Bluebird Parents Feeding Babies to Fly Away, 4149

Today was the first day that Beth believed our blue bird babies could possibly fledge – or fly away. Needless to say, we are watching this very closely. We wanted to place a small camera in the back of the nest house, but didn’t quite get that far this year.Show more

So we have a camera about 12 feet away from their front door to see if we can catch them as they take their first steps to flight. It’s a very exciting time and also a time of great danger. We’ve never had the nest box this close to the house, but so far, it’s worked out well. But we don’t actually know what happens when the babies actually take that leap of faith in their parents and try out their wings.

Blue Birds take some time choosing just the right nest box in the spring. Both the male and female go inside, sit on top and look around - go in again, perhaps to measure for curtains, but…. This takes several days.

Once they choose the right nest box, they build a nest that almost fills the entire box. The top of the nest comes up to just under the bottom of the hole.

The mother lays one egg a day until all eggs are laid. In our experience the female does not sit on the eggs all day, day in and day out but periodically.

The eggs hatch one a day until all 3 or 4 are hatched and then the feeding begins. From laying to hatching is about 2 weeks.

The mother and father take turns feeding the babies from morning till night. And it is another two weeks to 18 days before they fledge.

The father has the brighter blue colors and is slightly bigger than the mom. Also, at this stage, the father doesn’t go all the way into the nest box, but the mother, especially in the morning, does to check on the chicks.

On first flight day, the relatives arrive to help with the feeding and protection. That is exciting to see. One bird flies out and lands pretty close to the nest box. There is a flurry of activity, the older siblings from an earlier brood, swoop in to help.

The parents and siblings feed the fledglings, herd them to a degree and once all the babies are out of the nest, they fly off to continue growing and learning and these babies will help with the next brood.

We thought this was going to happen today, because clearly more that the mom and dad were helping in feeding the kids yesterday.

Although the feeding routine picked up today, the relatives went home, so it seems to have been a false alarm, but tomorrow is another day.

A bluebird couple will have 2 or three broods beginning in late spring and culminating in summer.

Well, that’s all for now. See you tomorrow.

I’m still reporting just outside the citadel of world freedom. Good day.