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Lisa my 2nd group of 5 made it in the heat of 90+ during early July. 80’s should be no trouble
David
Stafford, VABy my count we have more than 40 new bb’s hatched in the past week or so. That is just on this forum. I am sure there are many others around the country who have not posted their hatches/fledges.
Keep it going “Lovers of the Blues”.
David
Stafford, VAWhile reading this I realized that I did have a wren situation in 2013. I lost a total of 14 eggs, 9 were in the first nesting period when I lost a female that had laid 5 eggs and then disappeared. Another female started building a new nest over the old nest and eggs – so I removed the 5 eggs. She completed her nest, laid 4 eggs, and a wren got those. I cleaned the nest and she built another nest laid 5 eggs and a wren got those also. (This is before I came to this forum and learned about the Wren guards). I took the box down for the season and the wrens went away. I also took down all of the songbird feeders as they seemed to monopolize them. I still have a few around but they have not been back to the box since then.
David
Stafford, VARandy, I am about 50 miles south of Washington, DC right off the Quantico Marine Base. I have been getting 3 fledges consistently since I started with the blues. I know all about your weather there. We used to live in Windham, just south of you. I remember 15 inches of snow on May 21 back in the late 70s. Mine took 10 days to begin the second nest. Good luck with your pair.
DavidDavid
Stafford, VACarol,
My nest box is in the open on 3 sides and has the afternoon and evening sun. It faces SSW. The only “shield” that I have used is this 14″ x 14″ piece of extra T-111 siding that I had left over from a shed project. The temps here get into the mid to high 90’s, and have reached 100+ during the summer but I have never lost a bird to the heat. My neighbors on both sides do have some tall trees that provide shade in the morning and late evening but the midday sun is full on. I have thought about putting some foam insulation on the west (left) side of the box but have not done that yet. If it looks like we are going to have a sustained mid 90’s+ heatwave I might go ahead and do it. As it has been in the 80’s here I am just watching the activity to see if everything stays normal.
David
David
Stafford, VADibby, Carol is right about the parents taking the young fledglings away from the nest for “training in the real world.” That said, if you are located in an area that does not have much natural wooded area within a reasonable fledgling flying distance, they might stay in the area until they are strong enough to make a longer flight. Like she said – “they don’t read the books, especially the rules.”
David
Stafford, VAHappy day. Congratulations Randy. I have never had so much fun waiting for a group of birds to fledge as I have waiting (and reading) about yours.
David
Stafford, VALisa- like Carol said “They don’t read (or follow) the rules.” I found a full nest in my nestbox, perfect cup et.al., ready for the next eggs. I believe that the female will start laying tomorrow. It has been 11 days since the first group fledged, so this is about right (according to Carol’s Program).
David
Stafford, VARandy this brood was 17 – exactly as predicted on the Cornell U spreadsheet. All of my fledging for the past 10 years have been 16-17 days mostly 17.
David
Stafford, VAAgree with all above. The fun part of having these bluebirds is to ensure their welfare as they progress from egg to fledgling. Day 12-13 following the hatch should be your cutoff for actually “peeking in” on them to prevent accidental early fledging.
Let us know when your pair start their next nest.
David
Stafford, VA
