[bluebirdlover]

Thanks in advance to any who can help. Here's the situation: I hung 2 boston ferns out on the front porch. I do this every year. Normally, the house finches claim them quickly for nesting. The ferns hadn't been hanging long when I noticed a bird flying from one of the ferns. I checked it, and sure enough there was a little nest which contained one little speckled egg. A week or so later, I saw a bird flying from the other fern. When I checked that fern, there was a nest which contined 5 little white eggs with a few specks on them, and one larger speckled egg, which identically matched the one egg that I'd found in the other fern a week earlier. Now I know that the 5 little white eggs belong to a house finch. There are 2 other little birds hanging out in the tree next to the porch, and they fuss at me when I come out. I believe I have them correctly ID'd as song sparrows. I have never seen the sparrows fly from either fern, but the female house finch is always on her nest which contains five white eggs and another egg that isn't hers. I don't believe that any bird is sitting on the nest containing only the one speckled egg. Still, the sparrows persistantly hang around as if they are guarding a nest. After on-line researching the eggs, I have come to believe that the speckled eggs do belong to the sparrows. This is an odd situation. Any ideas? Thanks!!~~Angie

[jcwings]

You either have a cowbird situation (a nest parasite) or occasionally the nesting instict will provoke odd bird behavior whereby other birds attempt to feed the recently hatched young, foster parenting and even incubating. I've never heard of a bird laying an egg in an otherwise occupied nest, except for cowbirds of course. Maybe they are actually sharing a nest?!! How strange would that be?

[bluebirdlover]

Thanks JC! I am so happy to find a response! I already knew about cowbirds, and had in fact checked out some cowbird egg pics on the web. They look very much like the song sparrow eggs in the pictures I saw, only they are larger of course. This definitely could be a cowbird situation. The thing that is so perplexing is that pair of song sparrows which are ALWAYS out there fussing at me! It's obvious they are guarding something. I would be happy to send the pics to you, if you'd be willing to take a look. I couldn't figure out how to shrink them enough to put them here with the post.~~Angie

[snowyowl]

It's possible that you do have a Cowbird egg or that the Sparrow got confused and laid in the wrong nest. Some birds don't start to incubate until their whole clutch is laid. I don't know about sparrows but will try to look it up. Meanwhile the best advice it to do nothing but stay away from the nests as much as possible.

[bluebirdlover]

Thanks Dan. Appreciate the response. I have not disturbed the nests at all. The house finch is happily incubating an egg that is not hers, and those crazy sparrows are jumping around and squawking just below her!! I would be happy to e-mail the pics of the 2 nests if you'd like to take a look-see.~~Angie

[snowyowl]

Originally Posted by bluebirdlover

Thanks Dan. Appreciate the response. I have not disturbed the nests at all. The house finch is happily incubating an egg that is not hers, and those crazy sparrows are jumping around and squawking just below her!! I would be happy to e-mail the pics of the 2 nests if you'd like to take a look-see.~~Angie

Sure, email but be careful not to disturb the birds when taking the pictures. I'm at dankennedy"at"islandtelecom.com .

[snowyowl]

Angie, I'm afraid that the larger eggs do seem to be Cowbird eggs. Sorry to be slow getting back to you but the weather was too nice.

[bluebirdlover]

Originally Posted by snowyowl

Angie, I'm afraid that the larger eggs do seem to be Cowbird eggs. Sorry to be slow getting back to you but the weather was too nice.

Thanks Dan. I think that you are right. The cowbirds must have laid in the first nest the finches built, and then that caused the finches to go to the plant next door and build anew. I have had a periodic cowbird at my feeder out back. Appreciate the look-see.~~Angie

[chippingsparrow]

What often happens in this case is that the cowbird egg will hatch before the others, the hatchling will be bigger, grow faster, be more aggressive and will push out of the nest some of the smaller weaker house finches. Remove the cowbird egg, if you don't want this scenario.

[bluebirdlover]

Originally Posted by chippingsparrow

What often happens in this case is that the cowbird egg will hatch before the others, the hatchling will be bigger, grow faster, be more aggressive and will push out of the nest some of the smaller weaker house finches. Remove the cowbird egg, if you don't want this scenario.

Hi Chipping!
Thanks for the words. Everyone will be happy to know that mama house finch has successfully hatched her 5 little eggs and there were 5 naked babes pulsing in the nest when I checked the fern today! Ironically, that old cowbird egg seems to have disappeared from that nest. So, I imagine the little finch babies are safe, for now anyhow. Their next threat will be the neighbor's cats.~~Angie

[bluebirdlover]

This post is in reference to my earlier post about the "perplexing nesting situation." This is just the saddest thing. I thought that all had gone well when I checked the nest yesterday and found that the little finch eggs had hatched, and the babies looked good. Today however, I checked the nest and found that all of the newborn babies are gone. It's as if they just vanished. There is not a sign of them anywhere. I am completely baffled. Do cowbirds come back to check nests in which they have lain eggs? Could this be the work of a cowbird? I can't imagine what might have happened last night. Any ideas? The nest is in a fern which is hanging quite high. I have to get the step stool to reach it. Any thoughts are appreciated.~~Angie

[Isurus]

I'm thinking snake or squirrel perhaps.

[Katy Penland]

I could be wrong, but I don't think cowbirds do anything but lay eggs and leave the eggs and nests to the surrogate parents. It sounds more like a predator might have found the nest. I don't think bluebirds are like some other animals and can move their babies from one nest to another.

I also don't know anything about artificial bluebird nests, so don't know how immune they are to disturbance, but is it typical for nestbox owners to check the boxes every day? Do bluebirds tolerate our presence that easily? I'm asking out of total ignorance here, not trying to imply anything.

[bluebirdlover]

Originally Posted by Katy Penland

I could be wrong, but I don't think cowbirds do anything but lay eggs and leave the eggs and nests to the surrogate parents. It sounds more like a predator might have found the nest. I don't think bluebirds are like some other animals and can move their babies from one nest to another.

I also don't know anything about artificial bluebird nests, so don't know how immune they are to disturbance, but is it typical for nestbox owners to check the boxes every day? Do bluebirds tolerate our presence that easily? I'm asking out of total ignorance here, not trying to imply anything.

Hi Katy,
It isn't a bluebird nest, it is a housefinch finch nest. And, I would not normally have looked at the nest 2 days in a row. I had to water the fern yesterday, and knowing that the babies would be newly born, I took the fern down for a very careful watering. My 11 year old son had a friend overnight. He desperatey wanted to see the babies this morning, as he is also a bird watcher/lover. So, that is why I saw it on consecutive days. The fern is hanging up fairly high with no way of climbing up into the pot. I'd think that it almost had to be a flying predator. Thanks!!~~Angie

[Katy Penland]

Oops, my bad on having the wrong species! I'll merge this thread with the other one as it's an update; that way everybody will be able to find the continuation of the story. Thanks for the clarification, Angie.

[chippingsparrow]

It's my understanding as well that cowbirds have no interest once they've laid their eggs. It could be any number of predators, but my guess would be at night racoons, or during daytime, grackles, crows, starlings or bluejays. Do you have any of these nearby? Other predatory birds may be house sparrows or mockingbirds.

[bluebirdlover]

Originally Posted by chippingsparrow

It's my understanding as well that cowbirds have no interest once they've laid their eggs. It could be any number of predators, but my guess would be at night racoons, or during daytime, grackles, crows, starlings or bluejays. Do you have any of these nearby? Other predatory birds may be house sparrows or mockingbirds.

Thanks chipping. I do have raccoons, but they could not have gotten up to this pot. It's too high and is free hanging with nothing to crawl up on. I have also had some crows, bluejays,and mockingbirds around. I never knew that they predated the nests of other birds. There was absolutey no sign of any struggle at all. It's as if they just vanished. There wasn't even a single fern frond on the ground.~~Angie

[snowyowl]

Hi Angie!
Sorry about the loss of the babies. It's always sad when these sort of things happen. As to the cause, well we will probably never know for sure. From the way that you describe the undisturbed ferns, it sounds like something flew in, whether jay or mockingbird we can only guess. It occurs to me that a very likely candidate might be a Southern Flying Squirrel. They are carnivorous and could easily reach the nest with little signs of disturbance.
Hopefull your wrens will nest again this year. Are they still around? If they do, you'll just have to keep an eye on them from a distance and hope for the best. There really isn't much you can do to protect them.
Keep us updated on any developments.

[chippingsparrow]

Yes, bluebirdlover, it's always sad when something like that happens, but I guess that's nature. Yesterday I watched as a grackle was picking at something as it perched in a tree in my neighbour's yard, then flew into the bottom of a cedar hedge where I knew there was a Song Sparrow's nest and flew out with a baby bird in its mouth. I don't know whether the grackle wiped them all out or not as the nest is on the other side of the fence in my neighbour's yard and I can't see into it.
I remember last year grackles wiped out two broods of baby robins that had a nest in a pine tree in our backyard. As you can tell, I don't like grackles much. They're real opportunist and bullies, and I often see them chase a robin off a dew worm it has just pulled out of the grass.

[bluebirdlover]

Well, yesterday I cleaned the nests out of both ferns, and they are ready to go again. I hope another bird chooses one of them for nesting. I was thinking about this, and I did see a large hawk the other day. I wondered if it might have had something to do with taking those babies. Then again, it's was so large that I can't imagine it perching on that flimsy pot. Oh well, forward we move. Thanks for the thoughts.~~Angie

[Daniwaag]

Hi Angie,

Well, after reading through your posts sounds to me like my problem may have been grackle related. I have noticed a lot of them around lately. I didn't suspect them at first because they seem to be hogging seed from the feeder, I didn't think they were predatory, but after reading the grackle post I wonder...

Every pleasure has it's pain I guess.

[Tracey B]

Originally Posted by snowyowl

Hi Angie!
Sorry about the loss of the babies. It's always sad when these sort of things happen. As to the cause, well we will probably never know for sure. From the way that you describe the undisturbed ferns, it sounds like something flew in, whether jay or mockingbird we can only guess. It occurs to me that a very likely candidate might be a Southern Flying Squirrel. They are carnivorous and could easily reach the nest with little signs of disturbance.
Hopefull your wrens will nest again this year. Are they still around? If they do, you'll just have to keep an eye on them from a distance and hope for the best. There really isn't much you can do to protect them.
Keep us updated on any developments.

Wow, I have to correct you on this one! Mockingbirds will fiercely protect their nests from predators, but NEVER would a mockingbird disturb another songbird's nest. The most common garden flying predators are bluejays, grackles, magpies and crows. Some smaller birds too, like the house wrens and English Sparrows. But they don't eat the chicks, (house sparrows might a little) so the dead chicks would still be there. If you have bluejays around your garden, then I would tend to believe a bluejay was the culpret. Once a predator bird spots a nest, there's really not too much the parent birds can do, even though they try hard to protect their chicks.