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.