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Bluebirds lured into feeding near the big cam

April 15th, 2008 by Kip Draper - 922 views

I finally lured him close to the big cam. Now if I can draw them in a few feet closer, hopefully I can get some good, active closeups. If you look at the first picture, I’ve circled (in red) where their nest box is located. I started feeding around that and slowly moved it up the hill to the crazy feeder station. I also moved some of the other feeders away to calm things down a bit at spaghetti junction. Took most of the day to catch these, sort of like fishing!

Wow, drew them both in. It’s right near the weather station fan & cam now so I wasn’t sure if they would hit it…
Male Alone:

Dining Together on Exquisite Live Mealworms:

Related Posts:

Identifying backyard birds and critters (North Ga Mountains)
I'm new at this so those who know better feel free to correct me or add to the photo descriptions. I'll be updating this thread...

Posted in Feeders |

13 Responses to “Bluebirds lured into feeding near the big cam”

on 16 Apr 2008 at 9:00 pm Kim

I’ve really enjoyed all of your webcams, especially the bird cams.I also enjoy my feeders here in Loganville, GA. I don’t know if you remember my husband and I or not. Last year we were at the Aska area and you and your wife were sitting on the porch and we chatted about your cams. Well, we’ll be up next week, maybe we’ll see you. Thank you for all of your hard work with the cams.
on 16 Apr 2008 at 10:13 pm Wanda

Hi Kip,

I love all the pictures you posted of the Bluebirds. They are gorgeous birds. I have always loved watching them. I have had Bluebirds build nests in my back yard here in Sugar Hill Ga for several years, but not this year…..Thanks so much for all of your hard work on the cams…..They are all wonderful!!!!!!
on 17 Apr 2008 at 1:21 pm Sarah Grace Hutchinson

Dear Uncle Kip,
“The nest looks very nice. We guessed that the mom was little and the dad was tall. We were wondering when they are going to lay their eggs?”
Love, Sarah Grace and Kay
on 18 Apr 2008 at 8:02 am Rachel

Hi Kip,
The pictures of the bluebirds at the mealworm feeders are fantastic. I have enjoyed watching the nest being built on the spy cam and look forward to the eggs, hatching and baby bluebirds. Hope everything goes well.
Thank you, for a great web site.
Rachel from PA
on 18 Apr 2008 at 9:03 am Kip Draper

Hi Kim,
Sure I remember hollering with you guys. Plus whenever I hear “Loganville” it reminds me of that old ’80s local Atlanta commercial: “Where’s Loganville?”.

Thanks Wanda,
I was amazed that this pair checked out the house the second day it was up this year. I got it up too late last year and too close to the house & just the chickadees gave it a look-see. And I didn’t spoil them with mealworms last year either.

Well Ms. Sarah Grace,
I am thrilled that my niece commented on my blog. Yes the dad is the big one and the mom is the little one. I’m hoping to see eggs soon. I don’t know how long it takes after she’s finished her nest. Since this is my first time, I decided to watch, wait and learn from the birds; reading about it might make me more impatient.
Love,
Uncle Kip

Fingers are crossed Rachel. I’m always relieved to see her pop back in the nest for a spin, Thanks!

A few things I’ve learned by watching:
1. The nest is a “second home” just for raising offspring: I haven’t seen the male in the house since the nest started to take shape. I’m guessing the female starts sleeping there for incubation after the eggs are laid, then back to the main house after hatching?
2. Nest building is more break dancing than basket weaving: once she gets enough straw in there, she spins around in a circle, on her head, on her tail, upside down. She’ll tidy things up with her beak, but it’s the spinning that achieves that nice circular tube.
PS: Sarah Grace, your post was good luck. She laid an egg today!

New Bluebird egg!
on 18 Apr 2008 at 12:52 pm Andrea

How exciting! I was watching her this morning, and she seemed to be spending more time on the nest than usual…I thought she was up to something! I have a pair of bluebirds hanging around my yard, but so far, they have not moved in. I put up a second nest box this year (had a batch of tree swallows in my one box last year), but now the tree swallows seem to think they can manage two boxes. Hopefully they will choose one and leave the other for the bluebirds.
on 19 Apr 2008 at 8:47 am Eli Hutchinson

Dear Uncle Kip,
“In school I have been taking my CRCT test and I read a book about eggs during the test. I think that it will take about six weeks for the eggs to hatch.”
Love, Eli
P.S.- We are all very excited to see the egg!
on 19 Apr 2008 at 10:34 am Kip Draper

Hi Eli!
I’m so glad you’re watching the birds. Six weeks? That’s a lot of work for the parents. I need to order some more worms so they’ll have plenty of energy. Thanks for the information and thank you for commenting on my blog!
Love,
Uncle Kip
on 19 Apr 2008 at 2:59 pm Terri

Now TWO eggs!! This is really awesome! What a great cam….Thanks so much!
Terri & Eric
on 23 Apr 2008 at 2:01 pm Gloria

Hi Kip,

Love watching the beautiful bluebirds. I have emailed your website to my daughters, one is a teacher and has a computer in her class, so the young ones can watch the live action as the birds raise their young. What a great science lesson. Thanks for making this possible.

My birdman husband says the bluebirds will probably begin to hatch approximately 14 days after the female begins to incubate them. He has had racing, homing pigeons since he was a boy. We have the “Aska Peace Doves” and do white dove releases in the Blue Ridge area for weddings, funerals grand openings, etc. Are there any other pigeon fanciers in the Blue Ridge area?
on 26 Apr 2008 at 7:08 pm Sarah Grace, Nicole, Eli

Uncle Kip,
I can’t believe that there is five eggs in the nest.
Love, Sarah Grace (age 5)

OMG, I can’t believe there are five eggs. When are they going to hatch?
Nicole, age 8 (Sarah’s neighbor and good friend)

Whoa! Five eggs. That must be one big couple. Hope you have lots of worms there because that will be a lot of work to take care of all those birds.
Love, Eli (age

See you tomorrow! Kay
on 27 Apr 2008 at 7:48 am Kip Draper

I can’t believe those 5 eggs are hopefully going to be 5 baby birds very soon Sarah Grace!

Hi Nicole, Sarah’s neighbor and good friend, welcome to the bird blog. Gloria mentioned that it’s around 14 days after the last egg is laid. That would be around May 6th.

Eli, the birds are no larger than your mother’s hand. Even though the eggs are smaller than a golf ball, I’m amazed that she was able to carry them all and still fly!

You are correct; it is already more work than I had imagined but great fun. I ordered 5000 of these mealworms.

Do you think that will be enough?
on 02 May 2008 at 11:08 am Kip Draper

Here’s a YouTube video of the male feeding on mealworms. Sorry about the sound quality; it’s been very windy here the last few days:

Link to YouTube video