Eastern Bluebird (Heath1, KY)
Species: Eastern Bluebird
(Sialia sialis)
Location: Paducah, KY
Status: Five Eastern Bluebirds fledged!
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May 5 - Empty nest! All
five fledglings successfully left the nest. Thanks to Heath Elementary for their fine
nest-box monitoring and hosting skills! |
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May 5 - Approximately 36
hours after the first nestling fledged, two young still remain, but not for long. |
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May 3 - The first nestling
takes off and does not return to the box again. |
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May 3 - At eighteen days
old and looking ready to fledge, the young birds begin to peer out the entrance hole and
practice their first flights. |
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May 2 - The young birds
will be ready to fledge in the next few days. In the mean time they will practice
stretching their wings and even attempt flight inside the box. |
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May 1 - Now sixteen days
old, the juveniles are almost adult size and space in the box is becoming scarce as is
evident by the sideways posture of this nestling. |
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April 30 - The young birds
are starting to look like juvenile Eastern Bluebirds, showing the bold eye rings and
speckled spotting. |
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April 29 - The female
makes a quick food deposit into the mouths of one of the nestlings. At nearly two weeks,
the nestlings are becoming quite demanding of their feeding schedules. |
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April 28 - As this young
nestling stretches its wings, we can see from the brilliant blue wing feathers that it is
a male. |
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April 27 - Anxiously
awaiting their next meal, all eyes are on the entrance hole. |
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April 26 - At eleven days
old, the nestlings are not quite fully feathered, particularly along their backs. |
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April 25 - The male exists
with a huge fecal sac! |
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April 24 - The female has
brought a large flying insect to the nestlings. Morning is the busiest feeding time for
bluebirds, with parents making on average 2 deliveries per nestling per morning hour. |
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April 23 - At eight days
old, the sheaths enclosing the wing feathers have begun to disintegrate and the wing
feathers are starting to emerge. |
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April 22 - The arrow is
pointing to the gaping mouth of a nestling which has just been fed, and with the meal
still visible. |
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April 21 - While the male
does not brood the young, he has been very diligent about feeding
them—appearing inside the box with food as much as the female. |
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April 20 - the nestling
with the outstretched neck in the lower right corner provides us with a glimpse of the
emerging blue feathers atop its head. |
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April 20 - Fastidious
about nest tidiness, the female bluebird prepares to exit the box with a fecal sac in her
mouth. |
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April 19 - In unison, all
five nestlings exhibit the classic begging posture. |
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April 18 - A sweet shot of
the beautiful female as she peers at the entrance hole while brooding her young. |
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April 17 - Huddled in a
dense mass, the two-day old nestlings help keep each other warm. Here one of the five
nestlings exhibits the stereotypical begging posture—upstretched neck and open beak,
accompanied by a faint call. |
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April 15 - Early this
morning we believe all five eggs hatched. The image at left clearly shows five tiny
altricial (naked, eyes closed, helpless) bodies. |
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