What’s Going On At Box 14?

A Bluebird pair that was displaced by House Wren in Box #13 at the north end of Jaye’s Pasture succeeded in finding alternate accommodations in Box #14 at the north end of the East fence. It was fairly late in the season, so I worried they may not be successful. On July 29, in a post I called SURPRISE I shared photos of the female setting on eggs!

On August 4, 2020 I checked in again, and took this precious image:

On the day I took that photo, I saw the parent birds in the area. However, they didn’t take food to the box while I was observing. I was worried that my presence was causing a disturbance. Since then, I stopped in the area, but I never saw any activity and I left fairly quickly. I didn’t want to be the reason that the parents weren’t tending to their chicks. I was disheartened that perhaps that couple failed again.

Finally, on August 18, I looked down to the northeast corner of the property where Box #14 is located. It is backed up by outrageously tall corn and appears to have it’s own little garden of purple wild flowers just beneath it. I said to myself, “well, they are either dead, being fed or nearly fledged.” I got the courage to learn the fate of that Bluebird couple and decided to open the box to see what was going on.

Dang! What a difference a few weeks makes. They look like they are in the same spots as the day they hatched. But that is the extent of the similarity.

Yesterday, I parked the golf cart a ways off from Box #14 and waited. It didn’t take long. Both parents, with large insects dangling from their beaks, approached from the north where there are massive, mature trees at the property line. They flitted over the nest box and to a tree about twenty feet to the south of the box. Perched on the top most branches of the tree, they remained for several minutes. At one point, the female flew to a branch by her husband (oh, I can’t believe i just wrote “husband” – but I’m going to leave it and let the judgers judge.) She remained just a moment then flew down to a smaller tree that was about ten feet closer to their nest box. Hubby followed.

The lovely young couple remained in the small tree for an additional few minutes until, eventually the male landed a few feet to the south of the box. There he waited a minute or so, then flitted over to a location a few feet to the north of the box. He paused again. Finally, he made his way to the box with his prized meal still danging from his his beak. This is, in my experience, very typical behavior. I supposed if you are trying to avoid predators, you can’t just fly directly home with the meal. You have to serpentine.

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This is the point in the story when, if it were a movie, the background music would change. It would be only slightly noticeable, but your nervous system (having been well educated by the producers of movies from Thrillers, Action flicks to Romantic comedies) would detect an upcoming twist to the story.

Shortyly after the male flew off I detected movement south of Box #14. My camera captured the action of a bird landing about six feet away.

Clearly, any normal person might assume it was the mama bird bringing her offerings to the chicks. I glanced up to the small tree and sure enough she was no longer perched on her branch. This new arrival was certainly the female Bluebird. That would make sense based on what I was witnessing. But, there’s nothing very normal about this story. At least not how I perceived it.

The newly arriving bird on the wire was facing the corn field. When I was out there, all I saw was a bird in the view finder. I would have to determine the details later when I could view the files. For me, the rest of this story played out at my computer hours after I left Box #14 and the birds that held staring and supporting roles in the afternoon drama.

I clicked on the next file and dragged the edges to enlarge the image. The bird that had just landed had flow over the box to a location a few feet to the north of it. It had, in essence, retraced the male Bluebirds steps. But, it wasn’t his mate. It was another woman. Oops. I mean another bird. She remained on the wire long enough for me to shoot many photos of her because I was sure she was the mama Bluebird and would soon flit over to the box and feed her hungry babes. I like to catch that action, so I keep my finger on that shutter button. However, rather than taking a meal to the chicks in the box, she flew off to the north. And, as a consolation prize, I did get a couple of photos of her in flight.

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The next action that I captured was of a bird landing near, and then upon, the Box #14. While out in the field I figured it was the female Bluebird. After all, these birds do all sorts of maneuvers – fly north, south, up and down. There’s no sense in trying to rationalize their actions.

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Surprise. Surprise. The bird or birds I had filmed around Box 14 after the male feed the chicks wasn’t his mate! It was the other woman, AKA “Phoebe from the East” (Eastern Phoebe.) OK. I can handle that, I suppose. But, while I was trying to figure out her purpose in this story, my eye caught another character. There was a second Eastern Phoebe perched on the wire nearly eight feet away. I wasn’t expecting to see that in the photos because I didn’t catch it when I was out in the field.

Let me reiterate that I’m not a birding expert, but I have read the following at AllAboutBirds.org “The Eastern Phoebe is a loner, rarely coming in contact with other phoebes. Even members of a mated pair do not spend much time together.” For that reason, I am going to suggest this may be a mother and her recently fledged chick. Just sayin’ that might make sense. I’m open for comments about my reason and logic as it applies here.

It’s important to mention now that the Bluebirds were vocalizing quite a bit during this time. While I was still in the field, I had assumed the third bird might be a fledged chick. I figured they might be trying to lure the chick with them.

Back to the twist of this curious story. The next images in the folder was of a bird perched on the fence post that stands eight feet to the north of Box #14. Aha! It was the missing female Bluebird, still holding her juicy caterpillar in her bill.

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Apparently, I missed something as I was cropping 80% of the insignificant field corn from the picture. There’s an Eastern Phoebe perched just below and a bit closer to the nest box than mama BB. Interestingly, the other bird is not just sitting statically there, but appears to be observing the mama. Oh my human brain can conjure up so many different reasons for such interest – of course starting with that big fat bug hanging out of the Bluebird’s mouth.

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The story begins with two bluebird parents. A third bird enters the scene. Oh, it must be a fledgling! Then, what? There’s a forth bird? And finally, those extras aren’t even Bluebirds! It was not what I was expecting. That was MY perception, my reality…at least for a few minutes. It seemed to be such a tale to tell.

And yet in the end, this potentially blockbuster thriller will never make it to the marketplace. There’s really nothing significant about the flycatchers hanging out in the same space as the Bluebirds, even if I wasn’t expecting to see them there. The Bluebirds never seemed to believe the Phoebes were a threat. I’ve seen Bluebirds consider other species a hazard to the safety of their chicks and they protect their nest site quite admirably. I have taken many photos of what I thought was one bird, then was surprised to see that the image contained another (or more) that I never saw when I was taking the shot. So, apparently, this is simply another of those instances.

Of course, all the mystery and confusion could have been avoided if I were able to identify the birds when I was filming them. You might ask, why don’t you just use binoculars and clarify what’s happening on the spot? In my defense, which is a weird thing for me to say because I rarely feel a need to defend myself (I have that 60+ card that permits me to be whom ever I want!), I can hardly handle the camera properly. The idea of having to swap to the binoculars while all the action is happenings would take these little jaunts into Nature too far from my intention. This is a hobby. It is a means of remaining in the present without contemplating all the other junk that my brain typically mulls over when it gets the opportunity to do so.

Bird action tends to happen pretty quickly. I have to grab what I can get when I can get it, and sort out the details later! This leads to two very distinct activities. There’s the taking and then the processing of photos. One might say these pursuits are my “needlepoint.” One I can do in the rain, the other not so much! In the end, I am left with a story to tell, even if it turns out to be a fairly insignificant little tale, like the events of Box #14 on August 18, 2020. Nonetheless, the photos of the birds are nice to share.