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The bluebirds were perched on the fence and on the arms of the feeder, as if waiting for me to give them their breakfast. But they didn’t come back to feeders after I filled them. They were hunting for their meal in my backyard and I disturbed them.
All of the suet nuggets and dried larvae were gone, but some or most of the dried darkling beetles remained. That is always the case. Seems the birds don’t care for them. Plus, for me, they get sticky and form a clump in the bottom of the feeder, so I don’t care for them, either. I think I’ll stop putting these in the mix.
It is a good thing the bluebirds don’t depend on my feeder. I want them to have food when they need it, but it is better they hunt for their food, and I’m happy my backyard is one of their hunting grounds.
Did I mention the box turtle? They come around every once in a while, not permanent fixtures, but there are some number of them wild in the area. This one must have become habituated to people. It didn’t withdraw into its shell when I got near, and it turned to watch me as I circled around it taking pictures for the county box turtle research project. If I moved away, it moved towards me, and it rushed to me, rushed for a turtle, as I was placing a small piece of fruit on the ground.
The turtle hung around and I watched it hunting. It moved into the Florida pusley that I allow to spread for the bees and butterflies to feed on. The turtle would stick its nose into the pusley and push, lifting its body off the ground like it was doing pushups with its neck. It did that for a little while and then traveled over to park itself under one of the beautyberry plants. I checked later and couldn’t find it in the backyard, so it seems to have fed, rested, and then moved on.
- Ira / Coastal NW Florida
I’ve been feeding a DIY mix of suet nuggets and dried BSF larva, dried darkling beetles, and dried mealworms. I am deliberately trying not to attract house sparrows, hence no seeds, and no corn, but that unfortunately means I also don’t attract cardinals and the many finches and other sparrows we have in the area. When I was feeding a commercial bird food with lots of variety I attracted probably every song bird species in the area.
The birds that do come to the feeder now besides the occasional bluebirds are mockingbirds, starlings, and red-bellied woodpeckers, except I’m also seeing northern flicker for the first time. We still see the other birds if we happen to catch them perching within eyesight or at the birdbath, but suffice to say the feeder clientele is limited.
I’m not getting blue jays and I have wondered why. I figured they would definitely go for the suet nuggets, but so far they are not coming to the feeder. They are interesting though. They would come at the old feeder like a guided missile, scattering the other birds, and they would grab something and fly off, making all kinds of noise. Maybe they can be a nuisance, but I like them.
- Ira / Coastal NW Florida
Earlier, last month or the month before, there were multiple juveniles perching on top of the box at the same time. I didn’t see any going in the box at the time. It is interesting if there is something behind the adult males going in the box now. I like to think they are investigating the various potential nest sites and making mental notes.
- Ira / Coastal NW Florida
One way to look at it is every nesting box is a chance for a bluebird pair that the pair didn’t have before.
- Ira / Coastal NW Florida
The juveniles came back later in the morning. I’m not sure what to make of their behavior.
Again, there were two on the next box at first and two or three elsewhere moving around on the fence and sometimes on the arms of the feeder pole. Then one would fly to the next box and hover around like it was trying to land on the box, but then, apparently, give up and fly back to perch on the fence or the feeder pole. This was repeated multiple times but the bird would never land on the box. From what I cold see, the two that were on the box were not trying to repel the third and I didn’t notice any aggressive behanvior, but who could tell for sure. Maybe the bird that was trying to join the other two on the box didn’t see room to land.
Anyway, they tried a number of times from different angles and sides of the box. On one of these attempts the bird was at the front of the box and I thought it was going to go in the box, but it never touched the box.
- Ira / Coastal NW Florida
I observed the juveniles again this morning, and also two adults.
Same as yesterday, I first noticed two juveniles on top of the nest box. I then noticed others on the fence. They flew off when I went outside to fill the birdbath and put out food (dried mealworms, dried BSF larva, suet nuggets).
After I came back in, I saw one adult on the fence. It dropped to the ground after some morsel and then flew up to one of the arms on the feeder pole and was joined by another adult. The darned things, food in feeders right below them, they again went down to the ground after more prey. I guess I can’t blame them, sort of like a choice between steak and corn flakes. I would choose the steak, too.
I’m curious now. Are they here for the rest of the fall and then winter? Or is this only a short visit and then they disappear again for a while?
- Ira / Coastal NW Florida
Yeah. They may have visited more often and I didn’t know. Too, with bluebirds, at least in my experience, they don’t linger long, so they can be easy to miss unless you sit and stare. A little like watching to catch the young fledging, look away or leave for a moment and you are likely to miss it.
I wish I knew the facts about how far the young typically travel from the nest site to find their own territory and nest site. Something for me to look up.
- Ira / Coastal NW Florida
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.
- Ira / Coastal NW Florida
My general instinct is leave things alone when you don’t know what to do or it is a damned if you do and damned if you don’t situation. If it were me, my thought is the female will eventually abandon the nest, and I would wait until that time and then clean out the box.
- Ira / Coastal NW Florida
I don’t really have any good advice. But aside from it being a very poor idea for a nest box installation, it isn’t your nest box, correct? All things considered, I would leave it alone.
If you happened to meet the person who put up the box, you could have a talk. Even if that talk occurred today, with the nestlings, I think I would still leave it alone.
- Ira / Coastal NW Florida
For what it’s worth, I did put out dry food when there were nestlings in the box with the first nest. The parents still hunted live food and brought it to the nest. Still, after that, I stopped putting out dry food between hatch day and fledge day. But I did have sort of a scare this last time.
Around fledge day when I believed the young were about to fledge, I put out dry food. It turned out to be the day before fledging. I mentioned in another thread that there were juveniles from an earlier fledge taking food to the nest box. I saw one of them pick up a suet nugget from the feeder and take it back to the box. That day the young were sticking there heads out of the box opening and they were being fed there.
My conclusion at this point is that the adults will mostly if not exclusively feed live food to the young. But I wouldn’t count on it.
- Ira / Coastal NW Florida
Also responded in another thread, keep an eye on house wrens. They are also a problem.
And just in case you don’t know of it, sialis.org is a great resource.
- Ira / Coastal NW Florida
Keep an eye on the wrens. They are a problem for bluebirds as well.
EDIT: I should clarify, it is house wrens that are a problem for bluebirds. And by the way, just in case, Sialis.org is a great resource.
- Ira / Coastal NW Florida
Sounds like you’re set. If you have time to sit and observe, you may notice things that help you figure out what is going on. I think early morning is a good time to watch; fill the feeder and flush and fill the birdbath, and then watch.
One thing I’m curious about is whether or not you will see a bluebird come to your yard and feed. I would watch for a bluebird to perch on a fence or something similar and then drop to the ground to grab an insect or something. They will grab their prey and then immediately fly off. The difficulty is you have to be waiting and watching or you are unlikely to see this happening.
- Ira / Coastal NW Florida
I tried to edit my post, but the edit doesn’t show up. As far as time, I spent several months experimenting with feeders and food before I saw a bluebird actually take food. Still, bluebirds don’t perch on a feeder and eat. They drop in, grab something, and fly off. Maybe it is different with live food, but I don’t know.
- Ira / Coastal NW Florida
