Observations August 2025

[AIH]

The Bluebirds pretty much disappeared after the young fledged from the third nest. There has been no fourth nest, which isn’t a surprise. A fourth nest would be unusual.

But this morning, at different times, I’ve had one, two, three, and four juveniles on the fence and on the arms of the feeder pole. As Bluebirds do, they drop in, seem to be inspecting the environment, then quickly depart. Then they come back and do it again. I’ve been doing other things, so haven’t watched to see if they actually take food from the feeders.

As an aside, the Mockingbirds appear to have finished nesting. I’m not sure how many young survived and fledged. We found one dead on the ground one morning, and another was on the ground crossing the alley behind the house. The other day, an adult was taking food to a youngster on the fence. I can’t be sure if these were from the nest in my Crepe Myrtle or another nest. If I get to it, I’ll learn more about Mockingbirds before next year.

The fruit on the Beautyberry plants, those that have survived, are turning purple. I observed a mockingbird eating fruit from the a plant nearest the porch while I was sitting several yards away. The mockingbirds seem to be the only birds that eat this fruit. Beautyberry is a real disappointment as a food source for Bluebirds. Maybe they would eat it if they had nothing else.

Another thing about Beautyberry, or maybe Beautyberry in my location, I’ve had good an bad luck with it. One, planted last year, came back this last spring like gangbusters, grew to a large, beautiful size. The rest that are still alive are not thriving. And this species of plant can look fine one day and die the next. Some of them begin wilting on clear days when the sun is hot and need watering every day, but only some of them and not others. Whatever survives, fine, but I won’t replace any. Again, not, in my experience, a good food source Bluebirds.

I’m going to plant Walter’s Viburnum for the spots where I had Beautyberry that died. I’ll put a few plants up front and on the side of the house, too. It will be good for pollinators, at least, and should be more adaptable to my soil type (though that is what I thought about the Beautyberry). It will remain to be seen whether the Bluebirds eat the fruit. In the bird world they are the pickiest eaters when it comes to food I try to give them. (I know about live mealworms, or course. But I’m not there yet.)

So, winter is coming. I’ll know it when the American Wisteria drops its leaves. A good indicator of seasons, I’ll Bluebird nesting season is close when the growth buds start greening and begin to develop.

I’ll keep an eye on the nest box in case wasps try and take it over. Don’t know in what season this is a real risk, so I check every several days.

Looking forward to the end of February when the Bluebirds nest again here.

- Ira / Coastal NW Florida

[TimC]

Thanks for the post AIH. Very interesting.

I had wasp problems my first year (2023) on my BB trails. Mostly in the first month while waiting for BB arrival. I removed all of them; ping pong ball sized nests or smaller when monitoring the trails weekly. Much easier to deal with one or two of them and when the nest doesn’t have any eggs/larvae. They’re not as aggressive at that stage.

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WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay

Tim C. WI/MI border.

[AIH]

Yeah, about wasps, my memory is I found the wasp nest this past winter/spring time frame when I was checking the box prior to the nesting season. There were no larva or adult wasps, just a spent wasp nest. I had set up the box late the prior summer. Don’t know when the wasps were active. Come to think of it, I’ll look it up.

EDIT: Here is what I found. This applies to my climate region.

– Queens emerge early and nest building can begin in February

– High risk months are March through August

– Low risk months are November through February

Likely the old nest I found was leftover from the prior season. I’m guessing the wasps moved in after I set up the nest box, and had no nesting Bluebirds that late in the summer.

I see the task as making sure there are no wasps before the Bluebirds nest, or in between Bluebird nests.

• This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by AIH.

- Ira / Coastal NW Florida

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