Bluebirds' Fledging Day

The weather has been crazy for the past few days, low fifties and pouring rain yesterday, day 17 for the bluebird nestlings.  And today started with 48 F degrees and drizzle, not a typical May day in Tennessee, and not the best of fledging weather.  But today was day 18 in the lives of the bluebird nestlings, and when it's time to fly, it's time.  Look at this little guy!

And let me tell you how we met.

A perfectly timed 'first' happened yesterday in all this cold and wet.  With encouragement from the familiar blue dish of mealworms that I've been setting on the ground near the nestbox, and a sprinkling of mealworms on top of the mealworm feeder, both the male and female caught on to the feeder.   (The wire keeps larger birds out).

Early this morning, I was putting meal worms in the feeder when I noticed the male bluebird behaving differently.  He was sounding sharp chirps, flew to the deck overhead and the female joined him on another perch near me.   I glanced toward the feeder again before stepping inside to get my coffee and spotted this little, frozen statue on the sidewalk only a few feet from the feeder I had just been filling.  In the dim morning light, I couldn't even tell for sure that it was a fledgling, but the parents' behavior gave a sure clue.  I grabbed my camera and snapped the image before he disappeared.  I later saw the male taking food to a spot just out of sight under a shrub, only a few feet from where the fledgling stood earlier.  

The parents continued to feed nestlings inside the box and fledglings perched on limbs around the yard.   I couldn't see them in the wet canopy cover, but I heard them.  There were lots of soft two-note bluebird calls, both parents, fledglings and nestlings.  At one point, the female positioned herself on a perch just above the patio, the male beyond their favorite oak tree in the center of the yard.  For about ten minutes they called back and forth, soft songs with some chatter in between, and little answers could be heard from perches in the yard and from the nestbox. For a while, the air was filled with sweet bluebird surround-sound.

A very satisfying way to begin my day.  And believe me, it wasn't easy to drag myself away and head to the office.

Links and resources:

You will find instructions for making the nest box predator guards you see on my bluebird nestboxes in the tabs for pages under my blog title.   This guard provides good protection from wandering cats, raccoons and snakes.  This is the second year for one box, and first for the second.  Thus far, I've had two successful chickadee nesting seasons (six fledged each year) with no predation, and this season's first bluebird nesting brood of five all fledged.  You may also find a version of these guards at the Wild Birds Unlimited store nearest you.

The "meal worm feeder" you see in this blog post is available through Wild Birds Unlimited.

This is the fourth post in a series on this bluebird family.  To see all of the posts visit the link, bluebird family.   In Wishing Upon a Bluebird, an initial encounter between nest building phoebes and bluebirds is described at Vickie's Sketchbook.  I will be sharing more about this relationship between neighbors soon.

For articles leading up to the story on this post, visit my Wild Birds Unlimited articles:  Smitten with Bluebirds and April Celebrations.  And to see last season's chickadee family, visit the Secretive Chickadee Family and A Happy Fledging Time of Year.

Upcoming:  Bluebirds Love Water, a surprising disagreement between bluebird and phoebe parents, and wing-waving in bluebird communication.