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All fledged

11 years ago

My 2nd nest of bluebirds, 5 of them, fledged yesterday. The other nest with 4 tree swallows fledged 4 days ago. I am left with 2 very dirty nests, I am so happy. I normally only get 1 clutch per year.

Earlier the 2nd clutch of BB suffered a setback where 3 eggs were pierced and smashed. But the parents rebuilt and produced 5 more babies. The fledglings of the 1st clutch would come for mealworms and carry them to feed the babies all the time. At one time I saw a fledgling begging for mealworm, and then carried it to the nestbox after getting from the Mom, pretty cute. I am running out of my 10,000 mealworms :-)

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Comments (4)

ohsoblue77
11 years ago
Oh wow, are those Western Bluebirds?? The coloration of the one on the let certainly looks so to me.

Congrats on the successful fledging! I also don't usually get 2 broods, but that's because the first attempt always manages to end in failure in SOME WAY.

I wish these species didn't have it so tough. It's sad to think we will probably never see as many of them as we do Robins.

Enjoy the rest of your summer and your successes!

~Tim~
dzyg
11 years ago
Congrats on the successful fledging! This year for the first time I had three successful broods out of one pair of Blues! The last one just fledged on Sunday. So cool you are seeing the first nesting fledges feed the second nesting ones....I have never seen that but have heard others that had.

My orders of 10,000 mealworms go very quickly...last one only lasted two weeks! I have Blues, Dees and Chipping Sparrows eating the mealworms.

Donna
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Comments (9)
no these are both Blue Bird babies. They are in a cam box. I saw mom lay the eggs. Though I did not get to see this batch hatch,I did see the eggs at 10 pm and the 2 hatched babies at 10 am the next morning. Within minutes of my last post big baby girl nearly followed mom out of the box. They may be leaving tomorrow. The good news is that little boy blue (named by Donna)seemed to be visually following a fly today. I am not sure if he actually saw it or if he was just following the noise, but it was enough for me to think that he may be sighted. He seems perfect in every way except his size and eyes. Both babies were getting in some good wing flapping. I think if little boy blue can see, he is about ready for the world, he may be a bit "slow" but he seems to know he was meant to fly. I dont have to go anywhere till Friday afternoon so I can be on constant watch. I will let you all know.
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Comments (4)
I enjoyed reading this tonight after a very busy weekend and want to thank you so much for sharing this. Your birding experiences are so interesting. I loved seeing the little bluebird finally make the leap in the movie and all of your photos are so incredible. Poor little mama bluebird with the hurt leg. I sure hope it heals correctly enough for her to get use from it. She is very unique in appearance and I wonder if any of her babies will look like her. Please keep us posted if you see any resemblance. The high winds have been so hard on our little birds this year.
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The babies are near death! So sad!
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Comments (1)
It sounds like something happened to both parents. There are bird rescuers. Did you read the link on the home page here about what to do in an emergency. Hope it's not too late. I have had a male raise a batch of young ones and last year it was a female that raised a batch. I never have more than one batch a year here in Michigan.
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Today's arrivals? Tree Swallows! 3 pics
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Comments (8)
Hi Sue, There is a "Tree Swallow Protocol" which describes how to set two or three bluebird boxes in such a way (distance and angles) so that a pair of each, BBs and TSs, will nest near one another, and protect one another from intruders of their same species. It's also used to get Tree Swallows, Blue Birdss, and Purple Martins to nest peacefully near (25-35 ft.) one another. You may have to muddle through the site, but it's worth the effort. I'm including a link. It really does work. In my case, I don't allow the TSs to nest in the PM rack. I will close off the gourd they want and move it about 30 feet away. If there are TSs nesting within 25-35 feet of the Purple Martin rack, they will not bother the martins, but they also won't allow any other TSs to come close. TSs win; PMs win; Carol's happy. Here is a link that might be useful: Tree Swallow Protocol for nesting birds
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kendra2003
11 years ago
Are those the fledglings from your previous clutch? What a beautiful picture. Congratulations on a successful fledge. How cool that the first clutch feeds the second.
out_about
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you all!

I am not exactly sure but since I am in CO I think they are Western BB.

Yah, they are the fledglings from the 1st brood. At one time, 4 fledglings (never saw all 5 them together) and parents were at the feeding time, all tried to bring mealworms to the nestbox, quite a traffic jam. Sometimes a fledgling would bring a mealworm in, then comes out with the same mealworm, so apparently they are not quite a skilled caregiver yet. Below is a fledgling checking the nestbox.

The same BB pair has come for the last 3 years. I know they are the same because they know the where the mealies are right away, even when I place the bowel inside the "jail house" feeder.

Until next year :-)

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