Bird Watching: Bluebirds 2014, 5 by 2dCousinDave

2dCousinDave wrote:
Four of the five eggs hatched yesterday and the chicks all look healthy (and hungry). I am in the basement watching on the nest cam and hope to see the fifth one hatch at any minute. I am not yet concerned since she laid the fifth egg the day after she began incubating the first four. And she is still turning the unhatched egg. I have heard that the female can actually detect movement inside the egg from early in the incubation process. But on the other hand, I have heard of females sitting on infertile eggs for as long as a month before they abandon the effort. Maybe when there is movement they can feel it but when there is none, they are not so sure, so they hang in there.

I have a camera on a tripod set up on the front porch, that I can operate by wireless remote. Yesterday I watched her remove two egg shells, but I didn't get a picture. This is a very rare sight. I have only seen it once before and that was 10 years ago. I did get a picture at that time but my cameras are so much better today that I would love a better one. It is rare because almost always the female will eat the shells as soon as the egg hatches, and thus replenish her lost calcium.

In the pictures you see Papa arriving with something delicious for the babies. He will transfer it to Mama who will feed the newly hatched chicks. In the last three shots you see Papa trying to defend an empty NABS-style box that is about 25 feet from the PVC box the bluebirds are using. A pair of tree swallows would like to nest there but Papa initially was opposed to the idea. But, as you can see in the last shot, Papa didn't do so well in the fight and it was Papa who retreated when it was over, so maybe Papa will have a change of mind. Another pair of tree swallows are nesting in the PVC box in the front yard and they generally tolerate each other.