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3rd nesting has fledged......

11 years ago

(My season is almost done...just one nesting of TRES left.) All five the the Blues third nesting fledged today...one egg left in the box. They are now in the woods around our house...the Blues went through a ton of mealworms today too. Hopefully in a week or so I will start seeing them around and coming to the feeder. The first nesting fledges were chased away during the second nesting but the second nesting fledges were allowed to stay for the third nesting. Only three second nesting fledges seem to have made it though one girl and two boys. This one pair of Bluebirds have fledged 18 baby blues this summer! Now I have some photos of the second nesters who have been giving me lots of photo ops lately...

Donna

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Comments (8)

lisa11310
11 years ago
WOW! Lots of babies for you! YEA! Great photos!
kendra2003
11 years ago
You sure had a prolific year. Congratulations on such a successful season! Love the pictures. They are wonderful. I wish I could get pictures that clear. Thanks so much for sharing those.
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HELP !! Momma hen has abandoned 3rd chick.
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Here's something you can try, Herringboned 28. Take one of the accepted babies and hold it gently until it screams bloody murder. Momma hen gets anxious and then almost frantic. Then put the late-hatcher and the screaming baby in with the mother at the same time. In my experience, momma is so intent on the screamer being returned to her that she never even notices that she is getting two for one. And once it's in there... well, hens can't count. This trick is easier where larger numbers of chicks with mom. In this case, with only two accepted chicks, it might work best if you kidnap both of them. If you wear something with loose sleeves you can tuck the third chick up your sleeve so that it is less obvious to the hen what you are up to. It should be easy to release it with the one you are holding in that hand. I take no credit for this method. Someone's kid thought it up and his mother posted it on one of the forums a long time ago. I thought it was cute and clever -- and so I remembered it when I needed it last summer. Worked like a charm... and the advantage over sneaking it under at night is you don't have to be up at the crack of dawn to make sure mom isn't pecking on it. You can just hang around for a bit at a civilized hour of the day. Towards evening might be the best time... that way they will soon sleep and the little chick will have time on its side to get used to life under a momma hen.
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Second Brood has FLEDGED!! God Speed little ones!
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Congratulations on a successful fledging. I don't know why the adults would visit the nest when their young have fledged. My only guess would be to draw potential predators away from where their young are in the trees. If you watch for a while, do the adults then take off into the trees? While I've never had them revisit an empty nest, they do tend to land in a few locations where their babies are not hiding before heading out to feed them.
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3rd nest underway - 1st & 2nd nester photos
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What a bunch of cuties!! Lucky you to get three nestings!! We have one box of TRES that fledged 5 here in the yard, a box of 2 Blues at the park that fledged and my 4 Dees here in my yard should be going any day now. Have four Blues babies in the box that are six days old today. Two more boxes of TRES in the yard with babies and two at the park with babies then I have two pairs of TRES nestbuilding yet after loosing their first brood to the cold weather we had a week+ ago. Weather has now been nice and warm. Donna Donna
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3rd nesting?
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Comments (3)
yes my box is baffled and the nest is not messed up at all.I wonder if I had a visit from a HOWR while I was gone.I know one baby was hatching the day we left.I think you must be right though,something happened to that last nesting.I had no problem with HOWR all summer,so I had not put on a wren guard.If thats what it was,I guess I am glad I was not here.I just looked out and Daddy is on top of the box.Guess I will just have to wait and see when this batch hatches,cause I have no idea when the eggs were layed.Time will tell,I'll keep you posted....Jane
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sagrinin
11 years ago
I am on my 3rd nesting I think. First one had four eggs, then the nest was abandoned. Didn't see the blues for awhile,then the eggs were on the ground. Not viable at all. 2nd nesting there were 4 eggs, two fledged, 2 died, one very small one and one normal size. 3rd nesting, 3 eggs, 3 hatched, 17 days old. Saw them at 12 days old. Havent checked since for fear premature fledging. Saw Mama this morning a couple of times at the box, saw her once this evening get an insect but didn't go to the box. Doesn't seem to be any activity around the box. Could be they have fledged. Haven't checked. I will wait a couple of more days to make sure. I don't know if I would know the difference between an adult and baby. Haven't seen any around today but one, I think it was the mother.
kendra2003
11 years ago
Sagrinin, the babies will look like the pictures above. They have a lot of splotches. When they first fledge it is sometimes hard to see them in the trees. The splotches hide them pretty well. But you should hear them begging for food when the parent birds are nearby. They could have fledged, but you are wise to wait a few more days before opening the box. If momma Blue is coming to the box with insects, but not entering, it may mean she is trying to entice them out.
sagrinin
11 years ago
Thanks Kendra, I will keep watching. Havent seen any around the box this evening. Will watch for the next couple of days. Just hope nothing has happened to them. Scares me to open the box.
ohsoblue77
11 years ago
BEAUTIFUL young guns!

You sure had a great season! Though I'm still so young, I'll be LUCKY to ever see the day my bluebirds produce a 3rd brood. It just seems IMPOSSIBLE around here. It never times out right.

~Tim~
ncbluebirder
11 years ago
Wow - great pics! What lens length are you using to get that close? I'm jealous - never can get close enough with a 50-200mm. Those are wonderful...
dzyg
Original Author
11 years ago
NCbluebirder....these shots are taken through a window with the camera being about 16-18 feet away from the birds. I am using an old Canon S3IS superzoom, has a 12x zoom and then I have a 1.7x teleconverter added on to that.

Donna

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