[Maybelle]

The last nestling died before the heat hit our valley. Mama was faithfully removing the dead ones and keeping the nest clean until the last one died. Then I guess there was no reason to clean it out any more. It remains a mystery what happened.

She left a perfectly fine nest that I will likely give to Prescott Bluebird Recovery http://prescottbluebird.com/

They save gently used nests for possible rain soaked ones found on the bluebird trails. They just trade the damaged one for a the gently used one. That could save lives of nestlings in substandard housing!

Cari
Willamette Valley, Oregon

[Maybelle]

Susan, you can see the photo on photobucket by clicking the link I shared. They didn’t let me put the photo directly on the Bluebird Nut Café, but they did let me put the link. So the photo is just a click away.

http://s1043.photobucket.com/user/Caro15lyn/media/IMG_8650%203_zps5x35ewsn.jpg.html

Cari
Willamette Valley, Oregon

[Maybelle]

If you can’t move the box to a tree, move a tree to the box! Well, something like that. Here’s my pink foam insulation “tree” that I placed on top of our wooden sunshield. The bluebirds have accepted it and it makes a big difference. This afternoon I want to check if the sun still strikes the wooden shield, and maybe add a layer of foam on the side.

Well, I’m having trouble with photobucket; we’ll see if this works

http://s1043.photobucket.com/user/Caro15lyn/media/IMG_8650%203_zps5x35ewsn.jpg.html?o=0″ alt

• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Maybelle.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Maybelle.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Maybelle.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Maybelle.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Maybelle.

Cari
Willamette Valley, Oregon

[Maybelle]

Maybe I could try that again http://s1043.photobucket.com/user/Caro15lyn/media/heat%20shield_zpsgstofvgi.jpg.html?sort=3&o=8

• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Maybelle.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Maybelle.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Maybelle.

Cari
Willamette Valley, Oregon

[Maybelle]

Can anyone tell me how to update photobucket so I can share photos from there? Looks like there is a problem.

Cari
Willamette Valley, Oregon

[Maybelle]

Here’s one version of our wooden shade. At present I like to tip it forward to give more shade at the entry.

Cari
Willamette Valley, Oregon

[Maybelle]

I agree they should have survived with 90 degree weather. But now that I see the forecast, it may be just as well they didn’t survive for whatever reason. Here’s the degrees they say ae coming our way next week: Monday-92; Tuesday-99; Wednesday-106; Thursday-102!

I have no reason to think the remaining nestling hatched Tuesday will live through that, or any others still in nests in the area. Even the two nestlings at our box near the house (8 days old today) are not likely to survive that kind of heat.

We may all just dry up and blow away. Ugh!

Cari
Willamette Valley, Oregon

[Maybelle]

Big surprise. Went to give the nest a one-week “well nestling” checkup and discovered the egg is still there! They must have been playing hide & seek with it on Sunday. So now I must decide about removing it myself. The nestlings hatched one week ago, so maybe I should?

Cari
Willamette Valley, Oregon

[Maybelle]

Well, I went prepared to remove the dead nestling. But the bluebird parents beat me to the task. Not only was the dead one removed; actually two were removed. This morning there is only one nestling left. I assume one more died since I visited the nest last night.

My strong preference is to allow “nature to take its course” if possible. So now I wait to see if the last one survives. It did not lift its head when I peeked in, but of course that is not unusual.

On the positive side, I am glad to see that the parents are being attentive to the nest. Do I dare hope they would start again if the last one dies?

I surely do wonder what happened.

Cari
Willamette Valley, Oregon

[Maybelle]

Yes, I plan to remove the dead one this morning; just want to give the mama a chance to do it herself rather than interfere since it appears she has already removed two. Anything is possible, but since her first clutch of the season was so successful, I had so hoped this would simply be a repeat.

And yes she was there yesterday. The first odd behavior was when I took mealworms and no one came to get them. Then as I was about to leave I saw her high in a tree just sitting. She seemed to pay no attention to me or the mealworms. I left thinking perhaps that is what she was waiting for.

Later I returned and at least some of the worms were still in the feeder. Both male & female plus one of the fledglings from the earlier clutch were on hand. They went for the mealworms but were not entering the box. I’ve also seen this behavior when they seemed to be just protecting their nest. So I sat and watched awhile. The really unusual thing was when one flew up to the box, fluttered, but did not enter. That looked odd and I decided to check.

Cari
Willamette Valley, Oregon

[Maybelle]

There is truly not much you can do, but watch and pray!

I have seen one deserted just hatched nest. I tried to find help and/or advice, but there was no help for this situation. I let nature take its course rather than killing the babies which would probably have been better for them. I chose that option because if there was even a remote chance of mama bluebird returning in time to save them I didn’t want to interfere.

I never knew what happened to the pair. One theory is that something happened to the female and the male just left. He could not have saved them; only mama can do that at this stage.

Cari
Willamette Valley, Oregon

[Maybelle]

Our female who usually laid at least 6 eggs (once it was 7) in her spring clutch, in 2014 was in the process with a total of 4 already deposited. Then tragedy in the form of a HOSP attack destroyed all four eggs and messed up the nest. Noting the parents looking in but now entering, I discarded the broken eggs & nest.
About 2 weeks later our plucky little female laid her first egg in the replacement nest she built.

Into this second nest she laid 6 eggs. But ONLY 2 HATCHED. Following the guideline I found in http://www.sialis.org/ , I ended up removing the four eggs and upon examination, they appeared to be unfertilized.

I was always intrigued by the fact that 2 eggs would have completed her first clutch of 6 that was destroyed. So it left me wondering if she was programed for 6 fertile eggs and no more.

There is so much we do not know.

Cari
Willamette Valley, Oregon

[Maybelle]

Oops!

Cari
Willamette Valley, Oregon

[Maybelle]

Anyone brave enough to delete their current one and immediately attempt to reinstall it?

Cari
Willamette Valley, Oregon

[Maybelle]

Just recently when cleaning out a bluebird box after fledging I found that of the five that were okay at about 10 days old when banded, two had subsequently died and by the time of fledging were quite badly decomposed.

Yes the nest smelled really awful, but from my observation Papa had continued to feed the remaining three and I have every reason to believe they fledged on schedule.

So I don’t think one dead nestling will keep the parents from feeding the remaining one. And I don’t think the dead one will prevent the others from thriving.

But if you become convinced it is truly dead I would remove within the next couple days. After about 14 days you risk the other nestlings trying to fledge before they are ready. I saw this happen when banders chose to disturb a nest with nestlings whose hatching date was unknown and looked older than the safe age. After the nestlings were placed back in the nest some flew and ended up on the ground. They were caught and placed back in the nest and the door was blocked with cloth until they settled down. For that reason I would not want to open the box after 14 days unless there was a really good reason for doing so.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Maybelle.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Maybelle.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Maybelle.

Cari
Willamette Valley, Oregon

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