Bluebird Thread # 7

Since the three BB babies that fledged last week have started coming to the feeder with the parents, let's start with some pictures of them. I think this one is a male.

Another male.

Same bird as just above, trying to get Papa's attention.

And he does

More?

Dave the pics are awesome! They are so cute at that age!

Yes, I agree. It's fun to shoot pictures of them.

Here is a shot of the female fledgling. I know I used the same picture in thread 6, but this is the only one I got where you can see her wing feathers. Notice there is little, if any blue.

Here she doesn't seem to realize she has already has a worm in her beak.

One more

Here is MAMA with one of the males. Last one for tonight.

She is precious!! Is MAMA feeding them too?

Totally adorable! Nice pics.

Yes, MAMA is helping most of the time. She breaks away to continue working on the nest -- which is nearly finished, and she will keep helping until she begins incubating the eggs, which I expect her to begin laying in a few days.

Great pics Dave, I see the baby male has already learnt the wing wave!

You guys are so cute with your "MAMA." You really don't have to do that.

Wallaby, I was going to say that "My first wing wave."

Too cute. This is my favorite stage!

Hey Dave, one of my colleagues thinks she saw a pair of bbs apartment hunting at one of my nesting boxes yesterday - I've yet to see them and they didn't eat the meal worms I put out, but . . . . another teacher's class finished the meal worm life cycle (good for my budget!) and they have a bunch of the beetles. Do bbs eat beetles? I'll save them in the frig if they do.

Thanks, and am totally amazed every time I look at the pics. You made my day.

We need a new language to describe these great photos! They are too wonderful, moocho great, absolutely awesome!!

Thanks so much for the photos, Dave. Heartwarming for us here in the north....it is still very chilly here!

Glad to help. Here is Papa from about 10 minutes ago, loading up.

Airborn

Another shot of Papa

Oh my, those babies are just so adorable. And hungry! Thanks for the awesome pics (as usual)!

Thanks for posting baby pics, Dave.
I feed mealworms in a dog dish that sits on my patio table. Yesterday, I noticed a male BB in the dish getting worms and taking them to the Mrs. who was impatiently waiting on the back on one patio chair, then he'd come back and get a worm and take one to each of his awaiting open-mouthed babies, one perched on the back of each of the other three chairs. The baby blues sure get big quick, don't they? I trust the dad snuck in a worm or two while they weren't watching!

I love those polka-dotted babies and it's no wonder they look larger than their exhausted parents......excellent Dave!

When I first saw them on my deck I thought they resembled a parakeet... I'd never seen the babies!

Dave,
I love looking at your pictures!
How long does it take for the eggs to hatch? Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since we found the nest in my daughter's playhouse. I know the mom's still hanging around but I haven't actually caught her flying in or out of it lately. I could just be missing her doing so. She hangs out on the fence right in front of the playhouse when I see her. I've walked up to it and I don't hear any babies and based on how the nest is, you can't see it as it's up under the platform and I don't want to reach my hand up in there if there are babies and scare them. I don't smell anything bad so I guess that's a plus. I'm just wondering at what point would it be safe to assume that either they aren't going to hatch or they've hatched and gone so I can remove the nest before she uses it again.

Oh, and the screeching, really annoying babies I mentioned earlier I think are brown thrashers? Sounds almost exactly like one of my dogs who whines almost constantly.

Thanks,
Kristen

Kristin The eggs should hatch 13 days after she chooses to begin incubation, which is usually when the last egg was laid, but it could be a few days later, depending mostly on the weather. One of the hardest things to do is remove the eggs. It only happened to me once; 2 years ago . It was the first nesting of the season and we had a very cold snap. I waited 20 days and she kept sitting all that time. They say if you don't interfere, she will sit until about 30 days, then abandon the nest. I candled the eggs, then broke them one at a time and was quite relieved that none had developed anything. I cleaned out the box and she built a nest 2 days later. Bluebirds are wonderfully tolerant of our interference.

Well, it's pretty late but I am just looking at today's catch (I mean, of course the pictures I took today). Hopefully we will find something interesting.

For starters, here is Mama and 2 fledglings, about 125 feet away. She is headed back to the feeder for more worms.

This message was edited May 1, 2008 12:24 AM

I dug out one of our old props.

Thanks Dave! Today is 13 days exactly since we discovered them but I have no way of knowing if she was done laying or not. I will give it one more week and if I don't hear anything (I should hear the babies, right?) or smell anything, I'll reach in and see if I can feel the eggs. Hope nothing bites me. I hate reaching into somewhere I can't see.

Beautiful pics Dave! Glad you pulled one of the props out!

Yes, Mama thinks his hat is a perch.

This is the kind of shot I like.

That is great!

Great shots Dave! I have a similar "prop". I hadn't thought of putting food in it. I'll have to try that tomorrow. He makes a great companion for the birds in the photos.

Janet

Marvelous! So inspiring.

Thanks.

Anotther Baltimore day for me so I will try to post a few before I leave and if I can, use my in-law's computer while we are there. It is overcast this morning so this is from yesterday. She is not asking for a worm, she's actually chasing him away.

Boy, she's back to being bossy, huh?

Yes, today she is queen. Tomorrow the honeymoon will be over...

LOL, wonderful pics Dave!

he looks totally baffled! lol