I had an exciting Friday and Saturday morning - the Bluebird babies fledged! I sat all Friday, thinking that would be the day, and when my DSLR battery died down and I decided to go in to make dinner at around 7, they decided to go for it lol The first two were smooth and fast, third and fourth had some issues, and number five spent the night in the box and fledged early today. They all looked nice and strong! I emptied the box, scrubbed it to get rid of the poo, dusted it with foodgrade Diatomaceous earth, added some more kerfs outside for easier grip and some more vent holes and rehung it. Here’s a clip, it’s longer but it shows them all. I hope to see them soon again - usually the parents start bringing them to the yard two weeks after fledging.

The Bluebird babies are getting bigger and stronger by the minute, thanks to the dedicated feeding of the parents. I’ve seen spiders, ants, wasps, bugs, worms, caterpillars and moths being brought in. This is from yesterday, today I see some eyes open too :)

The most exciting thing

this week for me was watching the Bluebird family raise their babies. Wednesday night, temperatures dropped to below zero, and when I saw the parents bringing dried mealers in the box, I rehydrated some of them in boiling water and after cooling, mixed them with the dried ones to help them a bit on that frosty morning. There is a constant coming and going, and Gayle and Mr. Business are bringing all kinds of insects to feed the babies, and apparently, we have some icky stuff crawling around here

Here is Mr. Business in all his glory. There will be more nest videos soon too, I just need some time! Have a great Friday - it looks like frost is over!

Nestbox news: The clutch is complete

Yesterday at her usual time, Gayle laid egg number five. she spent the night in the box, and today it was clear that she is done with laying and incubating now. During incubation, she will spend a lot of time in the box, warming the eggs evenly with her brood patch, and also turning them so they all develop evenly. Mr. Business will come occasionally to bring her a snack, and sometimes she leaves to get a bath, drink some water or eat. This will continue for the next two weeks. I started a little timelapse when she went into overdrive building, and ended it today.

Nestbox news: The clutch is complete

Yesterday at her usual time, Gayle laid egg number five. she spent the night in the box, and today it was clear that she is done with laying and incubating now. During incubation, she will spend a lot of time in the box, warming the eggs evenly with her brood patch, and also turning them so they all develop evenly. Mr. Business will come occasionally to bring her a snack, and sometimes she leaves to get a bath, drink some water or eat. This will continue for the next two weeks. I started a little timelapse when she went into overdrive building, and ended it today.

Nestbox news: And then there were three

Today at around 11, her usual time, Gayle laid her third egg of the clutch. The weather is mild and sunny, and right now, things could not be better. She comes in to sit on them every now and then but does not appear to be incubating yet. The next two days will show how big the first clutch of 2022 is going to be. Now when she starts incubating, her metabolism changes and she is producing more body heat. On her belly, there is a so-called brood patch without feathers and blood vessels closer to the skin that she uses to keep the eggs warm.

the Bluebird babies have hatched! The first two did so yesterday, and the remaining three took a bit longer and hatched this morning. It was a bit nervous yesterday because I saw Gayle looking out the entrance hole a lot and also leaving a lot, and Mr. Business was nowhere to be seen. These birds are hardy but anything can pretty much happen to them any time. Thankfully, this morning, he finally seems to have realized that he has babies now, and him and Gayle have been feeding them diligently all day. The next couple of days will be on the cooler side, and this is when the babies are most vulnerable.

You can hear Mr. Business sing a little melody when he arrives with food. that is later going to be the parents’ call to lure the babies out of the box for fledging. I really like how much space they have in there, how they don’t have to hover over the babies but can watch them from the edge of the nest. Nobody is crammed unless they want to.

All five eggs have hatched (last two over night, and the female ate the shells), and all is well here. I haven’t seen the male a lot yesterday and the female looked out and went for food a lot so I was getting concerned that something had happened. But this morning he finally seems to have realized that there are babies, and both have been feeding them like champs ever since. They still need to coordinate better though… I love how the big box seems to make it easier for them to take care of the babies, things are not so crammed.

The Bluebirds are hatching! I am so happy. I also saw my first Grosbeak of the season earlier.