found a natural cavity or not. It has been three weeks since they fledged. Donna
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