Bluebird Egg Incubation in Progress!

Text and photos © 2015 Adele Wilson, author of Bonding with the Barn Swallows

Wonderful news!  The female Eastern Bluebird is still incubating her eggs.  That's a good thing because our temperatures have been cool for the last couple of days.

This morning, from a distance of about 20 feet (6 meters), I was trying to photograph the nest box with the female Bluebird inside.  Suddenly, unbeknownst to me while I was pressing the shutter, the male Bluebird landed on the top of the box with a worm in his beak!  If you look carefully at the photo on the upper right, you might be able to see a hint of the female Bluebird's head inside the box.

Apparently, the male Bluebird trusts me.  This does not overly surprise me because he often stations himself in one spot and watches me for quite a long time.  The other day, he perched on the fence and observed me the whole time while I was refilling the bird feeders.

Below is a close-up of the male Bluebird holding the worm.  In the background you can see blooms on a mimosa tree.

The male Bluebird had not flown to the box just to feed himself.  As the photo on the right shows, he flew to the entrance hole of the box and proceeded to feed his mate, who was still inside the box.

So far, so good!  I am hoping that this nesting attempt will be successful without the female abandoning her eggs as the first female did.

I do not know how many eggs are currently in the nest, but on Sunday, June 21st, there were four eggs.  Once I feel that it is safe to check the inside of the box without scaring the female Bluebird away, I will find out how many eggs she has laid.  From that information, and assuming that she laid one egg per morning (as is usually the case), I should be able to calculate approximately when the eggs should start hatching.

A female Bluebird is said to begin full-time incubation of her eggs either on the day she lays her last egg or on the preceding day.  So, once I find out how many eggs are currently in the nest, I can calculate the approximate date on which the eggs should begin to hatch.  In the following paragraphs I shall describe how this calculation is performed.

For instance, if I find that there are currently five eggs in the nest, knowing that the female laid her fourth egg on June 21st, and assuming that she laid one egg on each successive morning, I can assume that she laid her last egg on the morning of June 22nd.  If there are six eggs currently in the nest, the assumption would be that she laid her last egg on June 23rd.  The average number of eggs in a Bluebird clutch is five, but that number can sometimes be as high as seven.

In the former case (if there are five eggs currently in the nest), the female would have begun incubating her eggs either on June 22nd or on the preceding day.  In the latter case (six eggs currently in the nest), the female would have begun incubating either on June 23rd or on the preceding day.

The final bit of knowledge required in order to estimate the hatching date is that the average incubation period for Eastern Bluebirds is fourteen to fifteen days.  Therefore, assuming that there are no more than six eggs currently in the nest, the eggs should begin hatching sometime between July 5th and July 8th.

To the right is a photo of what Eastern Bluebird eggs look like.  I took this photo on June 6th after the first female had abandoned the nest.  She had not been in the area or inside the nest box for several days.  The eggs were due to hatch soon, but she had not incubated them.  These eggs disappeared within a few days after the new female arrived on June 12th.  My assumption at this point is that the new female removed them.

All of the eggs in a Bluebird clutch are said to hatch within one or two days of each other.  Once the hatching date(s) are known, the ages of the nestlings can be calculated, and that is the most important thing to know in the monitoring of Bluebird boxes.

It is important to be able to track the ages of the nestlings in order to avoid opening the box when the chicks are twelve or more days old.  Opening the box during this time period can cause the premature fledging of one or more of the chicks, which could result in their demise.

All for now!  You can follow this blog by entering your email address in the upper right corner of the top of this page.

If you have found this story interesting, you might want to check out my book, Bonding with the Barn Swallows.  Its 117 photos include closeups of the baby Barn Swallows that were hatched on my porch during 2011 and 2012.  There are also photos of the parent swallows guarding the nest and feeding their young.  As an extra bonus, the book includes photos of five different juvenile Barn Swallows, just ten days after fledging.  You will be amazed at their varied markings.  The book describes how one special male Barn Swallow communicated to me by his body language on the utility wire and how, only two days later, I discovered what he was trying to tell me.  To find out more about the book and read a preview, just click on the image to the right. 

Lady Bluebird is doing fine ...

Text and photos © 2015 Adele Wilson, author of Bonding with the Barn Swallows

As far as I can tell, the new female Bluebird who arrived on the scene on June 12th is doing fine.  I am calling her "Lady Bluebird" because she seems so sophisticated and vigilant.  To the right is a photo that I took of her on the evening of June 14th.

Lady Bluebird is diligently incubating her eggs now.  I sometimes see her in the mornings peeking out of the nest box hole.  The incubation period is critical for female Bluebirds because they like their privacy and do not like being disturbed.  So, when I go out in the yard to refill the bird feeders, I try to tiptoe past her box and pretend that I don't see her inside.

Lady Bluebird's mate (I still call him "Mr. Bluebird"), also seems to be doing fine.  He has been hanging around since May 10th, the date that he and his previous mate took over the first nest box.  Poor little fellow!  He's been through so much, losing his first mate, who ended up abandoning the nest.

Mr. Bluebird seems to be a little more attentive to Lady Bluebird than he was to his previous mate.  He had also been busy guarding his territory, including both his own nest box and the now-empty second box.  He chases House Sparrows from the second box when he sees them, but I don't know if he will succeed in preventing the sparrows from nesting there.

The photo to the left shows Mr. and Lady Bluebird guarding their box on the morning of June 22nd.  Mr. Bluebird is the more brightly colored bird on the left, while Lady Bluebird is on the right.  Mother Nature gives the female Bluebird subtler colors to help guard against their becoming easy prey for cats, racoons, and larger birds.

Just a few minutes before I took this photo, Mr. and Lady Bluebird were guarding the second box.  The photo below shows them around that box.

In the meantime, we now quite a number of swallows flying around -- three different species in all, including Barn Swallows, the birds I wrote about in my book.  The other morning, all three species were flying above the yard.

The few Barn Swallows that arrived in April have now fledged their first broods of the season.  It is easy to recognize the juvenile Barn Swallows flying high in the air because they are slightly smaller than the adults and must flap their wings more rapidly.

To the right are some juvenile Barn Swallows whom I was able to photograph on June 22nd.  Although their wings are already rather long, their tail feathers have not yet grown to the adult length.

Tree Swallows comprise the second species that was present the other morning.  Six Tree Swallows were flying around the second nest box, the box inside which their eggs went missing about a week or so ago.  It was quite a decision for me to remove their nest and clean the box after I discovered their eggs to be gone, but a major factor was that the pair of Tree Swallows were no longer hanging around the box.  To see photos of Tree Swallows, you can go to my post of May 17th.

I thought that removing the nest in the second box would help deter House Sparrows from nesting in the box, but, judging from what I observed this morning, I might be incorrect about that.  I observed a pair of sparrows perching near the box, and the male even went inside the box and came out again.

The third species of swallow that was around the other morning was the Cliff Swallow.  To the left is a rare photo of a Cliff Swallow that I shot in 2014.

The same morning when I spotted the Barn and Tree Swallows flying around, three Cliff Swallows flew up to my porch nest.  House Sparrows are currently using that nest, but the nest is actually a Cliff Swallow nest.  It was a Barn Swallow nest until July 2013, when Cliff Swallows arrived and remodeled it.  The nest was used by Cliff Swallows in both 2013 and 2014.  More about this in a future post.






If you have enjoyed these photos, you might want to check out the 117 photos in my book, Bonding with the Barn Swallows.  Many of them show close-ups of the baby Barn Swallows that were hatched on my porch during 2011 and 2012.  There are also photos of the parent swallows guarding the nest and feeding their young.  As an extra bonus, the book includes photos of five different juvenile Barn Swallows, just ten days after fledging.  You will be amazed at their varied markings.  The book describes how one special male Barn Swallow communicated to me by his body language on the utility wire and how, only two days later, I discovered what he was trying to tell me.  The book is available by clicking on the image to the right. 

The Case of the Disappearing Eggs

Text and photos © 2015 Adele Wilson, author of Bonding with the Barn Swallows

Unhatched Bluebird Eggs

Bluebird pair, May 12, 2015

If you are following this blog, you know that a pair of Eastern Bluebirds began nesting in Box #1 on May 10^th.  The photo to the right shows the male and female Bluebirds on May 12th.  The female is holding straw to carry into the box.

The female Bluebird laid five eggs, one per day, beginning on May 19^th.  However, as of June 6^th, I had not seen the female around for a couple of days.  I did not observe her presence on the following days, either.

The five eggs never hatched.  It had become obvious that the female Bluebird had abandoned her nest without having incubated her eggs.

[Note:  At the end of this post is a timetable giving significant dates and observations.]

Tree Swallow Eggs

In the meantime, a pair of Tree Swallows had begun nesting in Box #2 on May 19^th and the female had begun laying eggs on May 28th.  By June 3^rd when I checked the box, I saw at least five Tree Swallow eggs.  There could even have been additional eggs that were being obscured by a feather.

Male on fence, female peeking out of box

Unlike the Bluebirds, the Tree Swallows were diligently incubating their eggs and protecting their nest.  Each day from my porch I would observe the male Tree Swallow guarding the box while perching on the fence several feet away from it.  The female would be inside the box, often peeking out of the entrance hole.  When the female went out to catch food, the male would take over incubation duty.

On June 9^th, I checked the Tree Swallow box again.  The female was inside the box, but flew from it when I was about 5 feet (1.5 meters) away.  I opened the door and held a mirror above the nest, but all I saw was a heap of feathers.

Tree Swallows typically use feathers to cushion and protect their eggs; so I was not surprised.  However, I decided not to tamper with the feathers for fear of alarming the birds.  After all, from my observation on June 3^rd, I already knew that the nest contained at least five eggs.

The New Bluebird Nest  

New female Bluebird, June 12, 2015

The male Bluebird continued hanging around the Bluebird box, even after his mate had left the premises and abandoned the eggs.  Fortunately, as described in my previous post, a new female Bluebird arrived at the box on June 12^th.  What an exciting day that was!

The new female began carrying straw into the box, a sign that she was building her own nest on top of the old nest, that is, the nest that had been built by the previous female.

On June 15^th, I decided to check the Bluebird box.  I opened the door, held up a mirror, and was shocked by what I saw.  All five unhatched eggs laid by the previous female were missing!

I was dumbfounded.  Had the eggs been removed by a predator – perhaps a bird, a snake, or even a human?

It had been a clean removal.  There was no evidence of crushed eggs.  There were no eggshells in the nest or on the ground below the box.  Eggshells or crushed eggs would have been evidence of a raccoon, sparrow, wren, or possibly a cat, having preyed upon the eggs.

  

I frantically began researching Bluebird nesting behavior.  I discovered that, when a new female Bluebird arrives at a previously built nest that contains unhatched eggs, she will either build a nest directly on top of the old eggs or remove the eggs and continue adding to the previously built nest.

The fact that the old, unhatched eggs had disappeared from the nest in such a clean, sanitary way therefore led me to consider the possibility that the new female had removed them.  At any rate, it was just as well that the old eggs had been removed because it freed me from the decision of whether to remove them or not.

Barring the possibility that a human had been responsible for the removal of the eggs, the only other type of predator that could have removed the eggs so cleanly would have been a rat snake.  Both of our bird boxes are mounted on 3/8-inch (0.95 cm) diameter poles, 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 meters) above the ground.  Both boxes’ entrance holes are 1 9/16 inches (4 cm) in diameter.  The poles do not have predator guards; so predation by a rat snack could have been a possibility.

However, despite the fact that three different species of birds have nested on my porch each summer since 2011, I have never seen a rat snake on or near the premises.  I will “never say never”, though.

I concluded that when the new female Bluebird arrived on June 12^th and began adding straw to the old nest, she decided to do some thorough house cleaning.  She must have removed the old female Bluebird’s unhatched eggs in preparation to lay her own.

That seemed like reasonable explanation for the old Bluebird eggs disappearing.

Checking the Tree Swallow Nest – the Surprise

On June 15^th, just a moment after I had checked the Bluebird box (Box #1) and discovered that the unhatched Bluebird eggs were missing, I walked over to Box #2 to check the Tree Swallow nest.  As usual, the male Tree Swallow was perched near the box and the female was inside the box peeking through the hole.

But there was something very different occurring this time.  The female Tree Swallow inside the box was acting unusually jittery and skittish.  She was extremely alarmed that I was approaching her nest.  The photo to the left shows the way the female would usually look when she was peeking out of the box.  But on this day, I could see her twitching her head and scurrying about on the inside of the box.

I decided not to try to open the door on the Tree Swallow box.  The female Tree Swallow would have certainly flown from the box, but I didn’t want to upset her any further.

A day later, on June 16^th, I decided it was again time to try to check the Tree Swallow box.  Based on my calculations of egg-laying dates and incubation times, the Tree Swallow eggs should have started hatching by that date.

To my dismay, the Tree Swallows were nowhere near their box.  Strangely, neither the male nor the female Tree Swallow had been around all day.  Each day for the past three weeks both the male and female Tree Swallows had been fiercely guarding their box.  But that was not the case today. 

I walked to the box, opened the door, held up a mirror, and saw what to me was a ghastly sight.  The nest was completely bare – no feathers, no eggs!!!

There was no evidence of the eggs having been pierced or crushed, and there were no eggs or fragments of eggs on the ground below the box.  The bottom of the nest was clean.  It had been a sanitary removal, identical to the removal of the eggs in the Bluebird box.

My conclusion was that whatever entity removed the eggs from the Bluebird box also removed the eggs from the Tree Swallow box.

Again, I thought about the possibility of a rat snake preying upon both sets of eggs – those in the Bluebird box and those in the Tree Swallow box.  The thought made me cringe.

The Aftermath – Thoughts and Theories

I became extremely depressed.  Now that the Tree Swallows had left the premises, there would be no birds around to swoop at would-be predators.  There are a number of feral cats roaming around, and the Tree Swallows had been doing a good job of keeping them at bay.

The photo above, from May 20th, shows the Tree Swallow box in the background with the Bluebird box in the foreground.  Although the photo does not show it well, the Tree Swallow box is about 75 feet (23 meters) from the Bluebird box.  We had tried to mount the Tree Swallow box at a closer distance, as is often recommended by Bluebird and Tree Swallow organizations, but we were unable to do so.  A distance of 6 feet (1.8 meters) from the Bluebird box had been thwarted because of a rock bed directly under the ground surface, and other locations were restricted by our landlord due to grass-mowing concerns.

Besides, the Tree Swallows had been able to happily nest in their box during the time period when the original female Bluebird had laid her eggs.  It was only a few days after the new female Bluebird arrived that the Tree Swallow eggs went missing.

New female Bluebird, June 14, 2015

Perhaps the new female Bluebird is more vigilant and cautious than was the previous female.  My theory so far is that the previous female was relatively inexperienced at nesting, while the new female is perhaps a little older in age and more aware of the hazards than can exist when nesting close to other birds.  Perhaps, therefore, the new female Bluebird had not only removed the old eggs from her box, but had also, in her desire to have no other birds nesting near her own nest, removed the eggs from the Tree Swallow box.

I have observed some different behavior by the new female that leads me to believe that she is indeed more experienced, and I will cover this behavior in a future post.

On June 18^th, I removed the Tree Swallow nest from Box #2 and thoroughly cleaned the box with a 10% bleach solution from a spray bottle.  The box ended up being soaked, and on top of that we had a fair amount of rain afterwards.  I then decided to have my neighbor take the Tree Swallow box down for a couple of days so that I could bring it inside to dry out.  On the morning of June 21^st, I remounted the box.

Time will tell if there is an egg predation problem occurring in this neighborhood.  If the new female Bluebird lays eggs and the eggs remain undisturbed, it will lessen the possibility that a rat snake or human preyed upon the eggs in both nests.  You can follow this blog to find out what becomes of the new Bluebird nest and whether other birds decide to nest in the now-empty Tree Swallow box.  All you have to do is enter your email address at the top right of this page.

Timetable:

May 10^th – Bluebirds arrive at Box #1

May 19^th – Female Bluebird lays the first of 5 eggs

May 19^th – Tree Swallows arrive at Box #2

May 23^rd – Female Bluebird lays last egg, incubation supposedly begins

May 28^th – Female Tree Swallow lays the first of at least 5 eggs

June 6^th – Female Bluebird has not been around for a couple of days, 5 unhatched eggs still in nest

June 12^th – New female Bluebird arrives

June 15^th – Discovery that unhatched Bluebird eggs had been removed from Bluebird nest

June 16^th – Discovery that Tree Swallow eggs had been removed from Tree Swallow nest

 

If you have found this story interesting, you might want to check out my book, Bonding with the Barn Swallows.  Its 117 photos include closeups of the baby Barn Swallows that were hatched on my porch during 2011 and 2012.  There are also photos of the parent swallows guarding the nest and feeding their young.  As an extra bonus, the book includes photos of five different juvenile Barn Swallows, just ten days after fledging.  You will be amazed at their varied markings.  The book describes how one special male Barn Swallow communicated to me by his body language on the utility wire and how, only two days later, I discovered what he was trying to tell me.  To find out more about the book and read a preview, just click on the image to the right.

 

Second Time Around – A New Beginning

Text and photos © 2015 Adele Wilson, author of Bonding with the Barn Swallows

Mr. Bluebird has found a new mate!  His previous mate laid five eggs in May and then abandoned the nest box without incubating the eggs.  Needless to say, the eggs did not hatch.

We still do not know why Mr. Bluebird’s previous mate disappeared.  I did not remove the unhatched eggs from the nest; Mr. Bluebird told me not to do so!  Every evening I would see him hanging around the nest box as if to be protecting his eggs.  Such a sad sight!

But on Friday morning, June 12th, a seeming miracle occurred.  A new female Bluebird appeared and began perching on top of the nest box with Mr. Bluebird!

Mr. Bluebird commenced the courtship ritual of holding some straw in his bill to show Ms. Bluebird that it was time to build the nest.

Under normal circumstances, a male Bluebird will gather the first nesting material and bring it to the box.  This time, however, since there was already straw in the box from the nest that had been built by his previous mate, Mr. Bluebird just ventured inside the box, grabbed some straw, and then brought it to the top of the box!

The photo at the above right shows Mr. Bluebird on top of the nest box with straw in his bill.  If you look carefully at the end of his tail, you will see the new Ms. Bluebird perching in the background on the fence.

Ms. Bluebird apparently received Mr. Bluebird's message that it was time to start building a nest because Ms. Bluebird began bringing straw to the box.

The photo on the left shows Ms. Bluebird flying to the box with straw in her bill while Mr. Bluebird guards the box from its top.  Presumably, Ms. Bluebird is building a new nest on top of the old one – the one that the former Ms. Bluebird built in May.

I've read that Bluebirds sometimes do this; that is, they build a nest directly on top of an old one.  To be more accurate, the FEMALE Bluebird builds a nest on top of the old one.  That is because, in this species, the female is the nest builder while the male's job is to stand guard.

As an example of Bluebirds building a nest on top of an existing nest, the Bluebirds that arrived at this box on May 10th – nine days after a pair of Tree Swallows had built their nest inside the box – chased the Tree Swallows away and began building their own nest on top of the Tree Swallows' nest.  The nest builder at that time was the former Ms. Bluebird.  She finished building the nest, and, as previously mentioned, laid five eggs.

But now that the former Ms. Bluebird has vanished and Mr. Bluebird has found a new mate, the process begins all over again!  

On Friday morning, June 12th, even after the new Ms. Bluebird began carrying the straw inside the box, Mr. Bluebird would continue to appear at the box with straw in his bill.  The photo on the right shows Mr. Bluebird holding straw while peeking out of the box’s hole while Ms. Bluebird is also holding some straw at the top of the box.

It seems that, this time, Mr. Bluebird is being extra diligent and proactive to ensure that the new Ms. Bluebird remains around the nesting site.  I have seen Mr. Bluebird on the front of the nest box (see photo below) engaging in the motions of feeding Ms. Bluebird through the hole even when he knows she is not inside the box!

I suppose that Mr. Bluebird is practicing for the time when Ms. Bluebird lays her eggs and begins to incubate them.  That’s the time when, in the Eastern Bluebird species, the male must begin bringing food to the nest and feeding the female, just as if he is feeding a baby Bluebird.

I am no expert on Bluebird behavior, but it seemed to me that Mr. Bluebird did not feed the former Ms. Bluebird often enough after she had laid her eggs.  Sometimes Mr. Bluebird would come to the box, feed her through the hole, and take flight, after which the former Ms. Bluebird would immediately fly out of the box after him!

I am praying that this nesting attempt will be successful.  Our weather pattern has stabilized now.  Each day is warm and humid, often with rain showers in the afternoon or evening.  During the time when the former Ms. Bluebird was laying her eggs, we were in the middle of a cool spell, and one night we even had frost.  Perhaps, as my neighbor suggested to me, the former Ms. Bluebird became confused and thought that winter was coming, making it too cold to raise chicks. 

Stay tuned to find out what becomes of Mr. Bluebird’s new relationship!  The next post will show photos of both the previous Ms. Bluebird and the current Ms. Bluebird.  You can follow this blog by entering your email address at the top right of this page.

I first began having intimate encounters with wild birds when Barn Swallows nested on my porch during 2011 and 2012.  During those encounters, I became convinced that humans and birds can develop meaningful rapports, communicate with each other, and enjoy mutually beneficial relationships.  You can read about how one special Barn Swallow communicated to me in my book Bonding with the Barn Swallows, available at Amazon.  To find out more about the book and read a preview, just click on the image to the right.   

I've got the Bluebird Blues ...

Text and photos © 2015 Adele Wilson, author of Bonding with the Barn Swallows

For several days now, the female Bluebird has not been on, around, or in the nest box.  The five eggs are still in the nest, intact and undamaged.

So it seems quite likely that she has abandoned the nest.  This situation is very sad to me, and I’ve got the “Bluebird Blues”.

This spring has marked my first experience with Bluebird nest boxes.  I purchased the boxes, and my neighbor mounted them on poles.  We put up Box #1 on April 24^th, and a pair of Tree Swallows arrived and claimed it a week later, on May 1st.  The female Tree Swallow even started building a nest that very day!

But nine days later, on May 10^th, a pair of Bluebirds arrived and hijacked the box from the Tree Swallows.  The photo to the right, taken that same day, shows the female Bluebird checking out the size of the hole on the box, with the male guarding her from the top.

Over the next week, the female added grass to the Tree Swallow nest inside the box, heightening the sides of the nest.  By May 23^rd, the female had laid five eggs.

In the meantime, we felt sorry for the Tree Swallows who had been driven out of their nest.  So we mounted another nest box on May 19^th about 75 feet from Box #1.  We began to refer to this second nest box as Box #2.

Male Tree Swallow guarding Box #2

Only four days later, on May 23rd, to our great delight, a pair of Tree Swallows claimed Box #2!  The photo on the left shows the male Tree Swallow on top of Box #2 the following day.

The female Tree Swallow has now laid at least five eggs, and the male stands guard duty most of the day while the female incubates the eggs inside the box.  Sometimes the male takes over incubating duty while the female leaves the box to feed on flying insects.

Unfortunately, there is not nearly as much activity around Box #1, the Bluebird box.  It seems that Ms. Bluebird has “flown the coop.”  We don’t know why she is no longer around.

Perhaps she didn’t like my checking her nest, or perhaps she didn’t think the male was taking very good care of her.

I would sometimes see the female Bluebird peeking out of the nest box’s hole, which made me assume that she was incubating her eggs.  The male would occasionally fly to the box and feed her through the hole.

However, the male did not seem to be feeding the female very often.  One day the male came to the box, fed the female through the hole, and then quickly flew from the box.  To my surprise, the female immediately flew out of the box after him!

It is said that in the Eastern Bluebird species, the female does all of the egg-incubating.  If that is true, the eggs are not currently being incubated.  My neighbor, however, has seen the male entering the nest box during the daytime.  He therefore thinks the male is incubating the eggs.  But I tend to think otherwise.

At any rate, as of this date, the male is still looking for his mate.  He has been perching on top of the high fence post in the vicinity of the box, singing his beautiful song.  Sometimes he flies to the utility wire and does the same.  The photo to the left shows him on the fence post yesterday evening (June 8th).

The song of the Eastern Bluebird is the most beautiful bird song I've ever heard.  It consists of a soft, subtle, melodious warble of several notes.  If I were a musician, I would be able to describe it more fully, but the notes and rhythm remind me more of chimes than of vocal singing.

This evening (June 9th), Mr. Bluebird was again perching on the fence post.  I slowly approached him, and then sat down on the grass about 25 feet away.  He posed for me and allowed me to take numerous pictures of him.  It was actually too dark to get a good shutter speed; so I had to brighten this photo.

After perching on the fence post, Mr. Bluebird flew toward his nest box that still contains the five eggs.  Midway between the post and the box, he did something that I never would have expected.  He hovered in the air to get a better look at me!

After Mr. Bluebird hovered for a few seconds, he landed on top of the nest box to see if I was still looking at him.  Again, he obliged me by allowing me to take a couple of pictures of him.

Mr. Bluebird then flew to the front of the box and appeared to go inside for a second as if to look for his mate.

Or, was he going inside the box to tell me his mate wasn’t there?  Although it can’t be proven, I think that he was telling me so.  He knew that I had been watching him from the time he was on the post until the time he landed on the box.  I interpreted his hovering as his special way of getting my attention and confirming that we were communicating.

It has now been 17 days since Ms. Bluebird laid the last of her five eggs.  With the average incubation period for Bluebirds being 14 to 15 days, the eggs should have hatched by now – that is, if the eggs had been properly incubated.

In a case like this, it is recommended to leave the eggs in the nest for a while in case the female returns and begins incubating them.  But given the fact that I have not seen the female in a few days, I am thinking she is probably gone for good.

I wonder if Mr. Bluebird will find a new mate or if a new pair of Bluebirds will become interested in the nest box.  Bluebirds are known to raise more than one brood per season.   After they raise their first brood in the spring, they will usually start a second nest in June or early July.  

I was halfway planning to clean out the nest box tomorrow evening in case Mr. Bluebird finds a new mate, but this evening, I received a “no” answer from him.

Just as I have been doing for the past few days, Mr. Bluebird still seems to be hoping that Ms. Bluebird will return.  By the fact that he was perching on top of the box while looking at me, and then quickly entering and exiting the box, I think he was telling me that he wanted his mate back.

He might have even been telling me to go find his mate and bring her back to the box! 

So it seems that Mr. Bluebird is still protecting his precious eggs, and they are precious to me, too.  For these reasons, it does not seem like the proper time to clean out the box.

Poor Mr. Bluebird!  He is obviously mourning for his mate, just as I have been.

But Mr. Bluebird is teaching me something.  As depressed as I’ve been feeling about the eggs not hatching, my heart goes out in deep compassion to Mr. Bluebird.  After all, it is he who has lost his beloved mate.

In the meantime, the Tree Swallows in Box #2 seem to be doing great.  I am thinking their eggs will start hatching around the time of the summer Solstice or shortly thereafter.

You can follow this blog to find out what happens with both the Bluebird box and the Tree Swallow box.  Just enter your email address at top of the page on the right.  That way, you will not miss the next episode!

I first began having intimate encounters with wild birds when Barn Swallows nested on my porch during 2011 and 2012.  During those encounters, I became convinced that humans and birds can develop meaningful rapports, communicate with each other, and enjoy mutually beneficial relationships.  You can read about how one special Barn Swallow communicated to me in my book Bonding with the Barn Swallows, available at Amazon at:   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1494481464/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1494481464&linkCode=as2&tag=barnswalfrie-20&linkId=5WME3VAHNSX3EXHH

Bluebirds and Tree Swallows: We've Got Eggs!

Text and photos © 2013, 2015 Adele Wilson, author of Bonding with the Barn Swallows

Mama Barn Swallow on nest, night of May 12, 2012

It’s always exciting to find eggs in a bird nest, especially a nest that one is monitoring.

My first experience of finding eggs in such a nest was on May 13^th, 2012. There was a year-old Barn Swallow nest on my porch, and a new pair of Barn Swallows had claimed it.  Ever since May 3^rd, the female had been spending every night on the nest. Yet, each time I had checked the nest, I had found no eggs.

But May 13^th, 2012, was to be a very special day.  (Please be patient; I'll get to the Bluebirds and Tree Swallows in a minute!)

Mid May, with its blooming flowers and warmer temperatures, is one of the most beautiful times of the year in Central Appalachia, and Sunday, May 13th, was certainly no exception. I had slept restfully the night before, charmed by the fact that the male [barn] swallow had stayed all night on my door ledge on May 11th, even while I was opening the storm door and stepping directly below him. It was time to check again for eggs in the nest. Mirror in hand, I carried the stepping stool onto the porch, climbed up to view the nest, held up the mirror, and beheld a most pleasant surprise. There were two eggs in the nest!

How synchronistic that it was Mother’s Day and I had found the first evidence that the female swallow was to be a mother! To me this signified a new beginning, a promise of new life, and something I had earnestly been hoping for. I decided from that point onward, to call her Mama Swallow and the male, Papa Swallow.

(from Bonding with the Barn Swallows, p. 66)

If you’ve read my previous posts, you know that we put up two nest boxes this spring (2015) – not for Barn Swallows, but for Bluebirds. We mounted the first box on April 24^th and were delighted that only one week later – on May 1^st – a pair of birds arrived and claimed the box!

However, the birds who arrived on May 1^st were Tree Swallows, not Bluebirds.  Nevertheless, we were utterly thrilled to have birds investigating the box only seven days after we had mounted it!

Tree Swallows are beautiful birds, and they diet exclusively on flying insects.  We were glad to have attracted these natural pest-controllers into our back yard.

As shown in the photo on the left, the female Tree Swallow began flying into the box's entrance hole with straw that very day.  Her job was to build the nest while the male's job was to guard it.

One never knows what to expect when it comes to nesting birds. To our surprise, just nine days later – on May 10^th – a pair of BLUEBIRDS arrived and drove the Tree Swallows from the box. Although the female Tree Swallow had built a nice nest inside the box, she had not laid any eggs.

The photo on the right shows the pair of Bluebirds on top of the box.  The male is brightly colored, while the female's colors are more subtle.

You can see that the female has a strand of straw in her bill in preparation for taking it into the box.  As in the Tree Swallow species, the female Bluebird's job is to build the nest while the male stands guard.  However, this female already had a base on which to start building her nest.  She just added more straw to the Tree Swallows' nest and built the sides up higher.

In an effort to do justice to the Tree Swallows, we mounted a second nest box (Box #2) on May 19^th, and, only four days later, a new pair of Tree Swallows arrived and claimed it! 

Just as with the original pair of Tree Swallows in Box #1, this new female Tree Swallow proceeded to build a nest inside the box while the male guarded it.

The photo to the left shows the new female Tree Swallow peeking out of Box #2.

This time, the male chose to guard the box from the nearby fence, as shown in the photo below.  When sunlight hits the back of a male Tree Swallow, it brings out his lovely, iridescent blue feathers.

In the meantime, the female Bluebird had started laying eggs in the first nest box (Box #1).  On May 20^th, I discovered two eggs inside, and now there are five!

Soon the new female Tree Swallow, not to be outdone, began laying her own eggs in Box #2.  On May 29^th, there were two eggs inside her nest, and, on last count, there were four.

I do not yet know how many more eggs the Tree Swallow will lay.  The average number in a clutch of this species is said to be four to seven, but they can lay as many as eight.

Stay tuned to find out how many eggs the Tree Swallow lays and when the Bluebird eggs will hatch.  You can follow this blog by entering your email address at the top right.

If you have enjoyed these photos, you will want to check out the 117 photos in my book, Bonding with the Barn Swallows.  Many of them show closeups of the baby Barn Swallows that were hatched on my porch during 2011 and 2012.  There are also photos of the parent swallows guarding the nest and feeding their young.  As an extra bonus, the book includes photos of five different juvenile Barn Swallows, just ten days after fledging.  You will be amazed at their varied markings.  The book describes how one special male Barn Swallow communicated to me by his body language on the utility wire and how, only two days later, I discovered what he was trying to tell me.  The book is available at Amazon at:   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1494481464/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1494481464&linkCode=as2&tag=barnswalfrie-20&linkId=5WME3VAHNSX3EXHH