The Nesting Box

First posted on 05-10-2011

Last year, I built a couple of bluebird houses but the only occupants were families of sparrows that filled the space with grasses and raised their young inside. While sparrows are nice, I more enjoy bluebirds with their spectacular coloring and a penchant for consuming insects.

This year, I’ve had a male bluebird spending ample time near one of the houses, popping inside for a peek like a wary real estate customer on the hunt for a new home. He shows up in the afternoon and perches on a fence nearby, or on a branch of a dead maple tree across the yard. He looks lonely. He stays on his perch for long spells, scanning the ground in front of him, looking up now and then and, occasionally, belting out a tune.

Clearly, he is a bird with plenty to offer, but no mate that will take him up on it. I tried to help his cause a little by purchasing some live mealworms to sweeten the nesting box deal. I even made a very nice feeding tray from a small bowl that I placed on a decorative loop of heavy-gauge, solid copper grounding wire. But he hasn’t touched the treat and the recent heat wave has not helped the worms’ cause, either.

I watched this male bluebird follow the same pattern every day for a week. Each afternoon, he arrives and takes up his spot on the fence or in the tree, and he waits. Lately, he’s moved over to the swing set, which affords him a better 360 degree view of the entire backyard. The only photos I’ve managed to capture are fuzzy because I’ve had to take them through glass since this guy is human-shy and flies off to parts unknown if I set foot outside.

Yesterday, a breakthrough occurred. He showed up with a female bluebird. They both perched on the fence and he would try to demonstrate that he had selected an ideal location to raise a family by flying into and out of the nesting box several times. She seemed interested in other things and never did follow him into the box to see for herself. She flew to the ground, hidden among some Asiatic lilies until he flew to meet her, which ended up startling her and simply flushed her out again.

Eventually, she flew off while he was back inside the nesting box, presumably tidying up the place. I imagine he was bitterly surprised to emerge and find she had moved on. If only he had found the mealworms. He could have presented her a bouquet of the wriggling creatures. Mealworms, after all, are the fillet mignon of the bluebird world, so it would have been like dinner and flowers in one, neat package.

This morning, neither half of the pair was about and yesterday’s mealworms were yesterday’s news. I put out a few fresh worms a little while ago in hopes that they’ll be spotted by the male or the lady he is trying to woo. It’s cooler today, and cloudy. Maybe the worms will last until nightfall.

Until then, the waiting game continues.

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