This is what a blue bird nest looks like in my blue bird house. It's neat; everything goes in a circle and it's made from pieces of straw and dried grass.
This is what I found in the nest after I didn't see the blue birds going in the box any longer.
This is NOT a blue bird egg!!!!
It a cow bird egg! It's slightly bigger than blue bird eggs and has brown speckles.
They go around laying their eggs in other nests and never stick around to raise their young!! Hmmmmm. Then the baby hatches and being bigger, it gets all the food and the other young birds die!
(This isn't the blue bird nest, it's just an old nest I found that I put it in for pictures.)
I waited for over a week and still no blue birds so I removed the blue bird nest from the box too.
Within a couple days the blue birds were back and built a new nest.
They were very smart and didn't lay eggs in with the cow bird egg!!
Now there are beautiful blue eggs in there.
Four of them!!!
I sat by the box trying to get a picture of the blue birds. They were around but after about a half hour I was ready to give up. Then all of a sudden she flew in. I missed the shot!!!!!!
I changed my vantage point and got this picture of her just ready to fly out.
Blue birds mean "Summer" for me!!
This post is linked with "Seasonal Sundays" at The Tablescaper:
And "Outdoor Wednesday" at A Southern Daydreamer:
Shirley
what a great pictures, enjoyed seeing Mama blue bird
ReplyDeleteHooray for the blue bird! Have a safe and happy 4th!!
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Susan and Bentley
How adorable! What happened to the egg? That is a cuckoos egg :) Crows raise their young and they are very social and intelligent birds. They raise their young and then form families :)
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Good for the bluebird! I'd never heard of a cowbird and had to look it up...In the UK and Europe the cookoo does the same thing except they are even craftier - they lay an identical coloured egg to the host. They are also 'host spacific' in that they don't all lay the same colour egg one may be identical to a blackbird and another to a robin. Crafty little beggers eh!
ReplyDeleteWhat a bold breed those Cow Birds are!!! I too see Bluebirds and think Summer. Have a great holiday Shirley!!..;)JP
ReplyDeleteKasia, I'm not positive but I don't think we have cuckoos in NE Ohio. I took the strange egg out of the blue bird nest when no one tended it for 2 weeks.
ReplyDeleteGREAT capture on that last Blue Bird photo! LOVE natures "music"
ReplyDeleteI so enjoyed this post! I have never tried bluebird boxes. I do wrens, but bluebirds are harder to get in the suburbs, I think. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI love watching the baby birds as they grow. We have a few nests now. That is a great picture of Mama bird coming out of the house! Let us know if you see babies! Linda
ReplyDeleteLove that learning something.. Beautiful eggs and such a special thing.. happy fourth, many blessings, marlis
ReplyDeleteLove your blue birds! How lucky you are to have them. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteCindy
Oh, yes! Summer and baby birds! Fun post and I learned something about cow birds!
ReplyDeleteI love that you were actually able to get these photos. A couple of years ago I was so excited to have a nest over our back door, close enough to observe the whole process from building to flying away. One drawback, this particular bird was unbelievably messy and we had a job keeping the area clean. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteHow neat. I've never heard of a cow bird. I love watching nature. Thanks for being a part of Seasonal Sundays.
ReplyDelete- The Tablescaper