Bluebird Summer 2015

4 years ago when I started planting native flowers and shrubs, I also mounted my first bluebird nest box. I was told that the chance of getting bluebirds to nest in town were slim. In the first year, Black Capped Chickadees established themselves before a male Eastern Bluebird came to inspect the lone house. My neighbor commented that he'd never seen Bluebirds in town before. This brief visit gave me hope that such a thing could be done; it was quite the wait, but this summer it was worth it.

During the second summer, I picked up a couple of extra nest boxes, one for Bluebirds, one for Wrens. The Chickadees established themselves in the original box only to be pushed out by some House Wrens, who successfully fledged three and then moved on apparently to my neighbor's bird house. By the end of the second summer we had 2 Bluebird houses and 1 Wren house which had produced three Black Capped Chickadee chicks and three House Wren chicks but no Bluebirds.

The third saw Tree Swallows come to inspect but no birds took up residence in our nest boxes, but the Wren house was lost due to wasp infestation. Noting that the house was very near the rear entrance of our home, and we had other wasp related infestations that year including yellow jackets in our basement.

Down to two boxes, I went about my wait this spring. Through April, I destroyed every attempt the House Sparrows made to use my nest boxes and eventually they settled in the house they use every year in my neighbor's garden. This actually worked somewhat well in that they did a good job scaring off other House Sparrows who came to close. May rolled around, and I was worried that like the previous year we wouldn't have any nests. In the last week of May, Mama and Papa Bluebird arrived and started building.

They built nests in both boxes and used the older of the two boxes. 5 little blue eggs later, the weather got unusually cool and Mama Bluebird was regularly found elsewhere in the yard, not on the nest. We were the worried the eggs would not be viable. A week or so later, came out to find 5 little naked chicks in the box. All of which fledged.

I cleaned out the bird house very shortly thereafter, closed it up, and waited. The babies and the parents had seemingly disappeared. We didn't see them in the yard for about two weeks. Then construction began again in earnest. This time they only built one nest, and we only ever saw 4 eggs.

The really remarkable part was that some days, we'd spy the 2 adults and up to 3 of the juvenile birds from the previous nest. The juvenile birds spent a lot of time around the nest box and in our Black Chokeberry bush. They helped dive bomb Brown Headed Cowbirds and Blue Jays. It was really rewarding to watch them feed amongst the native plants we've established in our gardens.

A few weeks ago now, I took a day trip with my daughter. When we returned that evening, gray Bluebirds were falling somewhat gracefully from the bird house and into the Black Chokeberry. From the kitchen we saw 2 eventually take off from the bush and into the neighbor's Maple. I insisted we go out to see them and opened the door, she bolted towards the Chokeberry while I grabbed a camera. By the time, I was out the door, she was next to the bush and baby #3 was mid flight into the neighbor's tree. We sat on the deck waiting for baby #4, he only peered out of the box. It got dark. We went to bed.

By the late morning the next day, the box was empty.

We didn't see any Bluebirds, no Mama or Papa, no babies.

Last night, the House Finches and Mourning Doves fed at our feeders in a frenzy. A small gray bird jumped out of an Eastern Red Bud and landed in the grass and hopped about chasing some moths. Then another gray bird appeared. When the flew up to a nearby cable wire, their blue streaks gave them away. They were bluebirds. Before it got dark, the most I had counted seeing on the wire was 4, and I am certain I heard calls of others. I can't be certain it was our babies but I'd like believe it was.