ML617502493

Age and sex

Adult Female - 1; Adult Male - 1

Behaviors

Carrying food

Media notes

There seemed to be no problem finding food, even though the habitat is not right for this species.

Observation details

Nest Box ---old wren box, never used after many years. Toads used it. I never cleaned it since birds ignored it. Patricia A. Gowaty and Jonathan H. Plissner in Birds of the World state "when given a choice between a soiled or clean woodcrete boxes, bluebirds nested in the clean box." Unlikely nesting habitat (& feeding habitat) for Eastern Bluebird: Suburban housing, tightly packed homes, many large trees, some homes with a thick understory and thick ground cover. Patricia A. Gowaty and Jonathan H. Plissner in Birds of the World state "Eastern Bluebirds prefer open habitat with no or little understory and with sparse ground cover", totally opposite to this nesting location. Extreme disturbance during laying of eggs, incubating ... I am getting my home remodeled. For the last two months, during the time the eggs were laid and hatched (and not known to my wife and I), I had trucks and people making a lot of noise and causing extreme disturbance. The nest box was hanging on my garage door, just literally a few feet away from daily vehicles parking and people unloading material, in one case, for hours at a time. I discovered the bluebirds entering the nest box two days ago. I did not know eggs were laid weeks ago and nestlings were in the nest. A painter today was scheduled to pressure wash my home, including the light fixture on the garage the next box was hanging from. I moved the nest box about 10 feet away and hung it on a pole in my garden. Later in the day, I discovered nestlings peeking out the cavity. Not knowing the nest box was active ...every night I walked right next to the nest box to bring feeders in for the evening. Every morning walked next to the box again putting feeders out and standing just a couple feet away watering plants; wife and I with cars in and out, garage door inches away from box opening up and down, up and down, blowers and trimmer, neighbor's grass cutter guy, many contractors coming and going, unloading and reloading trucks ... the short of it is two words: maximum disturbance. Today, the birds did not abandon the nest when the disturbances were at its peak. Yet, with maximum possible disturbance including immediately adjacent to the nest box, the bluebirds as of this evening have not abandoned the nest. Impressive display of persistence in wanting a family. Images: carrying away a fecal sac, carrying and arriving with food, nestling looking out.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Lens

EF400mm f/5.6L USM

ISO

1250

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/13.0

Shutter speed

1/1250 sec

Dimensions

2303 pixels x 1535 pixels

Original file size

2.44 MB