NESTING EXCITEMENT - 6/3/20


 NESTING EXCITEMENT

BY: PEGGY WILLIAMS AKA Birdie of Mississippi

 

A few weeks ago I had Eastern Bluebirds exploring my Birdie Hotel to figure out if they wanted to check in and stay for a while.  The male and female Bluebirds went in and out of each room as if to find just the right room to build their nest.  I was excited to have them visit since they were the first Bluebirds to ever come to my yard.  It is a very special thing to have Bluebirds to come to the city.  They generally prefer wide open spaces that are usually found only in rural areas.  They nest on the fringes of towns and cities, but not in the heart of downtown like where my home is located.

 

After several days of watching multiple couples home shop I began to wonder whether they would stay or move on.  Finally Dennis and I began to see nesting materials go inside the hotel.  I totally enjoyed looking from my kitchen window to see bits of this and that go into the little holes.  Late one afternoon I saw a long “spaghetti noodle type” string hanging out the entrance and then suddenly it was sucked in just like someone sucks a noodle that’s too long into their mouth!  It was if she was inside with her lips pursed as she slurped it in! I giggled as I watched it disappear as I pictured this in my mind.  How they reeled it in the way they did, I don’t know, but I wish I had had a camera inside so I could have seen it!  Sticks, twigs, and grass bits went inside and then all the activity was over and stillness began as she began to sit.  I thought that she was staying on the nest all the time, but my research shows that during warm weather she may only sit on the nest about 60% of the time, but always both parents come in at night.  Mr. Bluebird is not a co-brooder - she alone sits on the nest.

 

As soon as the nest was completed, we stopped seeing her, so we must be missing any coming and going that she might be making. Or perhaps, she is staying on the nest just because she wants to.  Mr. Bluebird leaves early in the morning and comes back periodically throughout the day to check on her. He leaves to look for them food, but he doesn’t go very far away.  Generally he is always watching from up high from a limb or he will stand guard on top of the hotel watching out for predators that may be lurking just waiting for an opportunity to steal or destroy their eggs.

 

I soon found out that he didn’t mind doing battle.  Monday morning, he suddenly came roaring from the sky to attack an unsuspecting squirrel.  The squirrel scurried to hide behind a post on top of my pergola, but Mr. Bluebird was having none of that!  He continued to dive bomb the squirrel and after barely surviving about ten dives, the scared squirrel scrambled away with a pecked up bottom to head home!  I’m sorry, but I did get a little bit of pleasure out of watching that! I also didn’t mind that he curtailed all my sunflowers seeds from being eaten up!  Who would have thought so much adventure was happening right in my own yard and I never knew it until one day I felt Jesus telling me to “look at the birds of the air.” Matthew 6:26.

My photos may be viewed & “LIKED” on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest - “Birdie of Mississippi”.

E-mail: birdieofmississippi@gmail.com - Read my Blog @ http://www.birdieofmississippi.blogspot.com

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