Bluebirds nesting 2012

[dapjwy]

Originally Posted by linrose

Bad news on that brood, lost them all to blowflies that were everywhere in May and June. The pair remade a nest in a different box and laid 5 eggs, lost them all to heat when we had temps over 100 degrees for a week. I've been leaving the box alone waiting to see what the parents would do. It appears they have removed two of the eggs and I have seen them visiting the first nest box lately but no new nest yet. It's tough on bluebirds after the first breeding, there are so many perils.

I'm going to remove the last three eggs and perhaps move an already constructed nest in the third box that was never used so the parents don't have to do all the work of reconstructing a new nest, that is if they have another brood this year.

We don't have HOSPs, thank goodness, and we have effective predator guards but there are other problems I have little control over.

I'm so sorry to hear the bad news.

The other day, I could sense that the bluebirds must've fledged, but I still waited a day or two before opening the box. I'd been in Kentucky for a good part of their early days and barely checked in on them for fear they'd be old enough to jump out. From what I can tell, three must've fledged and two unviable eggs were left.

I just posted a new thread where I mentioned that already...but the main purpose of the thread was that for two years in a row, I've had tree swallows lay eggs but then disappear. Losing birds to heat and blowflies seems worse than eggs that never hatched.

[linrose]

dap, that first photo, is that the bluebird nest? The eggs look speckled with brown to me.