Western Bluebirds 8 to 10 Days Old photo by Larry Jordan
Oak Titmouse Chicks about 1 Week Old photo by Larry Jordan
You can see by these photos that these birds are about a week old but no older than 10 days because they still have their feather sheaths. Shortly after these photos the sheaths will begin to disintegrate and wing feathers will begin to emerge.
It is critical that you don’t try to monitor the birds beyond day thirteen. The reason for this is that you don’t want to create a situation where the chicks try to fledge prematurely. If you keep good records during incubation and know when the chicks hatch, you can have a very good idea of when they will fledge and you will be able to watch them take their first flights!
Tree Swallow Nest photo by Larry Jordan
I just wanted to show you what a Tree Swallow Nest looks like so you can identify one when you see it. Tree Swallows love to nest in Bluebird nestboxes too. You can tell them apart by all the feathers that the swallows put in their nests. They love to play with feathers and you can sometimes get them to dive and grab feathers out of the air if you toss them into the air as the swallows fly around you.
If you do find Tree Swallows in one of your nestboxes, congratulations! They make great parents and you will have loads of fun monitoring their nests. They have a tendency to “dive bomb” you as you come around to monitor their nests but don’t be alarmed. As far as I know, they have never actually hit anyone. It’s just their way of protecting their home against intruders.
Egg Identification photo by Bet Zimmerman
This is a great photo for identifying eggs laid by different cavity nesting birds in North America. My thanks go out to Bet for allowing me to use her photo. You can get lots of information on bluebirds at her site here: Sialis.org .
I hope to get some video of these birds when then fledge to post next week but until then…..
Happy Birding
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