Bluebirds

Last year we were visited by a pair of bluebirds.  They visited our birdhouse which was constructed of rough cedar from plans in the book "How to Attract Birds" from Ortho Books.  In all of our 13 years here no flimsy gift shop birdhouse has ever attracted bluebirds.  They raised a family there and we were ready for a bird behavior study this year.

I improved on last year's design by installing an X-10 video camera in the birdhouse.  I had to raise the roof on the new design to accommodate the camera.  I screwed it directly to the wall a few feet away from the rail of our deck and waited for Spring.  I had the audacity to think that they would return.  Return they did.

While the birds raised their chicks in their house outside we videotaped them inside our house.  We could not believe some of the things that the birds did.  After Linda returned home from a hard day's work, she couldn't resist turning on our X-10 camera to see how those bluebirds were doing.  Just watching the parents inside their nest box building a nest, sitting on it, feeding the nestlings, encouraging them, and finally cajoling them into the air was amazing...spellbinding.  Watch now as the birds go through their ritual.  Just click on the thumbnails with the beveled borders to see the video clip.  You may have to wait a while to load the files unless your computer is state of the art (500MHz) or faster.

Falconbridge, May 12th, 2002	Male defends the territory - fights his reflection.				Female builds a nest.
Just during the cold spell in May the eggs were laid.		"Hey, what's happenin' in there?"		Just twistin' and turnin' the eggs.
At the end of this scene, the female leaves the nest...	and there are only two eggs left.		Two little babies result and mom nestles down.		Mom has to divide up the insect so the little ones can eat it.
Is daddy grooming the little ones?		Is mommy doing the same thing?		At this point, just slugs but with big mouths.
Chirping for their supper a big one this time.		Now they've feathered out and getting big.		Moving around the nest now, but they don't get fed.		These guys are getting the message.
"Come on guys there's lots of bugs outside."		Chirping, "we're really hungry now."			Big guys are flapping around and grooming their feathers.
"Get off of my back and stop fooling with the nest."		"What's outside of this hole?"

These cavity dwelling birds take up residence where the woodpeckers have done their thing while digging grubs out of dead trees.  When we cut down all of the dead trees, as we do in Falconbridge, we destroy their habitat and the woodpeckers start pecking holes in our cedar chimneys.  We've got to leave a few for the birds, for our own sake.  See below for a recent update on this.  I hope you enjoyed your visit to the world of the bluebird.

Just after I cleaned out the box and replaced it with last year's box the bluebirds moved back in.  They fledged another four birds.  We watched as the last one flew the nest.  As it leaned out of the entrance hole, the little bird slipped and grabbed the rough corner of the cedar bird box and sat there for a half a minute catching his breath.  Then he flew off to the pine tree by the pond.  I saw an expert on television say that most young birds spend three to five days on the ground before they fly successfully.  These bluebirds are strong fliers.  I don't think they spent a minute on the ground. 

Next year we will improve on the design of the birdhouse by installing a skylight so that it will be easier to get clearer video pictures.  The only light for the video camera was that which streamed in through the hole in the nest box.  It is a tribute to the sensitive cameras that we got these shots at all.  Next year, we'll see if the bluebirds return.

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Swan Song of the Ivory Bill - What happens when a forest loses its spirit-in-the-flesh?  A bird that many believe has been dead for decades has a message for those still listening. ...From the Santee Bottoms of South Carolina to the Big Thicket of Texan, Tanner canvassed every rumor and report of ivory-bills past and present.  "The story is much the same in all regions," he concluded.  "Ivory-billed Woodpeckers have disappeared when the woods that they inhabited were cut over and the virgin timber removed."...

"We now have the knowledge and the tools to recover the species," write the authors of the recent book The Red-Cockaded Woodpecker.  "On the other hand, it is not at all clear that we have the political will to accomplish recovery, and it is possible that changes in the law and in policy will send the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker to extinction."

Read this interesting article on the woodpecker's chances of survival in the article by William Stolzenberg, illustrations by David Allen Sibley and Photographs by Macduff Everton in the Fall 2002 issue of Nature Conservancy, an organization not usually associated with avian concerns.