Eastern Bluebird (Heath1, KY)
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This cam began sending images on March 10th, with a bluebird nest already in progress.
Species: Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)
Location: Paducah, KY
Status: Four young fledged successfully on April 24th!.
Location: Paducah, KY
Status: Four young fledged successfully on April 24th!.
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2006 Daily Highlights: |
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April 23 - It is reported that all four chicks fledged successfully, though our cameras did not capture the event. |
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April 18 - One of the more adventurous chicks hopped up to the entrance to peek outside, but didn't go any further. |
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April 18 - It's starting to look a bit cramped in the Bluebird residence. The young birds should be moving out any day now. |
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April 17 - The chicks have all of
their juvenile feathers now. They are brown/gray for the most
part, with white, gray-streaked throat, breast, and belly. The
wings and tail are brown with a greenish-blue wash, and males have
brighter blue on their wings than females. |
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April 16 - The family often remains in
a group for about 3 weeks after the chicks fledge, and the parents will
continue feeding them until they are about 25 days old. |
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April 14 - Here the female is removing a fecal sac from the nest. |
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April 14 - The nestlings are growing
restless and fidgety lately. They usually fledge when they are
between 17 and 19 days old--3 to 5 days from now. |
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April 13 - One of the chicks stretches
out its wings, showing the new flight feathers. If this picture
were in color, we might be able to distinguish between male and female
chicks now. |
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Apirl 12 - You can see one of the
parents with some food for the chicks in its mouth. Bluebirds eat
insects and small fruits--this looks like a bug. |
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April 11 - This hungry chick is in the
typical 'begging' posture, opening its beak and stretching up towards
its parent, most likely chirping loudly (a long, urgent zeee!). |
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April 10 - The camera's back online,
though it seems we lost the color. All four chicks and the
parents are still with us--look how much they've grown! |
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April 5 - You may have noticed that
this picture hasn't changed since yesterday. There's been some
severe weather in the area recently, but we hope the camera will be
back online soon. |
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April 4 - The chicks have nearly
doubled in size since yesterday! Their heads are darkening now,
and their eyes should open tomorrow or the next day. |
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April 3 - Though they are minute and
featherless now, these nestlings will be able to fly short distances by
the time they are 14 days old. |
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April 2 - The parents generally start
feeding the nestlings about an hour after hatching. It's amazing
how much those tiny chicks can eat! |
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April 1 - The fourth chick hatched by 5 in the afternoon! |
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April 1 - First light shows that the hatching has begun! |
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Mar 30 - The expected hatch-date is in
two days! These chicks should hatch on the same day, since the
female began incubating the eggs after they were all laid. |
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Mar 29 - The eggs should hatch any day
now. Hopefully, the developing embryos were able to survive last week's
chilly temperatures. |
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Mar 28 - This nest is part of a Cornell Lab of Ornithology research project aimed at recording time and temperature inside the nest using a data logger. Despite our best efforts to be careful, one of the five eggs was damaged during the installation of the data logger. Although these types of unfortunate events are extremely rare, they do occur and we deeply regret the loss. |
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Mar 26 - The male stopped by today while the female was out. Male E. Bluebirds take no part in egg-sitting. |
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Mar 25 - The female performs a bit of a nosedive to rotate her eggs in the small box. |
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Mar 22 - The eggs should hatch
around April 1st, but it was cold before the female began
incubating. Hopefully the chicks made it! |
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Mar 20 - Now the female is spending noticeably more time on the eggs, though she leaves frequently to find food. |
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Mar 19 - The female stretches to peek
outside the box. She was on the nest a lot today, but there's no
new egg. This may be the entire clutch. |
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Mar 18 - The fifth egg was laid this morning. Bluebird clutch sizes generally range from 3 to 7 eggs. |
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Mar 17 - Look what turned up in the
bluebird nest! This is probably a Carolina Chickadee, which is a
cavity-nesting species like the E. Bluebird. It left right away! |
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Mar 16 - The female shifts just enough to let us see the third egg! |
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Mar 15 - The second egg was laid at
about 8:20 this morning. We'll be seeing a new egg each day until
the clutch is complete. |
 
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Mar 14 - A lone, lovely egg. Average incubation period for the E. Bluebird is only 14 days, about half that of the Barn Owl. |
 
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Mar 14 - Taken just moments before the appearance of the first egg, this shot appears to show the female egg-laying. |
 
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Mar 13 - This shot shows the subdued
plumage of the female. Would you believe that the Eastern Bluebird is
in the same family as the American Robin, the Turdidae? Keep an eye out
for shared features between the two species that might underline this
relationship. |
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Mar 11 - Here is one of the bluebird pair. You can tell this
is the male because his plumage is so much brighter than the female's. |