Queens of their boxes
Eastern Bluebird Eggs
After realizing that I fetched up my Wordless Wednesday post . . . I decided to come up with something easy to post today. Then I noticed the two females sitting on their nest box in my back yard. . . .
Female Eastern Bluebird
My Eastern Bluebirds have finally laid 5 eggs in their box and the Tree Swallows have not started building yet (but protecting the box). This reminds me that I need to get out and check all bazillion boxes that I monitor in Allegany State Park!
Female Tree Swallow
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The bluebirds sure make a nice and tidy nest. I never realized that bluebirds had blue eggs. Nice pictures. I notice the tree the bluebird is sitting on has leaves starting to show. Soon they will hide the birds.
7 May 2008 at 12:03 am
So lovely. Nothing prettier than a bluebird nest!
7 May 2008 at 12:12 am
You’re lucky! I have no Rough-winged Swallows in my nest pipes yet. The BOS might not get to see any real data at my talk next week unless those birds start nesting fast. Ugh… I wish it was easy to make birds do what you want 🙂
~ Nick
7 May 2008 at 12:42 am
I just love the eggs… they look candy-ish to me 🙂 and such a beautifully woven nest… you really do take marvelous pictures you know! Thanks for sharing.
7 May 2008 at 1:05 am
Just beautiful eggs! Can’t wait to see your babies.
7 May 2008 at 6:17 am
Get busy checking those boxes. We want to see pictures of nesting flying squirrels, chickadees, titmouse and anything else interesting you might find.
7 May 2008 at 7:27 am
I love seeing the eggs. ok I have a question. What makes the shell of the eggs blue? And I also love getting color combinations from nature. The blue and red brown are awesome together. I’m always thinking color.
7 May 2008 at 7:40 am
We have mourning doves nesting right outside a window. The eggs should be hatching any day.
7 May 2008 at 8:01 am
My bluebirds just hatched out of those eggs. And the bluebirds will NOT allow the tree swallows to nest in the nest box. Must be too close…but they fight so much I had to just open the door of the unused box and forget it. Great nest shot!
7 May 2008 at 9:13 am
Do you have a custom Bluebird box? I have two in my yard, both have nests, but I can’t open them from the top to get photos of the eggs. These particular boxes open from the front, and I am scared I will disturb the birds if I were to open the box from the front (so I have not done so).
7 May 2008 at 9:58 am
@ toni: Mr. Tom, hate to steal your thunder, but I just learned about this. The pigments that give bird eggs color were developed via natural selection as cryptic coloration or camouflage. To a color-blind predator, the colored eggs blend in better in the nest than white ones. Since these birds often leave the nest unattended, leading to this adaptation.
7 May 2008 at 3:47 pm
You are so lucky to have Bluebirds nesting. I have had several boxes near our house without any luck. In our back pasture, I had one box that attracted bluebirds but unfortunately a snake got the babies.
7 May 2008 at 5:43 pm
Those eggs are so nice and glossy that they look like something that was decorated for easter.
7 May 2008 at 8:27 pm
@ Linda – they sure do! Actually they have both blue and white eggs! I bet we can find a paper somewhere on why some have white and some have blue!
@ Liza – Thanks and I hear you!
@ Nick – thanks and sorry you are not getting any Rough-winged Swallows! We have many of them here in the park! Don’t worry about BOS . . . they will like anything you tell them!
@ Pinar – They look like easter candy! Blush and thanks!
@ Jayne – thanks and I will try to remember to capture their picture before banding them chicks!
@ Lisa – It will have to be a little while . . . I have a busy week next week! But I will get to them here soon! Heck maybe I have some owls in a few of the boxes we put up!
@ Toni – thanks and when the bird starts developing the egg in her body she first starts to form a hard shell around the egg (comes from calcium in her body). Just before the final process were she lays the egg, she has a way of coating the egg with spots or even give it some color. Now I am not sure if the blue comes from the Calcium or another chemical in her body . . . but somehow it stains the egg.
@ Bird Girl – Just hatched . . I should have been watching these guys . . I have no idea how long she has been sitting! My two boxes are a good distance away from each other!
@ Cas – I do have custom Bluebird Boxes and if I can remember I can send you the directions for making these boxes! I believe it’s a PDF file! Email me from my bio if I happen to forget to send it!
@ Scienceguy . . . . Yes and great description! Although your camouflage doesn’t help our bluebird friends since they are in a box (and their blue coloring isn’t a need for camouflage)! But with other birds the camo is very important for all the reason’s you stated!
@ Joan – thanks and maybe try pointing them in different directions or something to change for whatever reason they are not interested! Actually it took my bluebirds 2 years before finding these boxes! Sorry about the snake . . . that does happen!
@ Lvn – thanks and I was thinking the same thing!
7 May 2008 at 10:43 pm
We’re fortunate enough to have a pair of chickadees who have laid 7 eggs in one of our nestboxes – along with 3 boxes of house sparrows (@#$!), and breeding cardinals, titmice and blue jays somewhere around our yard (not sure where exactly, though).
I don’t know exactly what it is, but it’s always special to have breeders in your yard, isn’t it?
12 May 2008 at 2:10 pm