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| Pair of bluebirds on box without the eggs yesterday |
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| Four little bluebird eggs - but now there are five ! |
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| Chickadee box - perfect size hole for chickadee and too small for a bluebird ! |
Tuesday 5 April 2016
Spring 2016
The cycle of life starts again..... I have 5 little bluebird eggs in the backyard box and I think the female may have started incubation today (although she started laying eggs over a week ago so I'm not really sure. ) The pairs behavior yesterday though was very unusual. They were flying back and forth between the two boxes (back and front). Strange, as the front box is home to a new chickadee nest. The male bluebird even chased the chickadee out of it! Unusual behavior as they already have a nest with eggs. In retrospect though I think the bluebirds were using box #2 as a decoy in an attempt to keep the predator birds away from their box with eggs. During that same time period there was a lot of activity from Crows and Blue Jays in the back garden. This back and forth behavior went on for at least 3-4 hours - quite frantically at times. But today all is quiet, and happily the little chickadee started building a new nest in the chickadee box several feet away.
Wednesday 2 March 2016
It's that time of the year again.....
Spring is just around the corner in Georgia and if you're not sure just watch the birds! There's a lot of courting going on!!
This little male is flapping his wings to seduce the little female on the box. They're not building nests yet, but territory is being claimed, and mates selected. Last summer's fledgling Bluebirds seem to have stayed close to home, but soon they'll have to find their own territory. I wish I could have a garden full of bluebird boxes, but once mating begins they don't share well. A nest box in the back and one in the front seemed to work well last year. As long as they don't see each other they seem to coexist, but last summer, when they did occasionally meet at the bird bath, there was a little skirmish. I think another bird bath will be on the list of things to buy this summer.
This little male is flapping his wings to seduce the little female on the box. They're not building nests yet, but territory is being claimed, and mates selected. Last summer's fledgling Bluebirds seem to have stayed close to home, but soon they'll have to find their own territory. I wish I could have a garden full of bluebird boxes, but once mating begins they don't share well. A nest box in the back and one in the front seemed to work well last year. As long as they don't see each other they seem to coexist, but last summer, when they did occasionally meet at the bird bath, there was a little skirmish. I think another bird bath will be on the list of things to buy this summer.
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