Eastern Bluebirds--Peace in the Neighborhood

Chronologically, this post happened earlier than my previous post about the bluebirds and their phoebe neighbors.  In particular, in this post, I wanted you to see how unflinching and determined a male bluebird can be when it comes to his nesting territory.    
Phoebe fledgling.

On this occasion, May 11th, sharp notes being issued by the phoebe parents alerted me to a change.  The phoebe nestlings had fledged and were perched all around the yard, mostly on oak limbs in the center of the yard.  This, of course, excited me. In three nesting seasons of two broods each season, I had never had the joy of seeing a phoebe fledgling until that moment.  Witnessing this event is a chance occurrence, especially when the nest is high over your head, and out of observation range.

Above, the youngest fledgling by appearance.

I searched for the nestlings by watching for movement and the parent's behavior.  Now that I knew the young had fledged, I couldn't be fooled into thinking that all phoebe shapes were the adults.  I found the youngsters, three, at least, possibly four.  They appeared to have different levels of maturity and flight experience, so I guessed that at least one, maybe two had fledged the day before.    

Enter, the male bluebird, who had been out hunting beyond the yard, and flew over the fledglings, landing on his favorite perch.  This was not okay with the male phoebe.  Two of his youngsters were on a limb on the other side of the oak trunk on the same level and about fifteen feet away from the perched bluebird.

Phoebe male.

This was one time I truly wished for a digiscope.  The distance was out of range for my lens, but the images will at least give you an idea of the events that transpired.  The male phoebe, erecting every feather possible to look menacing, issued loud, sharp warning chirps. The bluebird gave him his full attention, but did not budge from his perch.  This prompted the phoebe's aggression and he commenced diving.      

This male bluebird is clearly tough, determined, has nerves of steel. The male phoebe was defending fledged young, alarmed/angered by the closeness of the bluebird. I say angered because these two birds know each other. They share the same perching area and they've disagreed before. The male bluebird, obviously just as determined as the phoebe, held an unyielding posture on his perch.  

Below, you see the bluebird, far left, and the phoebe, far right, as they face each other before the phoebe begins another series of dives.  (Click the image to enlarge).  Sharp chirps are coming from the phoebe.  The bluebird is silent, stoic, alert.   

The bluebird wheeled around to face his opponent in whatever direction he approached.  But budge he did not.  He was firmly planted on that perch and its adjacent limbs.  Not only would he not be driven off, he sometimes rose up to meet the challenge, or leaped forward, perching closer to the phoebe rather than backing off.

At one point, right in the middle of a series of phoebe dives, a curious robin landed on a limb behind the bluebird at eye-level and began 'heckling' with the familiar thrush-y cackling noises that American Robins frequently make.  The male bluebird did not seem to appreciate this and wheeled around giving the robin the threatening stare shown in the image below.  The robin left shortly thereafter.

The end result of all this activity, to my relief, appeared to be a truce.  The bluebird apparently felt he had established his stand, and left voluntarily to help his mate with feeding nestlings.  Two of the phoebe fledglings began moving about, and the male phoebe also seemed ready to attend his young.    

I thought the moment above was interesting.  Even though several more dives occurred after this point, and moving closer can be considered intimidation, I wondered if ignoring each other or indicating disinterest is a mutual signal that its time to end the conflict.

The phoebe's aggression in this incident was understandable, given the presence of newly fledged young.  Even so, it came as a surprise to me, since these birds are around each other daily and share the same perching area.  But what surprised me even more, the unyielding determination of the bluebird male as he defended his right to stay on the perch that he and his mate use routinely.  He showed no avoidance, no moving away, no flinching as he faced the dives and only rose to meet a close encounter.

In hindsight, given that these families will likely continue to be neighbors, I can see how standing his ground was an important defense of his nesting territory.  

A phoebe fledgling landed close to me as the conflict ended.  A pleasant surprise.  And as you may know, I'm a fan of happy endings!

This is the sixth post in a series on this bluebird family.  To see all of the posts visit the link, bluebird family.   In Wishing Upon a Bluebird, an initial encounter between nest building phoebes and bluebirds is described at Vickie's Sketchbook.  I will be sharing more about this relationship between neighbors soon.

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.

Upcoming:  Bluebirds Love Water, and wing-waving in bluebird communication.

Eastern Bluebirds and their Eastern Phoebe Neighbors

Let's talk about getting along.

I have a pair of nesting Eastern Phoebes in my yard, who are very loyal to the gazebo shelf as their nesting site.  Not just one shelf, but they claim the entire gazebo, all of its posts, and all eight of its shelves, protecting this site valiantly.  They have nested here for three years, on one shelf or the other.  

Above, male phoebe bringing moth to feed young.

While watching nesting birds raise their young you become acquainted with the behavior of nest building, of feeding, when parents are calm and life is routine, and when behavior changes abruptly and the birds are agitated.  And I've discovered that the ease with which neighboring nesters get along varies with the phase of the nesting cycle.

Phoebe fledgling.

For example, one of the most sensitive times for these two species is clearly when nestlings initially fledge. Parents become aggressive and protective when their little ones have just fledged. The young are not strong at this point and their flight skills and judgement are just developing. They are babies, tentative and naive.

The phoebe nestlings fledged on May 10 and 11th.  The bluebird nestlings fledged this week, May 18th.

Phoebes are delightful, vocal, agile, precise in their incredible flight maneuvers and loyal to their mate and their nesting territory.  Bluebirds are strong flyers, too, able to hover in place like kestrels, swift and determined.  They too, are loyal. I'm not referring to mate fidelity, but loyalty to the nesting site and territory, and to the many interactions that clearly bond the nesting pair together in their efforts to raise and protect young.

Female phoebe with nesting material.

This morning I witnessed two battles between the phoebes and the bluebird pair, and this conflict was instigated by the bluebirds.  Though they tolerate the phoebes' presence high above their nest box, there are times when they make it clear they don't like it. Today, the female left the roof of the nest box and flew up to the gazebo shelf. One of the phoebes, I couldn't be sure which one, flew off its perch and immediately challenged her. The two fluttered out into the air, beaks clacking, until they descended to the ground in a flurry of wings. The male bluebird joined his mate by landing on the nest box, and when the female bluebird parted from her opponent, she perched beside him, clearly affirming their ownership of the nest site, their intolerance of intrusion.

Seconds later, the male bluebird repeated the behavior of the female and flew up to the gazebo shelf. Upon his landing, the phoebe who was perched on a nearby limb (I believe it was the male this time) challenged the intrusion. They fluttered down, clacking beaks, pursuing each other beak to beak, descending until they reached the ground, and continuing their dispute just above the surface. Finally, they parted and again the male bluebird landed firmly on the nest box with a defiant stare.

I, of course, remained frozen in my seat while watching this. There was no time for photos, and little time for breathing. When it was all said and done, the bluebirds sang softly, and the male phoebe landed on the roof above the nesting shelf and sang.

I thought about this interaction, ending as abruptly as it began, with no clear winners and, yet, everyone a winner. Each pair strengthened their site fidelity, affirmed their territory and their "don't mess with me" attitude with their neighbor. And pair bonding for each was surely strengthened in the process.

I don't take these conflicts lightly. In fact, I seriously don't like them. I prefer to think all is peaceful. The phoebes are feeding young and preparing to re-nest, and the bluebirds are feeding young only two days post fledging. Today I noticed that the bluebird fledglings are perching closer and closer. This advance makes me suspect that the bluebird parents will soon bring them to the bird bath and the meal worm feeder, both located near the nest box. These are important reasons to establish order in the neighborhood.  Hopefully, this morning's confrontation will settle territorial issues for a while.

Next post, I'll show you a different circumstance that brought conflict between the neighbors and share another attribute of nesting bluebirds.

Links and resources:

Find instructions for making nest box predator guards by clicking the link.  These guards have worked to keep the 9" arm of a raccoon out and have prevented prowling cat predation, as well as snakes.  A 7-inch depth is recommended.  You may also find a version of these guards at the Wild Birds Unlimited store nearest you.

The "meal worm feeder" you see in my bluebird family blog posts is available through Wild Birds Unlimited.

This is the fifth post in a series on this bluebird family.  To see all of the posts visit the link, bluebird family.   In Wishing Upon a Bluebird, an initial encounter between nest building phoebes and bluebirds is described at Vickie's Sketchbook.  To see another story about the gazebo and a picture of it's relationship to the nestbox, visit:  The Magic Gazebo and a Pair of Northern Flickers.

For articles leading up to the bluebird family posts, visit my Wild Birds Unlimited articles:  Smitten with Bluebirds and April Celebrations.  And to see the phoebe female nest building, visit:  The Hard Work of Nesting.    

To see last season's chickadee family's nesting success, visit the Secretive Chickadee Family and A Happy Fledging Time of Year.

Upcoming:  Bluebirds Love Water, and wing-waving in bluebird communication.    

Bluebird Hatchlings

I expected the eggs to hatch sometime during the two days I was away, and still my reaction was awe and surprise when I opened the box and found five tiny nestlings in the place of blue eggs.  All of them were quietly sleeping with Papa bluebird watching over them from an oak limb while I checked the box.

The next day, May 2nd, they had already visibly changed (below).  They were stronger, more active, opening their gaping bright yellow mouths in response to the opening of the nest box door.

Over the past several days, I've spent a number of hours watching the activity as the bluebird parents hunt, feed and protect their nestlings.  And I've seen some surprising behaviors, including cooperative feeding of young, mate feeding and defense of the nest area.  The male bluebird aggressively chased a Carolina wren out of the holly shrub, and the female displaced a titmouse that landed on a perch near the nest box.  She remained on that perch holding an aggressive posture to ensure that titmouse didn't return.  

On the other hand, the female phoebe often perches on top of the nest box to hunt for flying insects near her nest, located high on the gazebo shelf above.  No challenge is offered to her. (In the photo above, the dark area beyond the phoebe is part of the shaded underside of the gazebo.)  In fact, it's intriguing to think that a cooperative truce has been reached between these two nesting species.  Both bluebirds and phoebes guard the area and hunt from the same perches, exchanging those perches readily without disagreement.  That was not so in the beginning (see link below), when I watched the phoebes initially chase the male bluebird away.

I worried at first that they might discourage the bluebirds from nesting.  But that has all been worked out to the benefit of both families.  While the bluebirds keep some species away from the nest area, the phoebes challenge others.  I've seen the male phoebe instantly launch from his guard perch to 'pounce' on a male downy that landed on one of the gazebo support posts.

On the occasion pictured above and below, the female bluebird landed on the nest guard and paused, staring up, as if seeing a menacing shape perched on the house roof top or a limb above.

When the male arrived with his prey, he paused also, looking up and searching the area for several minutes.  He either found nothing of concern or the cause for concern moved on.  He then shifted his attention to the box opening, as if to urge the female to get on with feeding.

The female soon obliged by going inside to feed the nestlings.  When she returned to the guard, the male passed his skipper to her through the wire of the predator guard.  The image below shows the two just before she takes the food inside to feed.  

For a person who loves to watch animal behavior, this family is a true treasure.  I'm wondering how anything beyond watching bluebirds will get accomplished in the next few weeks.  But I can honestly say, I'm content enough to not be worried about it!    

Links and resources:
This is the second post in a series on this bluebird family.  To see the first post visit:  My Eastern Bluebird Neighbors.  In Wishing Upon a Bluebird, an initial encounter between nest building phoebes and bluebirds is described at Vickie's Sketchbook.

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.

Visit Me at Knoxville's Wild Birds Unlimited

Visit me at Knoxville's, Wild Bird's Unlimited website!  What a fun surprise to discover that I'm the feature of their home page for the month of April.  When you open their website this month the first thing you see is an introduction to me and my art!

For the past several months I've been writing monthly articles for the website focused on birds found in my yard and in other favorite places.  Right now I'm having fun watching a pair of Eastern Phoebe's nesting and have written about them in my WBU April article, Phoebe Nuptials and the Hard Work of Nesting.  Click the link and enjoy some fun images of these captivating birds!

When I get this sketchbook page finished, I'll post it and share more about this pair's activities.

Meanwhile, more fun Limpkins images coming up and I have more birds to show you from my January Florida visit--among them, Roseate Spoonbills, a funny Tri-colored Heron hunting, and Black Skimmers hanging out on the beach with Royal Terns.

I also have to mention, right here at home, I was buzzed by a hummingbird yesterday and heard chirping for several seconds after our near collision.  I couldn't find her but what a joy to know our Ruby-throated hummers are arriving!