Four and Holding

Dad making sure all is well in the nest.

...Four!

One Egg, Two Egg, Three Egg...

Nest Highrise

I was hoping to come home from work to find a bluebird egg in the nest, but what i found was a nest highrise! 

I've never seen a nest so high!  This supports my theory that these bluebirds may be a bit clueless.  To best protect eggs from predation, the nest shouldn't be too close to the nestbox hole.  I was tempted to pull a third of the sticks out but decided not to interfere.

A few other pics for the day:

Mama Bluebird



Rooftop Party

I'm calling him "Flame"

Pet Bluebird

I thought the nest was almost complete, but the female bluebird worked diligently on it all morning.

She had a lot of trouble trying to stuff all this in the nestbox hole!

 Drama erupted when this group showed up and got too close to the nestbox.

  

The male bluebird kept a close eye on the sparrow in the plum tree.

A bit later, it got a little too close (sorry for lots of empty space in the video).

After I went inside the house, I looked out the back door, and the male was sitting on the patio chair looking in!  I guess he wanted me to know what it felt like to be gawked at since I gawk at him all the time.

A few hours later, the female joined him.  As soon as I stood up to open the blinds, they flew away.

But he came back later to say hi!  Could I have a pet bluebird, please?

Nest Construction

Yesterday, the construction phase began in earnest.  The female gathered sticks for the nest all day.

Initially, she was not comfortable with the dogs in the backyard while she was trying to build, and she fluttered to the rooftop to guage how much of a threat they were. 

A female sparrow was hanging around as well. 

Sadie was very curious about the fluttering and chirping around the nestbox.



Eventually, the female went ahead with her business despite Sadie's presence. 

The male watched over her.  At one point, when he felt the sparrow was getting too close, he chased it out of the backyard. 

Mom is taking a breather here.  I'm sure construction is exhausting!

Later in the afternoon, the pair surprised me by looking inside my back door.  The female landed on an edge of the backdoor, and the male landed on a patio chair just outside.  By the time it registered with me that they were there, it also registered with the dogs, and they went bananas and scared them away.  I guess they were tired of me watching them all of the time and decided to see how I liked it!

This is the current status of the nest:

It looks almost complete!

Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding!

We have a winner!  The bluebird pair finally made a decision.

May 16:  a few more sticks.

May 18:  nest almost done.

Hopefully, I will get a few nest building pictures today.  I'm so excited that we may have baby bluebirds again!

In the meantime, a few random photographs:

This pair of Robins was on a wire at work.  I think the first picture is a male since the head is darker (he looks like he's wearing a toupee).

Male hummingbird in the rain.

Male Goldfinch.





Mothers

In honor of Mother's Day, and what has to be the hardest job in the world...

Canadian geese and babies...

A pair of barn swallows waiting for me to leave so they can feed their babies...

and finally, a few sticks in the bluebird box!  I'm hoping this is a good sign.

Lady in the Rain

A female hummingbird showed up today in the rain.  Doesn't it seem like a big raindrop would knock her out?

Even though the bluebirds haven't built a nest in the box, the male is still territorial.  Right after this picture was taken, he chased away the sparrow that was a little too close to the box for his liking.

A pretty male Goldfinch also shared his right profile...

and then his left!

Free Rent, Non-furnished

After days of this...

How is it possible that I still have this??

I even checked the nestbox on the grill...nothing!

Do these birds know they have to build the nest themselves?  Nestboxes don't come fully furnished! 

Geez...kids these days expect everything to be given to them, don't they?