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Great. I am Very happy for you after the questionable start. Bluebirds are persistent, aren’t they?
David
Stafford, VAI just watch your posts and add the numbers to my spreadsheet. I look for 1st, 2nd or 3rd nesting, number of eggs per nesting, number hatched and number fledged. I use the final totals to send to Cornell University for their Nationwide Bluebird counts as most of our contributors here do not report their individual data to Cornell. Cornell looks at statewide data but I let them know that my information comes from individuals across the nation and is not broken down by location.
Right now I am tracking 12 first nestings and 1 second nesting.David
Stafford, VAI thought that it was strange that the bluebirds would be at the seed feeders but they are regulars, along with the wood peckers, gold and house finches, cardinals, doves, tree and song sparrows, wrens and a few others from time to time – but no house sparrows. I use the bird seed from Wild Birds Unlimited that has the shelled sunflower and safflower seeds with dried berries mixed with a premium seed that I get from Walmart that has some sunflower seeds, fruit and nuts, but non of the millet, rape seed and corn that are in the other brands. I have read that the BBs do eat seeds and dried berries but did not notice it until this winter when they came to the feeders.
David
Stafford, VAThere is not much more to say that what Carol and stebet have already said. Just remove the nest and clean up the box a bit and put it back for the next nesting. We will all hope for the best.
David
Stafford, VACarol – MO is right. They have now claimed that box and the second egg shows that they are there to stay. Watch for the wrens and others but I believe that the bluebird pair will take care of the situation themselves.
David
Stafford, VAI agree with Carol and Tammy on the feeding of mealworms. It is a “supplement” not substitution for their natural feeding. I try to feed mine in the morning around 7:30 – 9:00 AM and again in the afternoon between 4:00 and 5:30. Sometimes, depending on my schedule with the grandkids, I may miss a feeding so they are used to being on their own for food. I have even noticed this year that they do not clear to bowl of the mealworms, so I have reduced the number of mealworms to about 30-40. This is with them feeding 5 young. They must have a good supply of food somewhere. I have noticed them at my seed feeders regularly. I am not sure whether the are feeding the seeds to the young though. Has anyone else had this experience?
David
Stafford, VAI just responded to Brad on the use of this feeder. It does a great job of keeping the larger birds away. You cannot do that with an open or domed feeder. I have even found that my blues actually defend the feeder just like the nestbox.
David
Stafford, VAThe BFF feeder is the one to use if you want to feed mealworms to bluebirds. It doesn’t take much time for them to get accustomed to going to the feeder for the worms. Like others here, mine never liked the dried mealworms, not even in the winter.
Put some live mealworms in the dish, about 40 to 50 initially, and leave the top open to get them used to going into the feeder to get the mealworms. Of course you will probably get other birds in there also. After you see them taking the worms regularly from the feeder, close the top. The larger birds will not be able to get in and most of the smaller birds will not go in (wrens and titmouse excepted.) The blues will flutter around a bit, but will usually go into the cage very soon.
I really like this feeder.David
Stafford, VAI also agree with everyone about the food on the box. Not a good idea, especially if you have HOSP or Wrens around. They like the mealworms and can make life miserable for the bluebirds.
For photos I use imgur.com. Easy to set up an account and upload photos. I use the “copy” on the BBCode link” to post the photos here.David
Stafford, VA
