Baby Bluebirds!

[Mulemom]

Hi All,

Some of you may have read about these guys. One of them is adopted. Took three eggs out of a next that had to be moved and put them in another next. The parents laid five of their own and three of theirs hatched along with one of the foster eggs. All four are doing great and I can't tell which one is the adopted one anymore.

I took some pictures of them on Monday, and again today. It is amazing how much they can change in four days!

Monday:

Friday:

The Daddy Bluebird eating meal worms:

 

[Mulemom]

Sorry...just learning this photo posting thing. I hope this works better...

 

[Poison Ivy]

They grow so fast. My neice found a baby bird that had fell out of a nest in our barn. I think it fell about 12 feet and landed on the concrete floor. I was going to try to put it back in the nest. When we found it but couldn't find anything to stand up on to reach that high. So I brought it to the house and got the heat lamp out but it died about 15 minutes later. My neice was so sad she when looking to see if she could find another one to rescue. She's 5 and loves animals.

 

[Mulemom]

I've never had a success with any of the baby birds I tried to save. I was so worried that all 8 eggs would hatch and the parents wouldn't be able to feed them all. It worked out great with just the four hatching. They are totaly used to me sticking my head in there serveral times a day too. I just can't help myself!
I bought them some meal worms and this morning when I put them out the daddy was waiting on the branch and started singing excitedly. He was on them before I even got back inside the house. The parents have been pretty shy until now.

 

[Poison Ivy]

I have a pair of morning doves that hang out on the tree over my chicken run. They wait for me to throw feed to my girls and they know I throw a little on the ground for them. I had one get in the run the other day and couldn't get out. I had to go in and get it out. She waited in the corner for me and let me pick her up. I held her for a minute and then she just sat on my hand. I had to lift her into the air for her to take off.

 

[Carole AM]

Great pix! We have had bluebirds here now for about 10 years. They seem pretty tame, and I look into the boxes too! We have 4 boxes up on our 5 acres, and have tree swallows in one.

We named our little farm "Bluebird Hill" because of it! lol They are a special bird.

 

[Mulemom]

I love the name Bluebird Hill!

We finshed our house and move in about a year ago. We have 6 acres, but we back up to 6000 acres of timber! We put up three boxes and they were all used multipul times last year. We have a total of 8 now and some are still vacant, but the ones being used have bluebirds, titmouse, and swallows. I have to check the one furthest out, but I think a pair of Grossbeaks are using that one now. We have a flock of up to 50 mourning doves (Poison Ivy, It is SO awesome when a wild animal allows you to touch it like that!), I thought we just had one wild turkey, we named her Sam last year because we didn't know if she was a girl or boy until she brought her babies. She pretty much hangs out in the back by the big feeder, and when she disappears we know she's sitting eggs. A couple of nights ago, she brought her 5 chicks! They were so cute! This morning another "Sam" was right outside my office doors with her 9 babies! Not the same Sam, cuz these babies are at least 3 weeks old. Now I wonder how many Sams we actually have! It's so fun to watch all of this! I am lucky to be able to work from home and have entertainment all day long! Looking forward to my first chicks on Monday!

 

[Chelly]

I found a baby dove on my drive the other night, and RIGHT next to it - the two parents and a snake eating the second baby.
I took pics! (of the snake eating and the baby)

I put the baby back in its next, by standing on my husbands truck, the next afternoon the baby was gone!

NOT for the squemish: PICTURES....

 

[SeaChick]

That's kind of sad but also some pretty cool nature photography.

We had a pair of cardinals make a nest in the New Dawn rose on a trellis on the side of our house. Early this spring I was pruning and thought it was an old nest and pulled it down. It had an egg in it... I felt horrible and propped it back up in the branches. I didn't think the parents would return but they did and Mama laid another two eggs. At one point the nest got dislodged and one of the eggs fell out and broke. It was so sad! My daughter brought violas every day to the "gravesite". Anyway I propped the nest up better and Mama kept sitting and the other two hatched. Then about two days later one of the babies just disappeared. I don't know if a predator got it (a hawk and crows had been hovering around for a couple days) or if it fell out and got eaten on the ground. So then there was one. All was well for a week or so, and then one morning I saw Mama bringing a worm back to the nest and chirping in a very upset manner. I had been in the habit of checking on her several times a day, but this day she just wasn't at the nest at all all day. I thought maybe the broody baby-sitting time was simply over, but I didn't even see her bringing worms. The next day, I got a ladder and looked in the nest, and the baby had died. It was SO sad.

A week later my neighbor showed me that the same pair had built a new nest in HER rosebush. it was RIGHT next to her deck, at eye level for her dog from the deck, and huma eye-level from the ground. Like maybe 18" away from people's faces all day long, I was so surprised.

Anyway I have no idea why the baby died and I just hope it wasn't too do with my original nest interference.

it sure was gerat having a front-row view of the whole process, though. Hopefully they'll come back later or next year.

 

[Cheri]

We don't normally get bluebirds here in Dayton but we had a pair try to set up a nest and darn if the wood wrens ran them off. I haven't seen them since. Im sad. I think they are beautiful.