New Nest already

Had a surprise yesterday. I had been expecting to see the little ones fledge during the day. The male and female were darting in and out of the nest box and I thought that they were feeding the young birds and encouraging them to fledge. I saw the female light on the shepherds hook near the box with what I thought looked like a large insect in her beak. I got my binoculars to see what it was. It was a large piece of a weed or straw. So I went out to see what was going on.
The young had fledged and the birds were building a new nest on top of the old one. I have never seen this happen before. So I removed the old nest and put a few of the pieces of the new nesting material back in the box. I usually take the box down after the young have fledged to clean it. Not this time.
I believe that all 5 of the little ones fledged as I did not find the one that I had put back in the nest earlier at the bottom of the old nest – so there are 5 new bluebirds out in the trees this morning. I watched the adults taking mealworms from the feeder and flying into a big maple tree where they have brought the little ones in the past.
It looks like the new nest is growing – about an inch of material so far. They must be trying for four clutches this year.

• This topic was modified 2 weeks, 3 days ago by David in Stafford,VA.