The Next Clutch

The parents busily built a nest over several days, then both spent the night (about a full eight hours) in the nest together overnight. A little more building from the mom the next day led to the first egg the following day, June 1. After laying the fourth egg, the mom starting sitting on them close to full time, so maybe four is the number for this brood. It's possible that a fifth and sixth egg will still arrive. It will take about two weeks for them to hatch, then another three weeks or so before they fledge. Their older siblings seem to be back around the yard, though it's not clear whether all five have returned or not, as they move around pretty fast. At least four seem to be living nearby, and perhaps all five. According to some online sources the first clutch will help the parents feed and raise the second bunch. We'll see . . .

The Next Nest

The first clutch of babies fledged on Monday, and now on Saturday it appears that the mama bird will finish the nest for the next set today. Starting with a fresh, clean house, both parents visited several times before the mama bird started bringing in little sticks, leaves, and blades of grass. She drops them in and then spins around furiously inside, smashing things down and forming the "cup" in which the eggs will be laid and the babies will hatch and grow. She even works as night falls, as evidenced by the night vision shot below. Here are a few shots of the process. 

Fledging

On the morning of their 21st day, the nestlings became fledglings by leaving the box. The first one got away about ten minutes before the other four (off camera), but all five got a good loft and flew a sharp arc uphill to places unknown. 

From there, the babies and their parents will probably disappear for a while (like maybe two weeks?) as they learn the ropes of life on the outside. They are likely to return to their home yard because they like the mealworms there but it could take some time. 

If all goes well, there will be another clutch of nestlings pretty soon, like within five days of this group fledging.This group might already be the second clutch, though, so maybe not. Everything will be ready (the box will be clean) and we can all cross our fingers (like the mama bird crosses her wings when she sleeps!). The parents have been visible by the box all day today post-fledging, but no sign of the fledglings, who can't be TOO far away but also aren't in sight. 

Turning Toward the Door

 The frantic wing flapping got even more intense about 16 days into the babies' time in the birdhouse. But it still took another five full days to actually fledge. 

Feathers, Wings, Features

 Over the next several days, the babies develop really quickly, forming full feathers, wings that they flap clumsily, and features like eyes and pronounced beaks. 

Bluebird Diapers

Monday night was a scary one, as the mother bluebird just didn't come into the house at all. It seemed she might be gone for good. There is advice about how to deal with abandoned nestlings available online but some of it is conflicting. But one commentator said that after about eight days, the babies have enough feathers so that the mother doesn't need to keep them warm all night any longer. Sure enough, in the morning she returned. 

And one of the things that was there waiting for her (see first picture here) was a "fecal sac," which is essentially a poop diaper for baby bluebirds. I was wondering if there were big horrible messes down in "the cup" of the nest, but I had seen both the mother and the father carry out little white blobs a few times. Turns out that this is the mode of sanitation in bluebird societies. The babies' waste is contained pretty neatly, and the parents come in and collect it and carry it away so that whatever smell it might have will not be detected by predators. I was fortunate to catch this picture because the parents are usually pretty quick in their detection and disposal of the sacs (which are a combination of all of the waste products of each individual baby). 

The other pics are just some weird poses that help to show: 1) how far they are stretching to have their own space (?), 2) how much their feathers are developing, and 3) the sparkly blue fuzz on their heads that will turn into feathers soon. 

Bluebird Diaper

Blue Fuzz Star

Sparkly Blue Fuzz

Feather Mass

May 10. The bluebirds are actually starting to look blue today! And they are stretching to the farthest corners of their house/nest. The sparkles from yesterday seem to be developing into stripes. They are making entirely cute noises now too, which can't be captured in still photos so the old recordings of the livestream (follow link above) are the only way to hear.

Five Blue Mouths

Big Blue Star

Sparkles into Stripes