The Bluebirds of 2021
Prior to this spring I had seen bluebirds north of here and south of here, most notably in the vicinity of the intersection of River Road with Pig Street. So this spring (April 24 to be precise) we put up a bluebird box in an attempt to attract a pair to our yard. We thought that we were likely to be too late for this year, but there's always next year. We were wrong, as you will see on this page!
The first bird to discover the nest box and think it might make an attractive home was a very noisy wren. You can find pictures on the main page for 2021. While making a lot of noise in an effort - I make up - to attract a mate, the box was also discovered by tree swallows. They visited several times, peered inside, without ever going entirely inside (as far as I know). At one point the wren and a swallow were on the box pole at the same time (see May of the main 2021 page). At this point the wren seemed to lose interest and went away (and did not return). The swallows, however, kept on visiting the box over several days without ever putting down a deposit, as it were.
In the mean time the box was also discovered by a pair of bluebirds. Not only did they inspect their future home from the outside, they also ventured inside and explored the immediate neighborhood.
It wasn't long before the bluebirds had become home builders. However, the swallows did not immediately give up. The picture below with the female bluebird on the roof of the box with a beak full of pine needles demonstrated her stoicism in the face of severe harassment by the swallows. She stood on the roof, barely moving while two swallows (a pair I assume) flew rings around her head and several times flew right at her, only swerving away at the last moment. This went on for at least ten minutes while I watched. Then the swallows gave up and the female added the pine needles to the nest inside.
For much of the early part of June the adult bluebirds were busy finding grubs and insects to feed to an unknown number of young bluebirds. The female is much the more cautious of the two and would sit on the top of the nest box with grubs wriggling in her beak while she looked around to assess the wisdom of venturing inside to feed her young. The make had much less patience and would sometimes arrive at the nest box with the female sitting on top and having been there for some time already. He would often not wait for her but would go inside, feed the young, and fly out to find more food items. In a sequence shown here, not only did he not wait for the female to deliver a fat and juicy grub, but after he fed the young, she flew back to the power line and ate the grub herself!
Four new bluebirds!
