Meet the Bluebirds

Meet Ann and Ben Bluebird, who live at Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve in Goshen, KY, where I volunteer.  This week, I taught a group of campers about bird nests.  We examined empty nests of a Robin, Tree Swallow and Chickadee, looking at the different materials used in each.  But the good part was looking into live nests of Ann and Ben, and some neighboring House Wrens so the kids could actually see the chicks. They were thrilled with this new experience, and so was I.

While waiting for the children to finish their early morning activities, I had the wonderful opportunity to sit in the shade and watch Ann and Ben for a while going about their normal Bluebird activities. The task of the day is feeding the babies. We counted six hatchlings which were probably about two days old, since their eyes were still shut.

New chicks are all yellow beak and big eyes. When they think someone is bringing food, those mouths open right up, even if it's just some curious people. By the way, these boxes were donated by the Louisville Audubon Society for a Bluebird Trail at the Nature Preserve. People sponsored them as a Valentine's gift to their sweethearts, so we painted the names or initials of the sponsor on the box. After all, Bluebirds are very loving and devoted to their mates. Real lovebirds!

Bluebirds are wonderful parents, raising two or even three clutches in the summer if the food supply is good. Ben would fly towards the hole in the nest box...

...then wait his turn if Ann was there first.  They are pretty tolerant of people, and don't attack my campers when we peek inside the box, unlike the Tree Swallows.

OK, my turn now.  Which chick gets the bug next?

He seems to say, "Are you looking at me? Don't you have anything useful to do?" I was impressed by the variety of different worms and bugs they brought to the nest.

It was too dark in Ann and Ben's box to take a picture of their chicks, but this nest only has one freshly hatched and exhausted little chick.  By the end of the day, I expect that most of his siblings hatched out too.

While Ann and Ben were out hunting, their Chipping Sparrow neighbor perched on the wall by the nest box and sang joyously.  I don't know if the Bluebird chicks appreciated his song, but I certainly did! By the way, I just noticed that I have been posting to the blog for FIVE years now.  Wow, it sure went by fast, but it's great fun to go back and remember all the great experiences and birds that I've posted here, along with the wonderful blogger buddies I've met. Happy Anniversary to me!

Bluebird Bonanza

Although my husband is the primary volunteer at Bernheim Forest and Arboretum in our family, I went to represent the Beckham Bird Club today at Bernheim's big Bloomfest event. The table next to ours hosted the Kentucky Bluebird Society, and Mr. Bluebird led a walk to check on the Bluebird houses. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity, since my backyard has absolutely no chance of ever drawing any Bluebirds. It was fascinating to see the baby birds in their nests.

We must have set some kind of success record, finding 6 of 8 nest boxes with Bluebirds successfully nesting in them. One had eggs only. Another had new hatchlings with their eyes still closed, which we counted by finding the yellow beaks. One little guy was completely buried under his siblings. Another box had one hatchling and a few unhatched eggs. Two other boxes had old nests, but were vacant now.

Bernheim installed a nest cam in a box just outside the education center. Unlike many online cams, this one has a live feed to a monitor in the education center so you can see every movement happening in the box. Mama Bluebird came with a juicy grub, but all the babies were napping, so she ate it herself. Can't let those grubs go to waste!

Another box held babies with their eyes open, and they showed no interest at all, either panic or joy, in the large hand entering their world and moving them around to search for a buried Bluebird sibling. Look at the blue tips on their developing feathers. Mr. Bluebird says that when they are ready to fledge they just burst out of the box and fly away. There is no room inside to stretch and exercise those flight muscles.

We discovered that the ninth box held a nest of Tufted Titmouse babies when the Titmouse mother scolded and cursed at us as loudly as she could directly over our heads. We finally took pity on her (and spared ourselves a dive-bombing) by leaving the box unopened.

As we walked up the hill a way, Mama Titmouse immediately entered the box with a tidbit for the babies, then hurried away to find the next serving.

Thanks, Mr. Bluebird, for a terrific afternoon learning about Bluebirds in wonderful detail. I greatly admire his skill in determining how to open each box, since each was different. His tool of preference? The handy, dandy Swiss Army knife, of course. I was also interested to see the various stages of development in the different nests. My favorite story was when he reached into the nest under a sitting mother, lifted her up to count the eggs, and she didn't move a feather. We didn't find any birds actually on the nest today, but we had a bonus with no House Sparrows in any of the boxes!

Harris Hawk

Our friends from Raptor Rehab of Kentucky attended Bloomfest with some of their favorite birds and mine.

Turkey Vulture

American Kestrels

Green Dragon Blossom

After the great birding opportunities, as the crowds started to trickle off, my flower buddy and expert, Tavia Cathcart, asked if I'd like to go hunting Green Dragons. Dragons? You mean the fire-breathing kind of dragon? No, this is a flower, one I've never seen before, and she was very excited about it.

Most Jack in the Pulpits are finished blooming by this time, but Bernheim's Jacks are in good shape. This one is a Jack in the Pen apparently. Can't imagine was sort of natural law it broke to land in jail!

Flowers and birds weren't the only attendees at Bloomfest. This insect arrived early in the morning, and seemed fascinated with leftover stickiness on the plastic tablecloth I brought from home.

Our favorite blossom is the Wren Flower--a unique forest beauty found only at Bernheim Forest and Arboretum!

Squeaky Toy in the Tree

Pelicans are such a joy to watch! They are awkward looking in the water, but soar with such precision. They fly in formation, playing follow the leader, flapping in time and swooping up and down, seeing how close they can get to the water. Today, they just concentrated on fishing and stuffing their bellies, which were holding plenty, believe me! What's not to love about live Pterodactyls flying by!

What bird sounds like a child's squeaky bath toy? Give up? We finally decided that all that racket was coming from 10-12 Bluebirds in a large pine tree. Other noise makers included some bright yellow Magnolia Warblers, and a drabber warbler that looked like a Pine Warbler (and it was in a pine tree, right?) When a Kestrel suddenly appeared, the noise levels escalated, although Kestrels don't eat anything this big. When the Harrier soared by, all the little birds disappeared into the branches!

Three layers of clothes and it's still really cold here along the Gulf Coast, but the bright sunshine makes you feel better about it. Following the Alabama Coastal Birding Trail through Baldwin County, we started at a mariculture facility (like a fish farm), but most of the birds thought it was too cold to be out too. We did find one Spotted Sandpiper (another life bird), which bobbed its tail the whole time we saw it, thus matching the identification in the Stokes' Shorebird book.

Weeks Bay Estuary has a great observation platform at the end of a boardwalk through the southern forest and marsh. I love the labels on unfamiliar trees and ferns. We also found an unlabeled giant spider - at least 2 inches long - which I have been unable to identify so far. A Kestrel sped past, and caught a dragonfly on the wing as Dick watched. "Maybe that's why the big dragonflies don't land often - they don't want to be Kestrel krunchies!" He flew a couple victory laps, just to show off. An immature Bald Eagle landed in a nearby tree, while an Osprey perched across the bay. The raptors continue to be our favorites on this trip, but that's to be expected, right?