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August 11 -
Empty nest! See you next year! |
 
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August
11 - FLEDGING DAY! At eighteen days old and with just a day or two of practice flights,
the birds begin to fledge the box.
The first nestling leaves at 9:30 (bottom image),
followed by the second at 10:00 (middle),
and finally the last nestling departs at 10:30
(top). |
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August 10 -
The nestlings spent much of today practicing flight inside the box and venturing near the
entrance hole. |
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August 8 -
Just over two weeks, the nestlings stretch their wings often in preparation for flight. |
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August 7 - At
two weeks old, the young birds are fully feathered and will experience greatest increase
in wing length. |
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August 6 - The
nestlings are becoming much more active as is evident by their apparent lunging towards
the entrance hole in order to nab the next meal delivery. |
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August 5
- At eleven days old the nestlings are beginning to resemble bluebirds, but it is still
too early to sex the birds accurately. |
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August 4 - The
ten-day old chicks spread their wings offering us a clear view of their emerging pin
feathers. |
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August 3 - A
large moth is delivered to the three begging chicks. |
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August 2 - The
male exits the box with a recently excreted fecal sac. |
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August 1 - The
chicks will experience their most rapid growth during the second week of life. Feeding
will take place round the clock by both parents. |
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July 31 - At
5-6 days old, all three nestlings appear to be thriving as the male enters with food.
Notice the opened eye of the nestling in the middle. |
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July 29 - The
female stands by and waits to remove the fecal sac being excreted by one of the nestlings. |
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July 28 - The
female presents a large grasshopper to the remaining three nestlings. |
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July 28 -
Today, the mystery deepens as there appear to be only three nestlings in the nest. Again,
nothing visible from our cameras, but it is unlikely that a predator would take only one
nestling at a time. We are speculating that the two nestlings may have died from heat
exposure or natural causes and were removed by the parents. |
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July 27 -
Mysteriously, there appear to be only four nestlings in the nest. Our cameras did not
capture any strange activities. |
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July 26 - Two
days after the first nestling has hatched, there are five healthy nestlings! |
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July 25 - When
she leaves the nest we can see that three eggs have now hatched. |
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July 25 - On
the next day, the female bluebird is seen here with an egg shell in her beak. |
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July 24 - The
first hungry nestling is born! |
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July 23 -
Incubating females spend on average 61% of their time on the eggs. |
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July 20 - As
you can see here, the placement of the eggs in the nest has changed since July 15. |
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July 19 - The
female is seen here with a nice juicy bee. |
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July 16 - Only
the female is responsible for incubating and rotating the clutch. |
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July 15 - The
clutch of five eggs is scheduled to hatch on or about July 25th. |
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July 14 -
Although the camera is noiseless, we often capture images of birds looking right at the
equipment. |
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July 13 - Ever
watchful, the female reacts to any disturbances outside the nest box. |
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July 12 - This
very productive female surprised us by laying a fifth egg. |
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July 11 - A
fourth egg is laid. Given the lateness in the season, we would expect this to be the last
egg. |
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July
10 - During this image, the female was in the process of laying the third egg. |
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July 9 - The
second egg is laid just before 8:00 am this morning. |
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July 8 -
Shortly after the first egg is laid, the gorgeous male enters with some fresh nesting
material. |
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July 8 - Just
when we thought cam season was coming to a close, we are surprised and excited to see
another fist egg! |
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July 7 -
although we can not be certain without banding data, we believe this to be the same
productive pair that just reared five young. |
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July 5 -
Unbelievably, this school yard cam site is about to host its fourth nesting attempt. here
the female is seen using her belly to form the nest cup. |
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July 4 - It
appears the female is cleaning house by removing fecal material deposited from the brood
of nestlings that just fledged three days prior. |
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July 3 - To
our surprise, the male is seen inside the box with fresh nesting material. |
