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Hi Everyone,
Been a long time since I posted. In the bluebird front Bluebirds just seem to avoid staying on my trail the past couple years. They show up but never nest. Not sure what gives. There has been extra activity in the park and construction on the adjacent road which attracted a ton more sparrows this year. I do have a cool video my brother has of a natural bb nest in his dogwood!
I was, however, blessed to have TRES nesting in my yard this year. Things were going along ao smoothly, eggs, now nestlings…but now the male has disappeared! No idea what happened but it is so upsetting. The mom has been feeding them but I don’t know how long she can do this alone. Is it common for a male tres to leave for longer than a day after eggs hatch? Can a single parent keep this going?
Update…mom is still alone and feeding the babies. Hopefully she can keep up as they get bigger and more demanding!
Found a nestling 20 feet from the box. I think it is one of the swallows but not sure how that happened. I did see a wren in the yard earlier in the morning so suspect it was a wren..terrible birds!
Too bad about your daddy TRES. My house sparrows really discourage my TRES at the beginning at the season and even though I trapped the HOSP two pairs gave up and quit trying. Makes me so mad. I used to have 5 boxes of TRES on my property and now I only have 2!!
Tammy
Mom of the year award for that single tres feeding 3 on her own and getting them out the door! Yeah sparrows have been really terrible this year. We somehow need an education campaign so people stop feeding them and letting them nest. My nearby trail nearby usually has a lot more nests but early on sparrow infestation scared a few off. I controlled the situation but it was a battle especially since it is public land that I can’t get to on a regular. I usually see bluebirds and occasionally get nesters but this year nothing.
I have a sad story. Last season, 2023, my mated pair of Eastern BB had 3 successful clutches. A total of 9 babies fledged. Dad BB had been extremely protective of his territory. It was very obvious he was active and watching the nest. He would dive bomb squirrels who were near the birdhouse post. This year this pair used the same birdhouse and had 2 clutches. Then Daddy BB disappeared from our property. It was obvious he was absent. Mommy BB had built a third nest and laid 4 eggs on July 4, 5 and 6th. None of the eggs have hatched. She does not seem to be brooding at all. Now I do not see her coming and going from the birdhouse. I plan to leave the nest and eggs alone for at least another 2 weeks. Any other recommendations or comments?
Hi Yolanda,
I’m really sorry to hear about your bluebird situation. It sounds like the female may have abandoned the nest. One way you can tell is by touching the eggs. If they are warm to the touch she is still incubating them. If they are cold, most likely she hasn’t been sitting on them for quite a while. Once incubation stops completely the developing embryos inside the eggs will die. If you are absolutely certain she is gone then I would clean out the nest and dispose of it. Hopefully a new bluebird pair will find and use your nest box for their 2nd or 3rd brood.Dana
Lancaster, PAHi phillyblues,
Those house sparrows are bullies let me tell ya. One year they drove a pair of bluebirds away from my yard while the bluebirds were nest building. The male sparrow would sit in the entrance hole and chirp then attack the female bluebird whenever she attempted to enter the box with nesting material. He did the same thing with the male bluebird when he would go to investigate. The bluebirds gave up after a few days and left. I trapped and disposed of male house sparrow. Luckily another pair of bluebirds eventually came and set up house in my box later on. But yes the house sparrows will drive them away. They’ll harass the bluebirds so much that eventually they’ll give up and go elsewhere. The only thing you can do with the house sparrows is trap and dispose of them.
Dana
Lancaster, PA
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