Eastern Bluebird (Heath4, KY)
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This is a fourth nesting captured by this camera.
Species: Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)
Location: Paducah, KY
Status: Three nestlings fledged on August 8th, at 17 days old!
Location: Paducah, KY
Status: Three nestlings fledged on August 8th, at 17 days old!
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2006 Daily Highlights
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August 8, Fledging Day! Here is one last shot of the three 17-day young birds begging for food! | |
 
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The first to go leaves the nest at about 11:30 in the morning. |
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The second leaves immediately after the first. |
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The third nestling stayed in the box alone for about one hour before venturing out into the world. |
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Empty nest! |
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| Aug 7 - An adventurous chick
peers out the entrance of the box. They will be fledging any day
now--bluebirds tend to fledge at 17-19 days old, and these ones are on
their 16th day. | |
| Aug 6 - The young birds are
restless, frequently flapping their wings and moving around the nest
box. They are completely feathered now. | |
 
| Aug 5 - One of the nestlings stretches, pressing its foot into the head of its sibling. | |
| Aug 4 - A chick spreads its wings, providing a great view of its nearly complete set of feathers. | |
| Aug 3 - The bluebirds' flight
feathers are starting to break free of their sheaths, giving the new
feathers a strange, pinched appearance. | |
 
| Aug
2 - The female delivers food to one of her chicks. She seems to
be doing just fine, capturing enough food for all of them as well as
for herself. | |
| Aug 1 - At 10 days old, the
chicks' innermost primaries, secondaries, and most capital-tract
feathers are emerging. They will be almost completely feathered
in just a few more days! | |
| July 31- The chicks are now very active, constantly crawling around the nest and scrambling over each other. | |
| July 30 - Three strong, hungry chicks greet their mother as she returns to the nest box. Even if the female is caring for them by herself, the absence of male parental care in E. bluebird families does not generally affect the reproductive success of the females. | |
| July 29 - In most cases, both
bluebird parents bring food to the nestlings every few minutes.
However, it appears that only the female has been in this box since the
chicks hatched. | |
| July 28 - The chicks are 6 days old, and their eyes will be opening for the first time very soon. | |
 
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July 27 - It is getting easier
to distinguish among the chicks every day, and it appears that there
are three. The fourth may not have hatched at all, but the babies
are just too small in the early pictures to tell. |
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July 26 - It is amazing how fast
the chicks grow. They are already several times larger than they
were just three days ago! |
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July 25 - At this point, the
chicks can lift their heads strongly and crawl around a little.
Their fluffy gray down is especially obvious on this chick's outstretched head and neck. |
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July 24 - The female returns to the nest with some food for the chicks. Both parents share this task. |
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July 23 - A tiny beak opens up,
hoping for some food to be dropped into it. The parents start
feeding the chicks as soon as they hatch. |
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July 22 - Morning finds that three of the four eggs have hatched! |
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The last egg shell is gone, an hour and a half later. At least three of the four chicks have hatched! |
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July 21 - The camera was changed back to the nest box with four eggs, which may begin hatching tomorrow. |
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July 21 - Yesterday this camera was switched to a different box, with four older nestlings. |
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July 20 - The female snuggles into the nest after a brief foraging trip. The chicks should hatch in a few days! |
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July 15 - The camera is back online! All is well with the female bluebird, who is still incubating her four eggs. |
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July 9 - The female is now incubating
her four eggs. Since she started yesterday, they should hatch
2 weeks from now, around the 22nd of July. |
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| July 8 - The fourth egg! The female also began incubating today, which might mean this is the entire clutch. Eastern Bluebird clutches tend to range from 3 to 7 eggs. | |
| July 7 - The female laid the third egg this morning. | |
| July 6 - Egg #2 was laid today. | |
| July 5 - The first egg appeared early this morning! We should be seeing one new egg a day until the clutch is complete. | |
| July 2 - The female bluebird
does all the nest building, though the male's repeats of his "nest
demonstration display" sometimes make it appear otherwise. | |
| July 1 - Both the male and female were in the box together today. | |
| June 30 - It looks like the male's display was successful--here we see the female adding material to the nest box. | |
| June 23 - A male E. Bluebird
stopped by the nest box with this twig. This is possibly part of
the "nest demonstration display" that males perform to convince the
female to enter the nest cavity. |