2003 Nesting Season
 

4/10:  The 2003 Nesting Season is getting a slow start in Central NY State this year. Reminds me of last year. After one blistering hot day in April, we had a cold, cold spring last year, and this year promises more of the same. After putting in an early appearance in late March, all Bluebird activity seemed to stop here after an ice storm on April 5 that left many in the area without power for days, and left us with a flood in our basement due to an inoperative sump pump.

4/24:  Bluebird activity has resumed, with a pair showing interest in one of our Gilbertson's boxes. A completely finished nest was left without any inhabitants after a couple of very rainy, cold days.

5/6:  Now a male has shown up, and is showing interest in the wood boxes on the north end of the property. He's been teasing us for weeks by coming without his girlfriend. We can only assume he's taking his time picking out his girl. Meanwhile, he's defending both wooden nestboxes, and has discovered the mealworm feeder.

5/16: Well, it looks like our male finally has a girlfriend!  She is sweet! We've placed a mealworm feeder on our windowsill, and we've taught them that when we ring a cowbell at the window, their treats are ready. They are very shy, but as long as we don't move while they're sitting at the window, we can get a good close-up view. Here's a picture: (Click on the thumbnails to see the full-sized versions.)

We hope nestbuilding will start very soon. We've had such a cold, rainy spring that everything seems to be delayed in thawing out (including me).

5/18: There's been some scuffling between our Bluebird couple and the Tree Swallows (TRES) over the nestboxes. We tried pairing nestboxes this year - two on the north side of the property, and two on the south side. In theory, this will allow two Bluebird couples and two TRES couples to nest in close proximity -  as neither the Bluebirds nor the TRES will allow another couple of the same species to nest so close to them, but will allow a couple of the other species to do so. Bluebirds and TRES do not compete for food supplies, as Bluebirds are ground feeders and TRES are aerial feeders. However, there is considerable squabbling going on just now over which species will be allowed to nest where! As things finally settle down, it looks like it's going to be this way:  The Bluebirds have chosen one of the wood nestboxes on the north end of the property. They have chased the TRES couple away from the other wooden box paired with theirs (so much for theories - maybe these birds haven't read the books!) Having been chased away from the wood box, the Tree Swallows have migrated over the one of the Gilbertson's boxes on the south end of the property, where they will not allow a second TRES couple to move into the other box paired with that one. Oh, the drama!

Here are pictures of the nests-in-progress:

5/26: Finally! On Friday the 23rd, when I checked the nestbox, there was one, perfect, beautiful blue egg! And the Tree Swallows had three eggs in their nest. On Saturday when I went to count eggs again, I found the female Tree Swallow hunkered down, sitting on them. She just looked up at me from inside the Gilbertson's box, apparently unconcerned, though I know she must have been terrified. I apologized and put the nestbox right back and quietly walked away. Now today, there are five little white eggs in their nest. TRES build such beautiful nests!

 5/30: Looks like the Bluebirds are going to have four eggs this nesting. Honey has been sitting on the eggs all day today, a sure sign that laying is done. When she finally came out for some mealworms, I snuck a peek with my mirror and camera. Our funny daddy bird is very protective of his "babies". When I go out to monitor the nest, he does a great job of trying to scare me off, making wide arching runs that come just inches from my head! When he's at his closest to me, I hear him snap his wing in such a way that it sounds like the crack of a whip! He isn't seriously disturbed, just doing his "daddy" thing.

6/13: The Bluebird babies finally hatched! Three of them made it, the fourth egg eventually turned out to be unfertilized. And on the same day, the Tree Swallows are already starting to get big.

6/27: Lots of activity today at the TRES nest - the babies are peeking and leaning further and further out of the nestbox. Fledging could be any time now for these guys.

6/28: Came home today to find all quiet around the TRES nest, so we suspected there might have been a fledging. After quite a period of watching, with no activity in sight, we checked, and sure enough - the babies were gone. TRES don't hang around once they fledge, so there are no signs of the family anywhere. Last year we did see seven little bodies perched way up high on the electric line about a week after fledging, so maybe we'll see these guys sometime, too.

6/29: SUCCESS!! After all the waiting for a fledging, we were out when the babies fledged! We realized fledging had occurred when we made our usual dinnertime mealworm offering, and instead of flying to the nestbox with them, they were flying to the tree near their box. Venturing close enough to get this picture resulted in being dive-bombed by BOTH  Bluebirds, something that had never happened before.

6/30: By the next morning, the Bluebirds moved the babies to a location off the property, but continue to come to the sound of the bell ringing for mealworms to take to the youngsters. There's been no sign yet of re-nesting, but sometimes it takes up to a week. We're hoping for another nesting from one of our boxes, so the box just vacated has been cleaned out (as has the TRES nest); another new box is also being set where the oldest box used to be - the old box is being retired as a "dummy" box for HOSP control. Here's the male coming to get mealies to take to the babies. Isn't he handsome?

7/14: Only two weeks have passed and there's lots of new developments to report. First of all, the babies have been hidden away for the past two weeks since fledging. The Bluebirds still come for mealworms, but not quite as regularly as before. However, a couple of days ago, we had our first sighting of one of the babies, who came with the adults to check us out. We weren't able to get a picture until today, though. But here she is, sitting out on the shepherds hook about ten feet from the window.

And another piece of news - We hadn't been paying too much attention to the Gilbertson's box that the tree swallows had recently vacated. We've been too busy watching the wooden nestbox that the first Bluebird nesting took place in. But today we happened to look in there, and had a surprise.

Sadly, we've only seen two of the three fledglings. We don't know what happened to the other one. After much discussion, we think we've determined that both of these are girls.

8/11: The Bluebirds keep coming back for mealies to feed the fledglings. Since we can't look at the babies now, time for some nice closeup pictures of the proud parents.

8/14: Two big events in the Central NY today! The Blackout of 2003, and the Bluebirds's 2nd nesting fledged! We missed seeing the actual fledging because of being distracted by the blackout. We waited and watched all day as the new little ones peeked and leaned out, and almost tumbled out of the box. The camcorder was set up to catch the momentous event on videotape. And then, just after 4PM, the power went out. The camcorder was plugged into the house current, and didn't automatically switch over to battery power. When the excitement finally died down and we went to check on the babies' progress, they had already fledged. Disappointing for us, but a happy day for the Bluebirds. The only picture available is a still shot grabbed from the video footage of the pre-fledging antics.

8/25:  The babies have been sneaking in and out of the yard for a couple of days now. Today we were finally able to get some pictures of one of the fledglings on the shepherd's hook. Looks like Honey has brought him something yummy to eat.

8/26: A curious expression caught on film. 

8/28: We're not sure how many fledglings we're seeing at this point. We did see two at once today, sitting on the shepherd's hook. We weren't fast enough with the camera to get a picture, but maybe tomorow. We're hoping to catch a glimpse of all four together before they disappear for the season, just so we'll know they all made it.

9/3: Finally, we've seen all four fledglings from the second nesting together at the window feeder. They all made it!

The season is winding down now. We'll update this page as long as the Bluebirds stay in the area. We learn more every year the blues are with us. Hoping for an even more successful and happy 2004 season.

11/27 Update:  By now the blues are usually long gone. But this year we've had the good fortune of  seeing them fairly regularly all through the fall season. They remember the mealworms, and come often to the window feeder looking for a handout. There are six in all - the male and female adults, and the babies from the second nesting - three boys and one girl.