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Caroline, your worm feeder for the blues should not be close by the other seed & fruit feeders. Yes, every other bird will eat your worms, plus you are drawing too much commotion for your blues, if and when they are incubating. Once the blues find the worms they will love them. Just curious, has anyone mentioned to you about marking the eggs with a black dot and then check to see if the eggs are being rotated by the parents and thus viable? Just a thought . . .
Yes, that was fun watching. Scot, did that one egg that was under the 3 babies finally hatch? I did notice 4 eggs in your original post on the dees and notice only 3 in the videa, with one egg left. I have seen only 1 or 2 dees ever, and never had any nesting of them. They are really cute.
Katelyn – Fantastic! This (and my own experiences) really makes me think “outside the box” as far as fine grass is concerned. I have questioned at least 4 or 5 nests which I thought were HOSP and turned out to be bluebirds. I truly believe the sure way to identify is that HOSP nests almost always have some sort of junk (plastic, string, etc) in their next and of course by witnessing the HOSP pair at the box. Bluebirds will not have junk in theirs. I suppose as far as the grasses are concerned, a lot would depend on what is available when they build – that is, early spring and no mowing yet might not yield fine, dry grasses. And like you said not all areas have pine needles, which are used a lot – they dry out easily.
P.S. The leaves in your nest threw me off guard, though.My fledging is always 17 days – I believe only one time I had them fledge at 16 days. I am in Mid-Missouri.
Oh my gosh! And we think we have trouble here in the Mid-west with HOSP and HOWR. The bear doesn’t just climb the pole & grab babies out of hole, they literally destroy the whole box. So sorry. Randy’s idea of not inviting them anywhere on your property sounds like the way to go, instead of giving them a choice of what to eat! Even with my bluebird, I do not have any other feeders around during nesting season, just my cage feeder for them to eat mealworms. They really do need peace and quiet as much as possible. Of course, we have plenty of robins, woodpeckers, etc., which co-exist peacefully with the blues in their own nesting.
Dibby, I’m thrilled to hear he’s back and that has been incubating. She sure is a trooper. Keep us informed when the eggs hatch. My pair that had the 5 babies die about 2 weeks ago immediately built another nest and 4 eggs – 5th one due today or incubation. They take no time to grieve for their loss!
Glad to hear your male returned – Of course, the eggs cannot hatch without a female incubating them, but I’m betting mama will reappear. Give it a little more time. No, don’t believe any rehabber would take just eggs, but I’m not sure, especially since they have been there for a while.
Good luck.Katelyn – you’re right – does not look typical of BB nest – but I have had several which I was unsure, and I’ve been doing this 9 years. There is a post directly under yours where I posted a pic of nest in March I was unsure of, but it turned out to be BB. Your nest, however, is very tall (I’m assuming the top of nest is at the left side in picture). I zoomed in on pic and thought I saw some pine needles on the right side, which would mean BB, but maybe it is not. It probably is HOSP, but I would watch closely this weekend and maybe you will notice which is going in more, HOSP or BB. Guess you could wait until you see an egg and then you will know, but you have lost prime nesting time. More opinions needed. . . . .
No problem Sparky – I didn’t know either at first. HOSP is short for House Sparrow, a little brown bird that was introduced from England I believe in the 1800’s, and since has been a threat to all native birds here in North America. To sum it up, they are vicious in their wanting to take all other birds’ nest boxes and will go in and destroy eggs, but most horrible is they will go in and catch a BB inside the box and kill them, usually by pecking their heads and eyes. Outside the box most birds can defend themselves, but not when they are trapped inside with a killer bird. Please check on http://www.sialis.org for information on this and pictures to identify them. Since they are not protected under the Migratory Bird Act, it is legal to dispose of them, however you see fit. Most people on this forum use what’s called a Sparrow Spooker on top of their box which is a deterrent for the HOSP. In fact, I just 5 minutes ago put a spooker on my box, since I have two new BB eggs today – yesterday I put up the wren guard (since I definitely have a house wren around) and mama accepted it okay and laid the 2nd egg, so then up goes the spooker. You do NOT put these up until mama lays the 1st egg, as it might keep them from choosing a box & laying eggs.
Hi, Sparky & Welcome! Sounds like snake to me – did you have a baffle under the box? Could be coon but I believe they would have tore up the nest. I believe you need to remove the nest. However, if the same mama & papa are there I’m not sure. But you don’t want them to build another nest on top of the old, since it would be too high & close to the hole where predators could reach in. Why don’t you post this question as a new post and not on this introduction page and others will see it better and have more ideas. Good luck.
Brad, sure glad your mama went in – yes, 9:45 am would be a little early to check – usually give them until noon. Sometimes they might fly out and drop the egg, which would not be good! That bottom egg has a strange color, but is probably the light & angle of the camera? Juveniles usually stay around the area with the parents, at least until the next batch hatch, but even then they usually stick around. Several people have even witnessed a sibling help feed the new babies. However, sometimes parents will not let the older ones eat worms, in order to have enough for the babies. But every family is different – just like us!
