I Have Fallen in Love With Bluebirds!

by Lisa Fulton
(Phoenixville, Pennsylvania)

My Bluebird Experience begins Here:

I have hung a birdhouse up in my back yard for over ten years, never has any type of bird resided in it.

This past March my father spotted a pair of Bluebirds around the house. The next day my dad bought me a mealworm feeder. They loved it.

I then purchased live mealworms and put them in a small glass bowl, they were hooked, and so was I!

The pair laid four eggs in late April, they hatched on Mothers Day. I have taken hundreds of pictures of mom, Dad and the little ones. After they fledged we took the nest out.

Mom and Dad turned around and built another perfect nest. I am a dog groomer and put some clean tufts of hair around in the yard and to my surprise they used it. What a lot of work that is.

This time three eggs were laid. They hatched on the 4th of July.

It was awesome to watch fledglings from the first brood help fed the second brood. I witnessed the fledgling fly out of the box this time, I cried but was happy for them.

I live in Phoenixville Pennsylvania, not your typical Bluebird block. Actually I have lived here 20 plus years and never saw one, my neighbors agree also.

What a joy it is to go from no Bluebirds to seven in a few short months! I feed them dried and live mealworms everyday.

I am so attached to them. Mom and Dad are such hard workers! Our birdhouse is not your typical Bluebird house, but it sure has made a loving home for our pair!

It is a colorful pretty house which also makes a good background in my photos.

Birds and Blooms	Pioneer Woman	People Magazine	First For Women

Bear Destroyed Bluebird Nest and Babies

by Terri
(Connecticut )

We have had 2 bluebird nests for over 20 years. Sometimes we have at least 3 batches of babies in a season.

Today was a terrible day for my husband and I. We had 4 little baby bluebirds hatch last week.

To our dismay, a bear had bent over the bluebird pole and baffle and broke the bluebird house off the top. The babies were gone so we assume they were eaten.

All that was left was the nest and bent-over fence and a huge pile of bear scat a short distance away. Have never heard of this before. We are heartbroken.

Bluebirds Mystery

by Cheryl
(SC)

Beginning in January 2012 I had this bird that kept flying into my window, all day long. Concerned, I went to the internet to figure out what this bird was and why it was doing it!

It turns out, I had a pair of bluebirds interested in nesting in an old tree stump in my yard. They were seeing their reflection in the window and "fighting" with the other bird.

I covered the window, thinking that would solve the problem, but they discovered the side mirrors on both our cars (And the mirrors on any visitors cars who came over!) and fought those birds!

Even with all the fighting that they were doing, they managed to successfully fledge 4 babies, and one of the eggs didn't hatch.

That old stump was paper thin, and we had been meaning to get rid of it, but Chickadees usually nested in it.

I did not check on them like I did the bluebirds, so I did not know what bad shape that stump was really in!

So we took the stump out after the babies fledged and put up an Eastern Bluebird Nesting box.

The first birds who showed interest in the box were Brown Headed Nuthatches, but bluebirds chased them away immediately!

Soon after, it appeared that we had the same bluebirds from the stump nesting in the box. After tedious nest construction, we had 4 tiny eggs!

The female was incubating the eggs, for a few days. Then the other day I noticed a female bluebird on top of the nestbox, and flapping her wings, and a male came to the box to peek inside.

The Male from my nesting pair swooped down and chased them away.

Yesterday, I saw a female bluebird on top of the nesting box, with nesting material in her mouth, and she went inside the box.

I checked on the box, and there are the makings of a completely new nest being built on top of the already fully constructed nest complete with 4 eggs!

I don't know what happened or what I should do if anything. I wonder if the two bluebird pairs just began fussing over the nesting site and chased away my original nesters?

I don't know if I should remove the little eggs or leave them in there. They are not going to hatch if a female is not incubating them. So sad.

Birds and Blooms	Pioneer Woman	People Magazine	First For Women

My Love of Bluebirds Grows!

by Jody
(Elkhart, IN)

I have always loved having wild birds in my yard. I was determined to attract a pair of nesting Eastern Bluebirds and finally have had success each year for the last 4 years!

I live in a fairly wooded neighborhood, but tried to place the houses (I have 3) far apart from each other and in as open an area as possible.

I don't use any pesticides or fertilizers on my lawn. I have LOTS of wild birds, but the bluebirds at first seemed reluctant to nest here.

My first pair chose the tiniest of the abodes, a cedar house with a side opening door. I was over the MOON when the female started laying eggs.

I carefully checked the nest daily and bought some live mealworms to feed them out of a small cup that I thumb tacked to the top of the house.

I know that was not the right thing to do now, but at the time I wasn't even sure what I was doing was going to work.

I put worms in it twice a day and prior to filling I whistled. The birds knew when I whistled that food was coming and the male did bring the fledglings back the week after they left the nest!

By now the mama bird was busy building a new nest and starting to lay eggs, but she didn't seem bothered by her other babies stomping on the roof and getting fed by the male.

This continued until the new eggs started hatching, then the male stopped feeding the fledglings.

I went on my 2nd year to have FOUR nests fledged out of this house!

This year I have had one nest in this house and 2nd one in another house. Be sure to have a metal ring around the opening to keep critters out and a pole guard or at least some petroleum jelly greasing the pole.

I have also started feeding year round, with freeze dried mealworms, keeping water available and the birds love my home-made suet which has sugar, oatmeal, cornmeal, lard and peanut butter in it.

If you haven't attracted them to your yard yet, don't give up! Keep trying, hopefully your patience will be rewarded with these marvelous birds.

Birds and Blooms	Pioneer Woman	People Magazine	First For Women

Backyard Caboose Attracts Nesting Pair!

by Carole
(Chardon, OH, USA)

While bluebirds were interested in the caboose last year, they were frightened away by sparrows.

My husband removed the perches and thinking that the three compartments were rather small for several eggs and the female, we removed one of the interior walls, making it a 2-room suite.

The caboose was not mounted on the pole more than an hour and a half when a nesting pair swooped in for a close inspection!

There was at least one pair zipping in and out the three openings, deliberating on which suite was most suitable.

Strangely, it looks like a nest was built in both suites, perhaps by two females, though we have seen two males in the area. Hard to know who is who!

At any rate, the birds do not seem to be troubled by the lawnmower, us working in the yard, or my husband playing catch with our dog. Monitoring the birds on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, the house does not have an access door so we will have to wait until next season to put a hinged door on the side of the caboose.

Also planning to build a couple more standard format bluebird habitats for the spring.

Meantime, attached is a shot of the nesting pair. This is our first foray into mounting a bluebird watch and it is a great experience.

Love listening to their cheerful song each day and watching the male perched atop the house, ever watchful over his domain.

Here's hoping their first family does well!

Birds and Blooms	Pioneer Woman	People Magazine	First For Women

Finally Got Bluebird Eggs

by Sue & Terry Meehan
(Varnville, SC, USA)

We put our bluebird house right outside our kitchen window several years ago, and we've had several couples adopt the house over the years -- but never had success with keeping them there long enough to start a family.

We think we have bluebirds living in the box and the next thing we know, we see other birds coming and going, enjoying the nest built by the poor bluebirds!

This year, we witnessed the attack by house sparrows as a new bluebird couple was just finishing off their nest building.

My husband ran outside and helped the male bluebird defend his home from swooping sparrows.

The extra hand was just enough to help the bluebird defend his turf, and the sparrows left.

We watched the nest hopefully for a few weeks and while we saw bluebirds coming now and then, we couldn't be sure if it was our nest-building couple.

We worried that they may have been frightened off and new bluebirds wouldn't be interested in the box now that it had somebody else's nest in it.

After a little more than two weeks, we decided it was time to toss the old nest in hopes of attracting new tenants.

We went out and opened up the box, gently tipped the nest forward to take a peak ... and found two blue eggs!!! JOY!!!

The next morning, we watched carefully and when we spotted a blue blur leaving the box we checked the box again ... three blue eggs!

We got to work putting together a 'sparrow spooker' made from an old tomato cage and some cut up plastic bag strips.

When the bluebirds returned, they were a little upset for just a bit but now they are quite comfortable with it and we rest a little easier knowing our bluebirds have a little protection from bullies.

As of today, we are at five pretty blue eggs ... we've been at that level for three days now so we think the egg-laying is complete.

Birds and Blooms	Pioneer Woman	People Magazine	First For Women

Wintering Bluebirds

by Bill Thomas
(Ann Arbor, Michigan)

Last winter we noticed bluebirds at our frozen birdfeeder here near Ann Arbor, Michigan.

So I put a heater in the birdbath. Bought it years ago but never saw a need.

As soon as the birdbath thawed, the bluebirds returned, but then robins too. It was like a parade.

Never knew that a birdbath could be such an attraction in the winter.

So here the bluebirds are again, almost every day hopping along the living room window ledge looking in. Not afraid of us.

Don't know what they are eating though, did put out some mealworms, but no action there yet.

Birds and Blooms	Pioneer Woman	People Magazine	First For Women

Standing guard

by Wendy Hinch
(Sydenham, Ont, Canada)

I have had bluebirds in my yard for about 5 yrs. This is the first yr. that they have made a nest in the bluebird house that I provided for them.

This picture is one I snapped the other day of the male standing guard over the bluebird house while the female flew in and out, making the nest.

The 2nd. picture is one I took a few yrs. ago of the babies waiting their turn for a birdbath on my deck.