BIRDS

[SwampDonkey]

I usually won't see my bats around the barn until around June. Still waiting for bluebirds to arrive. Maybe we won't have any this year. We never had them up this way at all when I was a kid.

[Old saw fixer]

I woke up this morning and heard Bob White calling.  Hadn't heard them in a while.

[Chuck White]

I've finally got a few Orioles and a few Hummers coming in!  

[WV Sawmiller]

  Here we were - sitting in our assigned place at the table waiting from Mom or Dad to bring us back a nice juicy worm, grasshopper or bug when suddenly we all heard loud noises outside, an earthquake or something started shaking the house and a tornado or whirlwind ripped the roof off our house. It got darker and some kind of monster looked at us from above and we heard more noises. Suddenly a big eye peeped over the top and winked at us, more loud noises then the roof blew back on to the house and things got quiet again. A few minutes later Mom flew back to the door and climbed in and told us everything was going to be okay.  (A baby bluebirds view of a visit to their home.)



  Updated picture of my baby eastern bluebirds. The last picture was 9 days ago. I think they are 10-14 days old. There were 5 eggs but I could only identify 4 chicks so either an egg did not hatch, a baby died after it hatched or one was covered up by its siblings. I'll take another picture in a week or so for more progress reports.

[thecfarm]

Thank you!!

[SwampDonkey]

Great!
Have not seen a bluebird here yet. Lots a tree swallows around, one pair has taken up residence in a box.

[SwampDonkey]

Hummingbird came to the feeder today. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   I checked my bluebird box 2 days ago and it was empty so I am assuming and hoping they got big enough to fly away. Either that or something got them and I hope they just graduated and left home. I went ahead and removed the old nest so they can build another one and start a second clutch.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I have been watching bluebirds out my back bathroom window and see they are busy working on/in the nest box there. I checked it last week when I mowed and no activity but I suspect by now it has a nest and a good chance it has eggs. I will give it another week before I open it again to check. 

    The birds light on my cable line then dip down into the box then go back to the cable and rest again on exit. I have found bluebirds like to have a handy limb or cable line overhead and near by to perch on before and after the go in and out of a nest box so you may look for that the next time you place one out.

    This box may be too close to the one in the front yard where we just raised a clutch. The birds use both boxes but never at the same time. I know bluebirds are supposed to be territorial. This may be the same birds who just raised a clutch or another pair. I don't know how long between clutches before they start a new one but have had 3 clutches a year in the same nest box.

[SwampDonkey]

This year no one is seeing any bluebirds up here yet. I'm on an birding website for this region.

They have a couple favorite trees they perch on here, the wires and on the barn and porch rooves. No sign of anything and there is an old box still out on it's post that they have nested in for 12 years. They are just not around. I know Bill Miller (now in the grave) had them for years way north of here, then they stopped coming for the last 10-15 years. I consider them fringe, they were never here before 20 years ago, if that.

[aigheadish]

We had bluebirds a couple weeks ago, and quite a few but not as many over the past week or so. Yesterday lots of cardinals flapping around making the yard pretty. 

I also heard a weird one squawking so I fired up the Merlin app and it claimed it was a Great Crested Flycatcher. I didn't see it but the calls matched up very well, so I'm counting it. 

There are a few hummingbirds around but I hear more than I see of them. 

[aigheadish]

Oh yeah, I looked up Wednesday night and saw this guy out on the creek bridge!

[tule peak timber]

We had a wild turkey cruise by the kitchen window this morning.

[SwampDonkey]

When turkeys first started showing up here 12 years ago, they were as friendly as yard chickens. Then the DNR decided to make a hunting season on them. They don't want anything to do with ya now. 

[SwampDonkey]

I see a male bluebird today checking things over. Of all the days, about the coldest day all month. They usually arrive in April.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I checked my nest box in the back yard yesterday while weedeating the area. The Eastern bluebirds have completed their nest building but had only laid one little blue egg. I suspect, and hope, there will be more eggs laid this week. I will check again this weekend when the grandkids come for a visit. I love my bluebirds.

[SwampDonkey]

Female appeared this morning at the new box.



Male in tree nearby.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I have never seen mine roost on top of the box. They dip down and hold on to the front of the hole and enter or reach in to feed the chicks. I swear on occasion it looked like they flew in without even stopping. They light on a limb or my cable line overhead and nearby before and after entering their box. When it is a 2nd or 3rd clutch I have seen 4-5 bluebirds lit on the cable line all holding a bug or worm and one after the other they dipped down to feed the chicks so it is apparent the older siblings help raise their younger brothers and sisters which I think is real neat and fun to watch.

[thecfarm]

I swear on occasion it looked like they flew in without even stopping.      

I know what you mean.

[Magicman]

We only have one Bluebird house but there is much activity.  I will not open or otherwise disturb the house but they gotta be feeding chicks.  I have no idea whether there is another nest anywhere but I am regularly seeing probably 4-6-? birds.

I am sure that we have more than one Mockingbird nest because we are continually serenaded.

[SwampDonkey]

The bluebirds here sit on the nest box roofs lots of times, even when we had nest boxes in Grafton they did that. I've got probably 10 pictures or more of them sitting on the roof. Often the female is inside and the male will be on the roof or the post it's nailed to. He'll often be at the hole also to look in on her or feed chicks. I've noticed the adults and new fledglings will roost on the power line wire quite often. I've never seen the first brood feed their younger siblings here. They always fly off. The bluebirds when done nesting for the season will also fly off, but later return before migration.

[aigheadish]

The wife saw a bluebird yesterday, I still haven't seen one in a bit. The hummingbirds are starting to become more plentiful. MM, we have a ton of mockingbirds, annoyingly so, sometimes. They make neat noises but also irritating. 

I was smoking some pork on the grill Saturday afternoon and sitting in my shop staring at the grill when a sparrow of some variety flew up and landed right on the hot smokestack of the grill. I told it that it was hot so it didn't stay very long...

[WV Sawmiller]

Well, here is Daddy Blue sitting on the cable line out the back bathroom window. His nest box is about 30' way and it is a dreary damp day. The last I checked they only had one egg in the nest but the grandkids are coming today so we will check again when they get here. The bluebirds like to perch on this cable before dipping down into or right after they enter or exit the box. I have seen 4-5 at a time lined up here, all with a bug or worm in their beaks, dipping down to feed the chicks one after another. This is how I learned it is not just the parents who help raise the chicks when they have already raised an earlier clutch that year.

[SwampDonkey]

Bluebirds were gone 2 or 3 days, but back today and busy at the nest box. They do this every spring. They come check it out, then leave for a few days, then come back and get to business.

Did put in some garden today and making rhubarb juice right now to can, 1 L jars. I have 6 jars ready, might not need them all.

[Ron Scott]

Vanishing Forests Make Bird Migration Harder Across the Corn Belt 
EARTH.COM | MAY 28, 2025 
Songbirds crossing the U.S. Midwest face challenges beyond distance. A new study reveals that the Corn Belt functions as a significant obstacle during migration. The research draws comparisons between this agricultural zone and the Gulf of Mexico. LEARN MORE  

The E-Forester