Dr. Clara and Mandrake's second brood is underway. I am very excited about this and hope to get some cool videos with the new cam. The sparrow spooker is also installed now and Dr. Clara accepted it right away. If you want to know what a sparrow spooker is and how you can help Bluebirds and other native cavity nesting birds succeed, I recommend visiting sialis.org, a website that covers nearly every aspect of the topic. I will collect photos of the egg laying here.

May 26, 2021: Dr. Clara spent another night in the box. We finally got some rain last night, and it stormed for quite a bit. Temperatures have dropped a lot too, and today it is a lot more bearable outside. she is in the box a lot but I am not entirely sure if she is already starting to incubate or if she will lay another egg tomorrow. I guess we wil lsee then.

May 25, 2021: Like clockwork, Dr. Clara laid another egg this morning. She also spent most of the night in the nestbox which I found a bit unusual. Now it will be interesting to see how many more eggs she will lay. I had a clutch of six one year, and this is the “main season” brood with the best amount of bugs around and the mildest temperatures.

May 24, 2021: On time, egg three was laid this morning. Temperatures have fallen after a hot couple of days, and it is a bit rainy out. Dr. Clara has not spent a lot of time in the box yesterday but I was happy to see her coming right back this morning.

May 23, 2021: The second egg is laid, at around the same time, between 8:30 and 9 AM. Temperatures outside are very mild in the morning and turn hot in the afternoon, so the female is not visiting a lot. Both adults and the babies are hanging around.

May 22, 2021: Dr. Clara lays the first egg early in the morning.