I am going to try to post the pics of the hatching process of 6 Bluebird eggs. the next box is unconventional, but qualifies as a cavity nesters 5* lodge, I guess, cause the male has returned & this is the 2nd yr they have laid here. 1st yr for babies.
Please note, the 1st to hatch, then #2 has just kicked the egg shell off and # 3 is beginning to chisel out with it's egg tooth.
more to come
4 out, 2 more to go! I noticed as I took any pictures that the mother apparently trys to assist the young in hatching by turning the eggs.
Awesome birdie. Did you see my bluebird thread? I caught one in the process of hatching, too. I'll never forget it. Keep us posted!
I was just given some interesting blue bird info. See my d-mail to you.
Ok..this is a box that was actually built to use for baby squirrels as I rehabbed. I mounted it last year and Daddy BB claimed it almost immediately, returning this year. He is a rather goal oriented father as he wing waves, tap dances on the drain pipe and all but pushes the female in to lay her eggs lol... and they have had 2 clutches to fledge from it this spring. I a so blessed to have it on my back deck. They do not mind a bit if I am sitting 12 ft away observing them ;-)
That is hilarious birdie! It goes against every single thing I've learned about blue birds!!!! You can just analyze so much. It sure looks like a well protected spot. Keep us posted on the babies' progress.
If you look closely you can see that this chick is trying to chip its way out, the egg is well cracked and I believe the egg tooth shows. Apparently the mother is going to assist it , because in the next pic the egg is on the other side of the nest with the shell half off (if I remember accurately).... and you will see that the chick remains curled up yet in the next pic.......here goes..
here it is. Mom moved the egg to the other side of the nest to assist. Cool huh ;-)
Absolutely fascinating. Thanks birdie.
all 6 finally snuggled up. this clutch hatched 5/30/08
My 1st song for little juicy mealworms (whatever they are?) please! & Daddy, I hear you are the fast one...soooo
OK, Ok I'll chirp with you if it'll get 'em here any faster....sheesh.....
well, there are about 3 more i wanted to add, but can't get em to come thru. these are the guys that fledged and were chased away the day before the 2nd clutch hatched. and those 3 fledged 1 week ago today, so hope to see them soon. ;-( momma was nabbed, I think maybe a hawk, but Daddy fed the 3 nestlings for a week with my help providing calcium dusted mealworms and he is currently returning for MW's and flies to 3 different trees........so I'm hopefull of seeing 3 speckled fledges any day now...I have been absolutely bustin a ,wanting to share those pics with you all.... I figure it is a pretty rare thing to get to observe as up close and personel as I have these pase couple of months.....I am truly blessed!!! That's for sure!!
Wing waves to ya,
Birdie
What a great sequence of photos of the "hatching" process. Thanks for sharing.
David
Wonderful pics birdie!
Thanks. This is so neat.
Fabulous. Thank you so much for taking the time to indulge us.
Very interesting and informative. You are very fortunate to have captured so much of the process and we are fortunate that you shared it here.
Dave
Yes, thank you so much for sharing!!
FYI-- Something very cool occured this evening (6;30). I have not been home today as usual to offer a few MW's every couple hrs, as usual(to assist Daddy Blue since he is a single parent)...anyway, I was rushed and quickly took some MW's to his feeding station on the deck...as I go out the back door I always call "Bluebird 1-3 times, followed by "daddyBlue" a couple times.....today I dawdled some @ the feeding dish (messing w/ the MW'storage dish)...I heard his gentle voice (just like he & mommy used to "talk"--when I looked up to the few "guard" places that they typically watch from, he & I "talked" bk & forth a few times, then I said I was "going in so you can eat"--"bye bye daddyBlue"......well he did that lovely soft little chirp bk to me & went to his dish as soon as I got near the door (where I set in a lawn chair & observe, sometimes---maybe 12 - 15 ft from the feeding station).................II wonder what the birds are thinking those times when I mimmic their sounds & we "talk" a bit???....Any comments out there? Surely I'm not the only one who "talks" with the birds!
There have been times w/ a Towhee or cardinal ...mmmmm & Chickadee to prob, that back & forth calls have lasted @ least untill I have had enough & go inside rolling w/ joyful giggles...............
ALSO - does anyone out there have any tips for me regarding posting pics on here?
I don't understand exactly what I did that resulted in the ones above being transfered to the site
I higlight the pic, then click browse or ?? some other button.....well I cannot get it to "take" any other pics.....
There are more shots of them growing in the nest (taken every couple days as ther grew, up to the last one taken the morning of fledge day.
I really would like to post them for you all, and have tried again today after no luck earlier and then , no luck again a few minutes ago.
I get so frustrated with computer stuff!............HELP.please!
I'm with you on computer frustration, BirdieBlue. However I have had no problem posting pics by first selecting "browse" then going to the file I want to extract a picture from. When I highlight the picture I want to post, I click "open" (bottom right hand side of the file for Windows XP) and it attaches the picture. Hope that helps.
Birdie - I always start calling "Blue Birds, dinner" as I begin my approach - maybe 100 ft., quite a distance. This pair is very shy. I will hear them gently chirping off in the distance, and they will quietly approach and land on their favorite bare branches as they wait for me to move a "safe" distance away before landing to eat. I've heard of people training them by ringing bells.
Attaching photos - I click browse and double click on my saved photo on my desktop (or wherever). mrs. ed is tech savy. Try d-mailing her.
Yes, follow the guidance Margaret offered. After you click "browse," a box will appear and you can scroll to the location on your computer where the desired picture is located, then click "open," and the location of the desired picture will appear in the box below the word "image." Then hit "Preview" and you should see the thumbnail in your proposed post in a few seconds.
There are a lot of things about this site that I like, but there are several things that annoy me too. One is that you can only load a single image at a time. Second, you can't change or edit your image if you happen to load the wrong one, and third, after a while the server won't accept images at all, at least for me. I find I can load as many as 12 or 14 posts with pictures before that happens. It will still accept a written message, but if I include an image, nothing will load. I haven't been able to figure it out. When that happens I just take a break and it seems to work again when I try later.
Also, is there a spell check available?
My birds come when I open the storm door to the deck. If they don't I tap the plastic container I carry meal worms in on the railing. And I talk to my blues and several of the Carolina wrens all the time. We talked a lot yesterday while I was watching the eggs hatch. There is a tree branch just outside the window of our breakfast nook and they will come and sit there and look in if I am late getting out there in the morning, especially if they are feeding nestlings.
Dave
This message was edited Jul 17, 2008 11:53 AM
Yes, Dave, there is spell check. There's a tiny ABC symbol with a fat green tick just below it and the word "Check" beside it. There is on my toolbar, at least. At any stage, either before or after you've previewed, hit the "Check" tab. It will highlight words it recognizes as incorrectly spelled (which is frequent for me as it has US spell check) as well as our stage names, which of course are alien to it. Click on the word it highlights and it will correct it by turning from red (I think) to green. It also allows you to add to the dictionary. If there are no spelling mistakes, a little blue and white box comes up briefly to let you know that no mistakes were detected. If you want to ignore what it highlights as errors, as in our stage names, just click the "end spell check" and the blue background, which indicates spell check is on, disappears.
Good grief, I think I just transmogrified into Sir Humphrey Appleby (Yes Minister).
OK,here we go again, with many thanks to all who gave helpfull hints on posting pics!!......in this one we see that Momma BB has been at work assisting this 6th chick in its egg escape challenge...She has rolled the egg to the opposite side of the nest (no doubt jostling the other 5 hither & yon, as evidenced by their position changes since the previous pic).... Chick # 6 appears to be still cozy it its fetal position, perhaps to exhausted to give those final kicks necessart to be free from the remaining shell.
Hey Mom, now that we're ALL out of bed, How about some grub...umm, er ....mealworms!
Very cute Birdie!
a couple of days of yummy food has us very content
gettin bigger!
Amazing what changes have occured in just a couple of days!!
Our Daddy works very hard at keeping us "peeped" down (quiet !) by feeding us a LOT, Mommy works at it too, but every time we get good & comfy, here he is again: waking us up to eat, so we'll go back to sleep........go figure! (don't tell, but we heard Momma say that we're just gettin fat & sassy)........
I am stunned that that is only 2 days growth. They look completely different.
FYI - these are pictures were taken mostly during this past May. The 6 eggs were laid April 22 - 28, they hatched 5/2 or 3, were noted to be with open eyes on my birthday! 5/9, and fledged on Saturday 5/17. Sooo......What you are viewing is history, rather than current events.!
I felt like that needed to be stated once again so that everyone would realize that the babies you are seeing really are older than they may appear (??kind of like the printing on your side view car mirrors, I think....you know the one....it says something like "caution, things may actually be closer than they appear".......and now that that is all clear for everyone.........LOL....
Wing waves to ya!.........
Birdie
Thanks for the birdie walk BirdieBlue!
Ahhhh....I get it now...okay!
I love your pics, Birdie - how do you take them? Do you just open their box and take a picture, or is there a camera in the nestbox?
Go up near the beginning of the thread...maybe pic # 5 or so and find a description of nest box...it is just above head high, but you can read about it & see also the box...WHICH I WOULD NOT SUGGESTANYONE ELSE TRY...I just happened to fe very fortunate and it iss in a very safe site (until some snake finds it.....which I diligently work aginst)
Actually, the nest box is only barely similar to those seen in stores as typical Bluebird houses. It is rather a box that is open on the upper 1/3 of the front wall..... this is the 2nd year that this BB pair has nested in this box and the 1st year for successfull egg haatching (think a snake got the eggs last year).
Anyway, it is just a bit above my head height and so when the mother is away, I can hold my dig point & shoot in the opening, angling it down aimed at where I think the babies should be and by pressing the autofocus button...end up with a fairly good print.
In the absense of natural cavities that would be left in dead trees from "last years larger cavity nesters," I have to guess that this just looked safe and this particular male really likes the appearance of privacy and 'safety" of the site.
I do consider myself most fortunate to have one nesting practically in my "hip pocket" and recognize the rarity of such an oportunity!
OOPS!!! ...... hehehe,.... well , I can get the pics here, but now need to get the correct one! THis is a Trillium from my front woodland garden (it is turned on its left side though...is there a way to flip the pic on here??)
Hi birdie, Nice pics! No there isn't a way to flip the pic. :-)
