i was reading this thread with interest. i have a situation where it appears i have 8 bluebirds who have hatched in one nest (thursday may 2, they were born). it may be 9, it's hard to tell. while monitoring the nest in late april i noticed what appeared to be eggs missing from the 3 that had been laid earlier in that week. the reality was that the eggs had been pushed down deeper into the nest and covered with pine straw. the mother kept coming back (may have been another species coming in and covering the egg with straw? i have seen no house sparrows here at all) and eventually she started laying again. turns out, there were 10 eggs total in this nest when she was done! i guess five from the first attempt and 5 after that. bottom line, 8 babies are in there now. i'm putting out meal worms twice a day and making sure there's lots of water nearby in the bird bath, and plenty of shelled sunflower seeds for the parents nearby in that feeder. anyone ever seen or heard of a situation like this?

Linda, I think a hawk would have gotten more than a wing. That sounds like it's possibly a cat attack. Whatever, I'm sorry. We know that the odds of a bluebird fledgling making it for a full year are slim and that's why they nest as often as 3, even 4 times in some areas, a year, but it's always sad witness one who has died. I've found baby dees buried deep in a nest when I cleaned out the box and figured that they were too large for the adults to remove when they died. Two fledged and two were buried. Needless to say I have no idea why two died and two made it.

Well, like Lisa and Kendra said, it's neither of those birds if it's made of twigs. Sounds like a pesky House Wren to me too. They will fill up every box you have with twigs. Go and check any other boxes. The Chickadees use a thick layer of green moss covered by soft fibers. Bluebirds use mostly pine straw. I have included pics of both that I took in my yard. Carolina Chickadee Nest Eastern Bluebird Nest

We have had bluebirds in our yard every year but this year so far I have not seen them. I really hope they come back. Your photos are so good. Enjoyed looking at them. Here is a link that might be useful: Bird Watching In Our Backyard.