Tuesday, April 15, 2008

To Each His Own

This is my second post for today, but I might be too busy to do this later.


This is a strange story. These bluebirds have been nesting in my yard for 6 years - they have produced 3 broods every year, and I am sure that over 60 of them have lived, at least till time to go seek their fortune. The nestbox is close to my house, and I feed them their mealworms on the porch rail. I have not changed the location of the box, but have used several different ones - Each time I change it, "Ollie and Camille" check out the new box, and readily accept it. Last summer I even installed a "nestbox spycam" and we watched the wonderful drama up close and personal. In the fall once again I installed a new box, because we got in a new one at Backyard Boutique that I really like; and, of course, "my" bluebirds had to have the best! As usual, they checked it out immediately, and seemed quite happy with it. Ollie has gotten pretty aggressive over the years, and doesn't tolerate any other birds touching his real estate. Same with this one.
BUT............ no nest appeared in the new house. I didn't even see them gathering nesting materials. But they came for their visits and mealworms as usual, and sat on the rail and "talked" to me. I tried to see where they went but they were flying around the corner of the porch, and there's no place for them to nest in that direction.
Oh yes there is! I completely forgot one of those little pottery "Williamsburg" birdhouses was on the side under the porch eve. It was a gift several years ago and has hung there since we moved into this house. Yep! That's where they were going. I'm really nervous about it, and will remove it after this brood fledges...it's not deep and there's no way to baffle it. The eggs have hatched, but I can't see them, count them, or admire them...don't even know how many there are, but they make a lot of noise, and Ollie and Camille are feeding them like crazy!

Camille rests with her kids.

"This is a little different to approach."

"Maybe if I act like a hummingbird, I can get in."

"Now I have a toehold...here you go kiddos."
And the funniest thing about this whole story is that Ollie still won't let anyone or anything else near his "real" nestbox.
My bluebirds are famous, too. The new edition of "The BirdBox," the Virginia Bluebird Society's newsletter, has a fun story about them. Scroll down to page 4, if you'd like to see it. http://www.virginiabluebirds.org/newsletters/BirdBoxMarch2008.pdf

17 comments:

bluebirder... said...

More awesome bluebirds BL - they seem to like nesting in some bizarre locations from the pictures I've seen recently! Lovely stuff as usual.

The Birdlady said...

Thank you....I like to think they did this to get closer to me! lol

Stacey Olson said...

Beautiful birds! I would not have expected them to nest there either. Mine won't use my houses, to close to the cats I think. They like the ridge pole on the peak of my house better.. Beautiful shot.. Thanks for sharing

jalynn01 said...

Camille looks beautiful hovering beside the 'orange' pottery house! How absolutely adorable. Birds do the darnest things! And the feeding picture is soooo cute too!

The Birdlady said...

Stacey - They are my very favorites! Thanks..

Jalynn - It would be fun to see something so different, but it's so scary...the opening is big enough for starlings, and there are lots around here (like in my next-door neighbor's gutters!), and I can't baffle it, and it's so shallow I can see the babies when they stick their little heads up - it/s 10 ft off the ground and I won't be looking in for sure. Thanks for your always kind words.

Jotter Jan said...

Wonders never cease to amaze me...who would expect them to nest in something like that! I understand your concern though. They sure look pretty next to that pottery!!!

The Birdlady said...

JJ - I guess the truth is, they would be beautiful anywhere..but it was their call, and this is what they chose - they aren't going to have that choice for the next nest.

Crafty Green Poet said...

what a lovely post, such lovepy photos, I notice that the pottery nestbox complements the colours of the bluebird!

The Birdlady said...

Thank you Barb - Maybe they are extremely fashion conscious - but picking a house to match one's color is going a bit far, don't you think!

Poet - Thank you for stopping by - love those shopping bags on your blog.

Sandpiper (Lin) said...

Outstanding pictures and a wonderful story! Bluebirds are so beautiful! I can't get them to come here, so I always enjoy seeing other's pictures. I also enjoyed reading the story about Ollie and Camille at VA Bluebirds.

The Birdlady said...

Lin - Thank you. Oh, I do hope someday you'll get bluebirds. No photos do them justice!

Mike said...

Great story and the photos are beautiful.

The Birdlady said...

Thank you Mike.

Mike said...

E-mailed to your aol address

John Theberge said...

It's funny how we can go out of our way to do something for wildlife but they just ignore it and do what they want. My post on the 17th is a perfect example of that. The loons have a platform they could use to nest on that would rise with the water but instead choose to nest on a rock that could possibly submerge if the water level went up.

The Birdlady said...

John - I guess we just do what we can, and they go from there. The babies are still OK this morning. We've already done the frost mealworm offering of the day.

Dave Coulter said...

What a cool story...now I know about the bottle babies! :)