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Thanks Judy. Yes It looks like it is going to be a pretty good year for the Bluebirds. The third egg happened about an hour ago. I looked in the box when I put the mealworms out around 8:30 and there were still only 2 in the nest.
David
Stafford, VASecond egg some time this afternoon
It has really been quiet around the bird house and feeder area for the past day or so. Possibly because I took the feeders down to clean them yesterday and didn’t get them back up until an hour ago.
David
Stafford, VACongratulations Carol. I started a little spreadsheet to track our eggs and hatches. So far I have a possible 25 new blues to fledge from those that have posted around May 11-16. I will add others as they appear here.
You are right – hoping for good news this year.David
Stafford, VAThanks Carol – but I do not need any house sparrows around here. Our wren count seems to be down also.
David
Stafford, VAI still have a few juncos but not many sparrows at the feeders. I have not seen a house sparrow (male or female) in almost 2 years. None of the other birds have gone to the mealworm feeder. The bluebirds guard it closely. I do have a lot of gold finches and some house finches at the finch feeder. My wife counted 18 at one time trying to use the Nyger seed feeder.
David
Stafford, VAGood news. I am glad to hear that your blues have returned. We seem to have several nests either completed or close to it. It is going to hopefully be a good year for us.
David
Stafford, VAGood to hear Dana and Carol. Mine looks like it is finished today. Mom bird seems to be spending time in it. It does seem to be a bit early but it is getting warmer in the evenings (mid 40’s and 50’s vs 30’s) so maybe it is time.
We wll see.David
Stafford, VAIt looks like my pair just finished their nest also, so this will be the final installment of “Nestbuilding 101”.
6. Mom & Dad bird have been busy carrying grass, pine needles, and some moss to finish the nest. The grass and needles raised the walls of the nest to about 2″ below the opening.
7. They also added some grass and moss to the bottom of the nest. The female has been shaping the nest cup to cradle the eggs. It is almost complete and ready for eggs.
This build took about 6 days to complete. I am going to see if that time continues with follow-on nests.
David
Stafford, VAHi Carols. East Tenn. Carol – to post you photos here you need to first post them to a 3rd party site (I use imgur.com). It is very easy to set up a free account. When you view your photos in the account you will see a panel on the right of the screen with a list of codes that are used in various bulletin boards and forums. Click on the one labeled “BBCode” That will copy the link to your computer. Then you just prepare your post, paste the link in your post (it will look like this
(img]https://i.imgur.com/NgUs0sf.jpg[/img]/img)
and submit your post. When you view it after you have submitted it to the forum the photo will show up in your post. You will not see the photo in the “submit” box as you prepare your message.
Hope this helps. PM me if you have any problems or other questions.
David
Stafford, VAThe build continues.
5. Both Bluebirds have been bringing pine needles and grass to the nestbox. The female shapes the material into the traditional circle sided nest. Notice the even growth of the sides. It is almost at the right height.
David
Stafford, VAHi Judy. It is early for blues in your area. I remember last year we had the same issue in several locations. We talked about insulating covers in the discussion. I put a 3-sided, 1″ Styrofoam cover over my nest box to try to hold some heat in. I am not sure how helpful it was but it made me feel like I was helping the eggs to stay a bit warmer. I don’t remember if this was after all the eggs were laid and the female had started to incubate or if they were uncovered. I do know that all of the eggs hatched though.
David
Stafford, VAI do have a nest started in the new house. It appears that my same couple are back again, although I wouldn’t know unless there were some way to mark or tag them. Here is the photo of the beginning of new “nest ring” that usually appears at the bottom of the nest when the female begins to build.
David
Stafford, VA
