Still Waiting

I haven't posted in a while because there have been no changes to the nest and I have been busy with workshops for school. I do check in on momma bird every morning and evening. She is staying on the nest a LOT more this time around. The last time around I could go out there most evenings and she would not be on the nest so I could take a peek at it. I am wondering if it has to do with the extreme heat that we are having. Maybe she is having to protect the eggs from it? I have started to go out there several times just to check the nest but she is always inside so I don't want to disturb her. I did get a picture of the eggs the other day but nothing had changed. We are on Day 9 from when I discovered the first 3 eggs. According to what I have read she may have waited until the 4th egg was laid to start incubating. So that may put us at Day 7 or 8 for Incubation time. Incubation typically lasts 12-14 days. So we are getting close to hatch day! I am hoping by the end of the week I will be posting with pics of the new babies. I am so excited.

More Eggs

I would like to start off today with a few facts about Eastern Bluebirds then go on to the events from today. I get most of my facts from http://sialis.org/index.html .

For those of you that might not know, the male is very dark blue on the back and head with orange-red and white on throat and breast. The female is lighter in color. She has light bluish gray on her back and head with white, light orange, and gray on the throat and breast. The Eastern Bluebird can be found in the central or eastern United States. They like open areas with scattered trees and fence rows, farmlands, orchards, and suburbs.

This morning I noticed the male and female birds out back on the fence. I decided to watch them for a little bit. Momma bird flew into the nest and stayed for quite some time then flew out. About 5 to 10 min later she flew back in the nest. Daddy bird brought her some food (looked like a worm). She stayed most of the morning in there. I wasn't sure if she was just sitting on them or if she was laying another one. From what I read in the past she doesn't lay on the eggs much unless it is cool. Also, she doesn't incubate the eggs until she is finished laying them all so that they can all hatch at about the same time. So I waited until mid-afternoon to go check the nest. Sure enough there are now 4 eggs. I wonder if she will lay a 5th one?

WE HAVE EGGS!!!!!

Let me start out with some background information. We moved into this house in south Arlington, Texas about 6 years ago. It was a scarcely populated area with very little trees because of all the new developments around. We never really saw any birds except for crows/blackbirds. In the years since we have lived here we have begun to see some new birds such as doves, mockingbirds, and wrens or sparrows (not sure which). We tried putting out bird food but it didn't really bring anything new.
You also need to know that my grandmother, Stella Frances Green, was an avid bird watcher. She knew most of the types of birds in her area of southwest Oklahoma and if she didn't, she had a book to look it up in. In her yard you could find: Goldfinches, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Chickadees (my favorite), Hummingbirds, Titmouse, Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Baltimore Orioles and many many more. She went to be with Jesus this last Feb. 14th. About two months after her death, Spring hit and so did the birds. We started seeing all these different birds that we had never seen before. I was glad that I had one of my grandmother's books to look them all up. We had cow birds (black with a brown head) and House Finches (brown with a red head). Then when my mom came to visit guess what showed up? EASTERN BLUEBIRDS. It was amazing. My grandmother once had some in a nest box that had a glass back and attached to her window. The babies hatched and a snake ate them. It was sad but part of the food chain, I guess.
So a month or so went by and we hadn't seen them much. My husband found an Eastern Bluebird nest box at Walmart and put it up in the backyard near our Oklahoma Redbud tree that we got from our friends, Donna and Clinton Cole, just after we moved. Then about a week after we put it up Guess who showed back up? Our sweet little Eastern Bluebirds. They were making a nest in the box. The next time I checked the nest there were 3 eggs. Then a few days later, there were 5 eggs. We were sooooo excited!!!!!! I took pictures every few days. I will be posting the pics here for you to see. Just so you know... They all hatched, one got eaten by my dog (who also killed all but one baby rabbit that momma rabbit decided to have in our backyard), the rest fledged. We also put up another nest box nearby. This has been about a month ago. We have not seen the bluebirds since. Today for the first time, I saw them and guess what???? They have made a nest in the new nest box and there are 3 EGGS!!!!!!! So hear we go again.. This time my husband suggested that I start a blog so here it is..

1st Brood of Eastern Bluebirds

This is the link to our pictures of the 1st brood of Eastern Bluebirds that started in Mid May to Early June.

Eastern Bluebird Pics