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May 31 - An empty nest and
five more beautiful bluebirds to grace our world! |
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May 31 - The last nestling
spent the morning alone in the nest until finally, just before noon, it joined its
siblings outside the nest box. |
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May 31 - The last two
nestlings remained in the nest together over night, but early this morning, the fourth
young left. |
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May 30 - The second
and third nestling left the nest just before sunset. |
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May 30 - FLEDGING
DAY!!!Sometime late last night or early this morning the first brave bird fledged from the
nest. |
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May 29 - The nestlings are
now 17 days old and just about ready to fledge. The male is seen inside the box with them
one last time. |
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May 28 - The female enters
the box and places a food item inside the mouth of one of the nestlings. |
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May 27 - After the birds
reach ten days, it is rare for either parent to enter the box. |
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May 26 - Just under two
weeks of age, the young bluebirds are starting to show their true colors. |
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May 24 - The male is seen
with a large fecal sac in his beak. Bluebirds are known for their fastidiously clean
nests. |
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May 23 - It is unclear
whether this moth flew into the nest box on its own or whether this was a large meal
provided to the nestlings. |
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May 22 - The female
appears with a large juicy worm, which is quickly devoured. |
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May 21 - An interesting
picture to say the least! The camera has captured one of the nestlings as it is about to
excrete a fecal sac. The female anticipates this and stands by to remove the sac from the
nest. |
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May 20 - The male enters
the box with a small grub in his beak. Notice the chicks eyes are now opened. |
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May 19 - Although the
nestlings can stretch their necks at the sight of a parent, they are still unable to move
about the nest box. |
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May 18 - The female enters
to remove a fecal sac from the nest. Notice the naked body of one of the nestlings. |
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May 17 - At five days old,
the nestlings are still unable to maintain their own body temperature; huddled
together in a mass, they keep warm. |
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May 16 - The feeding
frenzy begins! Here the male appears to dive into the nest cup, presumably with food. |
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May 15 - The male is seen
holding a small grub in his beak, it appears however, that none of the nestlings are awake
to accept the morsel. |
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May 15 - Five young
nestlings resting peacefully. Their eyes will remain closed until they are about five days
old. |
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May 14 - We believe the
last egg hatched early this morning. The female will spend the next several days brooding
the chicks and keeping them warm until they can regulate their own body temperatures. |
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May 13 - Sometime over the
course of last night or early this morning, the fourth egg hatched. |
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May 12 - The female will
continue incubating the two remaining eggs while also brooding the three nestlings. The
male may appear with food for her and/or the nestlings. |
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May 12 - By 4:00 in the
afternoon, the third nestling has emerged. Most songbird hatching is synchronous, that is,
egg hatch within 24 hours of each other. |
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May 12 - Fifteen minutes
after the second nestling emerges, the female is seen eating the eggshell, an excellent
source of calcium for her. |
 
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May 12 - These two images
captured at 1:30 PM are one minute apart and show the second nestling emerging from it's
egg. Sometimes this process can last several minutes. |
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May 12 - Just a few hours
after hatching, the female enters with a grub. It is uncertain if this was fed to the
newly hatched nestling or if she ate it herself. |
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May 12 - HATCHING DAY! The
first egg hatched shortly after 10:00 am. Notice the few tufts of dark gray down on the
top of its head and back. |
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May 11 - we expect
hatching any day now.... |
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May 9 - this female has
maintained a very consistent incubation rhythm of approximately 15 minutes on the
nest and 5 minutes off the nest. |
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May 8 - Even though the
male does not incubate the clutch, he often guards the eggs while the female is off the
nest feeding. |
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May 7- A nice shot of the
wide-eyed female as she attentively incubates her eggs, all the while being aware of her
immediate surroundings, particularly for predators. |
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May 6 - The female
routinely rotates the eggs to prevent amniotic fluid from getting stuck to any one side of
the egg. The first egg was laid on April 26th so we expect hatching day to be in Mid
May. |
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May 5 - Shortly after
their first box fledged five beautiful bluebirds, the Heath Elementary class switched on
another cam box revealing five Eastern Bluebird egg from a new clutch! |
