belinda and bert bluebird are busy waiting for their offspring to fledge. i expect it will be any day now; we're at day 16 for the last egg that hatched, and both parents have been very busy taking food to the hole of the nest box. i'm glad i decided to fill the window feeder they frequent with dried mealworms to give them a ready source of food. i wanted to observe the chicks more often and continue to track their development, but declined over concern about upsetting the parents or possibly disturbing the babies. i learned that once the chicks depart from the nestbox that they don't return, and i don't want to interrupt them at this critical stage to peek inside, lest i trigger a premature fledging. steve and the boys are going to build me a structure with a nest cam next year so i can monitor more easily and not have to wade through the grassy meadow of our backyard.
i feel so fortunate that the bluebirds selected the box i built for them. i hope it is home for many more birds in the future.
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| 4/28 (not sure when laid) |
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| 5/9 |
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| 5/10 |
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| 5/11 |
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| 5/14 |
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| 5/18 |
