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Hello all, seems like a rough year for the bluebirds. I discovered over the weekend that something must have killed my male bluebird. Watched the female sitting by herself for days now. she has been going in and out of her box and I have been checking it and just discovered her laying a few eggs. Not sure how many and I’m not sure if they are even firtile the pair have seemed to be just hanging around waiting for this crappy weather to get better. Hasn’t been very warm here in Maine and I think they were waiting for warmer weather and some bugs before they mated. Not sure if they had time before he went missing. Very depressing knowing that it took five years for that male to get a female in this area and now he is gone I have a feeling she won’t return next year without her mate to bring her here. Blues are very scarce in this particular area. If she does hatch some I’ll have to do all I can to help her feed them. I already feed her mealworms and in the summer I usually catch crickets and bugs and leave them in the feeder. They have always cleaned them right up. Mother nature can sure be cruel.
Dibby, this is sad – Yes, Mother Nature can be cruel at times. If she has laid some eggs she might go ahead and begin incubation on those, but I kind of doubt it since she knows she has no mate and helper at this point.
So far my female is still going in and out of the house but seems to be staying inside quite a bit. I keep plenty of dried mealworms on her feeder and she comes out and eats every evening when i put them out. Robins have discovered the mealworms also, so while she was out last night I had to walk over toward the feeder to keep the robin away so she could eat. once she was done the robin would come back and I’d let her finish the rest. I know the robin can find plenty of food and I want to make sure my blue gets her fill first knowing she is spending all her time sitting inside.Hopefully if she does have a hatch I’ll be able to give her some help with feeding the little ones.
That female’s instinct says to incubate those eggs and she will. Good that you are helping her with food.
If the eggs are not fertile she will eventually give up. Please don’t remove them, no matter how long it takes, until she loses interest.
There is another possibility. Sometimes the males seem to totally disappear during incubation, almost like they have a golf game somewhere. I had one do that one year but he showed up when the eggs hatched.
And yet another possibility. If EABL are very scarce where you are, his territory could be quite large and he is busy tending another female that you haven’t seen.
Gin
Atlanta, GAIt takes a lot for a female to leave her eggs so it isn’t a surprise, like Gin said, that she’s incubating. She can do this!
Tammy
Great news this weekend, Gin was right. I was outside working this weekend and out of nowhere my male bluebird had returned. I couldn’t believe it and wondered if it was a new male but it wasn’t. For 13 days now it’s been just me and her, I would go out morning, noon and evening and whistle and she would come out of the house and eat and go back in. I swear she knew I was there to help her. So when the Male showed up he was looking around so I whistled and out she came and they acted so thrilled to see each other. He talked and talked for quite sometime that afternoon, probably had some explaining to do. She seemed torn between sitting on her eggs and being with him every time he would sing to her she would come right out and they would sit together on the power line or tree nearbye and then she go back in. Happened over and over. Mothers day would have been 14 days of her sitting on her eggs so he timed it just right for his return. I’ve been worried about all this rain and cold weather and reading how others have had babies die from the cold so Hopefully the sun returns tomorrow everything will turn out alright. Quite thrilled. love my bb’s
Dibby, I’m thrilled to hear he’s back and that has been incubating. She sure is a trooper. Keep us informed when the eggs hatch. My pair that had the 5 babies die about 2 weeks ago immediately built another nest and 4 eggs – 5th one due today or incubation. They take no time to grieve for their loss!
Dlibby-
Like Gin said, my male last year was scarce during incubation of 3 successful broods. Like yours, mine showed up upon hatching. I also saw him with another female on occasion. Thought at the time that he was “two timing.”
This year, my male is much more attentive. So glad yours is back again!
Nicole
Yay!
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