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The BB parents have been coming to eat mealworms, i find it interesting that the mother makes multiple trips taking mealworms over to my neighbor’s yard. Seems like alot of work to me. Undoubtedly the fledgelings are in trees in my neighbors yard somewhere, but that would be awkward to ask if i could watch birds in their yard.
i ran out of the mealworms i mail ordered, and luckily my Walmart has mealworms available in the fishing department. These are a fair amt bigger, maybe it makes the feeding of the fledglings easier. I’m keeping to the schedule of feeding morning and evening, as Carol does.
When i whistle and walk out to feed them, they seem to materialize out of nowhere. I think they keep an eye on the feeder from afar. They don’t quite perch on my shoulder like they do Uncle Remus in disney films, but i think they recognize me.
Phillyblues, it took about 3 years to get my first bluebirds at the house i am living at now. The years they tried to nest, they often lost the battle to sparrows, or a hawk would take one of the adults.
Last year was a really good year, i worked at home because of covid, aggressively trapped the sparrows, and shooed away a hawk multiple times that perched on the bird house.
I’ve been feeding BBs mealworms over the winter, so when they nest here I’m not sure if its because they’ve been in the area for the feeder, or if they have nested here before.
The nest last year was 25 feet from our front door, they were very used to people being around.
Chris
I think you still have a chance this year, there have been folks posting about new nests here, not sure how far south they are.
If the house is out in the open, maybe the birds will find it quicker. The weathered peterson i moved and had success with, i think was too close to the neighbor’s outbuildings (sparrow dormitories).
I think as many sparrows as you’ve trapped, the bluebirds have a fighting chance.
Chris
It looks like you have some open space in the backyard. Maybe try adding one there, or try just moving the one box that is already out there?
My yard isn’t ideally open for them either, but i think they nest in my yard and then do some of their foraging in the neighbors yards. i read somewhere that a bluebird pair uses a couple of acres, but i don’t think that is just a circle around the box, i think maybe they are going to thread their way around to the best spots.
I like the Peterson box – but the birds seem to use either one equally. The Peterson has more space,its angled and as the brood grows there is more volume higher up. The only drawback i find to them is they take alot of work to build. I had a friend help me build a bunch of them one time with a Shopsmith.
Chris
Keep up the good work on sparrow trapping.
i wonder if you put up one more box, or moved an existing box, if that might encourage the bluebirds to try. This last batch of blues i had, they started nesting right when i moved a box to a new location.
Chris
If they fledge on the 20th, that would be a good gift for father’s day.
We’re having stormy weather now (including tornado warnings), Sunday should be much more settled.
Chris
To post pictures, you have to upload it to another website first that hosts photos. i have been using one called imgur.com, its free but there are others.
I upload the photo to that website, and when you click on your photo, on the right hand side it has choices for “view and edit post.” One of those is entitled, “BBcode,” for bulletin boards i guess. Click copy.
When you go back onto the bluebird form, click IMG at choices at the top of your post. a window pops up for you to enter the url, just paste that url in there from the imgur website.
When you post the message, you will see your photo. If you don’t like the way it looks or need to correct something, you can always go back and edit your own post.
Its confusing the first time.
Chris
P.S. I found out when you post a photo to imgur, you can choose either public or hidden. If you use the public option, any one on imgur might see your photo and comment on it. if you dont want that, choose the hidden option, and only you can see it on imgur apparently.I am feeding the bluebirds mealworms morning and evening. I can’t say if they eat more or less than they did before, but the mealworms im using are much smaller, i ordered some in bulk. I do notice that the mom will come and eat quite a few mealworms before she starts feeding the young.
I am using open glass trays, don’t have a problem with other birds taking the worms now like earlier this year. I like these Erva metal rain guards, i put them over hummingbird feeders too.
Chris
Carol, this box is inch and a half, its a Nature’s Way box, but it does have some wear on the edges.
Lucky box for me, last year it fledged a total of 9 birds (in two sets of course!)
I think the only boxes i have up now that have larger entrance holes is the Peterson they are nesting in now, i believe that is 1 9/16 inch and elongated.
I’ve thought of putting up a box with a large entrance hole and nestbox trap just specifically for trapping starlings.
V/r,
ChrisI havent put up a shield. The box the birds are in now is shaded by a large pignut hickory tree when the sun is strongest, in late afternoon.
The rain is keeping the heat down for now, I’ve got maybe 10 days or so til they fledge.
Chris
They are roughly the size of a crow so they attract your attention.
Supposedly each pair requires quite a few acres, but apparently they’ve adapted to smaller woodlots, traveling from one to the next.
Chris
Five babies! I counted five beaks in there today, so all eggs hatched. I went back out with cell phone to take a pic and the fifth one had turned his head a bit.
Mom and dad seem to have a different personality, they are kindof almost secretive about their nest. I am assuming they are the same pair that nested before, but who knows.
Now i have a couple of nervous weeks i guess until they fledge, they are three days old.
Chris
