Wood Thrush Notes

Earliest Bluebird Nest with Eggs

Wood Thrush Shop team member, Jan, reported 5 Bluebird eggs in a nestbox at her home on Friday of this week.  Wow, that’s early!  This means the first egg was laid on the 4th of March and actual nest building was likely occurring in February, although Bluebirds have been known to sometimes build a nest in a day or two.  This is an eager pair of Bluebirds.  Jan had an early nesting last year, too. For most of us seeing Bluebirds nesting is still probably a couple of weeks away, if not longer.  Many Springs I haven’t seen a 1st Bluebird nesting in my yard until well into April.  Remember, they all do not start at the same time so there is no need to be concerned that you have done something wrong because you haven’t seen evidence of nesting yet.  And, there’s a lot of time still to present a new Bluebird box and have success this spring and summer.

Should I Offer Mealworms to Bluebirds?

Offering mealworms is not necessary to attract Bluebirds.  Offering a couple of nestboxes and birdbaths in good locations is the most important factor.  Insects, the primary food source of Bluebirds, are everywhere they travel, Bluebird boxes are not.  My advice is to start with the nestbox first.  At such time Bluebirds discover the nestbox and begin nest building, or even egg laying, and if you are interested in feeding this is a good time to start.  I think the following tips are the best way to begin feeding Bluebirds:

• I would not recommend presenting mealworms before Bluebirds have begun nesting.  You may just end up feeding other birds, which is ok, however, if you are presenting the worms near the nestbox birds like Robins, Mockingbirds, Jays, and Cardinals may become very territorial and aggressive about the free and easy food source.  These birds may swoop in and drive the Bluebirds from the nestbox. 

• Let’s say Bluebirds have built a nest and eggs are present.  How do you know?  Refer to our website and the Bluebird section about monitoring.  It is best to start by offering small amounts of worms, a dozen or so, and make sure the Bluebirds are near to see you place the worms in the feeder. My favorite feeder is a ceramic dish on a stand just 18” off the ground.  As feeders go simple is best, dishes and platforms.  If you feed Bluebirds the way we recommend you will not have to contend with larger birds becoming an issue and then need a specialized Bluebird feeder.  Now walk away and watch.  If the Bluebirds immediately pounce on and eat the worms offer another small helping to reinforce the process.  If they fly away remove the worms so other birds do not find them and try again later.  The goal is to establish you as the “keeper of the worms”.  Three or four successful feeding sessions and they will begin associating you with the treat.  Some people like to make a noise each time they offer worms so eventually Bluebirds will key in on the sound, like the Pavlov’s dogs experiment. I prefer silence because other birds are smart enough to key on the noise, too.

• Live mealworms are always more appealing than dried, no contest, especially in spring and summer months. In warm weather live insects are readily available so dried mealworms tend to be less appealing. 

Follow these tips and you will have a good Bluebird feeding experience.  And do not feel as if you must feed them several times a day, or be concerned if you go on vacation and they won’t get worms for a week.  Bluebirds know what they are doing and will not become dependent on the worms but only take advantage of them. 

Next Week.  When Should I Put out a Hummingbird Feeder?

Get Ready for Bluebirds Now

In the coming weeks we will be sharing information about Bluebirds.  We would like to address specific questions and concerns you may have that can then be shared with everyone.  If you have questions regarding Bluebirds please email us at thewoodthrushshop@gmail.com and we’ll provide answers in our weekly blog, or directly back to you in an email.    

Birds are beginning to sing and exhibit other courtship behaviors. The breeding season is fast approaching.  Eastern Bluebirds have already begun searching and competing for mates and potential nest-sites.  If you had planned on replacing an old nest box or moving one to a new location we suggest you do it now. And make it a point to clean out old nests now.  Old nests will not prevent a Bluebird from building a new nest on top, however, the old nest debris is by now decaying and damp and can be a home to insects, like ants, which can be of great harm to hatched chicks.   

Many of you in past weeks have seen multiple Bluebirds land on and look in nest boxes. (See video) In the video you will see classic courtship behaviors like wing fluttering. They may even carry some nest material to the box.  This is not actual nesting but all part of courtship and choosing a nest site which the female will eventually approve. 

Although most Bluebirds won’t begin their first nesting until early to mid-April, their search for nest sites will typically intensify in the last weeks of February and into March.  Some eager Bluebirds may begin nesting as early as mid-March.  

You may think you don’t have the right situation for Bluebirds because you’ve heard they have very specific needs for successful nesting.  The most common fallacy we here from people is “I hear they need wide open spaces”.  This is definitely not true.  In fact, a lot of what you hear about the needs of Bluebirds is very much over stated.  Bluebirds adapt very nicely to all kinds of situations including wooded yards.  If Bluebirds needed the “perfect setup” as described by the many articles you find on the internet they would be extinct by now. These perfect nest-sites generally never existed in nature and have only been determined by humans.

In fact, before people started putting out nest-boxes for Bluebirds they nested in natural cavities including ones in trees. Bluebirds are considered a secondary cavity nester which means they will not excavate a nest, like a woodpecker does, but use one that has already been created.  Once upon a time secondary cavities were in great supply but through habitat loss and competition Bluebirds were “forced” to adapt to birdhouses, or what we refer to as nest-boxes.  Using nest-boxes is an example of Bluebirds’ adaptability.   Offer a couple of nest-boxes in good locations and see what happens.  

 Here are a Few Tips to Choose a Location:

• Position the nest box adjacent to the most open location available in your yard.  Trees being around or close by are not a deterrent.

• Bluebirds are typically more sensitive to nesting near a lot of bird traffic, so it’s not recommended nest boxes be placed near bird feeders.  What’s a comfortable distance?  It’s impossible to be exact but we would suggest about 100 feet away, or out of sight of feeding stations. 

• You may have heard that nest boxes need to face east.  This is a good strategy to avoid prevailing weather patterns and rain but not at all necessary. My most successful box over the years faces northwest. 

• A Bluebird box does not need to be on a pole. The advantage of a pole is it allows you to position the box in the location you determine to be the best.  Our pole system for Bluebird boxes will put the box at 5’ high after installation (convenient for monitoring and maintenance) and allows for a baffle if you’ve had a history of raccoon or rat snake predation.  Bluebird boxes can be mounted on fences, and utility poles, and even outbuildings. The National Bluebird Society changed their opinion about tree mounting only a few years ago.   Obviously a tree is a more vulnerable location when considering predators.

• How many boxes can be offered in a typical yard situation?  There is no harm in offering lots of nest boxes (birdhouses) in your yard but do not expect them to all get used at the same time especially if they are close in proximity to one another.  In most cases backyard songbirds are too territorial to tolerate nesting close to one another, unless they are colony nesters like Purple Martins.  But feel free to decorate your yard with lots of birdhouses if that’s your thing.  Offering multiple nest-boxes is great and it does lessen the competition for a single box but do consider the nature of the species you are trying to attract and what kind of setting would be most appealing.

• We are often asked “when is a good time to put up a bluebird box”?   Every day is good.   However, it is a great time to do so in the next few weeks. The sooner they know the box is there the more likely they will consider using it this season.

Get busy now and have fun with attracting Bluebirds this spring and summer.

Monitoring Bluebird Boxes

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It’s great that so many people are interested in providing nest boxes for Bluebirds, and because of these efforts Bluebird populations are extremely robust. We encounter customers, though, that ask a lot of questions they would have the answer to if they just monitored the nest box a little. We do not mind answering the questions, it’s very much part of the job.

Most of the time when we mention to a customer they should consider monitoring the box their response is “I don’t want to disturb them or scare them away”. If done properly neither of those things will happen. Not only is it interesting and a great nature and biology lesson, you can predict within a day or two when the babies will leave the box. And another reason to monitor is you may actually keep something bad from happening to the babies. I’ve often told customers of the time my son, who I taught to monitor, discovered one of our boxes with four two day old Bluebird babies was infested with ants. In just 48 hours, since the last monitoring, ants had found the newborn babies and were likely going to consume them given enough time.

We carefully removed the babies and placed them in a little box, then removed the entire nest from the box while the female watched from a nearby tree limb. We first cleaned all the ants out of the now empty nestbox and made sure no more would climb the pole. Then we constructed a rather poor replica of the nest using their preferred nest material pine straw. After the nest was back in the box we then removed all the ants from the babies by using a drinking straw to blow the ants off and then placed them back in the box in the clean nest. In all it took us about 20 minutes. The female returned to the box about 10 minutes after we completed the cleaning. Even after removing the nest and handling her babies the female came right back to them because the instinct to raise her young is that powerful. So, monitoring which really just consists of taking a peak for a few seconds will definitely not scare the birds away. Bluebirds tend to be quite tolerant of our presence. Usually they patiently watch as I monitor. Once in a while they will swoop at you clicking their beak in protest. But they will not abandon a nest because of brief looks in the box.

Monitoring Tips

• Observing from a distance is important monitoring, too. Seeing bluebirds come and go is an indication they are showing an interest in choosing the box. If you see the pair on and in the box take a moment after they leave to go look inside. You will likely observe nest building at some point. Pine straw and fine dry grasses are the preferred nest material.

• Bluebirds tend to lay eggs in the morning hours. The female will lay one per day until done, usually between three and six. Four and five eggs seem to be the most common numbers. She will not begin incubating until all the eggs are laid. So, at this stage I would recommend monitoring in the afternoon so as not to disturb egg laying in the morning. Or, again, if you see the female exit the box take a moment to go look. Take notes. It’s helpful to increasing your knowledge of the process.

• When I monitor and see 4 eggs and she is not incubating yet that tells me she has probably one egg to go. I will make note of the date because we know Bluebirds incubate for 12-14 days and then should see babies.

• Once I am certain she is incubating I do more monitoring from a distance. If you see the female exit the box and fly off that’s a perfect time to approach and take a look. Be gentle and quiet. I like a box that has a door that opens down as opposed to up. It is so much easier to monitor in a subtle way. I also take pictures to share with people.

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Eggs laid before incubation.

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Fledglings days after hatching.

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Fledglings about a week after hatching.

• Now the babies have hatched and I’ve noted the date because we know the babies will take about 14 days to develop and be ready to leave the box. This is known as the fledgling period.

• I will monitor daily until by my calculations tell me there are just 2 or 3 days to go until they fledge. At this stage of their development the babies may be fearful enough to want to get out of the box if you open it. I monitor from a distance watching the parents as they make repeated trips with food to satisfy all those appetites.

• Hopefully, the calculations are right and you may get a chance to see babies fledge. You will see more animated behavior from the parents as the first and second babies are about to come out for their first flight. Do not be alarmed if all the babies don’t fledge at the same time. It may take several hours for all to fledge.

For more information about Bluebirds and monitoring please visit the National Bluebird Society website. http://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/bluebirdfacts.htm

Feeding Bluebirds

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Everybody would like to attract Bluebirds. The fact is it is not difficult to attract Bluebirds and the single best way to do that is with a couple of nest boxes placed in good locations as we pointed out in previous blogs. (Click here for tips on bluebird box placement.) We want to help you attract Bluebirds and enjoy the entire experience from courtship to nest building, egg laying to chick development, and finally fledging.

Besides the nest boxes planting native berry producing trees and shrubs, like Dogwood and Beautyberry, for example, having a consistent source of water, and offering an appealing food source like live mealworms are things that will help. Eastern Bluebirds feed primarily on insects and berries, so feeding them is very different than the way we feed other birds. Many of you have seen Bluebirds this winter going to suet and seed out of the shell, but this behavior usually subsides when warm weather and insect activity increases. At The Wood Thrush Shop we have a great deal of experience feeding Bluebirds and would like to pass on our tips and tricks to help you have success and enjoy the activity as much as we do. We really don’t think presenting mealworms before Bluebirds are regularly present is a good strategy. In other words just presenting mealworms randomly is not likely to attract them. All you are doing is presenting this very desirable food source to a lot of other birds.

The best time to begin offering live mealworms is when Bluebirds begin consistently checking out a nest-box. Their need for nest boxes takes precedence during the breeding season and will bring them to your yard more predictably and reliably, and potentially for several months. Feeding them then becomes a lot easier after they have found a nest-box.

Once you see Bluebirds showing interest in a nest box be prepared to offer mealworms. The type of feeder to use is really not very important. My choice of feeder is a small clay dish which is placed on a large rock which is easily seen from the top of the nest-box, just a few feet away. Platform type feeders tend to work very well, too. Won’t other birds find the worms? If you follow our guidelines other birds will not be wise to the offering.

Look for an opportunity to walk out to the feeder and offer a small amount of worms, maybe a dozen. THIS IS IMPORTANT! The key is to make sure the Bluebirds are there to see you make the offering.

After placing the worms in the feeder walk away and watch. In most cases you will see immediate interest. They may fly right down to the dish and gobble them up. If their reaction is to fly away do not leave the worms there. Try again another time. If they immediately consume the worms offer another helping to reinforce the process. I repeat this little scene every time the opportunity arises over the course of the next few days or weeks. Usually 4 or 5 times is enough for the Bluebirds to catch on to what you are doing. It is VERY IMPORTANT that if during that first offering they fly away do not leave the mealworms there. The longer the worms are there the greater the likelihood that other birds, like Robins, Mockingbirds, Jays, or Starlings see them. If these birds catch on to this offering feeding the Bluebirds will then become almost impossible, not to mention possibly creating enough conflict the Bluebirds may look elsewhere to nest.

Both Mockingbirds and Robins share the same food preferences as Bluebirds and being bigger birds will vigorously defend a food source like mealworms. If you slip up and allow larger more aggressive birds to compete for the worms we suggest a reset. Stop putting out worms for a week or two and begin the process again. Better to be patient than to create an adverse situation.

So, keep the offerings minimal until the Bluebirds really catch on. Then you can increase the amounts of mealworms being offered as they raise their young. Soon they will be anticipating the offering, or even seeking you out in your yard as I’ve experienced in the past.

• Offering mealworms when Bluebirds are not present is a sure way to feed a lot of other birds. Wait until you see them before offering.

• If birds that you do not want are getting the mealworms suspend offering the mealworms for a few days or more and start over using the suggestions we’ve outlined.

• Bluebirds may partake of other foods like dried mealworms, suet, Bluebird nuggets (a type of suet), raisins, blueberries, chopped apple and grape. Experiment and let us know your results.

• Location is important. Don’t try to feed them near birdfeeders or a place that gets a lot of bird traffic. Feeding them close to their chosen nest box is easiest but do make sure you don’t let other birds in on the mealworms treat. Some birds may become territorial over the food source and create conflict at the Bluebird box.

• Some people employ the method of making a sound, like whistling, while they offer the worms. Bluebirds will key in on the sound and associate that with the treat about to be given them. Its simple conditioning. I’m convinced that the Bluebirds we fed behind the store one year became familiar with the sound and sight of my truck arriving in the morning. As soon as I would get out of the truck they would be landing on nearby perches waiting for me to enter the store and bring out worms.

Remember, Bluebirds will not become dependent on the mealworms but will simply take advantage while they are offered. You can suspend feeding Bluebirds any time and not worry that they will be adversely affected.

Bluebird Feeders and Mealworms Special!

Domed feeders can be adjusted to help discourage larger birds.

Bluebird feeders can be any small dish or tray. however I would not put this many mealworms out at one time.

Barrier type feeders will limit the size of bird that can feed. These feeders may take longer to train your birds to use.

Get Ready for Bluebirds

In the coming weeks we will be sharing information about Bluebirds. We would like to address specific questions and concerns you may have that can then be shared with everyone. If you have questions regarding Bluebirds please email us at thewoodthrushshop@gmail.com.

Have you noticed? Birds are singing and going through some of the motions of courtship. The breeding season is fast approaching. Its evident Eastern Bluebirds are already searching and competing for mates and potential nest-sites. Several times in past weeks I’ve seen multiple Bluebirds land on and look in the nest boxes around my yard. (See video) In the video you will see classic courtship behaviors like wing fluttering. Many of you have reported likewise.

Although most Bluebirds won’t begin their first nesting until late March to mid April, their search for nest sites will typically intensify in the last weeks of February and into March. A few eager Bluebirds may get on nest as early as mid-March.

You may think you don’t have the right situation for Bluebirds because you’ve heard they have very specific needs for a nest-box location. Not really true. Most things you hear about what Bluebirds NEED are very much over stated. Bluebirds adapt very nicely to all kinds of yard situations. If Bluebirds needed the “perfect setup” as described by the many articles you may read about them they would be extinct by now. These perfect nest-sites generally never existed in nature.

In fact it’s interesting to consider where Bluebirds nested before people started putting out nest-boxes. Bluebirds are considered a secondary cavity nester which means they will not excavate a nest, like a woodpecker, but use one that has been created already. Once upon a time secondary cavities were in great supply but through habitat loss and competition Bluebirds were “forced” to adapt to birdhouses, or what we refer to as nest-boxes. Using nest-boxes is an example of Bluebirds adaptability. Offer a couple of nest-boxes in good locations and see what happens. If you already have nest boxes now is a good time to make sure they are cleaned out and free of old debris left over from last year’s nesting’s.

Here are a Few Tips on Choosing a Location:

Ø An open lawn area may be preferable but not absolutely necessary. Choose the most open location available in your yard even if it means there will be a some human traffic.

Ø Bluebirds are typically more sensitive to a lot of bird traffic, so it’s not recommended nest boxes be placed near bird feeders. What’s a comfortable distance? It’s impossible to be exact but we would suggest 50 to 100 feet away, or out of sight of feeding stations.

Ø You may have heard that nest boxes need to face east. While this may be helpful to keep wet weather from being a detrimental factor this is not something Bluebirds require.

Ø A Bluebird box does not need to be on a pole. The advantage of a pole is it allows you to position the box in the location you determine to be the best and apply a predator baffle if necessary. Bluebird boxes can be mounted to trees, fences, and utility poles. A height of about 5’ is sufficient. Our pole system for Bluebird boxes will put the box at 5’ after installation. The two primary predators of nesting Bluebirds are raccoons and rat snakes. Both can easily climb trees and poles so if you experience regular visits by raccoons you should consider placing your Bluebird box on a pole with a raccoon baffle.

Bluebird box with raccoon baffle.

Ø How many boxes can be offered in a typical yard situation? As a general rule we would suggest boxes be placed 90 to 100 feet apart, or out of sight of one another. There is no harm in offering lots of nest boxes (birdhouses) in your yard but do not expect them to all get used at the same time especially if they are close in proximity to one another. For instance, nest boxes within 25 feet of one another are not likely to be occupied simultaneously. Birds are too territorial to accept this situation under normal circumstances unless they are colony nesters like Purple Martins and Cliff Swallows. But feel free to decorate your yard with lots of birdhouses if that’s your thing. Offering multiple nest-boxes is great and it does lessen the competition for a single box but do consider the nature of the species you are trying to attract and what kind of setting would be most appealing. I offer many boxes in varied situations in my yard and enjoy observing which ones get used from year to year. Sometimes I’m surprised by the choices made by birds.

Ø We are often asked “when is a good time to put up a bluebird box”? Every day is good. However, it is a great time to do so now and in the next few weeks because the breeding season is fast approaching. The sooner they know the box is there the more likely they will consider using it this season.

And PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE remember do not let your desire to attract Bluebirds cause you to clean out other songbird’s nests like Chickadees, Wrens, Tufted Titmice, or White-breasted Nuthatch. In no way does cleaning out these birds nests ensure you will get Bluebirds. Chickadees typically nest earlier than Bluebirds and only once. So PLEASE let the Chickadees have the box if they have begun to nest.

Bluebirds will nest up to 3 times per season and have plenty of time. Even if you do not get Bluebirds during the first nesting there is still time for two more. Besides, if a Bluebird wanted the nest-box it would easily out-compete a Chickadee. Enjoy the fact that you’ve attracted a native songbird to your nest-box and watch the process. It’s a lot of fun.