More Bluebird News

July 1st - there are three feathered lovelies in the box.

While we were away for the 4th of July weekend Chris took over "worm duty" and put worms in the feeder daily.  Sadly, another of the chicks died and had to be removed from the nest.  But notice that they are moving around in the box.  By Tuesday, July 6 HWNSNBP had to keep his hand over the opening when he checked on them so they didn't jump out.

July 7 - When I went to put the worms in the feeder in the early evening I wanted to check and get one more picture and boy was I surprised............. they were gone.  I saw Mr. Blue in the tree watching me and I asked him where they were.  I looked around but did not see them anywhere so I decided to leave the worms anyway.  No sooner did I close the garden gate then he was at the feeder grabbing as many worms as he could at a time and he flew to the trees behind the garden.  He kept making those trips so I felt that they had fledged and they were safe.

When I came out later to go into the pool Mr. Blue was frantically chirping and flying at me and then towards the box.  I listened and heard a little chirp coming from that area and decided to go check it out.  Behind the box and that portion of the fence is a mound of dirt and it seems one of the fledges had gotten caught in that area and was flapping around.  I gently picked it up and put it on top of the feeder at which time it decided to fly deeper into the garden.

It was at this point that I decided to get my camera even though it was getting quite dusky.  By the time I returned this little guy below had perched itself on the step ladder.  Here you see it from behind........

And from the front.  It doesn't look too happy right now. 

As I searched for the other one, this one took off and eventually wound up in a clump of grass outside the garden in the property line.  The second one had also left the garden and was flying downhill toward our house.  During all this, the father was frantically trying to keep track of both of them even though they were at opposite ends of the backyard now.  Since the one in the grass appeared safe, I went down and got the other one and brought it up to be with it's sibling.  Dad was still rather frantic, but he stayed in the general area and was constantly calling to them.  I'm sure he was telling them to stay quiet - which they were.

By this time, since the temperature here has been in the upper 90's and the humidity really had kicked in, I really needed a quick dip in the pool.   And that's what it turned out to be as I wanted to let Mr. Blue take care of the fledges before nightfall (and the bats were out by now which also sends me into the house although I know they're harmless!). 

I can only hope that either they stayed put and no predators found them during the night, or that Mr. Blue was able to coax them to somewhere he considered safe for the night.  In any case, this morning they were not in the grass but I could hear Mr. Blue in the trees.  We'll continue to leave worms until we have no more, and the nest will be removed quickly in case Mr. Blue happens to find a new Mrs. Blue who wants to move in to the neighborhood.