Blue Bird fight

Last week before one of the storms, Al put the truck over by the pasture fence to keep it away from the big oak tree in case the wind caused it drop branches. It was nearby a nesting pair of Blue Birds.

I happened to notice a male Blue Bird by the truck and went over to investigate. He was seeing himself in the side mirror and was getting very upset at his reflection, not knowing he was looking at himself. It was cute to watch but I was afraid he would hurt himself. He kept attacking the mirror. After we watched him a few minutes we got some Wal Mart bags and tied them over the mirrors. That solved the problem.

Our Blue Birds are nesting in the pasture box this year and the one by the side of the house is vacant so far. Our Bluebirds are now coming to the bird feeder we have by the back door and eating sunflower seeds and other nuts. It's easier then trying to get them to eat mealworms and keep everyone else out. It works out well. However, it appears there is another pair that has discovered the house by the side of the house. Unfortunately the nesting male has spotted the new male as the feeder is pretty close to the other birdhouse.

Yesterday we discovered our nest now has 4 babies inside and one egg not hatched. We saw 2 adult males and one female hanging out by the birdhouse by the house. The one male kept sticking his head inside the house, then coming back out and fluttering around (fighting?) with other male. This went on for a while yesterday and today we noticed it again. This time one male had the other one on the ground, with one on his back and the other on top. We didn't know if it was a fight or they were mating but decided to break it up just in case it was a fight. When they flew away it turned out to be 2 males so we assumed it had been a fight. We understand this is nature but if we can stop someone from getting hurt, we are going to! They have four babies now and they need both their mom and dad!

So we decided that likely what is going on is the old male Blue Bird has spotted the new one who is in the area checking out the real estate. We decided the best thing to do is move the nesting box far enough away so that they couldn't be seen while they were at the feeder. So that is what we did today. Hopefully we will have another nesting pair. We have 11 acres but as territorial as they are you have to keep the nest boxes a good distance from the others.

One Blue Bird nest box in the pasture has a Titmouse or a Chickadee. Al made the mistake of opening it and finding a mother sitting on her nest. He closed it up quickly so as not to frighten her any more. He thinks it was a Titmouse.

All of our houses are on poles with baffles to keep the predators out. We made a mistake last year and a snake got 5 BlueBird eggs. It had the baffle but there was a small hole which had to be large enough for a small snake. We remedied it this year with silicone glue. The thought of a little bird sitting there with no way out while a snake comes in to get her and her babies makes me determined to help however we can. These manmade boxes are much more visible and predators easily can learn what to look for. It is up to us to make them as safe as possible.