Here is Mama Bluebird, making all kinds of noise and staring at our Sliding Door... She is the most HYPER bird I have ever seen.... She has spent several days recently trying to 'dive' into our glass doors. For some reason (this has never happened before to us), Mama sees her reflection ---and thinks that another female Bluebird is invading her territory. She can't stand it... She flits around making all kinds of noise ---and actually scares the other birds away from the feeders...
Even when I am sitting right there on the deck with her, she is not afraid of me... BUT---she flies around constantly, making all kinds of noise... Then, she'll go and check on the babies in the nestbox --and then fly all around the yard, still making all kinds of noise. I was really afraid that she was going to hurt herself.... We finally put up an old shower curtain over the windows --and that helped a little. BUT--she remained hyper until the birds fledged sometime early yesterday morning. Yesterday, I only saw Mama Bluebird once --and she seemed to have calmed down (thank goodness).
Mama (in the midst of her turmoil) never ever neglected the babies. Can you see one with its mouth open---begging for food????
Isn't she a gorgeous little bird???? I know that she was just trying to protect her little ones ---but gee, she needed a pill to settle herself down a bit!!! Wonder what Daddy thought of Mama and her antics?????
Sorry these pictures are dark--but it is very shady where the nestbox is... In this picture, Daddy is inside cleaning up the poopy diapers---while Mama waits on top. That's Daddy's rear end that you see inside!!!
Here is Daddy leaving the nest. Both Mom and Dad are good parents.
I love this picture of Mama with her wings spread out... I seldom am lucky enough to get pictures of birds in flight.
"Hello, Little One.... Welcome to this big-ole world." Isn't he (or she) precious???? We think there were 4 babies in this brood. I guess they are up in the trees somewhere being taught about REAL LIFE now....
I hope Mom and Dad come back and do it again.... We'll clean out the nestbox this week. BUT---I hope Mama Bluebird settles herself down a little and just enjoys her babies!!!!! ha
Hugs,
63 comments:
Great shots Betsy. You sure seem to get a lot of enjoyment from your little feathered friends.
Looking at them makes us relaxed, right? if God can take care of them, surely He will take care of us much more too!
Have a nice day!!
That new camera is wonderful for making good bird shots! Gunny and I have managed to avoid our previous encounters with cat birds, although one started to get a little fiesty yesterday.
Stay cool, I just checked our weather for today and the forecast is for 99 degrees. Ugh!
Jane
Good Morning Betsy, These are great shots of the blue birds. I love the hungry baby shot with its mouth wide open! Each Spring we have a male cardinal who sees himself in our bathroom window and acts similar to your blue bird mama. We taped curling ribbon in long strips to float in the breeze and that seemed to help. I hope you and George have a nice day.
Excellent shots of the blue birds!
All of our various birds have fledged and play about in the trees. We have a hyper wren that insists on building nests everywhere except in appropriate places.
Precious birds they are and so are your pictures. Thank you Betsy for posting about the birds. I am amazed at the things I am learning. Like a short National Geographic!
Maybe she's a primipara...? Whatever she did, she got her kids raised and flying, so it's not all bad. :-P
I know some people moms like that!
Bestsy,
I dont know where is your location but the bird seems like a "European Roller".Usually it nests in hole in the tree, ruin or rock.They are highly territorial and seeing its reflection in the glass will make him mad and that may be reason for attacking your glass window.
What perfect shots Betsy !
I think Bluebirds are the sweetest birds, we have more than usual this year, and already raising their second batch of babies :)
I've known people who had the same trouble with birds trying to fly into their windows, and they ended up placing a sheet over the glass to help deter the mistook birds...
I just love your pictures, it's as close to being in the nest with them, as you can get ...
Thanks for always taking the time to share with us !
Precious indeed.
You know Betsy, I used to see "mama's" like this at the playground when the kids were little...just going crazy and overprotective!! Glad she calmed down a bit, that behavior will shorten HER life.
Birds are such entertaining little creatures. Must be great fun to watch your bluebirds, Betsy. Great pictures!
What a wonderful time you must have watching this sweet little family Betsy! Such a treat to have nature living close by.
Have a Happy Thursday!
xo Catherine
We don't get many Bluebirds here they are a special treat when we do get them. Have a good day.
Gosh it seems like she just laid her eggs not ling ago. But isn't that the way it goes when you have little ones. They are up and out the door before we know it.
they are all sweet and precious. she is so pretty. I am thinking maybe the reason she was hyper is the little birds are at their most vunerable when they are learning to fly, they sometimes fall on the ground, she is problaby clearing the yard so they can have free flight privledges
Precious is right, beautiful shots of the birds. We have a lot of glass and unfortunately several fatalities every year with birds flying into it.
You did a great job capturing this family, thanks for sharing!
Just love that series. Wonderful shots.
Something got my Bluebirds eggs (probably a snake). They were just gone with no trace. Glad to see a sucessful fledge.
Cute little birds! Wonderful captures Betsy. Thank you for sharing.
Have a great weekend ahead.
xo
love you little bluebirds!!! I can only get pictures of the babies and you got some wonderful ones of mom and dad. I think I need to sit still long enough to try and get mom and dads picture. They sure stay busy caring for those babies.
Betsy! These are wonderful pictures of the birds and their activities.
I just read the note you left on my blog about your visit to Coker Creek Falls. That is just two miles from my cabin, which is located on the banks of Loss Creek. Duckett Ridge Road becomes FingerBoard road at (or very near) my cabin. I love the Tellico Mountains - especially all of Monroe and Polk Counties!
Yikes,she must be some hyper mother.You are fortunate to have these birds nest on your yard,they are so beautiful.We have to go a few miles from home to watch them at the nest boxes,but it is so worth it.
Hope your day will be a good one.
BLessings,ruth
I'm happy that mama bluebird calmed down before hurting herself. I hope she stays calm! Your pictures look nice, all of them. I liked the one of the bluebird wings in flight. That was a excellent picture.
You mentioned about it being shady where the nestbox is. Are you using spot metering and have you tried different EV settings?
These pictures are wonderful, you did a fantastic job of capturing these dear little birdies. The baby with his mouth open is so cute!
I have only seen a Bluebird in my yard one time.
Thanks for sharing, Betsy :)
☼ Sunny
What a good mother protecting her babies! Look forward to seeing them when they come to your feeders!
That little momma has worry written all over her face...You'd think she had teenagers...Maybe that's what they are to her at this stage.
Loved seeing all your pictures...The one with her wings outspread was especialy beautiful. I'm so glad your bluebirds finally decided to try out your new house...Hopefully there will be another family for you to share with us before the summer ends.
I pray your feeling good and will have a great day!
They really are so much fun to watch! We've had a couple of them checking out our box again but I guess they are just reminiscing or something.
Hope you are having a great day today!
I think I was a "hyper" mom too with my "babies", especially the first one! I too "hovered" alot. I just love the captions you write for your photos. Hope this finds you feeling better. And thank you so much dear Betsy for your sweet comment on my blog, it means so much. Yes indeed, we do have many more adventures ahead of us!
Love the photos - especially of the wings spread out! Birds are fun to watch.
You'll have to come by and see the pictures of my little friends that built a nest under my deck. Sadly, I lost one but they were fun to watch over!
Beautiful shots, Betsy. We had the birds eye view with our nesting doves. I think Momma dove thought the little ones were never going to leave!!!! They got so big.
Well it just can't be helped we females don't want another female invading our territory...female bluebirds sound a bit human don't they....they take good care of family as well. Trish
Beautiful pictures! Bluebirds are my very favorite too.
Magnificent photos of this wonderful little Bluebird family Betsy, and so interesting reading about her antics.
Have a great weekend. Hope that knee is feeling a lot better these days.
An English Girl Rambles
Hi Betsy...You have the most beautiful post here. I love to stop by. The birds are a special treat for me as I have only seen a blue one myself once as he was on his way to somewhere. It was a fabulous flash of color. I like to think these little surprises are God's way of staying connected to us. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Betsy, loved the post. I'm so sorry for the little bird. She was obviously distressed by something she didn't understand. I've seen cardinal females do the same thing. Our modern windows and reflective surfaces are unknown to them.
Marnie
Hi Betsy, you got a fantastic picture of Momma Bluebird with her wings spread! I wonder what she was so upset about. I hope the bluebirds will nest again in your nestbox.
Beautiful photographs and birds Betsy! I am glad you are enjoying seeing the birds raise their families.
What a joy! I could sit & forever watch the birds. The other day enroute to church we saw a prehistoric red/white/black gigantic bird sitting on a tree ... I am yelling STOP, SLOW DOWN & then there were 2! Holy Tamoly!!! I was so excited I could hardly contain myself, well, actually I didn't ... & as I tried to capture them they 'walked' around the tree ... oy! such is the effort! as they flew away. We got on the Droid internet right away & thought we had that nearly extinct ivory-billed woodpecker BUT alas it was a Pileated Woodpecker ... so very similar & such huge awesome birds. How thrilled I was ... all I got was a picture of the durn tree as they were on the other side ...
Have a beautiful summer day ~
TTFN ~ Hugs, Marydon
I love the picture of Mama Blue Bird with its wings spread out! It's amazing.
Mama bluebird isn't afraid of you because she knows you're taking care of them. I remember the day I first read your post about the bluebirds saying your lucky enough you have a new camera with zoom lens to capture them.
Maybe she thought that her reflection is another bird who whats to take away their home sweet home....poor Mama bird, it's good she's calm now! *sigh*
Cheers,
Sey
Great pictures! My favorites are the wings fanned out and the baby's mouth open, so cute!! What's with mommy? I really never thought of birds as having personality disorders like we do, but she seems quite manic! Let's hope she's not getting bi-polar disorder or something!
Bluebirds are so, so pretty. The babies are always so much fun to watch.
I'm sure you settled down a bit, too. When the birds are distressed about something it's so upsetting, but it sounds like you did just the right thing with the shower curtain. Nice shots of the bluebirds, aren't they just gorgeous! Our nest of robins fledged yesterday - two of them that survived the cats - I feel better now. The nest was so close to the fence that the cats had a freeway to the nest. Enjoy the rest of the day. Hugs, Diane
Wonderful pictures!! Your feathered friends are very pretty!
Betsy,
These are great shots of the bluebirds. They are so beautiful and I just love the photos. I'm sure it's so much fun to watch your feathered friends.
You know I love this post with all your amazing shots - and your interesting descriptions of their activity! I love the pic of the mama bird with her wings spread; hope she's settled down!
You know I love this post with all your amazing shots - and your interesting descriptions of their activity! I love the pic of the mama bird with her wings spread; hope she's settled down!
Sorry I havn't visited lately, we've been on holiday. I love your bluebird family I bet you have enjoyed the drama of it all.
Well, I'm going to have to have my brother help me set up the email on my new cell phone. I was messing around with it myself and hope I didn't mess it up by signing up for the wrong thing. I didn't "agree" to the terms, so hopefully that stopped the set up but I don't know. I'm confused.
What can I say .... you got some great shots. I just love bluebirds anyway so any picture I can see of them is always good.
Aww, congratulations on a successful brood. (I do realize that you didn't raise them, but you did provide the lovely accomodations.) :)
How's the knee today?
Love it!! Have not been on here much hope you are feeling sso much better. Have a great weekend...hugs...m..
Those are great shots of your bluebirds. I can tell the difference between last years camera and the new one.
I bet you have more fun watching the birds than you do watching tv!
Goodness, mama bluebird sounds like she was really stressed out. Glad to hear she has calmed down a little. Great photos Betsy, I really like the last one with the little one peeking out at the world.
They sure do put on a show! I have a bird post today too.
Congratulations on your new family of birds..they sure are cute..we don't have them here.
I loved the one shot of the baby with its mouth open to be fed...and the one with the spread wings!!
Is there too much sugar in the feed that's got momma so hyper???? Just kidding! Those are truly great shots of Mr. and Mrs. Blue and their offspring! Wish they would come for a family photo to your window. Glad you put something against your window so they don't see their reflection.
Hope you are feeling much better!! Have a great week-end!
Funny post, Betsy. Excellent Bluebird pictures. Maybe Mama was a new one and just over protective--next time--no big deal. LOL MB
You know I had to finally just take down my houses due to that mom Bluebird pecking at all my windows Betsy. Maybe she'll calm down now that they are ready to fledge. It's so disconcerting to see them be so stressed by their own reflections!
What a wonderful sight you get to enjoy from your deck. Your shots of the Blue Bird family are beautiful, Betsy.
Oh my goodness - excellent photo essay of the wonderful happenings.
I love you got the baby's mouth!
Great photos, and a funny story of the hyperactive mama. Maybe she was a first time mom and just couldn't relax for worrying...
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