We’re Expecting!

As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post, we have recently added ten new nest boxes to the property. I’m happy to present the future generation of Eastern Bluebirds.

First is the couple at the Southeast box, at the entrance to Sham’s paddock. Every time I go by there, I see the birds, so we haven’t opened the box since we saw that they had built a nest. Yesterday, I got a couple of shots of the female perched in the tree that is right near the box, and just missed her entering the box. But, got a glimpse of her tail as she went in!

We also knew there was a nest in the north-central box. When we showed up, the bird flew out. Robert took a photo to reveal that there are four beautiful eggs nestled inside.

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At the west entrance to Jaye’s Pasture, north of the pond, we have seen Bluebirds since the day we put up the box. There isn’t a nest, yet, but when we checked a wasp flew out. Robert pulled out the nest it was building in the corner. I don’t know if a wasp nest will deter a Bluebird couple from starting their own nest. Here are photos from yesterday (the female) and this evening, the male. They seem interested in this location. I hope they made a decision! I feel like a pushy future grandparent.

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Then, there’s the box that our client, Matt, hand-made for us. It’s in the orchard in the front yard of our house. Robert had been watching Bluebirds investigating that box, but we hadn’t check the status until yesterday evening. Surprise! Four lovely eggs in that box, too! Bluebird Happiness abounds!

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We’ve only been in this house since 2017, so the “orchard” trees are young. But, while we were sitting near the box observing, I took a couple of photos of apples we can anticipate in a couple of months.

I also caught some early evening (so a very low sun in the sky) photos of another pair of Bluebirds perched on header posts of the old herding trial pen corridor. A male was on one post, the female on the other. They remained there for a good long while. This location is at least 300 feet from the southeast nest, 900 feet from the north central box, and probably more than that to Matt’s box in the front yard of the house. So, perhaps this is a forth couple. It’s hard to say.

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We are left to wonder what these two lovebirds (or not) were doing on those ultra tall posts for minutes on end. I wish I had more light, but it was sufficient to know these were Eastern Bluebirds. Such loving little creatures.