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I had a successful brood of 5 babies cared for by both parents and they all fledged successfully April 12. The father bird continues faithfully to supplement the feeding of 3 of the 5 chicks I see daily. Now here is where it gets interesting….I have a camera nest box so I see this daily with my own eyes and have shown it to others as well…..The father bird started, and then completely finished, a nest in the camera nest box. He even made a neatly formed nest cup that he has shaped with his wings and body wiggles. He is bright blue and a brighter red and I am sure he is a male. No female bluebird has been inside at all. I did see a female sitting on the fence but she did not go in. He chirps outside on occasion perhaps to attract a mate, but no takers so far. (And he is such a wonderful dad!) I have never heard of a male bluebird building a nest, but I am quite sure this is the case as he is easily identifiable with his much brighter coloring. I have seen him feed the 3 babies and then go directly into the camera nest box. Has anyone else experienced this? I would welcome thoughts on this as I have read time and again that only the female builds the nest. Jackie
Jackie, this is interesting. I have not seen it but I do know that my male bird does spend time in the nest box after delivering material. I do not have a camera in the box so I do not know what he is doing.
David
Stafford, VAI agree with David. We don’t have nest cams so there’s no way of knowing for us but from what I understand the female makes the nest cup. So that is unusual.
There are females that are brighter than others but I trust your observation on that.Tammy
Jackie and Tammie, I have heard that also, that the female is the one that shapes the cup. But the male can do some work while he delivers his beak of material. I would imagine that the female will go in right after he leaves to “do it the right way.”
I have also noticed that my female bird is almost as colorful as the male bird this time. The earlier female had a duller blue back.
David
Stafford, VAThank you for the responses. Here is an update: I see that the male bird continues to go into the camera nest box throughout the day, basically “fluffing up the pillows” and doing minor rearranging. He also continues to supplement feed the 3 babies who fledged on April 12th from a different nest box. Two mornings ago, I saw a very reluctant female that sat on the fence close to the camera nest box and she had a few bits of straw in her mouth, but she did not go inside. I saw her yesterday and again this morning sitting on a pole across the yard. The male and female see one another, but she has yet to go inside this nest box. Perhaps she has another mate? Is spooked by this nest box for some reason? I would welcome suggestions as to if and when I should relocate the camera nest box and/or remove the nest. I am feeling very badly for this male bluebird and I do not want to wait too long in case there is a chance he could mate again this season. (Again, he is a very dedicated father!) I know this is all very unusual and if I did not see it unfolding on camera I would find it hard to believe!
If it is possible to attach a photo or short video clip from the camera nest box I will do so if someone can walk me through how to do this.
Thoughts here:
I have only very limited experience so far. Of what I’ve seen, the male doesn’t appear to participate at all in the nest building.
Something can be not observed by the vast majority of people but still occur on occasion. And it sounds like what is being observed is indeed very unusual.
Perhaps none of the females want this male at this time, perhaps because his behavior is strange, or because of things only a female bluebird would sense.
My instinct would be to leave things alone and not interfere, if it were me.
- Ira / Coastal NW Florida
You have to use a photo sharing app to add photos. I’m not sure how videos would work. There’s direction under “Posting Tips for The New Bluebird Nut Cafe” section. But photobucket doesn’t work anymore.
Tammy
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