Noisy Nestlings

BLUEBIRD UPDATE:

Once the parents finished building the nest in the new house, Mama laid four eggs on June 5th. 

She sat on the eggs faithfully for the fourteen days of incubation, leaving the nest only occasionally to find food for herself and stretch her wings. Often she peeked through the doorway to get some fresh air. 

Photo taken through the window
so as not to disturb her

The eggs hatched on Father's Day, June 18th.

Hard to see the new
featherless hatchlings.
Photo snatched quickly
whileMama was away.

Mama continued sitting on the nest for the first few days after the hatch, but left often to bring back food for her newbies. Soon she stopped sitting and began feeding full time, entering the house briefly each time she returned. Papa Blue helps with the feedings. They take turns ducking into the house every few minutes with their meal deliveries. 

Sometimes one or the other of the parents collects and removes a white fecal sac from the nest, which they carry away in their beaks. They often consume the fecal sacs themselves, for the nutritional value.

For further reading on this interesting tidbit:

https://madisonaudubon.org/blog/2018/7/30/into-the-nest-what-goes-in-must-come-out

 https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/ordway-lab/undergraduate-projects/northern-mockingbird-projects/why-birds-eat-fecal-sacs/

At first, the nestlings stayed low and silent in the nest, but within a few days they began squawking loud and clear whenever either parent arrived at the doorway with a morsel of food. 

Thanks to good parenting, the nestlings are growing rapidly. 

At 14 days old, they are strong enough to reach up to the hole to be fed.

 

The parents come more often now, feeding them from the doorway, poking their heads in, but no longer fully entering the house.

Mama:

Papa:

As for when the nestlings will fledge from the nest, guidebooks report a wide range of 15-20 days after hatching, so it could be as early as Monday July 3, or as late as Saturday, July 8. Whenever it happens, a

few friends and I will watch and cheer them on from a respectful distance. It's become a tradition. 

Stay tuned... 

~dkm 7-2-2023