poor bluebird

This male Western bluebird lost his mate last month. Both Dennis and I thought the female bluebird had either a parasite or pesticide poisoning because she kept banging herself against the office window. She would do it for hours on end. She even taught this weird behavior to him, but he didn't do it as much as she did. We hoped that once she had some eggs to sit on, the behavior would stop. When they built their nest in the bluebird nesting box that my dad built for me, I was anxious to see her sitting on eggs. Unfortunately, she went off to die somewhere. Now the poor male hangs around, all alone. Here he is taking a bath and then preening himself. 

We also have tree swallows that nest in the bluebird boxes and these two were out this morning.