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.   

Yes, it was a hijack! Bad news, good news ...

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

Bluebird, May 10, 2015

Yes, it was a hijack! The Eastern Bluebird, so charming and friendly to humans, can be quite nasty toward other birds. Eastern Bluebirds can fight ferociously to defend a nest – or even to seize a nest from another bird, as they did in my yard on May 10th. (See my previous post, “The Hijacking of the Nest Box – Who will win?”, at http://barnswallowfriends.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-seizing-of-nest-box-who-will-win.html.)

During this past March (2015), I did not observe as many Bluebirds around here as I had during March 2014.  Why?  There could be several reasons.

Bluebird, Nov. 9, 2014

For one, we had unseasonably wintry weather here during November 2014.  It was extraordinarily cold, and we had two snowfalls that month – quite unusual for this area.

During the winter of 2013 to 2014, each month I would observe at least one Bluebird around my yard.  But this past winter was different.  The Bluebird shown on the left that I saw on November 9, 2014, would be the last Bluebird I would see until March 9, 2015.  On March 9th I sighted a pair of Bluebirds, one at a time, on the wire across the road from where I live.  I did not see any Bluebirds near my yard until March 23rd.

Although our local Bluebirds stay around during the winter, they are unaccustomed to extremely cold weather during the month of November.  As winter approaches, Bluebirds look for warm places to roost during frigid nights.  They often roost either inside the nest boxes they used during the past summer or inside building structures where there are entrance ways into attics or crevices that lead to the undersides of roof beams.  These birds can also roost in pre-existing cavities within large tree trunks, places where they have nested during warmer weather.

However, when it came to finding warm winter roosting spots, I don’t think our Bluebirds had much warning last fall with our sudden frigid temperatures and snow storms.  It is said that one of the worst enemies of the Bluebird is “Jack” – Jack Frost, that is.  With “Jack” descending on us so quickly during late 2014, I think it caught the Bluebirds off guard, and some of them may have perished that month.

Our past winter of 2014 to 2015 was extremely cold, but we did not have the record-breaking amount of snowfall that the Northeastern US received.  Nevertheless, Jack Frost may have played a role in diminishing our Bluebirds’ winter survival rate.

An unusual event began taking place around here in mid January 2015 – one that may well have had a negative impact on our local Bluebirds’ survival.

In mid-January, a contractor hired by our local power company began chopping down trees and branches that were threatening to fall on power lines during high winds and heavy snowfall.  The process was noisy and lasted for several weeks.

If any of those trees contained old woodpecker holes in which Bluebirds were roosting at night, the tree-cutting process could have caused some of our Bluebirds to lose their warm, nocturnal sleeping stations, resulting in the demise of those birds.

I did notice that, when the contractor first began cutting trees, a Pileated Woodpecker began appearing at my suet feeders and continued to do so for many weeks thereafter.  I have wondered if the tree-cutting resulted in the removal of dead tree trunks inside which the Pileated Woodpecker had been finding beetle larvae.  Pileated Woodpeckers are able to feed on that type of larvae during the cold months.  The answer is unclear, but it seemed that SOMETHING had brought that Woodpecker out in the open at exactly that time. 

Female Pileated Woodpecker, morning of Jan. 12, 2015

Since we had so few Bluebirds around this past March, I took that as an imperative to put up a Bluebird nest box.  I began talking to my very mechanical next-door neighbor about it.  Perhaps, if we put up a nest box, a pair of Bluebirds would find it and raise some babies in it, resulting in an increased Bluebird population in our neighborhood during the spring of 2016.

By mid-April I had purchased a Bluebird nest box.  I had already purchased one last October at a craft show, but that one was too heavy to be mounted on a thin pole.  The reason for mounting the box on a pole would be to help guard against predators.

My neighbor was studying the specs for mounting the nest box. We began planning the location of the box in accordance with permission from our landlord and the guidelines for mounting Bluebird boxes.

Tree Swallow on wire

On April 17th, my neighbor and I were standing on our porch, discussing plans for the nest box. I pointed to a Tree Swallow that was perching on the nearby wire and told my neighbor, “That’s what we’ll probably get: Tree Swallows.” I said this because it was well past the beginning of the first brooding season for Bluebirds. Bluebirds can build two or three nests per season, but the first nesting season generally begins in March. By April 17th, our local Bluebirds were probably well underway with their first nests of the season.

I then told my neighbor not to be disappointed because “we might not get a Bluebird.” Just as I said the word “Bluebird”, an uncanny event occurred. A Bluebird landed on the wire right above our driveway! See “Did the Bluebird hear me call its name?” at https://www.facebook.com/notes/adele-barger-wilson/did-the-bluebird-hear-me-call-its-name/10153174426857040. The photo below shows the Bluebird that landed on the wire that moment.

The Bluebird that landed on the wire when I said "Bluebird"

We finally got the nest box mounted on April 24^th.  According to my research, we were far too late to have Bluebirds claim the box for their first nest of the season.  

Tree Swallows claim nest box, May 1, 2015

Just as I had suspected on April 17th, when I had pointed to the Tree Swallow on the wire, we did not get Bluebirds claiming the box. On May 1st a pair of Tree Swallows showed up and began building a nest inside the box that very day.

We were so fortunate to get birds claiming the nest box only one week after we had mounted it!  Although they were not Bluebirds, I was overjoyed!  Tree Swallows eat flying insects, acting as a natural form of pest control.  And we would be helping to increase our local population of this species, a species that I had not begun to observe in this neighborhood until April 2013.

But on May 10^th, the nest was hijacked!  The poor Tree Swallows!  The female was still in the process of building a nest inside the box that morning, when, not just one, but TWO male Bluebirds appeared and fought over the box.  One Bluebird won, and then started fighting the male Tree Swallow for possession of the box.

Sadly for the Tree Swallows, the Bluebird and his mate won.  They began adding to the nest, building its edges up higher.

The magical part of the story is that yes, the Bluebird DID hear me call its name on April 17^th while I was talking to my neighbor on the porch!  Yes, we did get Bluebirds!

Feeling sorry for the Tree Swallows who lost their nest, I convinced my neighbor to put up a second nest box, which he mounted on May 19th. The new nest box was mounted about 75 feet from the first one. It was the best location given the parameters for the mounting of Bluebird boxes and restrictions by my landlord regarding the location of the box.

Immediately, the two Bluebirds who had claimed the first nest box began perching on the second box and investigating it.  Oh no, I thought, will the Bluebirds prevent other birds from using the second box?  The Bluebirds had seized their current box from the Tree Swallows; would they also keep the second box under guard?

Below is a photo, taken May 20th, of the second nest box in the background, with the first nest box in the foreground.  The Bluebirds who were nesting in the first nest box are perching on the fence near the second (more distant) box!  The male Blue bird is on the top fence wire, and the female is on the second fence pole to the right of the second box.  I do not know what type of bird is perching on top of the second box!

So, did any birds end up claiming the second nest box?  And how about the Bluebirds?  Did they continue to use the first box, or did they shift to the second box?  And did any eggs get laid in the first box?  You can follow this blog at the upper right to find out!

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

The Carolina Wrens are back on the porch!

by Adele Barger Wilson, author of Bonding with the Barn Swallows
Photos and text © 2014 Adele Wilson









At sunrise this morning it was 14 degrees F (-10 C).  Ice was clinging to the insides of my storm windows.  I opened my door and was greeted by ice -- icy air, icy porch, icy car, and heavy frost on the lawn.

Porch nest, November 11, 2014

There is an old swallow nest on an eave of my porch.  It was originally a Barn Swallow nest, but now it is a Cliff Swallow nest. The nest is generally visible from the inside of my storm door as I look toward the porch.  To see the nest, all I have to do is look up and to the right, and it is only 4 feet away.  (You can read more about the nest at http://www.deerkisshollowjewelry.com/barn-swallows.htm.)

Did you know that some types of birds need to find warm, enclosed spaces in which to roost on cold winter nights?   Bluebirds, for instance, will often roost in the same nesting boxes that they used during the previous summer.  During the winter, Bluebirds do not stay inside the boxes during the day, as they did during the summer while they were incubating eggs and raising their young.  Instead, they enter their roosting spaces at sunset and depart at daybreak.

Last winter, a pair of Carolina Wrens spent nights in my porch nest in order to keep warm.  Around sunset, I would sometimes observe a Wren on the porch, obviously waiting for me to go inside and give it clearance to fly to the nest.  On a couple of occasions, I peeked outside my door at daybreak and saw a Wren fly from the nest.

By April the Carolina Wrens were gone.  I no longer saw them at the suet feeders or in the driveway.  Where did they go?  I suppose they relocated somewhere to build their nest and raise their young.  All I know is that I have missed them and wondered if they are still all right.

A MORNING SURPRISE!

Back to this morning:  Since it was so cold this morning, I wondered if any birds had roosted in the nest last night.  The glass on the inside of my storm door was foggy.  The cold temperature outdoors had caused moisture condensation, rendering it impossible for me to see outside my storm door without opening it.

When I opened my door, I immediately looked up at the nest.  Just a couple of seconds later, a Carolina Wren peeked out of the nest's entrance hole!!!  Upon seeing me, he quickly took flight.


What a thrill to know that the nest is again being used as a roosting place!  I am assuming that it was the male Carolina Wren that I saw leaving the nest this morning.  The female may well have still been inside the nest.

Presumably the same pair of Wrens that used the nest last winter have returned.  Birds tend to be habitual, returning to the same locations for the same purposes year after year.

MY INTRODUCTION TO CAROLINA WRENS

The first time I ever saw a Wren in the nest, I didn't even know it was a Wren!  It was on a very cold evening in early March 2013.  I had gone grocery shopping after work and had finally arrived home.  After carrying my first load of groceries inside, I proceeded to open my door to get the second load.   At that moment, I looked up and was shocked to see a bird go inside the nest.  The bird looked like a sparrow, but it had a white line over its eye and a very long beak.

It was the long beak that stumped me.  I had never seen that long of a beak on a small bird.

As I stared at the nest, I saw the bird exit and fly out of sight.

What kind of bird was it and what was it doing in the nest?  It was a very cold night in March, still snow season here in the mountains.  Do birds start nesting here that early in the year?  By that time, darkness had fallen.  I turned on the porch light, stepped outside, looked up at the nest, and wondered what type of bird would lay eggs during cold winter weather.

My curiosity got the best of me.  I returned inside and got a step ladder and a mirror.  Once I had returned to the porch and set up the step ladder, I climbed up, mirror in hand, to look inside the nest.  This was how I had checked for Barn Swallow eggs during the summer of 2012.  I was about to put the mirror above the nest, when, suddenly, there was a loud flapping noise and something swooped out of the nest and away from the porch!  It all occurred in a matter of seconds and scared me so much that I was shaking.  I almost fell off the ladder.

I went back inside to calm down and began looking through my bird book.  After studying the drawings for a while, I concluded the bird that I had seen entering and exiting the nest had been a Wren.

The Wren's mate must have still been inside the nest when I saw the first Wren leave.  I had apparently disturbed both Wrens and felt exceedingly guilty.

After further research based on the time of year, I determined that the bird had been a Carolina Wren rather than a House Wren.  In this region of the country we have Carolina Wrens year-round, but House Wrens only during the summer.

I was both excited and concerned at the same time.  The nest had been built by Barn Swallows two years previously and used by them during both summers.  Were the Wrens going to use the nest to start a family?  If so, what was going to happen when the Barn Swallows return in mid-April?  Would the Wrens be finished using the nest?

I saw no more Wrens that year.  The Barn Swallows returned in mid April, but did not use the nest.  Cliff Swallows ended up refurbishing the nest that summer.  I have narrated that story on my other blog at http://www.deerkisshollowjewelry.com/barn-swallows.htm.

In August of that year, all of our swallows, both Barn and Cliff, left the area for their winter migration.  The porch nest was still intact, only now it looked like a Cliff Swallow nest.  The photo to the right shows what the nest looked like on July 16, 2013.

JANUARY 2014

Summer turned to fall, and fall turned to winter.  It was now January 2014.

One afternoon in January, a heavy snowstorm had come though our area, leaving almost 12 inches of accumulation.  The snowfall ended around 5 p.m., when my next-door neighbor and I proceeded to shovel snow from the porch that we share.  After we had cleared the porch, it was starting to get dark, but there was still the driveway to do.  As we began working on the driveway, my other next-door neighbor, who was still inside her apartment, called to me and told me that she had seen a bird fly into the swallow nest.

Curious and excited, I ran up the stairs and toward the nest.  As I was nearing the nest, a bird flew out of it and landed on the lower roof of our building.  I could tell it was a Carolina Wren!

I proceeded back to the driveway to join with my neighbor in the shoveling effort.  About 30 minutes later, darkness had fallen.  The neighbor who was still inside her apartment again called to me, "Adele, I just saw two birds fly into the nest!"

That night, after much research, I learned that Carolina Wrens need to find warm, enclosed spaces to spend cold winter nights.  It made sense.  That was why the Wrens were trying to use the nest that night in March 2013 -- until I scared them, that is!

Carolina Wren waiting for me go inside

Several weeks later, on March 1, 2014, I was in the driveway with my camera, taking pictures of birds at the feeder.  All of a sudden, a bird flew onto the porch rail and started scolding me.  Fortunately, this time I recognized the bird and understood what he was telling me!

It was the Carolina Wren again, and he was telling me to get inside so that he could fly to the nest.   He kindly allowed me take his picture, after which I returned inside my apartment and closed the door.

Close-up of Carolina Wren

But I couldn't resist peeking out through the blinds and storm door.  I saw the male Wren fly to the nest.  But he did not go inside the nest!  He clung to the outside of the entrance hole.  Soon a second Wren flew to the nest and quickly entered it.  At that point the first Wren also entered the nest.

How chivalrous, I thought!  Upon seeing that the way was clear, the male Wren had flown to the nest, and then had guarded the entrance so that the female could enter!  After the female had been safe inside the nest, the male had joined her.

I am so happy that the porch nest is again being used this winter!

Update, November 26, 2014:  Late this afternoon, just before sunset, the pair of Carolina Wrens was hanging around the porch area.  I saw them first in the nearby barberry bush.  A Mockingbird soon flew from The Mockingbird Tree  into the shrub.  Oh no, I thought, have the Mockingbirds taken over that bush, too?

[The Mockingbirds have their own tree now, which I term "The Mockingbird Tree".  More information about my battles with the Mockingbirds can be found at:
Adventures in Bird Feeding, Part 1:  Keeping Peace with the Mockingbirds and
Update on the Mockingbirds - Are they still interfering? ]

I knew that the reason the Wrens were hanging around was that they were seeking clearance to enter the porch nest for the night.  I went inside and got my camera, then went out on the porch again.  Just as I had predicted, one of the Wrens, presumably the male, soon appeared on the porch stairs.  I tried to take a photo, but as soon as the Wren saw me, he quickly flew from the porch.

A few minutes later, both Wrens appeared on a different part of the porch.  However, again, as soon as they had seen me, they suddenly flew.

So I decided to give up my efforts at photographing the Wrens.  It was very dark, anyway, and even using the flash on my camera would not have helped.  Moreover, the flash would have further frightened the birds.

But it is nice to know that the Wrens are now apparently making a habit of roosting in my porch nest at night!

Wild birds are not dumb!  They are sentient beings who often communicate specific things to humans.  You can read about how I determined this to be a fact based on my intimate experiences with Barn Swallows as described in my book, Bonding with the Barn Swallows.