We have followed Bluebird nestings in 30 + boxes for more than ten
years , but
recently observed behavior that was new to us --- not that we felt that
we had seen everything !
In a box from which five young had been previously fledged , a new
nest was built and five eggs laid .
The box was checked weekly , our normal routine , and we visited it on
the 20th. day from
the observed completion of the clutch . As we approached the box a pair
of Bluebirds were
sitting on the fence rail near it , the female with a beak full on
insects . She entered the box
and we assumed that she fed young . But on inspection we found no young
, and five eggs
remaining in a messed up nest . The eggs were removed and were found
to contain no embryos
when broken .
The box is on a fence row , with a box every 100 yards , and a
total of five boxes in the immediate
area . The box on one side of it had had three unhatched , infertile
eggs removed on the same day ,
and the one on the other side contained five half-grown young .
Any ideas about what was going on ?
Bill and Maureen Minor
Charlottesville , VA
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