Thankfully the family of bluebirds we had in our backyard has fledged successfully. When we had several nights in the forecast with temperatures in the low 30’s, it was worrisome, especially since I had just discovered another bluebird nest box full of dead babies in the boxes that I monitor for Conserving Carolina. As the cold night approached, my husband and I brainstormed ways we would help the babies make it through the freezing nights, but in the end, we could think of nothing that wouldn’t ultimately risk them being abandoned by their parents. So we let things play out naturally. And were over-the-moon thrilled when we heard them noisily calling from the box the next morning when Dad arrived with a beak-full of insects. Phew! It really is amazing that those small birds could make it through such a frigid night! Their bodies are so small with what looks like so few feathers!
There are so many obstacles every creature in nature must overcome in order to be successful. Most of the time we humans have no idea of the struggles happening right outside of our doors.
We have four bluebird boxes here on our property in western North Carolina. I recently took some videos showing the parents feeding the young. I thought I would share this with you. Perhaps the best part of this video is just the variety of other songbirds singing in the background! You will hear Carolina Wrens, Crows, and Wood Thrushes. It is a peaceful sound to offer you a bit of calm and peace for your stressful day.
Do you have a place for a bluebird box or two on your property? If you’d like to put your own bluebird boxes out, here are a few designs I like*:
Here’s one from Wild Wings, and another from Pennington, both of which are made of cedar, have a built-on predator guard, and are easy to open for cleaning. Please note that neither of these predator guards will stop a snake from getting into the box. For that you must install a baffle on the pole. Here are two that I like, the first is a long baffle and the second is the traditional cone-shaped baffle. Before buying either, make sure the one you pick will fit on the pole you intend to mount the bluebird box on.
And lastly, if you want to install a camera in your bluebird box, you can do that too! This is a super fun way to keep up with what’s going on in the box, and is great for sharing with the kids or neighbors. It is $100 and a bit of work to install so you’ll have to really be committed. But if you are, Man is it fun to watch the birds in your yard! We had one in our bluebird box and another one in our owl box for a long time and it was great fun to keep track of them. Sadly both were hit by lightning and no longer work, but if I was going to buy another, this is the camera I would purchase.
Well I hope you enjoyed watching the bluebird with me! Are you watching any bird babies where you live? Maybe there’s a nest by your house that you’ve been keeping an eye on? If so, I’d love to hear about your adventures!
*This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something from these links it will not cost you anymore money to buy it, but I will get a small percentage of the total.