 The
Joys and Tribulations of a Bluebird Box Keeper
by
Helen Andrews
 Over
the past forty or so years I have been watching and checking bluebird
nest boxes. It all started when Florence Germond took on the task
of helping the bluebirds. They were pretty scarce in those days
and she felt that they could use some help. Over the years my boxes
have been stolen, torn apart, shot full of holes, blown off their
posts by bad weather and fallen apart. They have been repaired,
rebuilt, replaced and relocated. The joy of seeing a nest full
of fledglings fly for the first time nearly offsets the sorrow
of finding nestlings dead in the box, the nest broken up by other
birds and raccoons and vandals.
We have found many things in our boxes including bees, ants, mice, blowflies
and spiders. We have found House Sparrows, chickadees, nuthatches, wrens
and Tree Swallows in the boxes. Once I ousted a starling from a box where
the hole was just a bit to big. The other day I had a new experience. I opened
a box and it appeared to be empty but I thought I saw something. The side
was so tight I could not raise it up to see so I put my hand in and felt
something soft and cool. I pulled out my hand and out came a gray tree frog.
Wow! That was a first...and you know what I did... scooped him up and put
him back in the box. The answer to all this dilemma is plenty of boxes and
don't give up. Cavity nesters or roosters need our help. Bluebirds are doing
fine; keep putting up boxes so there is enough for all.
Wings
Over Dutchess, May 2001
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Bluebirds
Through Rose-Colored Glasses
by
Elaine Andersen
 It
all began on Christmas morning when my daughter awakened early to
a hammering outside her window. It proved to be a Downy Woodpecker
who had been pecking away all over the house for days. We thought
nothing more of it until this spring when my grandchildren called
from the garden, "Grandma, there's a hole in the back of your
house!"
 They
were right. Nestled in the cedar shakes, a perfectly
round opening proved the woodpecker was a dandy sub-contractor,
for it perfectly suited a pair of nesting bluebirds.
The male, in a territorial response to his reflected
image, had been flying against my window for days.
I thought if his image were distorted, he'd be less
likely to be aggressive and wouldn't injure himself.
So I taped crinkled pink Saran Wrap on the outside
of the window. It didn't slow him down for long. As
he continued to thunk and flutter against the pane,
he made a little pink hammock from the plastic wrap
suspended between pieces of Scotch tape, where he'd
perch and stare in at me until I moved. These visits
continued for several weeks and I became accustomed
to this blue and rust beauty.
The evening of the May Census Potluck, Rosa and others saw the birds carrying
food to the hole. (Well, if birders were eating, why not birds?) The next
day, from inside, I could hear the babies chirping in chorus whenever the
parents entered the hole with food. Carena came to take pictures and the
male kept looking at himself in her car mirror! These bluebirds just may
be living in the biggest bluebird house of them all!
May
2001
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Tom
Gilbert's Eastern Bluebirds and His Homemade Nest Box
by
Tom Gilbert
 A
year ago last March I put up a homemade box next to my garage. It
is about 60-70 feet from our kitchen window and we can easily see
it from there. There is a large honeysuckle bush behind it and two
maples on either side about 15 feet tall. Last year a pair of bluebirds
raised one brood. This year they came back and I watched the goings
on more closely. A pair, I would guess the same pair, appeared at
the box about March 20. They would land on top and look over the
edge and then land on the perch to look into the hole. They would
arrive between 6-8 am and go through this routine for an hour or
so. Then we would not see them for the rest of the day. This would
continue for a good three weeks. They would tolerate all the other
birds that came near the box with the exception of Starlings and
English Sparrows. I think they also chased two Cedar Waxwings. Then
about April 20 I saw them taking dead grass into the box, but they
only worked on the nest for an hour or so in the morning. After the
nest was finished, there was a pause before the first egg arrived.
One egg a day was laid until there were five. The female did not
begin incubating until all five eggs were laid. I didn't see too
much of them during the egg laying , nor now when they are feeding
the young.
Wings
Over Dutchess, June 2001
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