End Of The Season

[Dana]

Hi all –
It looks like my bluebirds are done for this season. This season wasn’t as good as last year. But you learn to take the good with the bad. Last year my nest box fledged 13 baby bluebirds. This year only 6…

1st Nesting: They had a clutch of 4 eggs in the nest. House Sparrow managed to enter the box while bluebird parents were away and pecked open all 4 eggs. The bluebirds kept looking in the nest box but wouldn’t go in. That’s how I knew something was wrong. I cleaned out the nest box and set up a Van Ert Trap and got the male house sparrow and promptly disposed of him.

2nd Nesting: Three days later the bluebirds moved back in and built a new nest. They laid 4 eggs again but only 3 hatched. Fourth egg I removed after 5 days as it never hatched and was turning brown. The 3 babies that hatched successfully fledged. I cleaned out the nest box.

3rd Nesting: A week after the 2nd brood fledged the bluebirds built a 3rd nest. Laid 4 eggs again and 3 hatched. Fourth egg was removed as it was cracked and starting to rot. All 3 babies fledged successfully. Nest box was cleaned out.

So a total of 6 new bluebirds are now in the skies! Not as many as I hoped for this season. But its way better than none. Like I mentioned you take the good with the bad. Some seasons are better than others. I sure am gonna miss them. They have since moved on but I know they’ll be back in the Fall and Winter for mealworms. Hope everyone is having a nice summer!

Dana
Lancaster, PA

[tamsea]

I’ve had two really drama filled seasons with my bluebirds…maybe three. I did a cruise this year in June and so was gone awhile and so I can’t even remember what happened this year without reviewing my notes. I feel my first few years of bluebirds were easier!

Tammy

[Author]

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