Bluebirds and those that look like it,,,

I have a bluebird house in my back yard a few feet from the garden fence. Every year we have had bluebirds nest in it and raise young. This year they again came back to nest. But somewhere along the line other birds have taken over the box. I didn`t notice til today because they are colored much like the bluebirds but fly like a swallow and have a bit longer beak and tail. The bluebirds have never paid much attention to me being around other than them just flying to the other side of the garden, even when they hatched young ones. But these guys dive bomb me. And there are three that protect the nest, two females and one male. Any idea what these birds are? And I am in NE Texas if that helps.

 

Sounds almost like Purple Martins.

 

No , none of those. We have blue and painted buntings and I know them well. Not purple martins either. I am well familiar with the birds we have here regularly but these are different. It could be a type of martin but if so, I have not seen them before. The male bird is a dark almost gray-blue on the back with rust colored throat but not as far down as the bluebirds, and it has cream below the rust colored throat. Females are rusty brown with cream breast. Tail is V shaped and longer that bluebirds. heads are a bit more pointed than round like bluebirds. They chirp constantly while attacking me. I just don`t get why there is three of them guarding the same nest box.

 

Could it be cowbids, the lay their eggs in other birds nests


cowbird ( photo / image / picture from gfreiherr's Garden )

 

No, Not that one either. Wish I could take a pic but my camera doesn`t work with this old computer.

 

Not that one either. The swallow has a very deep V in the tail and this bird has a small one. Looking again this morning I believe there are two pairs instead of three individuals. But they are both guarding the same nest box. One is on guard at all times and the other three hunt for bugs. And they are blue on the back but not nearly as bright blue as the ones we have had in previous years. These are a darker dull blue. And the ones we have had before were not nearly as aggressive as these. Another odd thing is that they make a clicking sound when I get too close to the nest box.

 

Believe me I would love to but no one around me has a computer. I am in the boonies out here. Sorry. I have been looking for another computer though. I am just too cheap to buy a new one for me to piddle on. LOL

 

Hi Mart,

I haven't had time to post anything on this forum in quite a while but your mystery birds really got my curiosity up. I live in NW Louisiana, near Shreveport. I host bluebirds and almost any other bird I can get. I thought your birds must be barn swallows or purple martins as mentioned earlier. Are they still there? You might try identifying them using whatbird.com. They have a neat search tool where you click on your location, then bird size, color, bill shape/size, wing shape, song, etc. It keeps narrowing the field of possibilities, where then you click on each one to see if its a match. It's been very helpful to me in the past. Good luck and please let me know what you learn.
Almost forgot to mention - early this season I was wondering why my pair of bluebirds just kept flying around and not starting a nest. I finally went and looked in the nestbox, and what did I find?! A Flying Squirrel! Lol! We quickly put up another box and everyone was happy. :-D

 

zHi there, We used to spend a lot of time around your neck of the woods. We traveled in our motor home and practically lived at Caddo Lake. We stayed at the camp at Oil City. We still keep in touch with some friends from there.
These birds finally left after hatching a couple of eggs. Still don`t know anything about them other than they are not our usual bluebirds that we have had for the last three years. It could be that these are a regular bluebird but they are just not shaped exactly the same and they fly a bit differently. I am well familiar with the martins and swallows and most all of our native species. The thing that got me was their aggressiveness. None of my others have ever been that way. My mockingbirds are not even that bad. And they flew more like a swallow. Its really strange. I even kind of wondered if perhaps a species of bluebird that normally lives in South America or Mexico had gotten a little out of its territory.
You have a flying squirrel in a bluebird nest ? Thats great. Last year we had a roadrunner sort of take up residence here. I caught a few mice in traps in the barn and I started feeding them to her. She just flipped her head back and downed them whole. She must have been an older bird because she built two nests an laid a few eggs but never found a mate. I found her in the garage where she evidently had a heart attack or whatever the equivalent for birds would be. Anyway she passed on to bird heaven.
If I ever find out what these birds are I will sure let you know.

 

Hi Mart.
Google cliff swallow and cave swallow. The description you give is very swallow sounding to me.

 

Nope, not even close. It looked like a bluebird but a deeper blue, more gun metal blue. Had the rust throat but not too far down, slightly more streamlined body, and nose dived like you wouldn`t believe. There were two pair that I eventually saw, don`t know if they were competing for the box but they worked in tandem with each other. If I went out and three were there guarding all three nosedived me. Thats just odd for bluebirds. All the others I have had nesting here just flew to the other side of the garden till I left. They were never aggressive.

 

Hi Mart,
It's too bad you never got to find out what those birds were. I bet you're right. Probably some species that we don't normally get around here. Have your usual bluebirds come back now that the "interlopers" have left? They probably have found another site. Maybe they'll come back next year.
Very interesting about the roadrunner in your garage. I've never heard of them coming anywhere near human activity. Bless you for taking care of her.