Bluebird Cam

This will keep me busy.

For Father's day, my daughter-in-law, Jennifer, got me a tiny (approximately 1 inch square) camera that is made to mount inside of a birdhouse to be able to watch the birds hatching, getting fed, growing, etc., etc. It is a gift from Jen and Scott, but we need to give credit where credit is due...Jen found the camera!

So....I plan to keep you up to date on what is going on with Bluebird Cam. I don't believe that I have the knowledge, equipment, or bandwidth to show the live feed on the internet like some of those live cams do. So I will take pictures of my TV screen from time to time and post them here along with an explanation of the happenings.

This first report will be much longer and more detailed than you will get for awhile. I don't plan to watch BB TV all day. But I do want to get you up to date and also I want to record the eggs laying process. Bluebirds lay one egg per day until all eggs are laid. Only then do they begin to incubate the eggs. That way all the babies hatch about the same time and compete for food equally. Once the female starts sitting on the eggs my posts may be several days apart since the two week period until they hatch could be very similar..."female on nest".

The camera is a color camera, but color needs lots of light and there isn't enough of that inside a bluebird box. That is why the pictures look like they are in black and white. It also has sound but you won't experience that here although we hear every sound perfectly through the TV. It also has infrared lights (they can't be seen by humans or birds). So I get just as good a picture at night as I do during the day. The camera is a Hawk Eye Night Owl Nest Box Camera, also called a Hawk Eye Nature Cam. Birdingdepot.com seems to have a good price.

The camera is attached to 100 feet of cable that snakes along the outside of my house, in around the front door, along the foyer and into the den, under the rug and out into the hall, under the runner, behind the bookcase, around the corner, and into the TV. My other option was to drill a 1/2 inch hole (to accomodate the plugs on the end of the cable) down through the wooden floor and out through the crawlspace. Plan B would not have been approved by the home superintendent (Nancy).

I have 2 bluebird nest boxes in the back yard and they have each had bluebird nests in them the past 2 years. But they compete with the box in my neighbor's back yard. I have 2 boxes to give the birds a choice, but all three boxes in the back (my 2 plus my neighbor's) are within 100 yards of each other and normally only one of the three will have bluebirds nesting at a time due to bluebird territory requirements.

So, I decided to add a Bluebird nest box in the front as a third choice and hopefully to not compete with my neighbor's birds. One of my boxes in the back did serve as a home for some Carolina Chickadees this spring. The picture of the front bluebird nest box shows where it sits at the north corner of my house...left front as you look at the house from the street. Notice the "Kingston" predator guard on the pole. I just recently read on a bluebird web site that it is estimated that in Tennessee snakes comprise 1/3 of all predation on bluebirds. Other predators are house sparrows, house wrens, mice, squirrels, ants, raccoons, mink, etc., etc. A good predator guard should protect the birds against almost all of those concerns. However, it won't stop black bears, which will also eat baby bluebirds (as experienced by my friend Bill Cuppett in Pennsylvania).

So here are the time frames to get you up to date. The bluebird started the nest about Tuesday June 9. That day there were only a few strands of dry grass in the box. Over the next 4 days the nest took shape. I actually never saw the female carrying any nest materials into the box, but each evening when I checked the nest was fuller and eventually the nest cup was completed on Sunday, June14.

One egg each was laid on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, June 15, 16, and 17. That is the picture that you see here with 3 eggs. I waited until there were 3 eggs before installing the camera because I didn't want my activity to cause the birds to abandon the nest. I installed the camera on a spare roof and then just switched the roofs so that I would disturb the nest box for as short a time as possible.

June 18, Thursday I turned the Bluebird Cam on about 5 am when I got up. Still 3 eggs no activity. I left the BB Cam on while I went outside for awhile and about 6 am I heard the male BB calling from a nearby tree. In a few minutes he flew to a high tree to a branch where the female was sitting. I think he was looking for her.

At 6:25 while I was making coffee I noticed the female (via the cam) entering the box. She rearranged some of the dried grass of the nest and then sat on the nest. The picture here is her on the nest as viewed on my TV. after about 12 minutes she left. Still just 3 eggs. At 7:25 she returned and sat again for about 10 minutes and left again...still 3 eggs. At 8:05 she returned and at 8:25 am, she jumped up and voila, the 4th egg. She stayed for about 5 minutes and then left again.

At about 11:30 am she returned for about 5 minutes and then left again. I am guessing that since she isn't staying that she might have another egg for tomorrow. Bluebirds typically lay 4 or 5 eggs.

So now you are up to date. Hopefully you will enjoy and learn from the camera experience almost as much as I plan to.