Bluebirds Fledged

We have a Bluebird nest box located about 10 feet in front of our front window of the motor home.

We were hoping since we’re living in the motorhome now, we would have a chance to watch the babies fledge.  We’ve been keeping a close eye on them.

Since we’ve been living here in Georgia, we’ve had the chance to really learn a lot about the various birds.  We’ve learned that the different types have such different personalities and habits.

They don’t just drop all the eggs at once.  It’s normally one egg per day.  Mama doesn’t start sitting on them until they have all been laid.   They seem to hatch on different days as well.

We aren’t sure, but we think they started fledging last week.  On Tuesday, there was unusual activity around the nest box, so we decided to keep a close eye out to see if we could witness an actual fledge.

We have the sunscreen on the front window, so I only had a small area with a clear view out the drivers front window.  I stood patiently zoomed and focused on the nest box opening.

While I was waiting, I saw Daddy Bluebird feeding the baby and I’m sure offering some encouragement to take the big step!

I finally saw a little head peeking out.  The picture didn’t turn out great unfortunately.

 

He was getting ready, so I stood there as still as I could, determined to catch his first flight.  After a few minutes, he finally got brave enough and this is what I photographed.

Don’t see him, do you?  Well actually he is a little to the right.  I snapped the shutter as quickly as I could, but he was quicker.  Once he finally made up his mind, he went fast.  I guess there is no slow “first steps”  for birds.  You either gotta go or not!

Al found him sitting up on an electrical wire right about the motor home.  Notice that he doesn’t have a tail yet?  We’ve noticed the babies fledge with very minimal tail feathers. 

If you look carefully, you can see a little bit of blue on him, and you can see the start of his tail feathers.

Yesterday the final two babies fledged.  There were 5 eggs originally, so we assume all hatched.  We see the family hanging around pretty close to the nest box.  They will stay together and soon we’ll see 7 Bluebirds sitting on the power lines all in a row. 

They left the nest box a mess.  They normally do a pretty good job of keeping it clean, but I think with the 5 babies there was no room for mama or dad to get in to do any cleaning.  Al is going to get some rubber gloves and a gas mask and remove all the old nesting material.  They’ll be starting another nest very soon.   I guess we won’t be here to see it though.

Today, the foundation guys are finishing up.  We’ve had to  keep Sweet Pea up here with us to keep her from “helping.”  Al and I are getting more and more attached to that big red dog and I think there will be some tears when we leave…not because of the house, but because of that darn red dog.