A box of Blue

This is the last nest box check I will do as the baby bluebirds will fledge in the next 5 days, so I thought it would be a fitting blip for the day.  You'll have to use a little imagination in looking at this - I stuck my iPhone in the top of the box and shot two images, trusting the phone to focus.  There are actually four little Eastern Bluebird huddled here and if you look carefully you can see a head in the upper left corner, next to some rather brilliantly colored wing feathers.  

This will be the second brood of bluebirds to be raised in my yard this summer, and probably the last for the season.  The parents have been diligent in keeping the youngsters well fed with all manner of insects, spiders and larva and even a few earth worms.  I hope that I can catch at least some of the youngsters fledging, although it's always a bit of a guess as to when they'll leave the box.  

The seven wrens (second attempt for this female) are also due to fledge, probably within the next 72 hours.  If I am diligent in listening for mama calling them out of the box, I may get lucky and catch one or two exiting. My experience with house wrens leaving the box in the past has been that it happens extremely quickly and without a lot of warning.  It will be interesting to see if this female attempts another brood.  Her first brood was killed by a bear when they were about 4-5 days old, so this is technically her second brood.  Two is usually their limit, so we'll see...

My besties are arriving around noon and we're heading out to have lunch at a favorite local spot where we can sit outside, eat good food and just be fabulous. Then back here for whatever the afternoon brings.  In any event, I figured it made sense to blip early!

Happy weekend, people.
xo
Debbi