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I had 3 nestings of Bluebirds this year – 1st nest 5 eggs, only 4 hatched & fledged. 2nd nest 5 eggs hatched, only 4 fledged (one died in box). 3rd nest 5 eggs, only 4 hatched and also fledged. Total of 15 eggs but 12 actually fledged. Pretty good year, considering all the rain & storms.
David, thanks for sharing. Love the one of the newly fledged being “taught” by their siblings. I have never had them stay on the box like that – they always go to the closest tree. Very good capture of the one in flight! P.S. My last one to fledge was in the box all night by himself and went away the next morning – bet he was lonely, but then again, he had the bed all to himself!
Cool picture, David – we just got back from a weekend away from home – peeked in at my babies and they had really grow – now 10 days old.
Well, my blues must have heard me scolding them. Today for the first time, only mama & papa came to the worm bowl and my worm train continued on. I knew they needed to chase off the other siblings (6 or 7 in all) so they could take care of the 5 newborns better but they did their own thing – read those rule books, parents!! Wow, having 3 nestings of 5 bluebirds each in one season is quite a chore for us old grandparents, but love every minute of it!
Hope everyone else is enjoying the end of the season, even with its good and bad.
Fledge date is around Aug. 17 or 18th. Yes, need to be around to feed the birds – between the blues and the hummers, I spend a lot of time filling up feeders. However, on the mealworms, I am a true believer that they should be used as a treat only and a little help with babies. They do need to find food and be able to survive on their own. Even though I grunt a little about it, I love to watch them when they come to my whistle & eat.
Nice, David. My blues are molting right now and it is hard to tell them apart. Your pictures above show clearly male & female. My pair are doing a little better about feeding the worms to newly hatched babies. They haven’t chased any of the previous fledglings away, so they were not getting many worms for the new babies. I split up the mealworm bowls so there are two now and seems to work better. Sure hope these 5 babies fledge successfully and yours, also, and any others waiting for empty boxes.
Glad you got your photo company straightened out – nice to see some photos once in awhile. Also nice to see a sibling helping feed his younger brothers/sisters. My previous fledglings want to hog all the worms themselves – getting very frustrated with the whole family because I don’t believe the new 3-day old babies are getting their share. Of course, they are still very young.
Glad your year is going better this year, agp. Yes, cats (not mine) and bluebirds are another story I could tell.
Cool pictures, David! Glad 3 have hatched & #4 probably will follow. I had 4 hatch on Thursday and one yesterday, Friday. Hope all 5 make it out of the box this time- This is my 3rd nesting – nest #2 had 5 babies hatch but found one dead in box after four had fledged.
Another “Tales of long ago”. I had an incubating mama go missing in 2011. I had been checking on eggs about every other day and all was fine until I noticed she was not going in the box. There were 4 eggs in the box. I just left them alone and checked on them the next day – still there. BUT low and behold either the very next day or day after, I saw one egg that looked pierced but others were fine, so don’t believe it was a wren. By the next day there were 3 babies hatched – this meant they hatched without any incubationn for at least two days and possibly three days! Yes, it was summer and fairly hot weather. I watched almost 24-7 to see if papa was going to try to take care of them, but nothing – never even saw him around. I got in touch with a rehaber in Kansas City (about 60 miles away, but she gave me almost no hope of them surviving the trip. So the next day I opened up box to find 2 dead and other two almost dead. So I had to make the gut-wrenching decision to take them out and bury them in my garden. So much for Mother Nature!
Yes, I agree witnessing young ones after they fledge is quite an upper. I have had 2 from my first nest, 4 from the 2nd nest plus the parents all trying to get into the cage feeder at once. Poor mama, she always lets everyone eat first and by then, (after less than a minute) the worms are gone, and I am being pretty generous with the worms. But I have noticed the past day or two that the older siblings have not appeared quite as much – believe papa knows he will have to feed 5 more in about 17 days! She does get some worms and I have seen papa take her food to the box with 5 eggs.
Judy, so sorry about this. We try so hard but sometimes there is nothing we can do and nature takes its course. If it wasn’t a wren, maybe HOSP or do you not have those around? It’s especially bad when a mama bird goes missing. I would rule out snake or coon, as they would eat the eggs I believe. Would think it is a little late for another nesting, but I’m not familiar with your area/weather.
Glad you found Second Cousin Dave’s Facebook group – I would LOVE to see his stuff again (like other David from Stafford, VA says), especially his photos of birds in flight – absolutely stunning!! BUT I do NOT do Facebook, so guess that lets me out. Which “Dave” was on Dave’s Garden – I used to visit that site some.
Judy, I’m glad you had remembered – day 12 is the last day we can look into the box so as to prevent an early fledge. You are pretty much on target – it’s been suggested that the parents can feed the babies easier with the wren guard off, and according to sialis.org. “Remember to remove the guard after babies are 4-7 days old to make it easier for adults to feed and babies to fledge.”
Although most everyone here agrees that 4-7 days old is a little early – why not protect them a few more days since the guard is already there. But it is really much easier for them to receive the food with the guard off. But you’re aware of all this, I believe – so good luck with the fledging .
