Eastern Bluebirds Feeding Young

Falling in love with Eastern Bluebirds is the natural outcome of living near these birds.  

The bluebird's ability to adapt to human presence, and accept the closeness that you see in these images and the video is part of the reason they have gained so much popularity in past decades.  This female chirps as she eats, contented chirps, as though expressing her delight at seeing so many grubs every time she encounters them in the feeder.  And the most endearing behavior of all happens when she lands on the shepherd's perch only a few feet away, looks directly at me and wing-waves. This is her greeting in bluebird language, and among the finest greetings I've ever received!

Obviously her tolerance of me is a result of my relationship to the mealworms.  I appear and they appear. And this bluebird pair is committed to feeding their five twelve-day-old nestlings at frequent intervals. Typically bluebird nestlings fledge at around 15-18 days, so we are nearing the count down.  

First brood juvenile male in this family of ten (five in the nest, three fledglings and two parents).

This, of course, gives me mixed feelings.  When the nestlings fledge, there is no reason for the family to remain in the yard.  The fledglings will roost high in the trees and the parents will lead them away from the nesting area to avoid predators.

Below you are seeing my first video taken with my new Canon Rebel SLR with HD video capacity. You'll see both the male and female bringing mealworms to the young and leaving the nestbox a bit cleaner as they depart.      
And while the parents were feeding the nestlings, the three juveniles were hanging out together on the gutters overhead, flipping leaves and debris to stir up the insects underneath.

To see last year's juvenile's bathing visit:  Juvenile Bluebirds Enjoy the Water, and to see juveniles feeding their younger siblings, visit:  Juveniles Helping Parents.  To see all my bluebird posts visit:  Bluebird Family.