Bluebird thread #11

I think I agree with you, Dave, regarding food. All creatures are opportunists in that they will eat what's available at any particular time. Even feeding meal worms, blue birds get other needed vitamins, minerals, calories, etc. from other food sources available - like great big soft, juice spiders. Yumm!

I'm so glad you caputured the hatching process and shared it with us.

What wonderful photos! I've been out of town, so I was so happy to see the new ones on my return! Thank you, Dave.

I'm on my way to West Virginia for a family reunion. As I left home this morning I grabbed a bunch of full photo cards that I had not reviewed before and I am sorting through them tonight, looking to see if there are any worth saving. These are from April and in some of them, apprently it was raining.

xxx

Have a great visit with your family Dave. Is this a different male? The rose color extends quite a ways around his neck. Striking poses.

No, OP he is the same male I have had in my yard since 2004. I can tell because he has a broken middle toe on his left foot.

The first place we went was to the cemetery to put flowers on the graves of all my wife's kin. While she was doing that I was looking for bluebirds. I found a pair nesting in a home made box on a fence post and managed to get a few shots. She fed the nestlings from outside the opening, which usually means the nestlings are pretty far along and there is no room in there for her.

These West Virginia blues are a little rough around the edges, don't you think? Reminds me of a horse that's been rode hard and put away wet.

Don't know what she has but it's a mouthful.

Here's a better shot.

I can't imagine that one nestling could eat that whole thing, but she did not break it up and something inside took it from her rather quickly

Here is the male. I love these fence posts.

Here he is again. I cropped it so you could see the notched post and grass

And here he is in flight.

That is indeed one big bug she's got there!!

Love the posts too, so rustic. It's amazing how different this pair looks from yours.

LOL, yes Dave they are a bit rough looking. Great pics!

I know this is not a bird, but I saw quite a few fawns on my morning walk and couldn't resist showing you this one.

We had a whole family of deer in our front yard the other morning. I could hardly believe it! MaMa, the Buck, and the baby fawn. It all happened too quickly for me to run grab the camera. Sure wish I had gotten a pic of them.
Lin

Not living in the lap of luxury as yours are! She does look a bit undone. Beauty parlor appt. had to be cancelled? Some bug . . . moth?

Awww for the fawn.

This has been the weirdest Fledge Day ever.

First of all, it's day 16 and BBs normally fledge on day 17 or 18. Mine have always gone on day 17.

We weren't even supposed to be home. My father-in-law took a turn for the worse and we rushed up to Baltimore on Wednesday and he died that night. We spent yesterday making funeral arrangements and came home last night late, mostly to switch to a bigger car and to pick up more appropriate clothing. Anyway, I looked out this morning and saw a baby BB peeping out of the opening. By 9:00 a.m. he had flown. And he flew straight toward our deck and landed on the top step. I ran out and got a few pictures of him sitting there and in a few minutes he flew up to the trees. Immediately the second baby appeared in the opening. But he started and stopped and I had work to do and couldn't sit and watch him. At noon I looked out and saw no birds at all and concluded all three babies had fledged. Well, at least I saw and got a few pictures of Number one.

At 2:00 p.m. I went out to mow the lawn. Since the birds had fledged, I decided to take down the sparrow spooker and clean out the nestbox. As soon as I got near the box I was dive-bombed by both BB parents. I went ahead and took the spooker down and then proceeded to mow the grass. I have a riding mower and it was hot outside so I drove faster than usual. I buzzed around the nestbox a number of times as I cut the back lawn. I then cut the front yard and put the mower in the shed. I then headed for the nestbox, intending to clean it out. As I walked up to it I was surprised to see a baby bluebird looking out at me. He ducked back inside and I got out of there too and went back to my cameras.

It was almost 7:00 p.m. before that guy flew. And he also flew up on the deck, and landed on the far railing. I had a good view and got nearly 200 pictures of him as he sat there.

Here are a few pictures. First the female, as she was trying to coax one of the fledglings out.

And here's the male. Perched in the same place and doing the same thing.

Here is the third fledgling when he finally left. Sorry about the quality -- or lack of it. I was losing light fast.

And here he is on the railing.

Oh, dave, Sorry about your Father in law. Give your wife our best.

CUTE fledge on the step!

Thanks, Marna.

Here he takes a little hop, sorta testing his wings before he flew. He'd been out of that box about 3 minutes and he seemed happy about that.

Here is the first one, perched on the step. I could only see his upper half and he was eyeing me closely as I tried to move to the side.

Here's Papa in flight about 30 feet above me. He would take off and fly back and forth so the nestling could see. Apparently that was supposed to put the idea in the nestling's head.

Here he puts on the brakes and comes back to where he was perched

So sorry to hear about your Father-in-Law Dave

The fledges are adorable!

Very nice pics and glad you were ablt see part of the feldge day anyway.

I also wish to extend my condolences to you and your wife for the lose of her father.

Wonderful pictures of the fledgings, Dave! What a blessing you were there to see them. You have shared about sitting on the deck all day to see it & this time you practically stumbled upon it.
I am sorry for your loss and pray strangth, peace and courage for your wife and all loved ones.
--Sheri

Question -
some of you may remember my excitement over the new leucistic female that my resident single daddy BB brought home a couple of weeks ago with his 3 fledges....how she did not seem to be threatening the fledges and was very shy...in fact the single pic that I posted of her on my roof was the only one I was able to get...well I hadnt seen any of the bunch in a few days ...then , yesterday.......Update...I do believe that my regular resident BB male and his new palemate have nested somewhere, just not on my bk porch. ;-( I think the presence of other birds that had discovered the MW's really had that beautiful female very unnerved, well + my presence too.
Tonite I called "Bluebird" as usual,(expecting no response), as I have had no BB's in about 2 or 3 days now...when!... from the other side of the neighbors yard I saw a bird (that sort of looked familiar in it's approach!) zoom over to the copper tubing lookout that the male always used first before eating...well of course it was him and my heard jumped as I said please wait and ran in to get the MWs...He did wait and He ate till I'm sure that belly was fuller than a tick on a big dog, then he filled his beak with MW's and flew off towards the trees where he (I think) took both groups of fledges for "boot camp" and that is probably where he met this unusual female. I am guessing that they have nested on her familiar turf, but am so excited that he remembers me and came to my call so immediately...it thrilled my heart...perhaps when the babies fledge, he will bring them here...It may seem self indulgent, but I am a little sad that I won't get to observe the nesting growth process as before...Yet at the same time...with this female being leucistic and so easily spotted by prey, I am glad that apparently they have nested in a safe site., and She is indeed wise to be cautious of being observed. ...I wonder if the young of this mating will be lighter in color?
Ironically, since the BB's aren't coming around and the MW meals have been eliminated, my yard has all but been deserted by the other songbirds also.
At least the hummers havn't forgotten me.
---Birdie

Wonderful shots as always Dave...so glad you were able to see the fledges.

My sympathies to you and your wife on the loss of her father.

Dave,

This is a such sad time for you and your wife. I am so sorry for your loss. You both can rejoice though because your father in law has a brand new body now and I'm sure he's dancing with our Lord. Remember the good times you had with this man. I can hear in your "voice" how much you loved him.

Perhaps these bluebirds knew that you'd be unable to witness their fledging had they waited that extra day. They wanted to be sure their grandpa saw them fly for the first time. They knew you needed cheering up at this sad time in your life and refused to wait until the "appropriate" day. You're a very special part of their lives and they know it.

You've been such a wonderful inspiration to us all with your stories, adventures and your marvelous photos. Thank you for sharing yet another beautiful fledging with us here.

Sending you and your wife a great big hug and warm thoughts from Texas.
Janet

Hi Dave,

So sorry to hear about the loss of your father-in-law. My heartfelt condolences to you and your wife. May the bluebirds in your backyard paradise bring you and your wife comfort in the coming days. Your photos and dialog continue to be exceptional as they provide us all with a pleasant escape from a sometimes hectic day.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts. It means so much at times like this.

This is such a nice forum but like any institution, it is you people that frequent it who make it what it is. It is so strange that we haven't and probably never will meet face to face, and yet I feel so much like we're family.

Thanks again, and God bless each of you.

Dave

This message was edited Aug 2, 2008 2:58 PM

OK Back to business. I am going through some more of the shots from yesterday and here is the first one out as he flew to the top step.

Lots of wing-waving going on.

Oh how wonderful, Dave. Those babies on their initial flights look like pros! The pic of the wing wave is great!. I wish there was some way to save some of these pics to a personal album or file here @ DG.
I too believe those BB's fledging for you to see was a gift from above.
Do BB's fly earlier than other birds?... or do they just develope their flight wings a little more,by being confined until they have to jump out, rather than falling out of a nest. I guess that would explain why they are able to spend their 1st week in the trees rather than on the ground or low shrubs........

Yes, I think the fact that they can't get out until they are strong enough to climb up to the opening, then work their way out through the hole does make them better fliers when they get out. People who have cameras in their boxes say the birds are very active from about 14 or 15 days, jumping around in the box and on each other and just fluttering their wings. It must get awfully crowded in there when there are five or six of them.

I am always amazed that they can fly from the box to a tree 100 feet away, and then, as they approach the tree, they are strong enough to fly up to a branch 30 feet or more above, rather than land on a closer, lower branch.

In response to your earlier question, I have no idea if the offspring of the lighter shaded female will be lighter too. It will be very hard to tell for sure unless you somehow had her chicks banded . If they come back to the feeder after they fledge, they probably will look speckled like all fledglings do. And it will be about 3 months before they show their adult colors, that is, IF they stay around for you to watch as they change, which they often do not do.

But I guess if you start seeing a lot of lighter colored BBs in the area in the next few years, you will know...

Another possibility is that she herself may turn a little darker when she molts this fall. That happened with one of my females last year. She was never quite as light as yours but she was lighter than most and she did look a lot more colorful (and a lot prettier) after her molt. I took pictures before, during and after her molt so I know she was the same bird.

I would like to see another picture of yours, closer up if possible, to see if it is just her front that is light or if the gray and blue feathers on her head and back are light too.

This message was edited Aug 2, 2008 9:48 PM

Thanks so much Dave. I enjoy your awsome experience and willingness to share aand help us + bless us with so manay wonderful pictures.
I too hope that I will see that special female again. I am hoping that after they fledge, Daddy might bring them here for the great quisine and if she comes with, then..... ahah...she's on candid camera

I, too, would like you to know you, your wife, and your family are in my prayers, Dave. I'm very sorry about your loss. It sounds like he lived a long, and hopefully healthy, life.

What an amazing and loving group of people you all are at this forum! Your support of one another is a blessing. Whenever I need cheering up, support, advice, or just a daily smile I turn to you all. I'm so grateful we are able to tune in regularly. Thank you.