Bluebirds, nests, and a hurt baby?
Wow! Our bluebirds are definitely back! Saturday morning was a flurry of activity with the male actively recruiting/lobbying for the female to start another nest in our nestbox and the female eating all the mealworms we would supply. Each time she flew close to the box (he has officially reclaimed the spot as his perch and not the catbird’s) he would start the most excited bluebird chirping I’ve ever heard from them. A few times she landed and re-explored the box (much to his joy), so I think the real estate transaction has been finalized!
I also got to see at least one of the juveniles from the first brood again, and I’m pretty sure I saw two of the newest fledglings for the first 
time. I got a picture of one of them on the rail of our deck, but then it did the strangest thing…right after it awkwardly grabbed a seed in its mouth, it went flat on the rail. I’m not sure if it was a seizure, a defense instinct, or if the rail was just a warm place to lie down for ten seconds, but it was kind of scary. I wasn’t sure if it was hurt or needed help, so I just watched and held my breath. Then it got up, fluffed its feathers, and flew off like nothing had happened. Really weird…does anyone know what it
was? I’d love to hear from you.
Finally, I thought I’d seen the robins feeding at their nest this weekend, so this morning I checked for nestlings…instantly I was confronted by multiple robins 
sounding the alarm very LOUDLY (probably saying “Egg thief! Egg thief!”). I stuck my camera over the edge of the nest and confirmed by photo that they must just have been rolling their eggs over. So, the count is two eggs, several angry robins, no nestlings, and one shaken photographer.
Lots more good pictures to show you on another day! Dave
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Comments
Dave, how long after the fledglings clear the nest does it take for a male/female to do it again???? Do we need to clean out the nest??? I don’t think so since I read that we only need to clean them out in the winter…
My babies left this week—and I wasn’t around to see them leave. I’m almost sad today–and ready for another brood!!!!
That was crazy about that little one lying down.. Wonder what was going on???
Thanks, Betsy from Tennessee
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Betsy, we just had our second brood fledge right at the end of June, and the parents have yet to start another nest. After our first brood fledged, it was several weeks before they started a nest again…I’ve read reliable sources on both sides of the nestbox cleaning issue, but most of the ones I’ve seen say to remove the old nest. It gets rid of potential blowfly larvae or other pests like ants. One source even said to flush the nestbox out with a hose and then let it dry. We’ve emptied it each time, and the bluebirds don’t seem to mind putting in a fresh nest. The old nests were pretty much flattened anyway. Don’t worry though, after a week or two of not seeing the parents or babies, your bluebird family will return to your feeders (especially if you have some mealworms for them)!
That was a great picture you captured of the baby all sprawled out! Have you seen any more sign of the fledglings? Do they seem okay? Are the parents still coming around, and have they begun a new nest yet? Looking forward to another blog entry! :)
Thanks Dave. We did clean out the nest.. SO–we’ll see what happens next. I have never fed the birds before—so this morning, I put some food (but no takers yet). How long does it take for them to start seeing the food???? I know it’s good to put it out early in the morning. I didn’t get it out today until about 8:00–so will put it out about 6:00 tomorrow. I took it up at 10:30. Where do you buy mealworms? I did put out some raisins and currents today–since I had read that bluebirds also like them. Like I said–I’m a novice at this… Thanks for your help!
Nicole, stay tuned! New post coming later today!
Betsy, no worries! Novices quickly become more experienced when they are good learners like you. Seeing the food all depends on the habits of the bluebirds you have. They will likely be absent completely for another week or so while they train the fledglings (high up in the trees and out of sight, at least that has been our experience). Once you start seeing them again, then quickly get the food out…of course you may have some other fun customers come in the meantime if you keep putting things out each morning! We get our mealworms from the local bird store here(Wild Birds Unlimited is a national chain store that sells them). You can also order them (cheaper) online.
Dave, I love your photos! We have our third family for this year in the box and are wondering how long they usually feed the babies before they fly. In all the years that we have had bluebirds we have only managed to catch the flying lessons two times. So we are anxiously watcing this time.
Thank you!
Jan, thank you very much! You are more experienced with the bluebirds than me, but the books I’ve read say bluebirds fledge sometime between day 16 and 21. So, you have almost three weeks of feeding before they fly away. Hope this helps and that you catch the big moment!
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Your blog is so colorful, fun to read, and well put together! It was fun to catch up on the last several entries! You take great photos!! :)