Snake In The Bluebird House

During our recent Cemetery Tour of the South, Bill encountered a snake in a bluebird house.  The location was the Berea Baptist Church Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina where my great-great grandmother Martha "Patty" Bailey Tipton Cooper is buried.

Bill peeked in this bluebird house, much like the bluebird houses that we have in our backyard at home in Delaware and was very surprised when a big black snake stuck its head and forked tongue out at him.

Red bellied black snake, much like the one Bill found in the bluebird house

Bill got the snake out of the bluebird house but unfortunately I didn't capture The Moment on my iPhone video because I was at the other end of the cemetery taking photos!  I saw it with mine own eyes though and that was one BIG BLACK SNAKE.

Baby bluebird

This is one of the many short videos that I took during our trip south.  I will be posting more videos in future blog postings and less blog postings of me complaining about something, which I seem to be doing a lot of lately.

I'll try to concentrate on posting happy and light postings in the future.

View from our van headed south to Georgia on I-81 during our recent trip south.

P.S.

Bill didn't kill the snake.  He just got it out of the bluebird box.  Once he got it out (and it was a biggie), the snake wiggled it's way into the nearby woods, obviously full of baby bluebirds.

Murder in Milton Part Two

The beautiful eastern bluebird

When Bill and I returned from our trip south we discovered that someone or something had opened the bluebird house and torn out the nest of newly born swallows.

For the past two years this particular  bird house has been the home to two batches of bluebirds each season.  However, this year the bluebirds were not able to build their nest because of the aggressive house sparrows kept the bluebirds away.

Bluebird fighting off house sparrow

Swallows tried to build a nest in that blue bird house only to battle the same house sparrows.  As I wrote in an earlier blog posting, one day I came home from work and checked the bird house to see if the swallows had laid their eggs.  As I began to open the front of the blue bird house a house sparrow quickly exited the hole of the bird house.  I opened the front of the bird house only to find a bloodied and dead swallow.

Swallow

To those of you who think house sparrows are cute consider this, in one of my other blue bird houses I found a nest of sparrow eggs.  A dead swallow was also in the nest, pushed to the side.  Yes, the sparrows were going to raise their young with a dead swallow in the bird box.  This is the same bird box that swallows had raised two batches of baby swallows.

House sparrow

Bill set up a contraption and was able to trap the house sparrow that was killing the swallows.  After disposing of that sparrow, we didn't have any more problems with sparrows keeping other birds away from that bird box.

House sparrow on top of perch at bluebird house

The swallows built their neat nest and laid their eggs in the former blue bird house.  Two days before we left for our vacation down south, I checked the nest and saw that the eggs had hatched.  The little featherless and blind baby swallows were ready to grow.  Thus it was with great anticipation that we were looking forward to seeing how much the baby swallows had grown.

Bill looked out the window and said "The box is open!"  We rushed out and, sure enough, the front of the blue bird box was open and the nest on the grown.  There was no sign of the baby swallows.  Now this was a real mystery because the latch was still closed on the door of the bird house.

We couldn't figure out what happened.  Could a cat have climbed the wooden pole?  But what cat could have that kind of strength that it took to open the front of the bird house without removing the latch?  It wasn't until the next day that we figured out what happened.

A few weeks ago our neighbor had some lawn service people in to take care of his lawn.  Bill pointed out to me that the Hispanics who were doing the yard work had a hyper active little kid with them.  Bill thought the kid and his antics were cute.  Me, not so much.  I'm not a fan of over active, bratty, little kids.
I didn't give this kid any more thought until this day.

Another thing we noticed when we came back from vacation was that our neighbor's back yard was completely trimmed.  This was very unusual because our neighbor Tom rarely if ever trims his back yard.  Alright, now I'm adding two and two together.

This Hispanic lawn service crew is working on my neighbor's back yard.  My bird box is near the fence of the back yard.  The swallows who built the nest hover over the bird box and sit on the perch at the top of the bird box.  So picture this:  a bored, hyper active, little kid sees the swallows around the bird box.  He goes around the fence and sees the bird box.  With me so far?  Then he sees the adult swallow enter the bird box to feed its young.  Okay, now the kid wants to see what's inside the bird box but he isn't tall enough to open the latch.  So he puts his greasy, dirty little finger in the bird box hole and pulls down.  Viola!  Then he sees the nest and pulls it out, baby birds and all.  Now he's no longer bored because he has destroyed the nest.

I go out to check my theory.  Around the bird box I have a wild rose bush.  At the base of the island I have ground cover of thyme.  To the left of the bird box and away from the rose bush I see an indentation in the thyme.  The indentation is the size of a child's foot.  Ah yes.  Theory proved.

Again, as has happened so often in my life of growing plants and trying to maintain a backyard habitat, it has been invaded and destroyed by kids, animals and insects.  We had so many problems with the neighborhood kids when we lived in Philadelphia I finally gave up even planting flowers in front of the house on the tree lined street where we lived.  I thought I had a safe place in our new home in Milton.  Apparently not.

Well, long story short.  This morning we had good news.  Bill spotted a bluebird on the perch atop the bird house.  That's wonderful news!  Maybe the bluebirds will be able after all to raise a batch of young bluebirds this summer in that preferred bird house.  After the deaths of two adult swallows, the deaths of four baby swallows and one murderous adult sparrow, this story will have a happy ending.

Me early this morning checking out the bluebird box

Not a pretty sight, me early in the morning

Taking out the old swallow nest 

Bring it On

This morning the battle begins anew with the house sparrows.



Bill told me that the bluebirds were back trying to get into their house that they have built their nests in the past two years. I have three bluebird houses in my backyard. The bluebirds prefer the house that is next to my neighbor Tom’s white PVC fence.

The past two years the bluebirds were able to fend off the sparrows but not this year. I tapped off their house after I came back one day last week and found a dead swallow in the bluebird that the sparrow had killed. I knew the sparrow had killed it because after I returned from work and started to pull open the front of the bluebird house, the sparrow darted out. I looked in the bluebird house and there was the dead swallow, the top of its head bare and bloodied. The poor creature had been pecked to death.

The sparrows started to build their nest in another one of the bluebird houses. I am going to let them build their nest to keep them occupied. My hope was that they would forget about the bluebird house that is next to my neighbor’s fence. Again, I underestimated the determination of the sparrow. As soon as I took the tape off of the box this morning the sparrow was over there checking out the accommodation. And not only that, he was chasing the bluebird away from the other bluebird house that the bluebirds were now checking out.

I had no other choice but to tape up the prime bluebird box. I’m taking a chance in letting the bluebirds and the sparrows fight it out for the other box. I won’t be able to monitor their activity today because I’m going to work this afternoon. But I do have tomorrow off. Thus the battle continues between me and the sparrows. One this is certain. There will be no sparrow eggs hatched on my property this year just as there were none hatched last year.

The bluebirds were able to raise two batches of young bluebirds last year just as they had done the previous year. However, I’m not if they will be able to raise any young this year. The sparrows really seem determined. I think part of the problem is my neighbor on the other side of my property took down his purple martin house to keep the sparrows out. I think I’m getting his overflow.

The sparrows are fighting a losing battle with me. I estimated I threw out about 18 sparrow eggs with their nesting last year. This year I’m going to wring some sparrow necks. My message to the sparrows this year…bring it on.

Murder in Milton

My backyard with its perimiter of birdbaths, raised flower beds and bird houses

Every year at this time in early spring migratory birds arrive in my back yard to begin their nesting. This year was no exception as the bluebirds, swallows, starlings and the sparrows swooped down and around, checking out the housing accommodations on the verdant green acre of lawn that is our backyard.

Two years ago I placed three blue bird boxes on the perimeter of the Back Forty. I also had a purple martin house installed by the Frank the Birdman of Milton. I’ve always wanted one of those multiple apartment purple martin birdhouses. Now that I had an open clear field of almost an acre I could do this. I also wanted to have those fence post bluebird houses like my dad used to have surrounding his three acres of land he used to lovingly farm his crop of corn, tomatoes and string beans.

My dad's garden in Pennsylvania

I couldn’t have those types of birdhouses at our home in Pennsylvania because we lived in the middle of the woods. The only kind of birdhouses that we had success with in Pennsylvania was the Jenny Wren birdhouses which my dad built for me. Here at our home in Delaware I only have one tree, an ornamental prune tree in the front of the house. Here in Delaware we no longer lived in home that attracted woodland birds.

My house in Delaware with its lone tree - no room for woodland birds

So I had had the bluebird and purple martin birdhouses installed. However I soon discovered my first visitors were the common house sparrow. I didn’t think too much about it at first. But then one day, Frank the Birdman was over adjusting my purple martin house and he happened to take a peek in one of the bluebird houses. Immediately after swinging open the door he discovered the sloppy bird nest of a house sparrow! Much to my shock he put his calloused hand in the bird box and scooped out the nest, eggs included, and tossed it into a nearby cornfield.

Swallow checking recently emptied birdhouse of sparrow nesting and eggs last summer

After tossing that sparrow nest in the cornfield he turned to me with a look of surprise and anger and said “That’s a damn sparrow nest! You don’t want that!” Well, excuse me but…….. Then he explained to me the trouble with sparrows. They are a very aggressive bird. They are not native to this country. The sparrow and the starling are the two species of birds mainly responsible for the decimation of the blue bird and other song bird population of the continental United States. If I permitted the house sparrows to nest on my property I was contributing to the extinction of the bluebirds. Frank’s comments caused me serious concern.

The Determined House Sparrow

Well, I did some research and he was absolutely right. In fact the sparrow and starling are so aggressive that they will kill any other bird that is in a nest they want. They will even build their nest over the dead birds and sometimes, the dead baby birds. I found this hard to believe until I witnessed it myself. Last year when I fought a six week battle to remove a sparrow from one of the purple martin apartment I found one nest of three baby purple martins that had been pecked to death by the sparrow. I wrote several blog postings last year about my frustrating battle with the Determined House Sparrow.

Baby purple martins last year - the type that were pecked to death by the house sparrow

So this year I was ready for their invasion. The house sparrows didn’t disappoint. This week they arrived. I was ready for them. I had taped the entrances to the six purple martin apartments. They couldn’t get in there. The purple martins don’t arrive until May 1st, so I had plenty of time to discourage the Determined House Sparrow.

My purple martin house

Of my three bluebird houses, there is only one in which the bluebirds nest. It is the one near the white fence of my neighbor Tom. For the past two years a bluebird couple has raised two batches of four baby bluebirds each summer. Early last week I saw the bluebirds checking out their house from their perch in one of Tom’s pine trees.

Baby blue birds in their nest last year

Then on Thursday I saw my worst fear. The Determined House Sparrow was on top on the bluebird house! Oh no! I have three other bluebird houses. I’m willing to let the sparrows in those houses but no, the Determined House Sparrow wants THAT bluebird house next to Tom’s fence. It ain’t going to happen.

Blue bird house next to my neighbor Tom's fence

At first I chased it away every time I saw it land on the bluebird house. But that was futile. Then I put a bucket over the house to discourage the damn sparrow. But that was only a temporary measure plus it prevented the bluebirds from using the house too.

The Determined Sparrow atop the blue bird house last year

So, I decided to do what I did last year. I would let them sort it out themselves. That’s what they did last year. I know the sparrow has a reputation for being the more aggressive the species but they did work it out last year. I think the reason the bluebirds won out because on of the bluebirds was pretty big. That one bluebird was like the Hulk Hogan of bluebirds.

The "Hulk Hogan" of blue birds guarding his blue bird nest last year

So yesterday, I took off to the 42nd Annual Kite Festival at Cape Henlopen. It was a beautiful, sunny day with lots of wind for all those colorful kites. After a morning of kite festival (and enough of the crowds) I came back home for lunch. But, before lunch I thought I would check the bluebird box to see if anyone had built a nest. As I put my forefinger in the bird box opening to bring the front down, a bird made quick exit from the hole, surprised by my invasion. As I lowered the front of the bird box I was shocked and saddened to see this: (WARNING – DO NOT LOOK IF YOU ARE SQUEMISH)

Dead swallow (pecked to death by the sparrow) in blue bird box yesterday

It was the body of a swallow that had been just pecked to death by that damn sparrow. I lifted it still warm body out of the bird box and took it to show to Bill, who was mowing the lawn on his riding mower. I wanted to show him what his “cute sparrow” had done. Bill is always sticking up for the sparrows, putting guilt trip on me every time I threw out one of their nests. Here was proof positive that this was a bird we do not want in our backyard.

With a sad heart I gently placed the limp body of the dead swallow in an empty planter on my back deck and went inside my house to have lunch.

After lunch I decided to take a trip to Milton to visit Frank the Birdman and ask him his advice.

He wasn’t at home. His wife told me he was out on a job. I told her my problem with the sparrows and asked her what Frank does to discourage the house sparrows. Frank has several purple martin houses in his yard which are always populated by a very noisy colony of purple martins throughout the spring and summer.

She went to a shed and opened the door and pulled out a cartridge of gold colored copper tipped bullets neatly arranged in a even row. She told me he shoots them with a 22! She assured me that shooting the 22 “didn’t make much noise.” Oh, well…..okay. Well, now let’s see. First I don’t have a gun. I told her that I didn’t have one which surprised her. Uh……okay. Another thing, I will never have a gun. The last time I fired a bullet was when I was in the Army during my annual qualification at the rifle range in 1962. My father was a lifelong hunter. None of his three sons were hunters. My brothers were also in the Army and fired rifles but none of us ever possessed the desire or need to have a gun. And I wasn’t about to start. Running through my mind at this time was a visual of me firing a Twenty-two from my back deck at my bluebird house. I’m sure my neighbor Tom and his wife Shannon would appreciate that especially since they have a couple of dogs who use their back yard and a two year old daughter. Talk about your Neighbor From Hell. I told Frank’s wife I would seek another solution to my sparrow problem.

This is NOT a picture of me firing a gun

Now what was really unusual about yesterday was the location where I was talking to the Birdman’s wife was only one road away from an actual murder that took place this past winter. The body was just discovered last week in the backyard of a singlewide trailer. It was under a blue tarp. Police suspect the badly decomposed remains were the son of the man who lived in the singlewide, his father. The police arrested the father on suspicion of shooting his son. So here I am yesterday, being given advice to use a Twenty-Two to get rid of a murderous sparrow. Do you not see the irony?

Michael Hudson, the arrested father suspected of shooting his son

Spencer Ashing, the suspected deceased son who decompsing remains were found under a tarp in the back yard of Michael Hudson

I taped the entrance to the bluebird box closed. The murdering sparrow was out there today pecking away at the blue painter’s masking tape. I went out and taped it about six more times. I think they gave up (they never actually give up) and began building their nest in one of the other bluebird boxes.

The taped entrance to the blue bird box this morning

My plan now is to let them build that nest. That should keep they occupied. Once they’re well on their way to building their nest I’ll take the blue tape off of the entrance to the prime blue bird box so the returning blue birds can use it to start their family.

Four blue bird eggs June 17, 2009 (the second batch)

The sparrows will never raise their family in my backyard in my bird houses. Once they build that nest and lay their eggs I will take that nest (and eggs) out. There were no sparrows raised on my property last year and there won’t be this year either. I don’t care how “cute” they are. There was nothing “cute” about that dead swallow.

A lone swallow from last summer keeping watch over my back yard

And Then There Were None

Bill had a very trying day today. He called The Garage and his car still wasn't ready. He asked me to drop him off at The Garage at 12 noon and he would wait for it. Yesterday was our day to go to the Sam's Club in Dover, thirty nine miles away. We would have to do it today. But first, Bill had to get his '91 Jeep Cherokee out of The Garage. Of course when he went down they hadn't even started on the repairs. They did when they saw he was waiting. Two and a half hours later they told him they were finished. Frustrated, Bill paid the bill and stormed out of The Garage. Note, I refer to "The Garage" that way because that is the name of the auto repair business we patronize on Route 1, across from The Hampton Inn in Rehoboth Beach.

On the way home Bill noticed his "Check Engine" light was still on. They hadn't fixed the main reason he went in! That's why he took his car to The Garage. They found the brake problem when they took his car around the back of their place. A brake hose or something like that blew (I know I don't have that right but it was something drastic like that.) Well, the upshot is that Bill is so frustrated with this place he doesn't want to go back. Thus, in that mood we took off to Dover.

Before we left I wanted to check the bluebird box. I heard and saw more than the usual activity around the bluebird box and as I suspected, all the baby bluebirds were out save one. I took his/her picture before we left for Dover.

On the way to Dover we noticed that the traffic headed south was backed up. Ah yes, this is Friday afternoon when The Horde (tourists, weekenders, etc) descend on our fair beaches in coastal Sussex County. As year round residents we know to avoid travel on Route 1 both north and south on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. These are the days of the travel vans, SUV's and car with bike racks full on the back, and the young girls driving shotgun with their flip flop shod feet propped up on the dashboard ("Hey! We're at the beach! Time to relax and let loose and show everyone I'm one cool chick!") Oh how we love it. But, these are the folks that keep the economy going so I shouldn't be complaining. However I did see a cool bumper sticker:

"Welcome to the beach. Now go home."

Shopping at Sam's Club was extra fun today with the late Friday afternoon crowd. We never experienced that before and we don't plan to again anytime soon. Usually we go very early during a weekday morning but our schedule has been thrown all off kilter because of Bill's car getting repaired. On the way back we had to stop at the Super Wal-Mart in Milford because that is the ONLY PLACE in Lower Slower that I can get my Turkey Hill Decaf Orange Diet Ice Tea. THE ONLY PLACE. Again, shopping in Wal-Mart Friday afternoon is an extra special experience. The people, the people. I wonder sometimes do I look as strange and weird to them as they do to me? Man oh man. There are some doozies that shop at the Wal-Mart, especially the Jabba the Huts riding around on those motorized shopping carts in the store.

Returning home we were right in the middle of the Friday afternoon weekend rush to the shore. One thing I've never been able to quite figure out, what is the rush? Why do so many of our out of state tourists feel they have to break the speed limit, weave in and out of traffic to get to the shore to relax? What's THAT all about?

Well, we finally got home. Now it's unwind time. I checked the bluebird box and, as I suspected, it is empty. The last bluebird is out. That puts a punctuation mark to a very interesting day.

Second Bluebird Batch

First thing I did when I got home from work at the hotel was to check my bluebird house to see if those eggs hatched. They did! This is the second batch this season. Last year the bluebirds used the same box to raise two batches of bluebirds. I'm very proud that I provided a safe nesting place for one pair of our native bluebirds. My father used to do this for years until he died in August of 2000. I have picked up where he left off. He would have liked that.

Then There Were Four

First thing when I returned home from Pennsylvania yesterday was check my bluebird box. Ah ha! As I suspected, it now contained four perfect blue oval eggs. The second batch of bluebirds is on its way!

The Purple Martin house is fully occupied with Purple Martins raising their young. One of the other bluebird houses is occupied by a swallow and her four perfect white eggs, which will hatch any day now. The house sparrows have found nesting places on nearby properties because I see them all around. I saw several dozen flitting about in their normal raucous activity as I took my walk a few nights ago. All is well in the bird habitat in our little corner of the world here on the Delmarva peninsula.

New Bluebird Nest!

New bluebird nest





















Purple Martin eggs




We have a new bluebird nest! After a delay of about ten days, mama and papa bluebird have built a new, neat nest. The bluebird pair is apparently the same because the Biggest Bluebird I’ve Ever Seen, is again perched atop the bluebird box. Of course there were a few forays into the bluebird box by the errant house sparrow but the Biggest Bluebird I’ve Ever Seen quickly took care of that unwelcomed intruder.

In a day or two I expect to see four small blue bluebird (what other color would they be?) eggs in the new bluebird nest. In about a month the new baby bluebirds will be grown and out exploring their new world just like their sisters and brothers are doing now.

The swallows have built a nest in one of the other bluebird houses. Their pure white eggs are nestled in another neat nest lined with white feathers. It’s interesting that each bird has its own unique nest. The Purple Martins don’t build so much of a nest as they line the bottom of their aluminum compartment with broad pieces of straw. The Purple Martin eggs are also pure white. Only the house sparrow eggs are a tan with brown dots. The house sparrow nests are a mess. Everything and anything is in their nest from trash to straw and plastic.

The Purple Martins quickly claimed the last compartment in their tall six apartment birdhouse when I removed the sparrow nest on Monday. From what I can tell the Purple Martins have already raised one batch of young ones and are now working on the second batch. I think the Purple Martins only raise two batches of young ones before they leave for the season.

This year, for the first time, both of the gourds hanging beneath the Purple Martin house area occupied by swallows. One gourd was occupied by another Taliban sparrow but it only took two cleanings to get that sparrow out of there. I think the house sparrows took up in my neighbor’s birdhouses.

Each evening Bill and I sit out on our deck and watch the Purple Martins sort out their pecking order. We enjoy their graceful swooping of the swallows over our back yard looking for a meal. The bluebirds seem to be more preoccupied with guarding their nest and feeding their young. They make no noise at all whereas the Purple Martins are always squawking about something. We will miss them all when they leave later this summer. Then the quiet in our backyard will be deafening.

Reflections on a Rainy Friday Afternoon

Yesterday was cloudy. Today a gentle rain falls. While the rain is good for the local farmers it isn’t helping my energy level to do something around this house. Gray skies and rain has a way of doing that to my mood. While I like to hear the rainfall on the side of my house and watch the rivulets of water running down my windows, it doesn’t encourage me to attack my storage room downstairs in the basement and finish unpacking the boxes I moved down here in November 2006. Yes, I’m ashamed to admit it, but I still have unpacked boxes from our move from Pennsylvania almost 2 ½ years ago. I have to wait for the mood to hit me. That hasn’t happened yet.

I don’t have to go to work at the hotel until Monday so I have the whole weekend off. Unfortunately, rain is forecast for the next five days. Bill and I just about have the two new raised flowerbeds ready to be filled in with dirt. We will have to put that on hold until clear skies appear again over our southern Delaware skies. I also work next Friday at the hotel then I’m off until the Fourth of July weekend in which I work those three days in a row. That means I’m off a whole three weeks! I would love to visit my brother in South Carolina and take a swing up to my dad’s roots in the hills of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, near Johnson City, Tennessee. However, I don’t have the money for such a trip nor the energy. I think at 67 I am beginning to wear out.

Yesterday I called my Aunt Mabel who is 87 years old. She’s not doing well. I remember something she told me years ago. She said she knew she was getting old when she was 72. She said that was when she realized she didn’t have the boundless energy she had all of her life prior to that year. My Mother said something similar around the same age. After hoeing eight rows of corn in my Dad’s vegetable garden, she told me “Ronnie, I just can’t do this anymore.” I now understand whereof my aunt and Mother speak. Yesterday I put in a good two hours digging up the area for the two new raised flower beds. It just about killed me. I took a two hour afternoon nap to recoup my strength. This is scary because I’m only 67. There was a time when I thought 40 was old. Of course that’s when I was 22 years old. Now that I’m an Old Geezer I think 67 is young. Ha! Actually I don’t feel bad about getting old but there definitely are more aches and pains now that I’m approaching my eighth decade on this earth.

Not to change the subject, but I will. The bluebirds haven’t set up their new household yet but I think that is because the bluebird parents are still looking after their previous batch. Yesterday afternoon I saw several bluebirds flying around my neighbor’s house. However, as the picture on this blog attests, the Big Bluebird is sitting atop the bluebird house. He has been chasing away all potential tenants such as the Taliband House Sparrow and swallows. I predict within two weeks a new bluebird nest will be full of five tiny blue eggs. This is one my great joys of living where I do so I can have a backyard habitat to provide a safe and secure nesting location for the bluebirds.

Yesterday I pulled down the Purple Martin house to check to make sure there weren’t any dead baby Purple Martins like I found last year. Two of the apartments had baby Purple Martins. They were so quiet when I open the front door to their apartment. The other apartments had nesting material but were empty of baby Purple Martins. As I suspected, those young Purple Martins had already taken wing. It’s interesting to see them learn to fly. At first they venture out only a few feet before they fly back to the Purple Martin house. Eventually, they soar higher and further out from the house until they’re just a speck in the distance. I don’t know how many Purple Martin batches there are but I do know they make the back yard come alive with their lively cacophony of noise.

The rain is falling against the window like it does in the movies. This is a good time to snuggle up to a good book in my bed and drift off to a Friday afternoon nap. Life is good in southern Delaware, even when it rains.

Then There Was One Left

Yesterday afternoon, as Bill was preparing to mow the lawn he noticed an increase in activity around the bluebird house. He went over to the bluebird house and saw a baby bluebird hiding in the cover at the base of the bluebird house. Bill came in and told me that one of the baby bluebirds was out of the box and asked me if I wanted to take pictures. I got my camera and rushed outside.

I had suspected that the baby bluebirds would be out ("pop") of their box and that is just what happened. The baby bluebirds were out trying their new wings. From my experience with raising two bluebird batches from this same box last year I knew that the baby bluebirds didn't fly right out of the box and into the wild blue yonder. They take a day or two flopping around in the ground cover and shrubbery around the bluebird box until their wings are ready for full flight. That is what was happening yesterday afternoon.

I cautioned Bill not to disturb the baby bluebirds too much or else they would flop right through the fence that separates our property from our neighbor's property. My neighbor doesn't have any ground cover for the baby bluebirds but he does have two dogs which he lets out in the afternoon. Those dogs would make quick work of any baby bluebird flopping around in panic on the ground in my neighbor's back yard mined with stale dog poop.

As I usually do when the baby bluebirds exit their box, I checked the box. Much to my surprise I discovered one baby bluebird was still in the box. Cowering in the corner of the poop filled bluebird box, the poor thing seemed to know it missed the train. This baby bluebird must have been in back of the bird box and didn't get feed as much as the other three baby bluebirds in the box. I did notice that the baby bluebird nearest the entrance was the biggest. I'm sure the parents tried to get food to the babies in the back but this little one must have really been far back. More proof that the random chance of birth order has consequences.

Initially I was concerned that the parents would forget the one baby bluebird left in the box but I'm sure they have encountered this situation before. The adult bluebirds continue to feed the three baby bluebirds that are out of the box. Bill has seen them also feed the one remaining baby still in the house. Maybe today the little one will join its brothers and sisters outside and start on its life adventure in this wonderful but dangerous world. This is the one time I'm glad I don't have cats that are roaming the grounds.

Ready to Pop

Those baby bluebirds, how fast they grow. They are ready to pop out of that blue bird house. Maybe today or tomorrow. I hope it's a sunny day when they make their grand entry into the world.

Yesterday I cleaned out two more house sparrow nests out of the Purple Martin house. I think that should do it. I haven't seen the sparrows rebuilding their nest. Maybe they got the message, build somewhere else.

Right after I took this baby bluebird photo this morning, I noticed the sparrow watching me from the perch on top of the bluebird house. Obviously trying to throw a guilt trip on me. Won't work buddy. You're outta here.

Baby Bluebird Update

There was a lot of activity around the baby bluebird box this morning. The parents are making more and more frequent food drops at the entrance to the birdhouse. Usually, this means that the baby bluebirds are rapidly maturing and might be out of their home in a week or ten days. I will try to take a picture every day. This is today's picture taken about a half an hour ago. When I opened the front of the bird box, they started to come forward for their food but then they took one look at me and probably thought "You ain't my mama!"