Bird Watching: More Bluebird photos, 1 by 2dCousinDave

2dCousinDave wrote:
Well, after a significant layoff (from posting, not photographing), I will revive this thread and bring you up to date on my pair.

Earlier in this thread, on Feb 21, in fact, Mrs Ed asked if I was going to put up the Gilbertson PVC box I have had for many years but have never used. I told her no because I wanted to see how the blues would respond to the slotted opening I had installed in my regular box, and also because I had just installed the nest cam in the slotted box.

A few days later, when I was certain the blues would nest in the slotted box, I decided to put up the Gilbertson too, in hopes that the chickadees or the titmice would nest in it. The only place available was just outside the kitchen window. Much too close to the house for bluebirds, but I hoped the dees wouldn't mind.

As soon as I put the PVC model up (and I mean within 5 minutes), Papa went to check it out. And he fell in love with it! He would go inside for a few seconds, then come out, perch on the roof, then go back inside. He kept this up for 10 to 15 minutes at a time, all day long. Mama was still perching on the wooden box. He would go get her and bring her to the PVC model. After about a week of this, she built her nest in the PVC house, although to this day they still will not allow anyone else near the wooden box, either.

I had installed the nest cam in the wooden box and had even buried the cable leading back to the basement where I had it hooked up to a TV. I wanted to move the nest cam to the Gilbertson PVC but it is so small inside I feared the birds would hit the camera when they entered the box. Some one suggested I cut a hole in the roof, which I did, and aimed the camera down through the hole. I covered the camera and the hole with a 3 inch PVC cap and caulked around it to hopefully keep the rain out. It looks pretty sloppy but it seems to be OK. There are five eggs and she has been incubating since this past Sunday. Through the nest cam the inside of the nest box looks very small. It should be pretty crowded when the five of the nestlings start jumping around flapping their wings.

This first shot is of Mama in the nest box. I appologize for the lack of quality but it is a dark day.