Yet another very windy day but the pair is starting to settle into a routine that consists mainly of Blueboy following Lady Blue everywhere, defending the nest, and feeding his wife. She seems to
stay a bit closer to home lately and the pair has returned to sitting in the Pistache tree most of the day.
April 02
We had thunderstorms and a short but heavy hailstorm today. The bluebirds seemed unfazed by it all. I tried numerous times to open the box to count the eggs
when I thought the coast was clear. As soon as my hand reached up, Blueboy would be within 5 feet of me instantly. I could stand by the house, walk past the house, but he only came
to defend it when he saw my arm get closer. I finally figured out he was sitting in the backyard Pistache tree
watching me. I just couldn't see him from the front yard with the new leaf cover.
He still follows his wife everywhere. Here she just flew over to the neighbor's fence and he immediately flew to sit by her.
April 03
A new set of sparrows have moved in unfortunately. They brazenly try to enter Lady Blue's nest
while she is in it. All morning was filled with fights between the bluebirds and the sparrows.
The afternoon and evening were a little better. A single Cedar Waxwing followed the pair for a few hours. I'm not sure if he lost his flock or if he was looking for food.
I think Lady Blue is now sitting on the eggs. She was in the house in the morning and at sunset.
Here's a video from today of how Blueboy comes to his
nest if I raise a hand towards it.
April 04
Blueboy and Lady Blue celebrated Easter by continuing on with their new routing. Fight morning sparrows. Sit on nest (Lady Blue) or defend nest (Blueboy). We were gone
from mid-day to early evening so when Blueboy spotted us turning into the driveway he was their to greet us like a pet dog. Very excited, flapping his 'feed me/there is food' wing
April 05
Nothing new today for the pair. Just waiting now for the hatching in about a week. Lady Blue has definitely faded. She was one of the more colorful females we've ever had but
now she is reverting to a duller non-breeding season color.
The most exciting thing today was the return of Blueboy's good friends the Barn Swallows. We've had a repeat nest for about 10 years. Unlike Blueboy, we don't
know if it is the same exact pair (they also mate for life), but given that they try to build in the same exact spot each year, we suspect we've had the same ones for time periods. The Swallows will
fly around a bit and find their home from last year and just sit there for long time periods, obviously tired from the long flight from South America.
April 06
Our Barn Swallow found his home and as usual, he is taking a rest from his cross-continent journey. As you can see, we 'help' get his nest started with a small cedar platform.
We actually do this to keep him from building in a place we don't want him to.
Lady Blue is being a good mom and sitting on her nest full-time now. She rarely leaves now but I thought I found an opening, so I opened the box to take a picture. Blueboy
was on me fast and this time he was mad. He did his clicking noise that is reserved for sparrow-fighting and nest guarding. Now I see why he so protective. Six eggs! That is a
record for him.
April 07
Nothing new to report other than the pair and their house survived a small storm that packed 40-50 mph winds the night before. The countdown to hatching is now 5-7 days away.
April 08
Even though the sparrows seem to be leaving the pair alone lately, I decided to put
a Sparrow-Spooker up again this year. A sparrow-spooker somehow magically keeps sparrows away
from the bluebird box. The bluebirds hate it but they get used to it and at this point, nothing will keep them away from their babies. The only plausible theory I've heard as to why
sparrow are afraid of them and not bluebirds is that sparrows are seed eaters who require less keen
eyesight than bluebirds (insect eaters) do.
Bluebirds' better eyesight allows them to distinguish the spooker from a
real, live threat, unlike the sparrow that can't.
The spooker
we have used for the past 6 years needed replacing so I found a good branch from Blueboy's favorite sitting tree and bought some
Mylar decoration to use
as the streamers. I'll put it up tomorrow and see how
Blueboy reacts.
April 09
I put up the sparrow spooker around noon today and Blueboy sure did not like it. He battled it for about 15 minutes then off and on for the
rest of the day. It was sad to see him struggle so hard with it but it is 'for his own good'. Lady Blue was terrified of it, of course, and watched
her husband fight it. Her commitment to her nest made her face her fears and she was back in the nest within 15 minutes of me putting it up.
April 10
Blueboy hassled a bit more with the sparrow spooker but overall today was a pretty calm day. The robins are being
aggressive again and now we know why...the female has eggs. I found their nest
about 100 ft. from the bluebirds'. Lady Blue soaked up the evening sun before returning to her nest. She has 'gone inside' about 7:45 the past few days.
April 11
Blueboy had another intense sparrow battle this morning and we are worried that one or more eggs might be destroyed because of the pair both going in the house at the same time.
They are either checking for damage or they are checking for hatching. I hope it is just the latter.
The annual pelican migration over our house gave Blueboy something else to look at. The pelicans come in slow circling waves over a 4-7 day period.
We made a trip to Lake Skiatook and checked out some of the boxes we put up by the lake just this January. One house had five eggs and the house about 250 ft away had six eggs. The bluebirds
there are not like Blueboy. Besides being much skinnier, they are very skittish around humans.
April 12
We've been too hesitant to check on Lady Blue's nest, but we think everything is ok and on schedule. She has slowed down on eating mealworms and is preferring to hunt for
herself. The warm weather and an explosion of bugs has made it easy. Blueboy still asks for a little food and still feeds her some.
April 13
Lady Blue is still hunting her own bugs. I think she knows her eggs are very close to hatching because they don't feed them worms right away and I guess she is 'practicing'.
I assume it is just because the worms are too big. If I remember correctly from
previous years, they start feed them worms about day 3. Blueboy keeps looking in the nest for any activity.
He knows the time is near as well.
April 14
Kayla spotted the hawk flying low right down the side of our house and right over the top of the bluebird houses today. Luckily for Blueboy and Lady Blue, a group of European Starlings were warning everyone and chasing the hawk away.
The Robin has three eggs and she has started incubating them.
Kayla can watch her from just inches away; the robin knows she is hidden
well, but she doesn't know Kayla knows exactly where she is.
There is still no evidence of hatchlings. Lady Blue continues to find a lot of bugs but she never brings them to the nest. Blueboy, however, brings food to the nest in hopes there are mouths to feed. He also spends a lot of time
sitting on the box...just waiting for the moment.
April 15
Blueboy is definitely a dad again. The mom has been bringing in bugs. I haven't spotted Blueboy feeding yet but he never leaves his guard duty.
April 16
I saw Lady Blue take a worm today and not eat it....so I knew at least one hatchling was old enough to try a meal worm. She spent about 15 seconds, working with the worm
before taking it to the nest. Until the birds fledge, we've noticed that the parents 'beat' or partially chew or wipe the worms before feeding them to their young. I'm not sure exactly
why they do it...but they do. I'm sure this has been documented somewhere but I've never read the
reasons why. Regardless, she took the worm in the box and spent about 10-15 seconds feeding it to someone.
We decided to open the box and take a picture. 4 confirmed bodies in there. One looked like it was just hatching. There are two un-hatched eggs.
April 17
The weather turned cooler forcing Lady Blue to stay in the box a bit more. Both parents are taking a an occasional worm in to the babies now. They're catching bugs as well as feeding worms.
They still just bring one worm at a time so I know the babies aren't ready to eat much just yet.
April 18
It rained all day today which made it a tough day for all of the birds to find food. The robins and sparrows were particularly aggressive with Blueboy today. The cardinal got in on the feeding act
but he is not at all troublesome. In fact, we have seen Blueboy and him, side by side on the back porch, sharing a meal together.
The parents continue to display their ability to count and even evaluate the size of the worms. They eat enough worms for themselves but always leave one or two for each parent
to take to the babies. They also save the smallest ones for the tiny babies.
This will all change in a week or so when they will be feeding
everything they can to the babies, then only eating when the
kids are full and quiet.
April 19
The skies cleared and the pair seemed a less dependent on mealworms
but by sunset they were asking for food. The sunnier weather has allowed Lady Blue to leave the house for longer periods again.
We caught two male sparrows in the sparrow trap today. Two out of a thousand or so might help.
April 20
Blueboy and his wife are feeding the babies more today, taking 2 and even three worms at a time. They're obviously growing and demanding more from their parents.
Unfortunately, it looks like only 4 hatched or survived. The picture is incomplete but I think I only see four.
April 21
The pair doesn't seem to be taking as much food as I thought they would be, but I generally don't have time during the day to check on them so I probably just missed all of the feedings.
Both parents are removing the white fecal sacs (diapers) from the nest now, but I see Blueboy do it much more often. For those that don't know, fecal sacs are, well diapers
that hold the babies' excrement. It is a clear mucous with a tiny black 'handle' at the top that the bluebird parents use to carry off away from the nest. Blueboy has been carrying them about
100 yards away from the nest and dropping them from about 150 feet in the air.
April 22
I snuck a picture today and now I see the reason for the seemingly small amount of food being taken for the babies. I only count three. Maybe there is one underneath
that pile but it's doubtful. Six eggs, four hatched, and looking like only
three remain with a long way to go to adulthood.
April 23
We changed the primary feeding location today to try and stay one step ahead of the sparrows and robins. It's much closer to the house and the other birds seem afraid
to get that close to us. Blueboy and his wife put their fears away in this time of feeding their young and both will allow us to be within a few feet of them.
April 24
The babies intake seemed to really take off today. The pair are feeding non-stop now. No resting at all, even with us helping out in a big way. If they are not getting worms from us
they are out hunting. Blueboy and Lady Blue now are both coming to us for food. They'll track us down in the yard, they'll check the windows, and they'll even do a few wing flaps for us.
There is no denying exactly what they want.
April 25
The amount of food those birds eat is just incredible. Especially for only three surviving birds. We took a picture today to confirm the count, and
unfortunately we still only count three. We are too close to fledging so this will
be the last picture in the box. The Robin now has three babies. They are just about a week behind the Bluebirds.
The birds still hunt if there is any gap in our feedings (which there are a lot of). I still try to 'dust' the worms in pulverized chicken egg shells to make sure the babies are getting enough calcium. We are also still gut-loading the worms with spinach.
The video is just one feeding. You can see how many trips they make which includes at least 2-3 diaper drops. Notice at the very end of the video the diaper Lady Blue takes out.
April 26
A cold front came in today with a little rain and wind. The babies are old enough to keep each other warm. In about 5-7 days they'll be out in the world.
Hopefully it will be warmer then.
Lady Blue and Blueboy are just working like slaves. Trip after trip to keep those three fed and quiet.
April 27
The sun came out today and so did all of the other birds to try and get some of the Bluebird's food. Finches, sparrows, the Robin, and even the Cardinal can hear the babies and are out to scavenge worms.
The Robin is getting extremely brave. To combat this, I have started feeding Lady Blue and Blueboy extremely close to me. For Blueboy, this is no big deal as he will eat right next to us, but Lady Blue has to
overcome her fear to get much closer. She will come within 5 feet of us.
April 28
The Robin has lost all fear of us and it is extremely difficult to get food to the Bluebirds without the Robin scaring them off. Despite that and the sparrows, the babies are
still
being fed massive quantities of food it seems. Blueboy and Lady Blue just make constant trips.
April 29
Very strong south winds beat on the birds all day, The nest box was swaying back and forth for around 36 hours straight. I guess that motion is similar to what would be
experienced if they were in a tree branch. Regardless, Blueboy and Lady Blue kept up the foraging, feeding, and cleaning. The babies are much louder now and Blueboy has begun
calling outside of their box. They are now just a few days away from fledging.
April 30
Lady Blue looks worn out (plus it was raining today) but overall she and Blueboy made it through April fairly well.
In a few days their stress will
have at least doubled.
The nestlings did not wake-up or beg for food at the usual time this morning because
when I went outside around 7:00 Blueboy and his wife had no interest in feeding them. Later in the day they seemed to eat more, but it
was significantly less than the previous few days. I got a partial picture through the opening
today. I can only see two but hopefully one baby is out of the frame of the picture.
The babies started to poke their heads out near sunset, so it could
be any moment when they fledge. We hoped they would wait until
Monday when the neighborhood activity is less, but it looks like they
are on their own schedule.
I destroyed the Barn Swallow's nest again today in hopes that they would start building where I want them to, but as soon as the rain stopped, they started to re-build in the
same spot. I'm going to let them have it this time as they probably saved Blueboy's life from the hawk again today. They gave an early warning and I saw him escape to the roof-top just as
the hawk flew inches over the Bluebird house and just a few feet above my head
and then down the side of our house. Last year we saw the hawk take his wife and all Blueboy could do was chase it in vain.
The skies cleared and the birds seemed to feed more. The
parents are starting to do their low whistle noise which encourages the
kids to come out.
