Bluebirds
What might not be so obvious is that for the last two weeks, and technically still, we've had guests staying with us and due to logistics, they have been staying in my office with the foldout Murphy bed. This has meant I have had little access to my desktop computer where I do 99% of my blogging and have had to rely on my iPad to do my commenting. So please excuse me if my comments have been shorter than normal. Those guests left and a missionary for our church moved in the very same day and will be with us for the coming week. Fortunately he has a busy schedule so will only be in our house to sleep a few hours over night before starting his busy schedule the next day. So this should allow me to sneak in while he is out and about and get something typed up before he returns in late evening.
It is hard to photo graph the bluebirds but I have been trying about every other day. There is only a small slot between the top of the nest and the bottom of the bird box roof into which I can slip my camera and blindly try to focus it on the baby bluebirds a mere inch beyond the lens. Some days I end up with some decent pictures and other days I don't end up with anything useable at all.
I always love seeing them going rapidly through the stages of life. In the beginning, they don't have their eyes open and so they will often raise their heads and open their beaks as wide as possible when I make a noise, in hopes a worm will end up in their stomachs. All to soon, they transition into their teenage years when they can open their eyes and then just sit and glare at me and my phone camera.
The teenage years have arrived as seen above. They try to stay motionless and just glare at me.
That is the plan anyway.
Those are amazing photos. Hope they get more feathers instead of spikes before trying to fly. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteI am amazed at how quickly they develop. Imagine how wild it would be if it only took us two weeks from birth to puberty!
DeleteI resist comments about nose and hose.
ReplyDeleteSomeday I would like to get some sort of video security camera mounted to the top of a box so I can check in remotely without disturbing the birds.
DeleteYou've done well under challenging circumstances. It's hard to focus that closely, even when you CAN see what you're doing! I'll be glad for everyone's sake when they have feathers. It's an unattractive stage.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the fellow who owns the birdhouse, there are three or four other nests in the area that didn't survive an earlier two day heat wave we had. The heat killed all the chicks in the nest. Fortunately, due to the late start of our birds due to the sparrow battle, ours missed the heat wave.
DeleteTry this site https://www.sialis.org/ for a lot of information about bluebirds and others including monitoring and photographing. They are wonderful birds and very tolerant of humans.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. My neighbor has filled me in over the years on lots of bluebird facts such as identifying the nesting material to egg color, hatching and fledging times. But I will check out the monitoring portion of the website. The parents never seem too concerned about me. Usually I go when they are out foraging but occasionally I have surprised one and they will fly off as I approach and sit in a nearby tree to keep watch and it issue a peeping reprimand. But as soon as I'm back inside, they are back with their eggs/chicks again, no harm, no foul.
DeleteI'm always amazed at the speed of growth on some animals like this. We see tiny baby geese in the spring and it seems that only a month or two later they look like full grown geese. Very cool photos!
ReplyDeleteWe once had two turkeys raise a brood behind our house. That was pretty neat though I couldn’t dictate the number of sittings like I can the blue birds.
DeleteSo exciting to follow the birds! They do change very rapidly. You got excellent photos.
ReplyDeleteThey could always be better but they conveyed my story.
DeleteWhat a wonderful journey with the bluebirds. My favorite bird is the the mejiro or big eye. Chartreuse green and tiny with beeping sounds. They love to eat mango and sometimes I get to shower them with the water hose when they hop around tree branches in the hot sun. It seems like they are beeping to me to shower them with water and I do so until they are soaking wet and then they dry themselves off after shaking off the water. So cute.
ReplyDeletePerhaps someday I can branch out with other bird types.
DeleteGreat photos documenting their childhood! I had birds make a nest in an electrical box that I was waiting for my wife to pick out the type of light she wanted... So once the light arrived, installing it was put on hold.
ReplyDeleteThe things we do for nature sometimes.
DeleteEd, you get the best shots of baby blue birds every year! Such a treat to see life continuing as it always has.
ReplyDeleteThey are pretty easy to photograph since they are tolerant of humans and more importantly a captive audience.
DeleteLove these photos, Ed. We have a bird that decided to make a nest in the water bottle holder on my son's bicycle. Needless to say, no bike riding for awhile. Haven't seen the bird yet, but there appears to be at least three white, speckled eggs. So maybe a robin?
ReplyDeleteI am far from a bird expert unfortunately. You need a neighbor like mine it does it for a hobby and knows everything.
DeleteNice, I hope they all fledge!!
ReplyDeleteThey are getting close. Could be as soon as tomorrow.
DeleteIt is amazing to see how quickly they go from naked, helpless things to taking flight. Kind of like our children.
ReplyDeleteMy children haven’t quite fledged but they are getting close.
DeleteI do enjoy watching baby birds in their nests. Thanks for the pictures Ed.
ReplyDeleteIf I had a video camera, you might not see me for weeks at a time.
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