AboutBluebird Bob Walshaw Expertise Questions about setting up and monitoring Eastern Bluebird houses. This includes where and how to put up houses, trouble shooting, fighting predators, etc.
Experience 10 years with an 80 box Bluebird trail which has been accepted as part of the Transcontinental Bluebird Trail. Talks on Bluebirds to many organizations.
Organizations North American Bluebird Society, Audubon Society
Publications Bluebird Magazine, Birds and Blooms, Oklahoma Today, etc.
Education/Credentials BS, MBA, Cornell University Bird Biology course
Awards and Honors Blue Cross Ageless Hero, Red Cross Everyday Hero
Question First there was one egg then two more, I thought one was a sparrow egg so I removed it. Next day four eggs and one sparrow egg. I had never seen the mother, just the male and he didn't seem to enter the nest box. I got worried after a couple of days and moved the eggs into my bedroom and used a heating pad to supply heat (to incubate) sparrow egg and all. Since then I have been able to attract a mating pair again. They started the nest this morning (peanut butter and cornmeal dough is wonderful). The question is if the eggs were cold when I rescued them will they incubate or am I wasting my efforts?
Answer Usually one different egg is the work of a parasitic brown headed cowbird and they should be removed as the baby will outcompete the other babies for food and they will die. A house sparrow or house wren would have destroyed the other eggs.
Please let nature take its course and do not try to incubate the eggs or to raise babies. It is cruel as they bond to the feeder, do not learn to forage or to avoid predators and can never go back to the wild. Send your mailing address to walshaw1@cox.net and I will send you a free 20 page Bluebird book.
