Our new home in Tennessee provided me with some challenges if I wanted to succeed in attracting and provide nesting for a family of Bluebirds. Our backyard is basically a swimming pool! Seriously! We have about 20 feet from the pool to the banks of Old Hickory Lake. All the things I have read about where to put a box will be challenged...the direction it's facing....not too close to other feeders in the area....not too close to a large body of water, etc.. I don't have any choice where the box goes if I want to put one up. So here goes. I have decided on a place and let's see what happens! February is a month of investigation for the Bluebird. They are already checking out places to build the nests. These two males have their eyes on my box. I am leaving grubworms close by as a little incentive. Feb.27 I put the box up in January, but February is when I started to see a lot of action around it. As I write this (the last week of Feb.) this is what I see off and on all day. As early as sunrise, this guy is sitting on the box. Every now and then he will peek inside and even occasionally go into the box. I have checked inside the box to see if there was any nest building going on, but no...(I know! It's too early for that!) It's usually the male who sits on the box and I can see a female off in the distance usually on the ground looking for worms or insects. A Black-Capped Chickadee came by to peek in the box after the male had left his guard, but he was quickly escorted away by the territorial male Bluebird. Maybe he's claiming this box as home. Let's hope so. March 4th Well, I was beginning to worry a little. I had not even SEEN a bluebird since the last day of February! This morning I woke up about a half an hour before the sun came up and there he was....sitting on top of the box. (I took these two pictures at around noon.) He has been in and around the box all day today. That's encouraging. I don't see the female today so far. The two pictures here shows you how I have configured the box. You can see the baffle at the very bottom and a tray for the meal worms that I feed them. The baffle is necessary to keep animals from getting to the nest. It also works very well to keep squirrels away from your bird feeders if you have mounted it on a pole. The little meal worm tray for the Bluebirds is probably too close to the nest, but so far he doesn't seem to mind. The problem with it is that the Robins have found a place to have a free lunch too. That could get expensive. March 12th Everyday that goes by I am more confident that the birds like the location of the nesting box. If not, I don't know why they are hanging around it so much! I have moved the meal worm feeding tray about 30 feet from the box and they have found it okay. I know one thing for sure....they like LIVE meal worms! I recently purchased a package of dried meal worms because of the quantity of worms you got and of course the price. Well....the Bluebirds almost turned their noses up at the dried worms. Wouldn't even touch 'em! The dried worms will not be wasted though. The Robins gobble them up as well as the Carolina Wrens... and the Chickadees will even take a few. March 16th While checking the box this morning I noticed that some grass has been left in the bottom. This is usually what Bluebirds will use for nesting. I was hoping that it was a Bluebird that had left it there. I kept looking out of the window for anymore activity and sure enough, the male was sitting on top of the box with some grass in his beak. They say from the first signs of nest building to the day the last fledgling leaves the nest, is about 30 days. If that is true, we should have a new family of little bluebirds flying around here by the middle of April. I talked with someone this past weekend who said his box already contains eggs! Let the season begin! March 21 IT'S WAR! Since my last update on the 16th, no nest building has taken place. Why? There seems to be a "battle for the box" going on now between the Bluebirds and several Tree Swallows. The Tree Swallow likes the same nesting conditions as the Bluebird and are known to nest in Bluebird boxes. You can see in the picture an event that happens several times a day. The swallows arrive at the box only to be driven away by the Bluebirds a few seconds later! I'm not sure if this will deter the Bluebirds from building a nest here or not. They sure protect the box as though they WANT to nest here, but will the swallows allow it? Stay tuned..... March 22 Good news! The bluebirds began building the nest today. They worked hard at it until around noon and then slowed down some. I snapped this picture around 1:00pm. The pictures surrounding the box were taken between 8 and 9am. It is the female doing most of the work while the male either sits on the box or on a nearby limb. The Tree Swallows didn't seem to bother them today. (not that I could tell anyway) The weather is great...in the 70's, but rain is predicted tomorrow. Maybe that's why they started today. They are pretty good forecasters. (Remember to click on the images to make them larger to see more detail) March 24 Nest building continues at a lazy pace. Bluebirds will typically build their nests in 2 to 6 days, so I guess we are still on schedule. I took a peek into the nest before sunset tonight and they are probably half way done with it. It is made up of dry grasses. Tonight rain is moving in and it is predicted on and off for the next several days. This guy saw his reflection in the window and didn't like it. They are so territorial and will do anything to drive off competition. He kept pecking at his own reflection! I just know his bill has got to be a little sore. He'll get over it. I'll keep the camera handy. March 27 All done! The nest is completed it appears. The Swallows returned today to terrorize the Bluebirds. It seemed the more the Swallows kept "buzzing" the box, the harder the Bluebirds worked to get the nest built. Now, lets see how many days it takes before we see an egg appear! All in all, it took about 5 days to get the nest to this stage. Some wicked weather is predicted for the weekend. I'll go tighten up the baffle before the sun goes down tonight. Let the egg laying begin! April 5 I have been waiting anxiously for an egg to appear in the box but unfortunately, nothing yet. I'm not sure why. What worries me is that I haven't even seen the bluebirds for a couple of days. The Swallows have been relentless this past week with the "buzzing" of the box...even landing on it and peeking inside. The Bluebirds have been busy playing the part of policeman by chasing them away. I wonder if the Bluebirds just finally got tired of it all and found another place to build a nest. I'll keep an eye on it for awhile. Keep your fingers crossed and maybe something will happen in a couple of days. In the mean time, there is a perfectly new nest sitting empty in the box. April 6 The birds reappeared today on a cold and blustery Monday. They attended to nest a little and then off again. I peeked inside the box and noticed that she had brought some lint and fuzzy stuff inside. They will line the nest with that sometimes, so I keep my hopes up that an egg will appear soon. I also notice something strange. If you look at the picture of the female Bluebird I posted, you will notice that her bill is somewhat deformed. It' s longer and bent at the tip a little. I have noticed recently that the male seemed to feed her holly berries that she could not rip the meat of the berry off of the hard seed in the middle. She can catch her share of bugs and worms but he feeds her the tougher stuff. Ah....true love! I'll try to get a picture for you. April 9 The Bluebirds are still defending the box from the relentless buzzing of the Tree Swallows on a daily basis. Usually only in the morning though. The mornings, of course, are the time that the female usually lays her eggs. Maybe that is causing the delay in egg laying. Bluebirds are so territorial that they will even defend themselves from THEMSELVES! In the most recent picture posted, you can see the birds attacking their own reflection in the neighbors window. They do this for HOURS! Now you know where we get the term "bird brain". Maybe that's also why the females bill is bent! Easter Sunday, April 12 Look at the Easter egg I found today! What a surprise! I was really beginning to think that the Bluebirds had given up on this box. I watched them this morning defending the nest from the Tree Swallows and thought that nothing was going to happen. After I got home from church and had our Easter lunch, I thought what the heck....I'll just take a quick peek in the box to make sure. I couldn't believe my eyes. There it was. This will be a fun month to watch the progress. I'll keep you updated as usual. April 16 FIVE EGGS IN THE NEST!! But then......(dramatic isn't it?), today I looked out of the window only to see water coming through the ground like a geyser! It looked like Old Faithful! One of the irrigation lines in my yard had blown up for some reason. I called the landscaping people out and they began digging a big 'ole hole in the yard right in front of the Bluebird box. (see the photo and the box in the background) I hope it is not deterring the female from sitting on the eggs now that she has laid them all. Ya know...it's always something. It will be a miracle if we ever get these eggs hatched and the babies fledged! I'm beginning to feel like an over protective mother! April 20 There is not much to report...and I hope that is good news. I have not seen the female very much the past few days and I'm hoping that's because she is on the eggs. The male is always close by seeming to stand guard. I did see them both yesterday playing cat and mouse with the Tree Swallows and then off to fight their reflection in the window for awhile. Then, she was gone...to the box I presume. The male Bluebird did make appearance at my window feeder a couple of times yesterday. ( www.justin.tv/spikeo1 ) I guess I'll have to begin to leave a few meal worms in there for him. If I am figuring correctly, and she IS on the eggs, we should see some little ones around May 2nd...give or take a couple of days. We'll see..... April 26 For the first time in over a week, I took a peek into the box to see if the eggs were in good shape and no predators had been in there to destroy them. Everything looks good to me. The female spends most of her day in the box incubating. I have begun to leave them meal worms in my window feeder and it did not take long for them to find them. The male and female will occasionally show up and gobble 'em down like popcorn! The weather has been good this past week. If you believe the old timers, there will be no drought this spring and summer because of the amount off eggs she laid. According to them she would have only laid three or four if the future was going to be difficult looking for food and water. May 2 We have a box full of baby Bluebirds! FINALLY! I woke up this morning and told my wife that this was the day that I thought the eggs might hatch. (never really thinking that they would...) I thought I saw something in the females mouth when she went into box this morning. I grabbed the binoculars and waited for her to make another trip. She DID have a worm in her mouth! Then I noticed the male bring food into the box and figured for sure that at least one egg had hatched. I waited until later in the afternoon before I took my camera down to the box to make sure. I wont bother the box now for a few days. They look so feeble! I feel like a proud grandfather......:-} May 7 I took a picture of the babies after 5 days. Look how much they have grown! Can anyone tell how many are in there? I'm assuming there are 5 (since there were only 5 eggs in the box..., duh...) but it sure looks like 6 when you look at the picture. ...an optical illusion I guess. I am continuing to "help" them a little with the feeding by leaving some meal worms for them every early morning and late afternoon. I do a certain whistle after I've placed the worms in the feeder and it doesn't take but 30 seconds before they are at the feeder! I guess the birds know what the whistle means. It's kind of funny to watch them stuff their beak with the worms. They will put about 6 or 7 of them in their mouth while the worms are still "wiggling" and then fly off to the box to feed the little ones. I've been trying to get a good picture of that. When I do, I'll post it. May 13 I have been out of town for the best part of the week and I just got back last night. The weather has been awful here in the Nashville area with high winds and a TON of rain. So...like a hovering mother...I worried about the well being of our little winged friends and their family. But, as you can see, (see the May 13th photo....) everything is in fine order. The babies are getting almost too big for the nest! I predict that sometime this weekend (in 3 or 4 days) these little guys will be ready to leave the nest. Mom and Dad are great parents! They continue to constantly feed the babies and TRY to clean the nest. I always see the male leaving the box with a poop sack in his beak all the time. He usually will fly over the open water and drop it there. As much as he trys to clean the nest of all the poop, I still think they need to hire the Merry Maids to get in there and steam clean the walls! YIKES! May 14 I personally think the male Bluebird sort of gets a bad rap. A lot of experts will note that the male is a little lazy...doesn't build the nest...doesn't have to go through child birth (egg laying)...and so forth. Well I am here to stick up for the male! After all, he does select where the nest will be built. He does stand guard of the box day and night. (outside in the cold many nights when mom is on the eggs all night!) He does work tirelessly after the eggs have hatched to feed the little ones. And, he does regularly take out the trash! As you can see in the May 14th picture posted, the male is leaving the nest with the trash. In this case, the fecal sac. Yup...the poop...the doo doo...the diapers...the steamers. And he even carries it in his mouth!! Enough said! The male earns his keep alright. How many of you had to put diapers in YOUR mouth?!? May 18 YES!.....the babies left the box this morning! I was up around daybreak and kept looking at the box. I figured they were ready to go at anytime but not THAT early! I thought I'd be ready for them with my camera in hand, but I missed it. They wanted to get out of that box I guess. I can't blame them really. They were packed in there like sardines the last week. I haven't seen them at all this morning. I'll go scout the neighborhood later and see it I can find them. As I write this, I'm watching a Sparrow going in and out of the box. He's probably taking measurements for a nest he wants to build in there now. Actually...I will take the box down this morning and thoroughly clean it... then let it dry out before I put it back up. In a couple of weeks, they will be ready to lay more eggs. This time, I will have my LIVE video camera installed in the box! Stay tuned for round 2! May 26 I haven't seen the parents with the babies much lately. I wonder how many of the 5 have survived. I did see Mom and Dad feeding one of the little ones about a week later. (see May 26th photo) The parents have shown the little one where to get a free lunch. (I still leave them some meal worms every day in the feeder) I have also put up the box again in the same location with a video camera installed in it. Both of the birds will every now and then go inside the box to check it out and see the new surroundings. They continually look up at the camera. I bet they are wondering..."what's that thing doing in here?" I will be online with it "live" when the building of another nest begins. May 27 Yesterday I wondered how many of the 5 babies survived. This morning I got my answer....4. At least the 5th one did not show up in the Magnolia tree for breakfast with the rest of them. (see the pictures posted on May 27th) What a nice surprise to see them looking VERY well fed. Actually, they look larger than Mom and Dad! I am leaving them meal worms, suet nuggets and chopped up dried fruit bits. Mmmmm. Life is going to get tougher for them when they go out on their own! |                  (April 26th)  (May 2nd. Happy birthday!)  (May 7th)  (May 13th)  (May 14th)     (June 1st) (click on the images to enlarge them) |