I believe I have had the same male for 4 years. He has blue farther down on his right side. I know there has been at least one female change. Something happened to the first one after the first nesting 2 years ago, But a new one showed up for the second nesting and has been here since. I would be careful where you put the feeder. I learned the hard way. I had suet on the deck for the Wood peckers, didnt think the Sharpie would come that close to the house.....WRONG. Luckly we have tons of wood peckers here, I woud have been devistated had it been a Blue.

Thanks Tammy. We're just so used to seeing the pair together that it's worrying when one of them is awol.... which you know from experience! ANYWAY - just as I got off the computer after posting last night, Papa appeared with what we thought was Mama. They were here again first thing this morning. Papa is really trying hard to get something going with the second nest, but we think this is a new female. She looks different and is quite skittish, i.e flys away when we go out with the meal worm bowl... not like "Mama" who would barely wait til it was put on the ground before coming in! Papa has been in the box a lot, she sits at the entrance hole while he's in there or close by. (He even seemed to move one pine-needle from the box to another empty box but after checking that out there was nothing inside.) He's been here a lot today just hanging out on, in or by the nest. Feel so bad for him.... At one point both Papa and this female were 'fighting' with the baby that has been hanging around them... the other 3 fledged and haven't been seen in a while, but this one keeps hanging on. Guess they were trying to give it a hint. Just wish we knew what was really going on. He seems to still want to use the nest but I don't know if the female will go for it... Guess we'll have to wait and see.

They might not be as loud as eaglets. And because of their crops, raptor babies can be fed less often than insectivore birds. "The female incubates the 3 to 5 eggs for 30 to 33 days. The male brings food and incubates the eggs when the female leaves the nest to eat. Once the 3 to 5 eggs hatch, the female broods (keeps hatchlings well covered) for about two weeks. During this time, the male continues to bring food for the female and the young. He gives the food to the female, and she feeds it to the nestlings. The young start to climb about the nest at four weeks of age, and begin to make short flights soon after. The parents continue to feed the young for up to seven weeks."

I have been hosting bluebirds for 13 seasons now & once in a while this happens. The egg was not viable apparently and the parents just left - I would imagine there were others eggs which hatched and fledged. If you were not monitoring the nestbox it would be pretty impossible to know. The bluebirds are quite tolerant of monitoring - just don't overdo it. When I have eggs in a box I look in about every 2 or 3 days to be sure there are no cracked one (this would draw ants) or one that has disappeared (could be a coon, snake, or other predator). I would go ahead & remove the nest after "weeks" and maybe they will return. Good luck.