Dead birds

13 years ago

Hi,

I know nothing about birds, but moved into a rental home in southern Cali that had a bird house/ nest box outside. I opened it and found a dead mother and 4 dead babies. Very sad :( she didnt appear to be stuck, and no obvious trauma. Is it possible that she couldn't get back out of the hole she went in through? Should I take the birdhouse down?
I am not sure what kind of bird, average sized with some blue, but not completely blue...

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

surya55_gw
13 years ago
I hope an expert tells you what went wrong but I simply wanted to say I'm really sorry this happened to you. I can't imagine how she couldn't get back out, unless the food she and the babies ate was contaminated somehow?
Becky G
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you, it did make me sad. And then your mind starts to think up all kinds of depressing scenarios that could have led up to the same result. It had crossed my mind that maybe the mother ate something bad, flew back to the nest and died...
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tmann05
13 years ago
Sounds like a female western bluebird if you are in Cali. If you have no desire to attract birds to your yard and help them, then yes take any houses down you find. Any unmonitored bird houses make me sick because they usually end up full of house sparrow nests which are an invasive non native species introduced here and attack and kill any other birds that try to nest in boxes. (probably what happend to the ones you found)

However if you are interested in helpings birds please visit this website to make sure you are doing it right.

http://bluebirdnutcafe.yuku.com/topic/5934/How-I-install-a-nest-box#.UfBlZo3bPSg
Becky G
Original Author
13 years ago
Tmann- thank you for your reply. I looked up pictures of the western bluebird and although I threw out the whole family a few days ago- the adult did look like a western bluebird to the best of my recollection.... However, if this bird had been attacked wouldn't there have been obvious signs of trauma somewhere/ dried blood etc? Also, I did a very small amount of research and it says the sparrow would build a nest over the dead birds... This was not the case- it was a dead mother on top of four babies- all hatched and at least a week old if I had to make a bad guess....

I like having birds around, because I can only assume they help control pests, and since I have horses I like anything that eats bugs. Is there a different kind of birdhouse that I can be used to house the bluebirds that doesn't need to be so heavily monitored? The one that is up now is just a box with one hole. Pretty standard looking...

I appreciate the info and will read up more in the next few days...

Thank you
tmann05
13 years ago
Interesting well if there was no trauma or decapitated birds, then it is hard to say what happened. Glad you didn't have to see that, but it is real just google sparrow attacks on bluebirds. Could have been lawn pesticides or something that poisoned the birds.

Yes birds control a big population of insects. As far as different houses goes, there are different styles and sizes for different birds. It really just depends on what you want to attract. The standard boxes I use has a 1 1/2" hole. In that can fit eastern bluebirds, tree swallows, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, carolina wrens, etc.

In your area you could get Mountain bluebirds, Western Bluebirds, and violet green tree swallows.

Monitoring your bird house only has to be done about twice a week. I am in charge of 12 boxes and check on them every 3 days. A good rule is to stop checking the box when the babies are about 12 days old so they do not get scared and accidentally leave the nest early, putting them in danger. It does take a little bit of commitment but it is a really fun hobby. Feel free to join the bluebird nut cafe if you need to ask any more questions.