The end of summer
is always bittersweet, but for the birdwatcher it is also an exciting time because there are young birds all over the place. It is very entertaining to watch them explore the world, lead by their parents. The August in my calendar shows a parent American Robin and his adorably proud youngster. They are the state bird of Michigan, even if they migrate more south in the cold season, and I always eagerly await their arrival.
You can get an Ostdrossel calendar here at ostdrossel.com or here.
I am so delighted
about the Titmice. Maybe they are just here temporarily, but maybe they will stay throughout the cold season as they used to have before they stopped coming. I am also seeing more Chickadees. The Titmouse is a young bird, and just judging from the perfect appearance of the Chickie, I am thinking he might be as well.
I have heard them for a couple of days now,
but here is the first official Blue Jay baby of the year!
There are so many Grackles right now,
and they are all in different stages of molting or age. I find it particularly interesting to see that the babies have different eye colors. I think it has to do with age, the one with the dark, rich brown looks younger than the one with the olive-grey eyes. And they are all the biggest goofballs.
Last but not least,
after three Bluebird babies hatched yesterday, the fourth seems to have made it out this morning as well.
Today was fledge day!
All five Bluebird babies left their cradle on this hot and humid May day. And I only saw one of them do it, and missed to take a photo because I was excitedly talking to my husband haha. What happens is quite interesting. The babies start calling the parents, and the parents reply. It goes back and forth, back and forth for a while, and with each response, the babies become more excited and get out of the hole more. In between it can happen that the parents make a warning call and everything goes back to zero. The babies take naps in between, too. The first one went quickly, the other four took their good time. The parents went back to check on them but did not feed or take diapers anymoire. I cleaned the box and hung it back up so that Lagertha can build another nest. Here is one photo of a baby peeking out, and another one of the nest. It was quite moist and dirty, and I am glad I took it out so Lagertha can have a fresh start with no blowfly larvae or dirt.
Fledge day is always special, and today it felt like watching a long birth. The courage these babies must muster to take the literal leap must be quite enormous. I am so happy they all made it and cannot wait to see them again.
The Bluebird babies
are at what I call the “strawberry stage” right now. they are basically done, and wear their gray kiddo PJs with the white dots, which on the nestbox cam makes them look like strawberries. They have been very agile for the last two days, exercising their wings and also peeking out of the nestbox with their little froggie faces. They hatched on May 7, which means they are very close to fledging. It has been rather hot and humid today, and I feel like tomorrow might be fledge day, even though Wednesday would be day 20 and more normal. They just look so incredibly lively already. The parents will then lead them away a bit to teach them the basics of BB life, and bring them back to the yard to show them the feeders after a couple of weeks. In the meantime, Lagertha might start another nest. I cannot wait to see them outside!
The proud mama
Here’s Lagertha, proud mama of at least four Bluebird babies. One egg did not hatch so far but it might be a straggler. The mama bird only starts incubating the eggs once her clutch is complete to make sure that they all hatch at the same time. Often, that works, sometimes it does not work completely, so we will have to see what happens. She helped all the hatchlings to get rid of any excess egg shell by eating it. The babies all look great, and Ragnar is very attentive, bringing her snacks to the box, so I am sure they will make it through the coming cold snap just fine. They are Vikings after all :D
Video: It's hatch day!
The Bluebird babies are hatching this morning. A cold front is supposed to come but they are on schedule. So far, only one made it out, and he was wearing a cute helmet.
