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Wow those are beautiful pics Dave!

All three are just spectacular as always Dave.

Love the feather definition.

Well fledge day is finally over. Actually, it was two days. After more than 12 hours of watching, I saw the first one fly at 6:22 p.m. yesterday. The sun was going down and the available light was harsh but I did get off five shots before he disappeared. I have combined them in a single frame to give you an idea what it looked like.

Stunning photography work!

I'm surprised a fledgling would leave at the end of the day.

Great photography Dave! Can't wait to see the rest!

The remaining five flew today. The first at 8:45 a.m. and the fifth just before 1:00 p.m. I saw them all go and I got pictures of all but one. I won't bore you with each and every one of them. I was somewhat surprised that the chick that was hatched two days after the others left too, but he was number four out and he was the one I didn't get a picture of. He left so soon behind number three that I was totally unprepaired.

More about Number Four later.

Here is a shot of Mama coaxing one of the fledglings. I moved my chair right down within 20 feet of the nest box. It gave me a great view. It didn't seem to bother the bluebirds and I was able to keep the robins and mockingbirds away.

This message was edited May 6, 2010 11:26 PM

This message was edited May 7, 2010 1:04 AM

There were still three chicks inside when a female house sparrow landed on the nest box and actually looked in. I think she was house hunting. I had taken the sparrow spooker down so the adult BB's could land on the roof of the nest box. Papa came from 100 feet away.

And banged right into her.

And took her to the ground.

The beating lasted a good 30 seconds before she got away.. I got 15 or 20 shots. This was typical.

I guess I need to turn the nest box more toward the trees. Five of the six birds flew straight out and up on our deck and the sixth (which was Number Four) flew low over the deck and landed in the grass on the other side of the deck. Since there is nothing tall on the deck for them to land on, several of the birds landed of the deck floor and eventually flew on to the trees behind the house. I presumed that Number Four had also flown on to the trees, but I later found that was not the case.

One of the birds actually landed on the trim above the upstairs window. He clung there for several minutes.

This message was edited May 7, 2010 1:07 AM

Here is number two.

Here is number three. I got several shots of each of these but they tend to look alike.

OOPS! My mistake. this is number five Since I can't replace a picture I will post number three below. Sorry.

This message was edited May 7, 2010 1:15 AM

Good for papa bluebird & defending against the sparrow.

Number five
If you look closely on some of these you can see the dust and fuzz fly as they for the first time really flap their wings.

Number six.

After this I felt quite relieved. I took my cameras in and began reviewing my pictures and then DW and I went out to a restaurant for an early dinner.

Thats an adorable shot of Mama coaxing the one out!
Scary stuff with the House Sparrow around glad Papa took care of that.
The five look so sweet and innocent making their first flight!!

I'm hoping that number 4 made out okay??

Before we left I noticed both adults on and around the nest box. Mama even went inside. I had seen HOSP in the vicinity, so I presumed she was concerned about keeping the HOSP from claiming the nest box before her next nesting. I decided I would put the sparrow spooker back on the nest box for a week or so.

I was a bit surprised when we returned from town to find they were still around the nest box. Now, I thought, they must be looking for meal worms, as I usually feed them about 6:00 p.m. As I walked up the steps from the basement with the worms, a bird flew by me so close it brushed my arm. I was shocked to realize it was a bluebird fledgling. In fact, it was Number Four. He apparently had been under the deck for the five hours since he fledged. Papa saw him and tried to get him to fly with him to the trees but no luck.

As I had feared, he was two days behind in his development and just not strong enough to fly more than 20 feet or so and he couldn't seem to get more than 10 feet off the ground. If I could have caught him I would have put him back in the nest box, with a hole reducer to keep him in. Mama could have fed him through the hole and I would have removed the reducer in a day or so, But no such luck. I couldn't get within 20 feet of him. And on top of everthing else, Papa was dive-bombing me when I tried. (After all, they are wild birds,even if they sometimes seem like pets). He flew into the neighbor's yard, then hopped back into my yard and all the time it was getting darker and darker. When I last saw him he hopped through my back fence and into a thicket in the common area behind our house. Papa was near him there but there was little he could do. All the other fledges were high in a tree, at least 50 feet off the ground. I can only hope Number Four got up into a small tree, stays very still and survives for another 24 hours so he can get stronger. But I probably won't know his fate for a week or so when hopefully all six of them will come back to the deck for meal worms.

This is one time when I didn't have my camera. But this is a picture of one of his brothers at the exact spot where Number Four was when I last saw him. About to go through the back fence.

This message was edited May 7, 2010 12:59 AM

This message was edited May 7, 2010 1:21 AM

Oh I'll be keeping number 4 in my thoughts tonight! I'm sure he is heavy on your mind.

Great job with the photos Dave! They are all such beautiful birds!

Thanks Pelle. I saw our neighbor's dog kill a Robin fledgling yesterday before I could get there to stop it. I don't particularly love robins but it just ruined my day.

Here is the correct picture of number three as he made his "leap of faith."

Great photo's Dave!! A lot of great capture's!

Papa should have told the interloping sparrow, "We were here first! You don't even belong on this continent, let alone this bird house!"

Fascinating series of the Blue Birds family Dave. Thank you for sharing those extraordinary pics.

Love this series Dave...so glad you were able to get your usual awesome shots! Hope all goes well with Number Four....I know how you worry about your Blues.

Thank you Dave!!