10 Bluebirds fledged, 4 are still eggs

The Box 7 set of four fledged on the South Side and Box 13 pair on the North Side. So we have 10 fledged now for this year. Empty boxes:

These are the four eggs, South Side Box 12

Most Tree Swallow Eggs Are Hatching Now

North Side
My Bluebirds in Box 13 are still ignoring me, but are ready to go. Parents were seen.

Some of the boxes are easy to monitor as I just need to slide an iPhone through the slot.

Inside, swallow nestlings have just hatched and two eggs will hatch later today.

In Box 17 the house wren eggs are still eggs. 

Life Goes On

Birds are nesting and new eggs were laid. The disasters a week ago are forgotten. Click the pictures for full view.

South Side
The last box has swallows nesting. The parent is shown here

The neighbors, rare for two pairs of swallows, raised their young and the box was empty:

Surprisingly, Box 12 that had nothing last year had four bluebird eggs.

I greased the pole with axle grease, as I did in other active nests. to keep ants out. Swallows nest in Box 11 and the eggs had just hatched hours ago. The squirmy little nestlings were barely visible in a pile of feathers.

Box 7 nestlings (should be 4) are almost ready to leave. Fully feathered. Parents were attentive.

Box 1 had a new grass nest (bluebird?) but no eggs. The ground in front looks awful from tractor activity:

There is a box alone, 3, whose partner 4 got run over by a tractor. It now finally has swallow eggs. The bulldozed box was an earlier nest with no eggs a few weeks back, probably from the same pair. The female is inside in the second photo.

North Side

Two nestlings left in Box 13, ready to go in a week. 

Six Bluebird Nestlings Seem Strong Enough To Survive

Having had the catastrophe about a week ago, I was anxious to see how the rest are doing.

South Side

Box 2 and Box 9 parent bluebirds seem to be still around but have not built nests in any boxes. These were the parents that lost a nestful a week ago. Perhaps they found tree holes.

Box 7 parents were both attentive and were hanging around in nearby locust trees.

The nestlings are fine though they were sleepy close to noon.

North Side

Here the Box 13 parents were both present and the nestlings were OK. I had to lift the bill of the sleepier one to get any reaction at all. Eyes half open.

Box 18 is a bit of an experiment, a new location. I checked it for swallow eggs and found a clutch. at that point the parent started dive bombing my head so locked up quickly.

Another surprise was a house wren nest in Box 17.

 Usually the males just fill up all nearby nests with sticks and the female rejects it. Here there was a nest in the corner with 6 tiny brown eggs. I had to photograph it on the ground and then put the whole assembly back in. Most bluebird hobbyists destroy wren nests. Wrens can destroy eggs in neighboring boxes. My Box 13 is not near it.

Meadowlarks will sing on boxes but do not harm any nesting birds in the box. 

Weather over weekend took its toll

Though the weather was only a bit cool for us, wearing a jacket a few days, it was not good news for bluebirds. Friday and Saturday were cool and the next days the night time low was still 40s to low 50s. Bluebirds need to be fed every day, whereas swallow nestlings can stand some cold days by going into torpor.

South Side

Let's just start from the end where there were some good news. Box 13 has swallow eggs in it and box 14 has nestlings. Box 14 had five eggs and looked like a swallow nest in the beginning. But box 13 also has swallow eggs and the typical feathered nest. The boxes are some 20 feet apart. It is not common for two pairs of swallows to nest so close.

Inside are the eggs (far box) and the nestlings in the closer box:

Then we come to box 9. These were the earliest bluebird nestlings to hatch. They died over the weekend. The nestlings looked almost fully feathered. Two bad days was enough to seal their fate.

In Box 7, bluebird nestlings were alive, but I am not quite comfortable with them, they seemed less responsive. 

In Box 2 on the South side, first box you would come to as you cross the old bridge, all nestlings had died.

North Side

There we have just one box of bluebirds, 13, and they were in good spirits. Perhaps being up on the ridge and in the open, the temperatures were just a bit higher. I think we had 4 and now there are just 2 or maybe three.

Video of them screeching.

Other than that, the North side has a number of empty swallow nests and a few with a lot of eggs:

It seems the swallows are slightly delayed in laying eggs.

Follow Up on three nests

(Click picture for bigger view)
I did not get to the North side today, but the three South side nests are doing OK.

Box 2 has the nestlings that just opened their eyes and the feathers are coming along. The pin feathers contain the material to fold out to a full vane. The central stem is called a rachis and the feathery parts that will unfold from them are called barbs, Barbs attach to neighboring barbs to give a smooth surface. All baby birds have this yellow bill at this point.

The male parent is sitting at the box that they are in. They were not being fed anymore by noon, but will be fed more during the day.

Box 7 had the three nestlings last time and now has four nestlings. It's a big job to raise the head up and open the mouth for food and they caught on to the fact I had no food. Or perhaps they had just been fed and were resting.

Box 9 has quite developed birds. The feathers are part pins part feathers. They were not flapping their wings yet so I dared to open the door and look at them. If they are completely developed, they can flush out and leave a day or two early. It's best for them to be as fat as possible to survive the cold of the first night out. Fledging in the morning is good, gives them time to learn to fly.

All But One Bluebird Eggs Now Hatched

Click the pictures for bigger view!

South Side

Here the first box along the trail, 2, has all five eggs hatched. The Nestlings have not opened their eyes yet. But they are quite alert and active.

Coming along in Box 7, a fourth egg was laid and three hatched. They were wiggling a little. The fourth should hatch today after I left.

Box 9 had the nestlings last time and now the eyes are open. If I don't keep track, they can easily fledge in a week.

Box 14 had 5 swallow eggs and they have now hathed, probably the first swallows.

Box 13 had some bluebirds hanging around it but there were no eggs.

North Side

The one Bluebird nest has four hatched chicks. Not very old yet.