ENTRY # SEVENTY EIGHT

Mornin' Ray,

We've got no problem with you using the bluebird story with your readers, but I would ask you to use the corrected version below. I had a couple of typos that Bobbie pointed out.

Stay healthy and happy.
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Good to hear back from you Ray--my new Tennessee friend. My message this morning got so far off bluebirds that I forgot all about them until later in the morning. So here's the story of our first bluebird season.

We have been bird feeders for many years. So when we moved 3 miles away, we fretted about the birds we left behind and set out to attract birds to our new home. While driving past one of our new neighbor's house, I saw a bluebird sitting in their driveway. We didn't have bluebirds at our old house, so we got excited about attracting them to our new house.

Bobbie brought home from her high school a bird house built by Habitat for Humanities kids. I looked at this house and something didn't look right. Some of the boards were nailed on backward--like it was built inside out. I guess the kid who nailed it together was thinking about girls like most of us guys at his age.

After rebuilding the house, we put it up and then ran out and bought three fancy houses with copper-clad roofs. But then we found out they need to be about 100 yards apart. We'd need a lot more land to handle 4 bluebird houses, so we converted the new, pretty houses to wren, titmouse, chickadee, etc. houses by putting a 1 ｼ inch restricter plate--a little NASCAR lingo here--over the opening.

We got families of all birds that frequent our feeders. But what really blew us away was the bluebird pair that showed up the day we put up the rickety house. We placed the house just outside our home office windows, and spent numerous hours watching these industrious birds build their nest, feed four hungry babies all day long, and care for them day after day after they took to the air. The male was particularly entertaining. He was determined to keep any other male away from his offspring, including his own reflection in our windows all the way around the house and our neighbors' car mirrors. I put up a perch across our office windows for him to rest on while guarding his territory.

We cleaned out the house after the babies fledged and darned if they didn't start another nest. We learned that bluebirds love mealworms, so we started buying bags of 500 worms that they gobbled up in a couple of days, so we graduated to bags of 5,000 worms which last about a week. We have had four clutches of baby bluebirds. Each batch of babies hangs around to help care for the next. They grab as many worms as they can and zoom back to the house to feed their brothers and sisters. There'll be three or four bluebirds with worms in their mouths hanging on the house waiting for their chance to feed the babies. In the morning, I put out a half cup of worms and stand back. I have counted 16 birds at a time crowding around the two feeders. The evening feeding is also a frenzied affair.

Whenever one or two bluebirds decide to jump into the bird bath, they all join in and thrash around like maniacs. I have to refill the bath after they get through.

Bluebirds are just amazing. They have entertained us and kept our yard free of mosquitoes and darned near every other kind of insect.

It is costing us over $100 a month to feed these hungry little critters, but they have provided us way more enjoyment than a night at the movies.

We are looking forward to your next posting.

Have a great day,

Bobbie and Roger