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I would say that the female was deceased and a new bird (wren or sparrow started the new nest but was interrupted.
I had that happen a couple of years ago, except a new bluebird pair built a new nest on top of 4 eggs and started to lay eggs. I removed the bottom nest and eggs without disturbing the 2 new eggs. The new pair fledged two nests that year.David
Stafford, VAWelcome Stephen. It is good to hear from the mid-west. We all like to hear about your experience with your bluebirds. You will find a lot of good people here and a wealth of information. If you have a question – just ask. We will find an answer for you or find a resource that can help. We do enjoy photos also, if you are so inclined.
David
Stafford, VAI agree, Tim. I think that all of us here on the forum, past and present, share that great feeling of satisfaction and relief that we have put an additional 4 or 5 bluebirds into the surrounding trees. I can imagine that those who try to maintain a trail have increased joy when their boxes provide a fledge or 2 during the season.
David
Stafford, VAGood to hear that you got them out. It will give the remaining three a bit more room to develop.
David
Stafford, VACongratulations on your good season, Tim. It sounds like you had a lot of activity to keep you busy. Do you have an estimate on how many blues fledged this season? Have fun cleaning the “messes” You deserve some tome off for a while.
David
Stafford, VAHere we are at what I think is day 4 o 5. They appear to be healthy and growing their blue feathers.
It rained hard all morning but one of the parent birds seemed to be in the nestbox with them for most of the morning.David
Stafford, VAIf they have not hatched by now, they are probably defective or non-viable eggs. I think that I would remove them before the other birds get too much larger and break the eggs in the nest.
David
Stafford, VAWent out to the box today expecting to find newly hatched little birds and this is what I found. They look to be 2 or 3 days old – which completely messes up my very accurate BB data chart from Columbia University.
All looks well and mom and dad birds are active in and out of the nestbox. I have a new order of mealworms on the way. Hopefully it will stay cooler for the next few days.
David
Stafford, VAAny time you have a tree-mounted or fence post-mounted nest box, you run the risk of climbing snakes and critters climbing to the nest and destroying, damaging, or eating the eggs/hatchlings. Sparrows and wrens are also a danger to the nest and occupants.
David
Stafford, VAIt looks like we will only have 4 new bluebirds in this sitting. She started incubating today (in the 93 degree heat and wildfire smoke.
David
Stafford, VAI agree. The weather this year has just been hot 92 again today. I just stopped by the nestbox while I was mowing a circle around it, prepping for my grandson to mow the lawn tomorrow I took this shot of the 2 eggs.
More on the way.
Stay cool, stay inside and drink lots of water.David
Stafford, VACongratulations on the successful fledge.
I mentioned before that in prior years, they usually didn’t start the new nest until 2-3 weeks after the fledge. This pair started the nest 2 days after the young had fledged. I am anxious to see how long after this group fledges before they start to build again.David
Stafford, VA
