Eastern Bluebird (NC)

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Species: Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)
Location: Greenville, NC
Status: Four fledged!

	FLEDGING DAY! The series of images shows the progression of the nestlings as they make their first flights out of the box. At left is our last image of four gaping mouths. It's as if they are trying to decide who goes first. One of the last images of all four nestlings together in the box. It looks like a male is the first to fledge. Shortly thereafter, the second nestling takes flight, leaving just two birds in the box. The remaining two nestlings stayed in the box together for about another hour, peering out the box and stretching their wings for their debut flight. Finally, the third nestling claims its independence, leaving the fourth nestling looking a bit bewildered. The last bird flew about the nest box for about 25 minutes before finally taking its first true flight. This is the last image of the fourth nestling before leaving the nest. We are thrilled that we were able to experience the rearing of this successful brood of Eastern Bluebirds. An empty nest. Thanks for watching and learning with us!
	July 1 - One of the nestlings spent a great deal of time perched on the entrance hole today—a sure sign that these birds are ready to fledge.
	June 30 - As the others look on, one brave and curious nestling peeks out into the world ahead. It won't be long now...
	June 29 - This is the first glimpse we get of one of the nestlings peering out of the entrance hole. At 15 days old, they are spreading their wings and moving around the nest quite a bit. They could fledge as early as tomorrow, June 30.
	June 28 - At two weeks of age, the young bluebirds are finally starting to look like members of the Thrush family (Turdidae) , with their large eyes and slender bills.
	June 27 - The nestlings are almost fully feathered by day 13, and can be properly sexed. The image at right shows at least one male. Another sure sign that the nestlings are growing up is the fact that the female is not entering into the box as often with food. Instead, she is presenting the food through the hole, forcing the young birds to move towards the hole, in preparation for fledging.
	June 25 - A good parent is never too far from the nest, as evidenced here. The nestlings' primaries and secondaries have all emerged by day 11.
	June 24 - The female enters with a meal for her ten day old chicks. Feeding the nestlings will be at a maximum for the next few days, since they are now able to crawl about the nest, and have increased energy requirements.
	June 23 - The chicks are nine days old now and growing rapidly. It will be a few more days still until they are fully feathered. The female is delivering a grasshopper to the young birds. On average, the parents will deliver food to the nestlings every 5-8 minutes, ensuring each nestling receives at least 2-3 feedings per hour.
	June 22 - The female is removing a fecal sac from the nest. Fecal sacs are produced by nestlings shortly after eating. Both males and females will carry out sacs in order to maintain nest sanitation.
	June 21 - Feathers begin growing rapidly in the second week of development, helping chicks to achieve physiological endothermy, or the ability to maintain their own body temperature. The image shows a good view of the secondary wing coverts which are about ready to break out of their sheaths.
	June 20 - The chicks are now six days old and are beginning to be well-feathered. The eyes will open some time around day 5 or 6. Both parents will keep up the feeding schedule, but the female will spend very little time brooding the chicks after they are five days old.
	June 19 - The female enters the box with a large grasshopper (top). Three minutes later, one of the young can be seen gulping it down. Grasshoppers make up a large part of a young bluebird's diet.
	June 18 - An all too common sight for feeding parents.
	June 17 - All four chicks seem healthy and are developing normally. Altricial birds are born small-brained, that develop quite rapidly because of the protein rich diet provided by the adults. As a result, brains of altricial birds are proportionally larger than brains of precocial birds.
	June 16 - Two of the four chicks are displaying the stereotypical begging posture, with up-stretched necks and open beaks. This display coupled with the chicks' calls will incite parental feeding.
	June 15 - Our first glimpse of one of the four chicks begging for food. Young are altricial at hatching—helpless, eyes closed, and with small tufts of gray down on their bodies. Development occurs quickly, and by day 2, contour feathers are already beginning to develop.
	June 14 - HATCHING DAY! The four images at left show the first chick emerging from its shell. Once the first crack was made, it took about five minutes for the chick to completely emerge. During this time the female enters the box and removes the broken eggshells. It was not evident if the female removed the shells from the box or ate them. All four eggs hatched within four hours of each other between 12:45 and 4:30pm.
	June 12 - While only females incubate the eggs, males may enter the box in the absence of the female, if only to temporarily keep guard over the eggs.
	June 8 - About half way through the incubation period, this female spends a considerable amount of time on the nest, a positive sign that all the eggs will hatch.
	June 6 - The female has been actively incubating her four eggs for six days now. Females develop a large patch on the ventral portion of the belly, devoid of feathers and used to deliver more body heat to the eggs.
	June 2 - A very attentive female as she sits atop her eggs. The clutch was completed yesterday, June 1 and contains four eggs. Incubation will occur during the next 12-14 days, for an expectant hatch date of June 14.
	June 1 - A fourth egg was laid today. The camera captured images of the female in the box throughout the day on the eggs. This suggests the female has already begun incubating and this egg is either the last or penultimate (second to last) egg of the clutch.
	May 31 - A third egg was laid today. The female is seen perched on the entrance hole. The average egg measures 20.9 mm x 16.5 mm and weighs between 3.0 and 3.6 grams.
	May 30 - Clutch initiation occurred yesterday, May 29, with the second egg laid today. Eggs are pale blue; white eggs are rare, occurring only 3-5% of the time. Clutches are either all blue or all white; white clutches are dependent on particular females.
	May 26 - The male bluebird inside a completed nest. Clutch initiation by the female should occur within the next few days.
	May 24 - The male and female have been diligently at work, bringing in grass for the last two days. The female has been seen several times spreading her wings inside the box in an effort to shape the cup of the nesting cavity.
	May 22 - Our first images of the female (at left) and male (right) in the box within minutes of each other, bringing grass into the nest box.
	May 19 - Before pair bonding can occur, the male must choose a cavity and then claim the surrounding territory. "Peeking" into a box several times before entering is a preliminary step to choosing a cavity.
	May 7 - We captured our first shot of a female Eastern Bluebird inside the nest box. It is still not too late to begin a second nesting attempt.
	April 16 - Wasps have been checking out the box periodically. Steps were taken to discourage their nesting activity.
	April 16 - No evidence of a female yet, but the male is clearly still interested in this box. Unfortunately, wasps are also interested (see above) in this nest box.
	April 12 - Although still no nesting material has been brought back, the male is still interested in this box and has been visiting daily. Presumably nest building will start again in the near future.
	April 10 - This male bluebird is seen with a blade of grass in his beak. At first glance, it appears that he is bringing grass in, but images taken after this one confirm that he is actually removing the grass from the box. We suspect that he does not have a female yet and may be a young male.
	April 5 - Although nest building seems to have come to a crawl, there is still interest in this box, as evidenced by the pair of feet perched on the entrance hole.
	April 1 - This male bluebird is carrying nesting material inside his beak. Typically the male bluebird arrives to the nesting site first, followed by the female a few weeks later.
	March 29 - We barely catch a glimpse of the male bluebird peeking inside the box.
	March 29 - It appears as though more nesting material has been brought in since yesterday, but we did not capture any images of the bird. Last year the first date of nest building by the bluebirds in this box was on May 8.
	March 28 - Sometime early this morning, this bluebird began to bring in its own nesting material—dried grass.
	March 27 - The male bluebird is still inspecting the box. No sign of the chickadees in two days.
	March 26 - A brilliant male Eastern Bluebird inspects the box even though the chickadees have begun building a nest. Last year, the first bluebird to visit this box was on March 27.
	March 25 - By the end of the same day, 1/4 of the box is lined with moss by both the male and female.
	March 25 - Two days later, a Carolina Chickadee takes interest in the box.
	March 23 - No takers yet to this box.

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Eastern Bluebird (NC)

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