The Blue Birds Winter Nest
Contents:
Unlike tree swallows, bluebirds are not aerial feeders; they must be able to see their insect food on or near the ground.
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Although they sometimes beat low vegetation with their wings to scare up insects, a more typical feeding pattern is that of perching on a utility line, snag, or exposed tree limb. Watching the ground, darting down to the ground or dirt road to catch their prey, then either quickly returning to the perch to eat or flying to the nest to feed their young. Occasionally, the parent will bring wild fruit such as pin cherries, chokecherries, or raspberries to the nestlings in Spring and Summer, but the primary food has to be protein.
In the Fall, bluebirds diets start to shift over to natural berries as insect supplies diminish. When bluebirds winter over in northern areas, these berries are what bluebirds will survive on. They will sometimes eat from feeders if food is in short supply. You can plant berry-producing trees and shrubs that will attract bluebirds. See our section on bluebird gardening.
Also, you can feed bluebirds using regular tray type bird feeders. Their favorite foods include meal worms, crumbled up suet, cornmeal, and sunflower hearts or chips. See our page on Feeding bluebirds for more information. Bluebirds require fairly open habitats consisting of large, short grassy areas. Some scattered trees or perching spots like telephone wires or fences are also important since bluebirds like to use these for vantage points to hunt for insects.
Bluebirds usually require from 1 to 2 acres of open territory around their nesting site in order to find enough food to raise their young.
This doesn't mean that you need to have this much space in your yard to attract bluebirds. It just means that between your yard and the adjoining properties close to the nesting box, there is this much space. Good types of locations for bluebird boxes include pastures, meadows, church yards, business parks, public recreational parks, golf courses, and farm fields. Areas which are NOT good habitats include subdivisions with small lots, densely populated suburbs, heavily wooded neighborhoods, and urban areas. Depending on whether they migrate or not, bluebirds can begin scouting out possible nesting sites as early as January in Michigan.
But, more typically, this will occur in February into early March, depending on how cold the weather is.
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This is not uncommon as they are looking at different nesting sites and changing weather conditions dictate where they search for food. At some point though, a pair of bluebirds will choose a nest box and be seen sitting on or near it regularly. Bluebirds will sing sporadically during this time period, but not necessarily when they are sitting on top of a nest box. It's more common to see them singing from atop a tree.
Nest building will commence as the weather gets more mild in the later part of March or early April. Bluebirds build a nest of all grass, tightly woven into a neat, round nest which fills the bottom of the nest box.
The Blue Birds' Winter Nest by Lillian Elizabeth Roy
You may observe a number of courtship displays including the male AND female going into the nest box, the male feeding the female, wing-waving displays by the male, and the male diving toward the female randomly. Eventually, this all will lead to a completed nest and the beginning of egg-laying. Bluebirds will start laying eggs in April at the earliest in Michigan, and may be several weeks later in the northern part of the state compared to the southern areas. The most common numbers are 4 to 6.
A small percentage of bluebird eggs are white, but this doesn't seem to affect hatching rates. Bluebirds are both migrants and summer residents in New England. They may be winter residents in southern New England, and they are becoming more common year-round in certain areas of Connecticut. Bluebirds are sometimes infected by the parasitic blowfly Protocalliphora sialia , which prefers cavity-nesting birds. The cycle of this parasite begins when the adult female blowfly lays eggs in the nesting material.
When the eggs hatch, the larvae attach themselves to the nestlings at night and suck their blood. When gorged sufficiently, the larvae burrow back into the nesting material, surrounding themselves with a flexible membrane to resemble a small brown egg. This is the pupal stage. In 10 to 14 days, adult blowflies emerge from the pupal case, or puparia, and fly away to repeat the cycle.
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Ordinarily, no action against this parasite needs to be taken. If other stress factors, such as prolonged rain, drought, or food shortages occur, blowfly parasitism can seriously weaken nestlings and control measures may be necessary to save the brood.
Please Note:
Removal of the larvae or replacement of heavily infested nests with dry straw are the best control techniques. Pesticides like rotenone or pyrethrins may be effective, but they will also kill a tiny parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis that controls blowflies naturally by preying on blowfly pupae. Few studies have been done on the effects of these pesticides on wild birds.
The following are tips for establishing and maintaining a successful bluebird nest box. They apply to both backyards and bluebird nest box trails. Open, rural country with low or sparse ground cover and scattered trees is best. Pastures, large lawns, golf courses, parks, and cemeteries are all good sites for nest box trails. Vandalism and excessive human disturbance may present problems in some public places. Poor habitat selection often results in more house sparrows rather than bluebirds. Avoid brushy and heavily wooded areas.
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These habitats are far more suitable for house wrens, which will probably dominate existing nest boxes. Avoid areas where house sparrows are abundant. Do not place the boxes close to houses or barns. House sparrows will kill bluebirds and destroy eggs and young. Avoid areas of pesticide use. Face boxes toward open areas in any direction.
Ideally, the entrance hole should face away from prevailing winds. A tree or suitable perch 40 to feet from the box provides a perfect rest stop for young on their first flight. Keep boxes at least yards apart. This allows the bluebirds to establish a territory around the nest box. Protect boxes against predators.
Snakes, raccoons, housecats, and other predators can quickly reduce bluebird numbers. Repeated nest box raids often cause abandonment of the box. Follow the tips for predator guards on page 3 to prevent bluebird losses. Check them once a week during the nesting season to record progress of the nestlings and to control house sparrows.
The Blue Birds' Winter Nest [Lillian Elizabeth Roy] on www.farmersmarketmusic.com *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. This is a pre historical reproduction that was. In fall and winter, bluebirds eat large amounts of fruit including mistletoe, sumac, Eastern Bluebirds put their nests in natural cavities or in nest boxes or other.
Establishing a nest box trail in a loop is most convenient for monitoring. You will end up near where you started monitoring and avoid disturbing the birds as you backtrack. Always remove house sparrow nests immediately when found. To encourage second or third broods, remove bluebird and other nests as soon as young birds fledge from the nest box.
Inspect boxes in early fall and late winter; clean and repair if necessary. Bluebirds are less likely to nest in a box that has an old nest in it. Old nests increase the numbers of parasites in the box, often resulting in nest failure. Keep a bluebird journal. Record the date, species using the box, number of nestlings, number of young fledged, and any other interesting observations. Relatives, friends, and neighbors are often delighted to hear about your results, too.
You may interest someone else in bluebird conservation! New boxes and trails should be established and older boxes cleaned and repaired prior to the start of the bluebird nesting season. Ideally, boxes should be available by mid-March in Connecticut. However, since bluebirds have more than one brood a year, boxes may be put up at any time of the year.
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The success rate for box use drops as the nesting season progresses. And fences around what few fields are left are supported by impenetrable metal posts. A cavity-nesting bluebird, if it is lucky enough to find a hole to call a home, can be ousted by more aggressive species, such as starlings, tree swallows or house sparrows.
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From the aerial viewpoint of a male bluebird seeking a nest site, Fischer recalls the miles of open farm fields that once filled the Northeast landscape. Holes in wooden fence posts then were among the bluebirds' favorite nest sites, and so were cavities in trees excavated by woodpeckers or other animals. Few exotic non-native birds competed then for the bluebirds' nest sites, and the farm fields were filled with nutritious grasshoppers and other insects to capture for the waiting bluebird babies with their gaping beaks.
Fortunately for the bluebird, thousands of Americans have taken up their cause, nd Fischer , with a Ph. While some volunteer conservationists were placing individual bluebird nest boxes near their homes or in nature preserves, others were establishing entire bluebird "trails" of monitored nest boxes.
In New York, the east-west state Route 20 is one, and a transcontinental bluebird trail is proposed. For Fischer and Buttel, who hold the required licenses to place numbered leg bands on birds of certain federally protected species, their trail is shorter but still labor-intensive. This year they are the landlords of bluebird boxes along Snyder Hill Road, a suburban neighborhood east of the Cornell campus that was farmed until developers built human houses in the s and '70s. The bluebird season begins in winter, when most Ithaca-nesting bluebirds are farther south although a few remain here in winter and Fischer is in his basement shop, fabricating nest boxes from wooden grape crates that he scavenged from a nearby supermarket.
Late spring and early summer is the busiest time for the bluebird landlords, when the tenants are incubating eggs, the babies are hatching and fledglings are preparing to leave home. Fischer and Buttel temporarily capture and band the newborns and any adults without bands.
They also monitor birds that returned after being banded in previous years, to learn more about how birds disperse and how they choose new or previous territories and mates. Adult birds are captured while in the nest boxes when Fischer -- concealed in a portable blind or in a car if the box is near a road -- releases a string to drop a little door across the 1.
Adult bluebirds can be handled without trauma at any time except when they are setting on eggs and so can the babies -- a special treat for human children of all ages -- before carefully returning them to the nest. At one time, Fischer maintained bluebird boxes throughout the Ithaca area, before concentrating on a neighborhood just around the corner from his Pine Tree Road home. He still drives, although health concerns keep him out of heavy traffic; at 81, he can out-hike many who are half his age.