Batch Number Two Has Flown the Coop!

The backyard bluebirds have been hard at work on their second set of children this summer. Another three bluebird babies were growing quickly as mom and dad bluebird flew back and forth to the house with an endless supply of food. This photo was taken on July 3rd.

Then this morning we witnessed the highlight of our bird watching career! We were on the back deck with breakfast and coffee when we noticed a very young looking bluebird in a nearby tree. He had very immature coloring and still had his HUGE baby beak and mouth. He was sitting very, very still. Then mom flew in with a snack and we figured out that the babies must have left the nest this morning and taken their first flight to this tree! By watching mom and dad, we were able to locate a second baby on another nearby tree branch.

For the next hour, we watched the two babies getting used to their wings by stretching and cleaning their feathers, and testing out their perching balance. Every once in a while they would get brave and stand up, but then they'd get wobbly and plop back down on the branch. Mom and dad were coming constantly with snacks, and we think they were visiting the third baby too, although we couldn't see that one. The parents were also super vigilant - they would immediately chase away any squirrels or other birds that got too close for comfort by doing tag team dive bombing runs! We even saw a bigger sibling come in to help out when two squirrels made simultaneous approaches.

After an hour of this, we noticed that the food visits were becoming less frequent and the babies were getting antsy. Finally one of them took a short flight to another branch! We then watched for another 10 minutes as the other baby got up his courage to try out his wings again, and he too finally made a small flight when mom and dad came by to encourage him (or her - hard to tell!) A few minutes later and they were bravely working their way up into the treetop out of sight.

Another successful bluebird generation is airborne!