Bluebird nestboxes 5, 6, & 6B.           Next >>

New location of Boxes 5&6 is here.

ABOVE: Box 5 (now a bat house), Box 6 (now a bat house), and Box 6B.

2003

Box #6: Bluebird nesting attempt #1.
Box mounted	Birds on box	Nest start	Egg start	Hatched	Fledged (left nest)
2/2002	-	-	5/22/2003, 4 eggs	?	?
Overall notes: It is next the Broad Run Creek in Dickerson, MD. 5/22/2003: House Wren 'dummy' nests in the boxes on both sides of it were removed. 6/25: Flooded creek kept me from checking box for weeks. It is possible that a few babies fledged.

Box #5: Bluebird used it as a roost, then died.
Box mounted	Birds on box	Nest start	Egg start	Hatched	Fledged (left nest)
2/2002	-	-	-	-	-
Overall notes: It is next the Broad Run Creek in Dickerson, MD. LEFT: March 16, 2003 evidence of box 5 being used as a roost. The male Bluebird that was in it had died; possibly from intestinal problems. I have a photo of that too, but if you don't want to see it, please do NOT click this link to it.

2002

Box #6B: Bluebird nesting attempt 1
Box mounted	Birds on box	Nest start	Egg start	Hatched	Fledged (left nest)
2/2002	4/2002	6/15 [?]	6/19 five cold eggs	7/3 five babies	about 7/18
Overall notes: Originally a wood duck house was on this post. It is on the Broad Run Creek bank in Dickerson, MD. The 7/3 babies looked healthy and were about 2-3 days old. On 7/12 the babies looked large and ready to fledge. 7/15 Bluebird entered box for a few seconds 2 times. After cleaning box & removing nest, I found about 5 blowfly pupae shells. Couldn't tell if they were destroyed or shed. ABOVE: 5 eggs on June 19.

Box #6: Bluebird nesting attempt
Box mounted	Birds on box	Nest start	Egg start	Hatched	Fledged (left nest)
6/2001	4/17/2002	4/17 [?]	4/26, 5 cold eggs. 5/1, 6 warm eggs, 5/10, 1 egg / (2 babies)	5/10, (1 egg) / 2 babies	2 before 6/2
Overall notes: This was the 1st season I've seen 6 Bluebird eggs in one nest. ABOVE, LEFT: 1 egg and 2 very weak babies on May 10. Something happened to the other 3 eggs. ABOVE, CENTER: 1 egg and 2 still very weak, yellowish babies on May 16. The egg between them had been punctured probably by a non-native English House Sparrow so I removed it. I've only seen the mother at the box (not the father) since the eggs hatched. The babies grew very little in 6 days and looked like they were 3 days old. ABOVE, RIGHT: Babies almost ready to fledge. They seemed thin and unusually calm. The day the photos were taken their nest box post was under 6" of water during a flood. On 6/2 there was no sign of blowfly pupae casings when cleaning out the nest.

Box #5
Box mounted	Birds on box	Nest start	Egg start	Hatched	Fledged (left nest)
-	-	-	-	-	-
Overall notes: Found 2 bats in bottom back corner of box on 7/21/2002. One was on floor and the other was on the side, touching the floor. There could have been more but I didn't look after this surprise! This box is mounted at eye level and is not near a large bare tree, though the adjacent ones are partly bare on the bottom. The box is not large either. It is next to a creek.

Back to 3rd and 4th nest boxes

Last updated 7/20/2003

###