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To add, a question: I know to clean out the nest. box at the end of the season. What I’ve read about cleaning the nest box after the young have fledged is that it is not necessary, but a nest box can be cleaned after the young have fledged. What do you think is best?
In my experience it’s definitely necessary to clean out the box. Bluebirds tend to ignore boxes that look used. But there’s no need to use a bleach water mixture unless it’s infested with mites or something. Just remove the nest and scrape out the sides and floor with a paint scraper.
Tammy
The first of the young fledged earlier this morning. I watched as it happened. Incredible.
I have observed the other one appear at the opening to the nest box a few times, but don’t know why it didn’t follow the first one out of the nest box. I’ve observed both parents go to the nest box and peer inside, and female has gone fully into the nest box a few times. The female has carried food into the nest and carried waste out.
It is slightly windy, off and on. I wonder if that is a factor.
Congrats. It’s hard to catch sometimes!!!
It isn’t the norm for them to follow each other out, for one to fledge immediately after the other. I’ve seen ducks do it but not other cavity birds. But sometimes it’s 10 minutes apart but it could be hours.
The others will probably fledge today but there might be one that fledges tomorrow. I wouldn’t check the box until Saturday When you do open it do it slowly and make a quick peek.Tammy
Thanks.
I’ve found one can tell a lot from the behavior of the parents, which makes sense. The other day I noted to myself that both the male and female were spending a lot of time near the nest box on the arms of the feeder pole, like they were waiting. At the same time, they visited the nest box less frequently. I figured fledge day was about to happen, even if I was or watching the calendar.
By the way, as to the alertness of these birds, I notice the male was very agitated and he was hovering about the compost pile. I got up and walked out to the pile, slowly, and looked around. Then I saw just the nose of a black snake. When the snake saw me it pulled back into the hole in the pile. Impressive little bird with good eyesight.
Cool! They do recognize danger. Those little fledglings are so susceptible to cats attacks, hawk attacks etc because they can’t fly well at all. They can’t land well either. They might stay around your house for a week and they may take them away and teach them to eat. Sometimes I see them again after that.
Tammy
Yeah. The fledgling headed straight for a Crepe Myrtle that is full of Spanish Moss and only about 20 yards or so away from the nest box. I did see it on the feeder pole with the male a little later, but that was only for a moment and then it went back to the Crepe Myrtle. The nest mate still hadn’t left the nest box as of noon here, but the adults are still hanging around and occasionally visiting the nest box.
Some more about environment, and a hypothesis. I mentioned the snake. After I had looked at the snake and then returned to the porch, Mockingbirds discovered the snake, or else they came to see what the Bluebird was upsetting the bluebird. One landed on the compost pile and was raising and holding its wings spread out, and stretching up like standing on tiptoe, and making what appeared to be attacking moves. I couldn’t see the snake from my location, but this went on for a little while. After a time, I watched the snake come out and slither off. I should add that the snake is a long-time resident and makes appearances several times a year, and once or twice in the past I’ve seen the mocking birds chasing it across the yard.
The hypothesis is about the benefit of having feeders that attract birds even as one is trying to host nesting Bluebirds. I think the collective early warning they give each other is a great service. I don’t know if the Bluebirds pay attention to the doves or not, but sometimes you see them all freeze, not moving a muscle for minutes; and sometimes the whole flock will take off in mass with a great noise of flapping wings. I’m sure, as observant the bluebirds seem to be, they must be watching and listening to the other birds for that early warning of a threat that they cannot actually see yet themselves. I’ve heard the birds making a racket when a hawk is close. All the birds must be in tune with each other in this way. So maybe it is a good thing to attract a variety of other birds, except House sparrows, of course.
I’ve been watching the nest box for about an hour now from the porch. A male and a female have visited the feeder and also the fence, but separately. The male has only perched on an arm of the pole for a moment and then left. The female grabbed something from the feeder once. They don’t behave as if they are together. Neither have gone to the nest box.
I’m hoping the other of the young fledged yesterday after noon when I wasn’t watching. I will still wait until tomorrow to look inside the nest box.
It does appear the Bliebird parents are done with the nest.
You are probably the most observant bluebirder I’ve ever met. LOL.
I think you can take a peek inside the box now if that’s what you’re observing.Tammy
Hah hah. Observation served me well when I was working. All things taken into account, sitting on the porch and watching the birds is more rewarding.
I just noticed three birds dancing around at the top of the Crepe Myrtle. By the time I got the binoculars up to look, there was a female Bluebird perched in the spot and the other two had disappeared into the tree. The Mom and two babies? I hope so.
A question. So, the female flew off after a few moments, but she wasn’t followed. Do the babies follow the parents around, or will the mom park them somewhere for a while? When the female flew off, she flew off into the distance over the houses behind us.
Sometimes the fledglings follow the parents around and sometimes they do their own thing. They are still awful flyers and often can’t even land where they want to.
Usually if parents have five fledglings, those fledglings can be in 5 different trees. So the parents are trying to keep track of them and feed them. It’s a difficult job.
There’s no parking the fledglings in one tree and hoping they stay.
And the fledglings are still terrible flyers and have a hard time landing where they want to.Tammy
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