Lucy now has 4 eggs!

Four beautiful eggs in Lucy's nest

 Went out today to check the Christmas Tree Trail on this rainy day and found that there is now 4 eggs in Lucy's nest!  So it looks like Lucy has been laying 1 egg per day since Monday.  Bluebirds usually will lay one egg a day in the early morning hours, and will lay any where from 4-7 eggs in a clutch.  Once she has laid all of her eggs, she will start incubating them for a total of 14 days.  I snapped a quick photo of the nest with my phone while monitoring the boxes today.  The eggs in the photo look big, but they are actually very small--about the size of a nickel!  As I finished up my route on the trail, I noticed Desi and Lucy close by, foraging for insects and sitting on top of Christmas Trees.  Hopefully in the next few months, there will be some little bluebirds hopping along with them!

Lucy has started laying eggs!

Lucy and Desi enjoy the sunshine as they preen their feathers on top of their nest box

Today I went to the Christmas Tree trail and found a small blue egg in Lucy and Desi's nest box!  We will keep you posted as we continue to monitor the nest boxes and the trail.  Enjoy these beautiful photos of Lucy and Desi taken by Cathy Mitchell of Mitchell Designs.  Thank you Cathy for these beautiful photos!

Lucy and Desi

Desi is a very handsome bird!

Mmmmmm.....this meal worm is really tasty!

Introducing "Desi and Lucy"

We at the Puget Sound Bluebird Recovery Project would like to introduce you to "Desi and Lucy"!

Well......maybe not this Desi and Lucy, but THIS Desi and Lucy

"Desi", the male Western Bluebird of the Christmas Tree Trail

 

"Lucy" the female Western Bluebird of the Christmas Tree Trail

Both Desi and Lucy have been hard at work, building their nest at the Christmas Tree Trail in Port Orchard, and Tania Nachsel of Divine Photos was able to capture a few photos of them as they flew around the farm, hopping from tree to tree.  Check out the rest of these beautiful photos below and check out Tania's web site at www.divinephotos.net for more beautiful wildlife photography.  A great big THANK YOU to Tania Nachsel for donating these photos to our organization.

Desi

Lucy

Desi flies through the air like a torpedo!

Up, up, and away!

Lucy looks down from the top of a Christmas Tree

Desi

Desi

Desi

Desi

Desi

The Bluebirds are nesting in the boxes

Male Western Bluebird hangs out on top of the nestbox early in the morning 5/9/11

On Saturday, May 7, 2011, we installed a bird cam at the Christmas Tree Trail to monitor the nestbox that has a nest.  We stopped by the trail again today to remove a wasp nest that had started in one of the other nestboxes, and decided to check our bird cam and download the photos.  After downloading the photos onto our computer, we were thrilled to find photos of our resident bluebirds hopping in and out of the box!  We noticed from the series of photos that shortly after installing the bird cam on Saturday, the bluebirds were back at their box within minutes of our being there, and that in the last few days, they have been back to box several times.  We did notice today that the nest inside the box was much bigger than it was on Saturday, so the bluebirds have been hard at work.  Check out the photos below to see the bluebirds of the Christmas Tree Trail at their nestbox.

Female Western Bluebird gets ready to go into the box shortly after we left....

 

...then the male Western Bluebird checks out the box

The female continues to work on the nest

Somebody is perching on the camera!

Hanging out on top of the box 5/9/11

Continuing to work hard on the nest

Bluebirds setting up nests at the Christmas Tree Trail!

Male Western Bluebird hanging out at the Christmas Tree Trail

Very exciting news!  Today, I went out to check on the boxes at the Christmas Tree Trail, and there were several male bluebirds there with female bluebirds!  This time, I had not only my binoculars and camera, but Scott Ford was with me, who is a board member of PSBRP and an Avian Veterinarian.  Scott did confirm that these birds were indeed bluebirds!  But even more exciting, as I went through to monitor the boxes, one of the boxes had a complete grass nest in it, and another had a partial nest! (no eggs yet, but hopefully soon!)  It looks like just in the last week our bluebird couples have been hard at work and are starting to get their homes ready!  It was hard to tell how many birds there are at this trail, but my guess at this point is that there are at least a couple pairs there at this point (given that there are two nests).  Check out the photos above and below that I took of the male bluebirds in the area.  I don't have a very good camera and it was hard trying to get up close enough to get a good photo, but even though the pictures are a bit grainy, you can see the bright blue color and the red on the chest and back.  We are so excited that the bluebirds have chosen one of our trails to make their home!  Stay tuned for more info and updates on our bluebirds!

Grass nest in one of the boxes

Spring Cleaning for Bluebirds!

Puget Sound Bluebird Recovery Project will be having a fund raising event called "Spring Cleaning for Bluebirds".  This will be a yard sale held on June 4th, from 9am-5pm in Bremerton, WA.  If during your spring cleaning you have any household items or clothing that you'd like to donate to our sale, we would be very appreciative of the donation!  All money raised from this sale will go directly to help the bluebirds.  If you are interested in donating any goods to our cause, helping out with the sale, or even stopping by to purchase a few items, we'd love to have your support.  Either RSVP through our blog or email us at info@pugetsoundbluebird.org for more information and let us know how you'd like to help or support.