Two for two means you’re batting 1.000, not a bad average, and that’s the current stat for my resident pair of blues. Two successful nests in just over two months.
The babies from the second nest fledged last Saturday. The parents were feeding the noisy youngsters in their house when I left at 10 AM, but by 3:30, the little fellows were high in the treetops. Four fledged from the first nest. I’m not sure how many made it this time. I haven’t been able to see them all together yet.
I have found in my many years of bluebird observation that each pair is different. This pair was the earliest of all my bluebirds to build a nest and get on with the baby rearing business. Both the male and female have been friendly and sociable. I am allowed about a five-foot distance, but no more. They were both very active in feeding, but the male allowed the hen to gobble up the mealworms first, then deliver the goodies to the chicks.
I have now purchased in excess of 20,000 mealworms, and hope the latest shipment will be sufficient to feed the chicks until they are able to fend for themselves. I have also kept my sunflower heart feeder full at all times as a supplement for the mealworms and natural insects.
Watching the bluebirds fly to their house is like watching a ballet. The graceful birds make two swoops from about 20 yards and arrive perfectly – feet first – at the door of their house. How they keep from “splatting” against the side of the house is beyond me. I often bump into the sides of the doors in my house, and they are 4 feet wide. The hole in the bluebird house is about an inch and a quarter.
I hope my friendly little pair of bluebirds will not attempt a third nest, because July is an awfully hot month to spend inside a wooden house in the sun, with no air conditioning. But if they do, I know where to get more mealworms.