Second brood is off into the wild blue yonder!

[Rich K]

I went to check the box tonight and it was empty which took me by surprise! I didn’t see the young ones hanging out of the box today but then again it is right on the time frame for fledging! I fed mealworms and saw Mom and Dad carry them off high into the pines behind our house which is a great sign. She had laid 5 eggs again this time but when I checked on hatching day there was only 3 eggs. I assume she knew 2 were infertile and removed them. All 3 eggs hatched. The 5 Juvys from the first brood are hanging around a lot. ALL five were on the fence with Momma two days ago diving for insects. It was awesome to see. I’m really hoping for a 3rd brood but not getting my hopes up. My neighbor who I encouraged to put up a box 5 years ago, is on his 3rd brood! He had 5 each in the previous two broods, all successfully fledged and now has a 3rd nest with 4 eggs. The other neighbor down the road who has a pair nesting in the cavity of his apple tree is also on a 2nd brood. He is not sure how many eggs were laid as he can’t really look in to see but I have noticed 4 juveniles on the high wires near his house. I am starting a campaign in our town to make it the Bluebird capital of Western PA! Getting sponsors for boxes and the local paper is going to run an article on it. It’s wonderful to hear the neighbors who have lived here for 35 to 40 years say they have never seen so many Bluebirds!!!

[Carol – Mid-Mo.]

Rich, great that you are helping your town to help our precious Bluebirds. Yes, there has been a lot of problems this year with nests and eggs, like you mentioned about having 5 eggs and only 3 hatching. My 2nd nest had 5 eggs and only ONE hatched – I candled the other eggs and there was nothing in them, probably not fertilized as Gin says. My LONE RANGER fledged about 7 days ago and the parents already had nest #3 ready. There are 4 eggs in it being incubated right now. so Lone Ranger will have siblings soon.

Mealworms are going real slow now for some reason – I have never had the blues leave any in the bowl, but then again I am only feeding the pair and The Lone Ranger at this time. BUT I am having terrible problems with the wren and HOSP trying to devour the worms. I have cut way back on amount I put out for the blues but they still manage to leave a few. Good Luck.

[Julie]

Rich, where are you located in PA? I want to follow this in the local news if I can! I’m north of Harrisburg. This is so exciting!! I have lots of neighbors who walk by our house and they all watch for the blues. I spied an elderly lady today ducking behind the butterfly bush to watch the babies being fed today. Made me chuckle. I need to tell my neighbor with the 2 little girls to come sit on the porch and watch the feeding show. I’ve had several neighbors put up houses, but sadly one is breeding HOSP and this year another has HOWR. Bummer.

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