So sorry to hear of the loss of the babies and Male BB. How sad. Do you have a sparrow spooker on the box? Was there any sign of trauma to the males head? What about the babies, do they look pecked at all. If it was a HOSP you will see peck marks on the babies and the male, it is very evident when they die from a HOSP attack. If there are no signs of trauma it is hard to tell. If the female does not take the dead babies out you should, also check for blowfly larva in the nest, I had them kill two 6 day old babies last year and I had to do a nestchange in order to save the one remaining baby. Good luck, I hope the lone baby survives, Momma shouldn't have any problems providing for just one. If you don't have a spooker up get one up asap. Donna Here is a link that might be useful: sight with info on spookers and blowfly

Sorry about the loss of your Bluebird babies! How sad! It could have been a number of things. Where are you and how hot was it there? It could have been the heat but I have heard of lots of babies doing just fine in this hot hot weather. I added head shields on my boxes for the first time this year to try to keep the box a bit cooler. Blowflies are a big problem this time of year. Were there any grayish short worm looking things in the nest when you took it out? I have lost baby Blues to blowflies before and try to watch the nests for them especially during the second nestings to clean it out or change it if I do see the larva. Also if something happened to one or both of the adults obviously the babies would die, one parent could feed them though and keep them alive. Did you feed mealworms at all? Has anyone around your neighborhood, or yourself sprayed you lawn or yard with pesticides or herbicides? That can kill baby birds when the parents feed them bugs that have the spray on them. Just some ideas, sometimes you just never know. Oh another thought, did you have a sparrow spooker up? Do you have any House Sparrows around, they will go in a nestbox and peck the babies to death, did the babies look pecked at all or where they dead too long to tell? So sorry this happened. Donna

Bluebirds are drop feeders, they perch on something and watch the ground for movement and drop down on it to catch the bug...how do you plan on teaching this to the baby bird? With rehabbers they normally have other birds that can teach nestlings how to hunt. They also try to release a bird they took back in with the same family group or another family group. I can understand how you become attached to the bird but it isn't good for it, rehabbers understand this. As far as cats...GOD did not put domestic cats on this earth to hunt and kill...he put wild cats out there to do that. Man domesticated the cat and it has changed greatly over the years...it no longer belongs outside to kill just for the fun of killing...most house cats let outside don't eat what they kill they just kill. I just cannot understand people that love birds yet let their cats outside...doesn't make sense. Dog owners are expected to keep their dogs on their own property and leashed when off...why do cat owners feel they can let their animals out to crap on other peoples lawns and sandboxes...I just don't get it! One of our neighbors has a cat and she does let it outside however it is always on a tie out when outside...now that is a responsible cat owner that cares about her cat! Maybe if you would have had your cat on a tie out or in a outside kennel made for cats you wouldn't be in this predicament. Seriously if you must let your cats outside...please take down any bird houses you may have, it certainly isn't fair to the bird that may nest in your yard to have to live around a cat...fledgling time would be especially dangerous as many fledglings cannot fly well at first.

Hello, I am so sad. I had a successful bluebird nest of 5 eggs. Attached a sparrow spooker after first egg hatched. Mom hatched all five eggs and babies were 9 days old today. This morning went to straighten Mylar strips on sparrow spooker and box was quiet. Soon discovered one baby blue bird dead inside nest and 4 were missing! No evidence of the four. What happened? Can sparrows kill and then push a 9 day old baby out of nest? I saw sparrows on top of box about 3 hours after I discovered the babies gone and one dead. Please help!