Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 18:20:58 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Norm Saunders Subject: Re: question about odd bluebird behavior MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Katharine, Although I've never seen a bluebird behaving this way, the behavior you describe is very much like the territorial defense displays I've seen with other bird species, notably cardinals and various woodpecker species. It's interesting that your bluebird seems to be expending so much defensive energy--the last few years they've given up to house sparrows in our yard with hardly any effort at all. Best, Norm ----- Original Message ----- From: "Katharine Patterson" To: Sent: Friday, April 06, 2001 9:55 AM Subject: [MDOSPREY] question about odd bluebird behavior > I have a female bluebird who is acting quite unlike a bluebird. She and her > mate have been back and forth to our BB box for a couple of weeks now. The > first nesting last year was 3/23. She has been noncommittal and he has been > lobbying hard for this box. Yesterday, from dawn until dusk, she flew at > every one of our windows and sliding glass doors, as well as the side view > mirrors on my truck! She was chirping and trilling and dashing about, landing > on the tube feeders to perch, knocking the other birds off. She was not being > aggressive or frantic, just--wacky! I checked the box to make sure there was > nothing in it to scare her and found the very beginnings of a grass nest. In > all the years I have monitored bluebird trails and had bluebirds here at our > place, I have never seen this kind of behavior. It's fascinating. As I write > this, she's back at the window, just inches away, swinging on the feeder and > making a racket! The male is waiting patiently for her to get down to > business--I sure hope she does! Has anyone else observed this kind of > behavior in bluebirds? > > Katharine Patterson > Butler, MD > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================