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Tammy your bluebird story sounds similar, at least this season. I was too aggressive the first three years and started to stress out about spending four mornings a week monitoring. Other than a few nest boxes around my property I’ve reduced to two trails (21 boxes total) that I can monitor in a day. I typically just monitor one trail each morning though.
No bluebird activity on my property boxes so far. A Chickadee pair is building a nest in one of five boxes which my wifey can see from her chair in the living room. I haven’t heard any Lil Stinkers in the neighborhood yet. Wifey reminds me they are Mother Nature’s Lil Stinkers and to leave them be!
Today is supposed to be in the mid 60s so I saw a lot of activity on one trail today. Cold spell has hopefully ended but I see some freezing night temps in the next few days. Tree Swallows have arrived in numbers the last few days and I’m happy to see my pairing of boxes is working out. Even the little stinkin Wrens are not filling boxes with sticks on a daily basis though I think that will change : (
One TRES box had a pair actively defending a box from another TRES invader this morning. They were just swooping through the sky with no real aggressive behavior. I love watching them and they seem to tolerate the bluebird pairs in the box nearby. I think there are eleven bluebird eggs so far. A little worried about the first nest box with five. Hopefully they are still viable after our cold weather. I’ll keep an eye on it. When is it safe to assume they are unviable? I won’t do anything with them until I am sure they have been abandoned. Mom and dad are staying close so I think they will be OK.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Very cool David! As soon as ya think you have bluebirds figured out they surprise you.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
I hope that little bugger is warming up under its siblings. Good to see them all asking for lunch!
My first PVC box I installed Sunday had nest materials in it on Monday, what appeared to be a full nest Tuesday and today two blue eggs. I still haven’t seen or heard any blues but they are out there.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Whoa, that’s awesome. That little guy is hungry! Congrats David.
I’ve been putting out nest boxes for a couple days now. Haven’t heard any BB song yet. It won’t be long until they arrive. Last years earliest nest was April 20th, but still have a few patches of snow in the woods. Tomorrow will be only our second day of 70 degrees this spring (hopefully). I have to get busy!
Edit… Oh, make that 70 on Tuesday. Only in the high 40s Monday.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Thanks for the update. It is cool to be able to have bluebirds most of the year.
Let’s hear from the ‘nut community about their feeder visitors. And please give an approximate location.
-7 degrees here on the WI/MI border this morning. Feeders are visited by chickadees, nuthatches, juncos, goldfinches and downy, hairy, red bellied, red headed and pileated peckerwoods. In addition we have regular visits from cardinals which has been rare in past years. I’m hoping grosbeaks are not too far away.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
That is wonderful. I too have had the pleasure of seeing bluebirds at my birdbath and hearing them in the woods around my home and on local trails. In years past I thought they fledged, learned to hunt and then left the area. Maybe I wasn’t very observant.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Thanks for the post AIH. Very interesting.
I had wasp problems my first year (2023) on my BB trails. Mostly in the first month while waiting for BB arrival. I removed all of them; ping pong ball sized nests or smaller when monitoring the trails weekly. Much easier to deal with one or two of them and when the nest doesn’t have any eggs/larvae. They’re not as aggressive at that stage.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
…
My conclusion at this point is that the adults will mostly if not exclusively feed live food to the young. But I wouldn’t count on it.
Very good example. I read warnings and pass them on just because that’s what us BB landlords try to do to help others. The BB moms and dads have it figured out. Whether its instinct or learned behavior, I don’t know, but they are making smart decisions.
As an expert at the Michigan Bluebird Assoc. festival in Ann Arbor mentioned… “As soon as you think you have them figured out Bluebirds throw you a curve”. I’ve found that to be a factual statement!
Tim
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Well I have dried meal worms live meal worms suet bird bath everything so I’m hopeful
Just be careful with dried mealworms during breeding season. I’ve read that the only hydration that hatchlings get is from their food brought to them by mom and dad. After you start to see eggs I would switch to live mealworms or at the very least save the dried for late and early season use. Of course the BB moms and dads know best so maybe they would not feed their babies dried food anyway.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Thanks Tim!! I live in south eastern Massachusetts, not far from Cape Cod. I’m keeping my finger crossed. Thanks again. How long did it take you??
I put up my first nest boxes in March ’23. The first activity I noticed was on May 15. March is very early in this neck of the woods. I don’t believe they over-winter anywhere north of Central Wisconsin. I didn’t hear/spot bluebirds until just before May 15. Then by June all heck broke loose! Eight pairs were nesting by June 1st. Most of the twenty five boxes that first year were installed before the end of March.
Good luck! You might get lucky and have some late nesters find your box and produce some beautiful babies.
Tim
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
You have a good start on attracting bluebirds and hopefully keeping them around for next breeding season. I’m guessing that if bluebirds are around they will find your offerings and show their little ones where the food is. Not knowing your location I’m not sure, but, I suspect your breeding season is nearing its end. But you may still get some late starters. Here on the WI/MI border, about a hundred miles north of Green Bay, my bluebirds have slowed to just one recent new nest with eggs and two other nests with hatchlings. That’s out of 35 nest boxes. Even with that many nest boxes on my trails I don’t have more than eight or nine pairs nesting at the samee time and at various stages of nest building, eggs and hatchlings. That’s in the prime breeding season for here; that’s mid May to mid June.
It sounds like you’re doing the right things to attract and retain breeding pairs. Just be patient and you could be surprised this summer. At the very least I hope you see bluebirds frequenting your feeders soon.
Tim
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
…Are there no hard and fast rules with bluebirds?
Only the Bluebirds know! Haha…
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Paired box update…
Two boxes are about 15 yards from each other in a closed fly ash landfill on one of my trails. On May 30th I discovered one nest box had five BB eggs, today 5 hatchlings looking like they are soon to fledge. The other box on May 30th was empty. On June 24th it had a new nest and one white egg. Today it has four white BB eggs.
This is unusual for bluebirds I’m told. However, I might be wrong about the white eggs being bluebirds. They are in a bluebird style nest and are the size of a bluebird egg. In the past two seasons I have had several pairs laying white eggs. We’ll see what develops. I’m wondering if the first pair was settled in with their brood and just ignored the other pair that began nesting. Interesting part is there are at least two other empty nest boxes about 100 yards away in the same field.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Or clamp an umbrella over the nest box… That’ll get your neighbors talking!
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
Try some Reflectix® Reflective Insulation. You’ve probably seen it before. It’s bubble wrap with a reflective surface. I’ve had a piece on a “Gilwood” nest box roof on my garden fence for several years. It is easy to install on the roof and can cover the sides as well. Just cut a piece to wrap from the bottom of each side and over the roof. Attach with push pins or staples.
I don’t think they will mind it being installed, especially once they have an egg in there.
WI/MI Border, about 100 miles north of Green Bay
Tim C. WI/MI border.
