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Posted: 5/18/2020 8:34:59 AM EDT
[#1]
I honestly have no interest in monitoring bird boxes, But if you provide the material I’ll build your Bird boxes
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Posted: 5/18/2020 9:33:51 AM EDT
[#2]
My wife and I were talking abut bluebirds last week. Twice now we have found a bluebird nest in one of our fence post that was filled with rainwater and nothing survived. I will be looking at your link.
Thanks |
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Posted: 5/18/2020 11:24:46 PM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By USSRangerSM: I honestly have no interest in monitoring bird boxes, But if you provide the material I’ll build your Bird boxes I appreciate the offer! We are good at the moment on our trail, but depending on how things go I may just hit you up on that. |
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Posted: 5/18/2020 11:36:55 PM EDT
[#4]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Grizz272: My wife and I were talking abut bluebirds last week. Twice now we have found a bluebird nest in one of our fence post that was filled with rainwater and nothing survived. I will be looking at your link. Thanks sounds like you could use a couple of houses. That is a common issue with cavity nesters, they get flooded out in a natural setting. At one time, Wisconsin was down to four nesting pairs, but they are making a good comeback in the last decade. We see three broods from some pairs, averaging 4 chicks in each. They eat lots of bugs, and are great to have around. |
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Posted: 5/19/2020 12:06:56 AM EDT
[#5]
Local retired vet was a bluebird fanatic. Asked if he could put a couple houses along our property. I said sure. Problem is, when they're nesting they are VERY protective of their nest. I'd get dive-bombed whenever I went anywhere near them. They hit my hat a couple times. I watched the vet come by one day to check the houses and saw him throw something out of one of them. After he left, I went over to check it out. There was a nest laying on the ground with 4-5 baby sparrows in it. I put it back in the house and saw Mr. & Mrs. sparrow come back to it. Several weeks later I checked and the sparrows were gone, so I figured they fared OK. I took his houses down and laid them by the garage. When he came back later in the summer to pick them up, I told him about the sparrows. He said he didn't like those "trash" birds around. I told him they had just as much right to nest there as his beloved bluebirds and no, he couldn't put them back the following year. That's my bluebird story for the day.
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Posted: 5/19/2020 1:23:45 AM EDT
[#6]
Sparrows will kill adult bluebirds in the nest, kill babies and break eggs. We have had 3 birds killed on the nest, and 6 babies killed so far this year. Sparrows are an invasive species, and get no love from me.
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Posted: 5/19/2020 7:35:48 AM EDT
[#7]
My wife feeds birds. We have some cool looking yellow ones (finches?) about the size of a sparrow that come regularly to her feeders. Along with all sorts of others that migrate through spring & fall. She knows the species way better than I do. I don't think we've ever had any bluebirds.
The only birds that interest me are grouse, ducks, geese, and turkeys. |
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Posted: 5/19/2020 8:55:11 AM EDT
[#8]
The only ones we feed are hummingbirds.
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Posted: 5/19/2020 9:11:11 AM EDT
[#9]
I have three houses. No Bluebirds this year, I've been busy killing sparrows.
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Posted: 5/19/2020 9:41:53 AM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By rfb45colt: My wife feeds birds. We have some cool looking yellow ones (finches?) about the size of a sparrow that come regularly to her feeders. Along with all sorts of others that migrate through spring & fall. She knows the species way better than I do. I don't think we've ever had any bluebirds. The only birds that interest me are grouse, ducks, geese, and turkeys. My wife is also an ardent bird watcher. She usually runs 3-4 hummingbird feeders and goes through about 15 pounds of oranges a week. She draws in orioles of different sub species, finches, catbirds and new this year, a mating pair of red bellied wood peckers. We used to do the bluebird house thing, but as mentioned above, we had a hard time keeping the sparrows from taking over the houses and nesting in them, so we removed the houses. Gary |
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Posted: 5/19/2020 10:00:02 AM EDT
[#11]
In winter and early spring I get a ton of nice birds, but have to pull the feeders when the grackles and starlings show up. I think I had all the different woodpeckers other than the black back this year.
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Posted: 5/19/2020 11:14:40 AM EDT
[#12]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Reloder56: My wife is also an ardent bird watcher. She usually runs 3-4 hummingbird feeders and goes through about 15 pounds of oranges a week. She draws in orioles of different sub species, finches, catbirds and new this year, a mating pair of red bellied wood peckers. We used to do the bluebird house thing, but as mentioned above, we had a hard time keeping the sparrows from taking over the houses and nesting in them, so we removed the houses. Gary This is an awesome oriole feeder. Grape jelly jars just screw on to the feeder, and I guarantee if you have orioles, they will come to it. feeder We buy cheap jelly, less waste and cheaper than oranges. |
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Posted: 5/19/2020 11:56:12 AM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By lorazepam: This is an awesome oriole feeder. Grape jelly jars just screw on to the feeder, and I guarantee if you have orioles, they will come to it. feeder We buy cheap jelly, less waste and cheaper than oranges. lorazepam, Thanks for the tip and product link. I'll have to inform my wife that there is a proven substitute for the oranges. Not that I don't mind her using oranges, but i get tired of collecting them out of the yard after the chipmunks get done feeding on them. Gary |
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Posted: 5/20/2020 7:28:47 AM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By lorazepam: This is an awesome oriole feeder. Grape jelly jars just screw on to the feeder, and I guarantee if you have orioles, they will come to it. feeder We buy cheap jelly, less waste and cheaper than oranges. That jelly feeder just screams "yellow-jackets" at me. Maybe if I had some murder hornets to eat the yellow-jackets... |
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Posted: 5/20/2020 6:10:04 PM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By rfb45colt: That jelly feeder just screams "yellow-jackets" at me. Maybe if I had some murder hornets to eat the yellow-jackets... The wife is allergic to bee stings, and if they were a problem, we wouldn't use them. Ants will find them, but never had issues with stinging critters. |
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Posted: 5/21/2020 8:08:13 AM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By lorazepam: The wife is allergic to bee stings, and if they were a problem, we wouldn't use them. Ants will find them, but never had issues with stinging critters. I'm allergic to bee stings also. I have an (way over-priced) epi-pen in my work truck. But I've found out over the years that it's pretty much only honey bee stings that affect me. Yellowjacket & bald-faced hornet stings still hurt like hell, I've gotten plenty, but I get no adverse reaction like the anaphylaxis from honey bee venom. That being said, my wife feeds hummingbirds, she has feeders out on the corners of our deck. Beginning in about late June or early July when the new nests get established and the workers begin foraging, her hummer feeders attract a swarm of yellowjackets, pretty much every afternoon. I got pretty good at picking them off the feeders with my Bug A Salt rifle.  |
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Posted: 5/21/2020 8:27:03 PM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted: This is an awesome oriole feeder. Grape jelly jars just screw on to the feeder, and I guarantee if you have orioles, they will come to it. feeder We buy cheap jelly, less waste and cheaper than oranges. Mayville True Value Hardware had these feeders on sale for $13.49. I bought 2 of the 3 they had left. One is for me and one is for a friend that likes bids. |
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Posted: 5/21/2020 10:07:47 PM EDT
[#18]
Kill all the English Sparrows you can identify.
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Posted: 5/21/2020 10:40:06 PM EDT
[#19]
I have several bluebird houses up.
Things I've observed/learned. 1) Bluebirds will not nest in boxes mounted on trees at the edge of woods/fence lines. 2) Bluebirds seem to like to use the same box year after year. 3) Bluebirds can be bullies. They chased away a pair of tree swallows that were trying to nest in a box that is on the other side of the house, out of eye sight form the box they are using. even tho the tree swallows and bluebirds used the same houses last year. 4) make nest boxes for wrens lest they start using the bluebird boxes. I'm always looking for old scrap steel posts at the scrap/junk/recycling center for posts for more bluebird houses. I have room for about 3-4 more houses in the open fields on the property that bluebirds would possibly use. |
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Posted: 7/4/2020 12:11:48 PM EDT
[#20]
After our census this morning, there have been 96 bluebirds fledged so far this year, 18 wrens. We are hoping to have over 200 fledged by the end of the season. Last year was horrible, only 130 with almost that many dead in the nest.
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Posted: 8/30/2020 9:33:56 PM EDT
[#21]
Time to clean the nests out of the boxes for the year, which is what we will be doing next Saturday.
We had a total of 258 bluebird eggs, 209 hatched, and 196 fledged. We also had 70 wrens fledged. out of our 59 boxes, we had 34 single broods, 8 with 2 broods, and 3 with 3 broods. Missed our goal by 4 birds, but hopefully we will hit the mid 200's after a horrible year in 2019. Sparrows killed 2 adult bluebirds sitting on eggs, and 6 chicks. It is a lot of work, we monitor the nests for 6 months, but rewarding to see the birds go from eggs to fledged. |
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Posted: 9/20/2020 9:08:52 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Time to clean the nests out of the boxes for the year, which is what we will be doing next Saturday. We had a total of 258 bluebird eggs, 209 hatched, and 196 fledged. We also had 70 wrens fledged. out of our 59 boxes, we had 34 single broods, 8 with 2 broods, and 3 with 3 broods. Missed our goal by 4 birds, but hopefully we will hit the mid 200's after a horrible year in 2019. Sparrows killed 2 adult bluebirds sitting on eggs, and 6 chicks. It is a lot of work, we monitor the nests for 6 months, but rewarding to see the birds go from eggs to fledged. Wrens are very destructive birds when it comes to the eggs of other species, as well as their own specie. Hopefully your wren houses aren't anywhere near the bluebird houses. If they are, the wrens are likely destroying the eggs of the bluebirds. |
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Posted: 9/21/2020 11:06:11 PM EDT
[#23]
Any info on Bluebirds nesting twice?
I have them but only once. They have nested in the same box for 2 years now. But never had a second batch. Anything that I should look at to get them to stick around for a 2nd batch. I have wrens that show up later than the Bluebirds and I've thought I should make a bunch of wren boxes to keep them away from the bluebird houses. |
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Posted: 9/22/2020 12:39:45 AM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Any info on Bluebirds nesting twice? I have them but only once. They have nested in the same box for 2 years now. But never had a second batch. Anything that I should look at to get them to stick around for a 2nd batch. I have wrens that show up later than the Bluebirds and I've thought I should make a bunch of wren boxes to keep them away from the bluebird houses. Are you asking why they don't stick around for another clutch? Eastern bluebirds are year round residents in southern WI and only present in northern WI during the breeding season. Not knowing where you are in WI, this could be why you're only seeing one clutch. Make sure there aren't sparrows in the area as they are in competition with bluebirds for nesting sites. If you have regular bird feeders, you may be unintentionally inviting sparrows to the area. Also, you mentioned that wrens arrive after the bluebirds, this may also be a contributing problem. There are 4 species of wrens that are in Wisconsin for the breeding season only. If you add wren boxes you are actually encouraging them to locate near you which may hasten the bluebirds leaving. Wrens will successfully enter a bluebird house and eat/destroy bluebird eggs as well as other species( House Wren see nesting). It's what they do, and they are very successful at it. They are the house burglar of the bird world..lol. There is a wealth of knowledge here.... Cornell Ornithology if you enjoy this stuff. |
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Posted: 9/23/2020 3:26:48 AM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Are you asking why they don't stick around for another clutch? Eastern bluebirds are year round residents in southern WI and only present in northern WI during the breeding season. Not knowing where you are in WI, this could be why you're only seeing one clutch. Make sure there aren't sparrows in the area as they are in competition with bluebirds for nesting sites. If you have regular bird feeders, you may be unintentionally inviting sparrows to the area. Also, you mentioned that wrens arrive after the bluebirds, this may also be a contributing problem. There are 4 species of wrens that are in Wisconsin for the breeding season only. If you add wren boxes you are actually encouraging them to locate near you which may hasten the bluebirds leaving. Wrens will successfully enter a bluebird house and eat/destroy bluebird eggs as well as other species( House Wren see nesting). It's what they do, and they are very successful at it. They are the house burglar of the bird world..lol. There is a wealth of knowledge here.... Cornell Ornithology if you enjoy this stuff. I'm in Sheboygan Co. and yes, I'm asking why they don't stick around for a 2nd clutch. I don't feed the birds, I have no sparrows around me. I don't have wren boxes up now, so they are using the bluebird boxes. Thats why my thought of putting up wren houses, so the wrens stay in the woods edge and don't bother the bluebirds. There are some older bluebird boxes on the edges of the field on trees that bluebirds won't use and the wrens seem to avoid them too. I get more mice than anything else in them. I have 1/2 dozen boxes in a 3 acre field that surrounds the house. The field is all prairie grasses and forbs except for a very small lawn around the house. The house doesn't bother the bluebirds, they regularly sit on the gutters watching for prey. Are the grasses/forbs maybe too tall to be of interest to bluebirds? When they get here in the spring the grasses/forbs are very short, maybe 1-2ft at most. Mid July maybe 3-4 ft tall, right now the grasses are easily 6ft and some maybe 8ft or more. |
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Posted: 9/23/2020 4:25:03 PM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I'm in Sheboygan Co. and yes, I'm asking why they don't stick around for a 2nd clutch. I don't feed the birds, I have no sparrows around me. I don't have wren boxes up now, so they are using the bluebird boxes. Thats why my thought of putting up wren houses, so the wrens stay in the woods edge and don't bother the bluebirds. There are some older bluebird boxes on the edges of the field on trees that bluebirds won't use and the wrens seem to avoid them too. I get more mice than anything else in them. I have 1/2 dozen boxes in a 3 acre field that surrounds the house. The field is all prairie grasses and forbs except for a very small lawn around the house. The house doesn't bother the bluebirds, they regularly sit on the gutters watching for prey. Are the grasses/forbs maybe too tall to be of interest to bluebirds? When they get here in the spring the grasses/forbs are very short, maybe 1-2ft at most. Mid July maybe 3-4 ft tall, right now the grasses are easily 6ft and some maybe 8ft or more. It sounds like you have the ideal place for them. I don't think 1 to 2 ft or 3-4 ft grass is a problem, 7 or 8 ft grass might be a limiting condition for them. If the grass height is preferable through mid July, but then grows too high in late summer and fall this may be why you're only seeing 1 clutch. They will relocate to a location with more preferable conditions. I don't have grass that long near me, so I honestly can't say for sure. Some of the websites I linked may be helpful. You can always make a contact there, and send them pictures of your boxes and the nearby habitat. They may have people local to you that can help, or they may be able to make some suggestions that can make a big impact on your success. |
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