My Eastern Bluebird Neighbors

I feel privileged.  That's what it's like to be a nest box landlord and have bluebirds settle in as neighbors.  I hoped for this when I put up the nest boxes, but I wasn't sure if they would succeed in attracting bluebirds.  

I love Carolina chickadees too, mind you.  I delighted in watching their nestlings change and fledge last season in this very same box.  And I'm enjoying my chickadee family in the second nest box farther from the house. Chickadee babies have to be the cutest ever! The chickadee nestlings pictured below hatched around the 15th of April and should be fledging any time.    

After believing I would have two chickadee families nesting in my nest boxes this season, a day arrived when nesting activity changed in the nest box close to the house.  On April 8th, a female chickadee was still hard at work building her nest, a full three inches of moss stacked neatly as a bottom layer, to show for her days of hard work.  Brief visits from bluebirds came and went during this time, and still she continued her nest building.  

But on April 9th, something dramatically different happened.  The bluebird pair came to visit and stayed a while.  The male went inside the nest box, while the female watched and listened from several positions outside the box.  He then came out and perched on the inside of the guard with moss in his beak.  He soon discarded it and the two flew to a dead oak limb with the male issuing thrush-y chucking sounds, as if to warn others away.  After this, I did not hear or see further chickadee activity around the nest box.  

After additional grasses were added to form the nest cup, on April 11th, just two days later, I discovered a single blue egg in the nest box.   On the 15th, there were a total of five blue eggs and the female has been incubating ever since.  Since incubation is said to take from 12-15 days, if she began on the 15th, the eggs should be hatching any day now.  

Sometimes while I'm sitting outside with morning coffee, the female will come out of the box and perch on the inside of the predator guard.  Other times the male comes to perch inside the guard and brings a breakfast offering, shown in the image below.  On other occasions, I've heard the male sing ever so softly and wing flex just outside the entrance to entice the female out of the box in the morning.    

It's been joy and a privilege to witness these activities, especially knowing that the best is yet to come.

To see earlier stories about bluebird visits to the nest boxes, visit Bluebirds and Wild Turkey and on my sketch blog, Wishing Upon Bluebirds.  For articles leading up to the story on this post, visit my Wild Birds Unlimited articles:  Smitten with Bluebirds and April Celebrations.  And to see last season's chickadee family, visit the Secretive Chickadee Family and A Happy Fledging Time of Year.