I checked the three boxes that had nestlings last time. All three were empty (of birds). One had two failed eggs, so that box had only 2 nestlings, I had guessed 3 at some point. So my rough count of Bluebirds fledged is 23 for this year.
I did not expect to see much of the birds. At that early hour, only one of the parents was seen in a tree nearby. Nobody was begging for food. In other boxes, a few wrens are nesting. I found one with eggs.
Other places I have seen the young bluebirds with the parents, making very slight calls, no real song from any of the group. And begging for food as well:
I checked the three active boxes, but since they all have the hole rather than the slot, I did not get any pictures. Some are over 10 days old and I was afraid they would fly out. All 11 nestlings are at the stage that the ones above are at, or a few days younger.
I will check the boxes again in 7-10 days and expect to find them empty. The next blog entry will just be the final tally of fledged birds.
One box was really bad looking, so I made a new roof to "Box 1." Normally I do not do repairs till October. The poles all need a lot of work. There are no birds in nests on the Nature Center side. The wrens (6) fledged. maybe some house sparrow have nestlings.
I mentioned that I never see the young a week later. There was one time I documented the fledged birds: 2017 ENTRY ON YOUNG OUT OF BOX
I checked the four remaining nests, all on the South bike-hike trail. Box 2 had chicks on 7-2. They were probably 3-4 days old. So let us say they hatched on 6- 30. They would be now 10 days old. Now there were none. The schedule for birds is normally:
Day 12: almost completely feathered. except for mid-ventral region. Incomplete bill-wiping movements and head scratching first observed.
Day 13: Mid-ventral region is feathered. sleep with head on scapulars. Can tell sex by bright blue color of primaries and retrices, and white on retrices. Sleep in typical adult manner.
Day 14: no unfeathered areas visible. Wings are longer. Capable of weak, short-distance flight. Bird can right itself and make short shuffling movements backwards and forwards.
Day 15: completely feathered.
So the ten day old chicks would not have flown out of the box. The box itself was pushed down. A raccoon hanging on it, and twirling on the pole could have moved it down. One other box (no nest, swallows earlier) had also been dragged down. Raccoon predation is rather rare, this one is the first I suspect racoons of.
Of the three remaining nests, Box 4 had chicks a few days old.
The other two have nestlings with eyes just opened. I did not get the eyes in the picture, but in Box 5, one of the 4 eggs never hatched.
I recommend the nest boxes that have the slot at the top. I've never had any predators get in, and if you have a smart phone, you can check on the birds' welfare without opening the box. Just slide the phone top in, use a flash.
Those are in fact swallows peeking out. Anyway, I did not follow my own advice. I had already photographed the Box 16 nestlings and seen that they were fully grown. Just then the thought came that I would never see these again. Only a few times have I seen the fledged birds hang out by the nest box for even hours after they fledge. So I opened the box to get a little better view with sunlight. The parents had been freaking out about me. I should have known they knew the chicks would fledge today.
And with my improved photo, the first one flew out:
I tried to carefully (you don't want to slam the door on any bird no matter what) close the door, but a second one slipped out as I got the nail back on. Then I went to check the wrens and ten minutes later (camera in slot) the remaining two had gone. I can only presume I did the parents a favor. They need to coax (feed less etc.) the birds to leave at the end. They landed all over, and hid in the grass and flowers at first. Stepping very carefully, I retreated. The birds will need to make it some 20-30 feet to the tree line by the golf course to be safe in the trees.
House wrens (6) are coming along nicely, and will be out in a week or so. The bills are already getting longer wren shape.
On the South side, at the far West end, some chicks just hatched maybe yesterday.
Another box had similar young birds. Two other boxes had just eggs.
On the North side, the Box 16 family is coming along fine, both parents ready to attend the young as soon as I left. The eyes are now open but I did not get them to open the eyes or react in any way.
Next door there were some House Wren chicks, about six. They look just like Bluebird chicks when a few days old, but clearly smaller.
