Come join us at the market!

Puget Sound Bluebird Recovery Project will be at the Bremerton Farmer's Market Thursday, June 30, 2011 from 4-7pm at Evergreen Park in Bremerton.  Come visit our booth to learn more cool things about bluebirds and our organization.  We will also be selling several different types of plants that are native to the Puget Sound region, like Vine Maple, Grand Fir, Shore Pine, Black Twin Berry, and Devil's Club.  Haven't had a chance to purchase a raffle ticket for our Nothing But Blue Skies Raffle?  We'll also be selling tickets at the market as well, $1 per ticket, or 6 tickets for $5.  All proceeds from the sale of items at the market will go directly to PSBRP to help Bluebirds, so come on down to the market!  We'd love to see you there!

Nestlings at 10 days old

Nestlings at 10 days old.  Notice their eyes are now open and their feathers are growing

Lucy and Desi's "kids" are starting to look more and more like baby birds every day!  Yesterday, June 20, 2011, the nestlings were 10 days old.  Their eyes are starting to open and their feathers, although still in sheaths, are growing and becoming longer.  The nestbox is also starting to become a bit cramped, but the nestlings don't seem to mind, and snuggle up next to each other for warmth and comfort.  Yesterday was the last time we will open their nestbox up until they fledge.  It is recommended that the box is not opened when they are 14 days old or older, because bluebird nestlings sometimes will try and fledge from the box pre-maturely if given the chance at that age.  Normally, western bluebirds will fledge from the nest box any where between 19-22 days.  We will continue to monitor the boxes from afar and will keep you updated on the nestlings first big flight from the nestbox!

Baby Bluebirds are doing well at 7 days old

Nestlings at 7 days old

Went to check in on Desi and Lucy's nestlings Friday, June 17th and they are doing well.  They were 7 days old on Friday and I could hear them chirping inside as I opened the box.  As I peeked inside, I found that there were 5 nestlings in the nest instead of 4!  I could also see the 6th egg that was unhatched, still sitting in amongst the nestlings, so our official number now is 5 nestlings!  I took a quick photo of them with my i-phone.  Definitely not the best picture, but you can see that they are starting to grow in their feathers even though their eyes are still shut.  Stay tuned for more updates!

Nestlings!

Here are some photos of Lucy and Desi's 3 day old nestlings.  Mom, Dad, and kids are doing well :-)

Nothing But Blue Skies!

Introducing our newest fund raiser for bluebirds:  It the "Nothing But Blue Skies" Raffle.  To kick off the summer season in style, we will be raffling off an amazing wildlife kayak trip, courtesy of Spring Courtright of Olympic Outdoor Center, and a beautiful Portrait of a Downy Woodpecker, courtesy of Tania Nachsel of Divine Photos. And the purchase of a raffle ticket is only $1.00 a ticket! Or, if you want to increase you chances, you can purchase 6 tickets for $5.00! Can't come to an event this summer to buy tickets? No problem! We are now offering a way to purchase "virtual raffle tickets" online to join in on the fun. Just click on the donate button on our events page at http://www.pugetsoundbluebird.org/events.html to purchase your tickets via PayPal, and state in your purchase that you are purchasing raffle tickets. We will send you an email confirmation letter as your "ticket stubs" for the raffle.

On the Wildlife Kayak Tour, one lucky winner will spend the afternoon on a guided 2 hour Liberty Bay kayak trip in Poulsbo, WA. On this trip, the winner will have the opportunity to view many different types of wildlife and sealife such as Harbor Seals, Bald Eagles, Dungeness Crabs, Aquatic Birds, Seastars. River Otters, and Osprey. To learn more about this fun filled trip, check out this link.

The framed Downy Woodpecker photographic print is a one of a kind work of art by Tania Nachsel, and very talented local professional photographer. Tania has a real gift of capturing wildlife in their natural habitats, and this print is a beautiful 8x10 matted and framed print, ready to hang on your wall. To see more of Tania's photographs, visit her at the Verksted Gallery in Poulsbo, WA, or check out her web site at www.divinephotos.net

Raffle drawing will be on July 30, 2011. No need to be present to win. For more information on our raffle, contact us at info@pugetsoundbluebird.org 

PSBRP now has a web site!

We are very excited to announce that Puget Sound Bluebird Recovery Project now has a web site!  Check it out at www.pugetsoundbluebird.org to learn more about bluebirds and our organization.

4 little "Ricky's" found in the nestbox today!

Today we went out to the Christmas Tree Trail to check in on the nest of Lucy and Desi.  We saw Lucy fly out of her box, so we took advantage of this opportunity and quickly went to take a peek inside (I had checked the box yesterday, but Lucy was sitting tight on her nest, so I closed the box up and let her be).  As we opened the box, we were very excited to see 4 tiny little hatchlings in the nest!  Scott Ford, one of our board members and an Avian Veterinarian, lightly touched them and said they were warm to the touch and dry, two very good signs!  A couple of the hatchlings also gaped (opened their mouth wide for food) when they were touched. I noticed that the four hatchlings were laying on top of one of the un-hatched eggs.  The other egg was not seen under the hatchlings, so either those eggs will hatch soon, or they are not viable and will not hatch.  Scott said that he felt the hatchlings were no more than 1 day old, and because they were dry, he believes they may have hatched yesterday.  It is hard to say since I was unable to see any of the eggs yesterday when Lucy was sitting on the nest, and there is a chance that the other eggs may still hatch, so we are going to say they were officially "hatched" on June 10, 2011.  We are absolutely thrilled and we will keep you up to date on how Lucy and Desi's new family is doing!

Lucy now has 6 eggs!

I went to visit the Christmas Tree Trail yesterday and see how Lucy and Desi were doing.  When I got there, Lucy and Desi were out sunning themselves on the tops of some Christmas Trees.  When I saw they were both out, I decided to take advantage of this and went straight to their nestbox to check in on the condition of the nest and eggs (the last few times I have been there, Lucy has been sitting on her nest).  To my surprise, there are now 6 eggs in the nest!  Shortly after, Lucy and Desi returned to the box and Lucy resumed her incubation of the eggs.

Spring Cleaning for Bluebirds event was a great success!

Come to our event! "It's good for you!"

Beautiful day for a yard sale

On June 4, 2011, we had our Spring Cleaning for Bluebirds yard and plant sale and it was a great success!  The day was absolutely beautiful--clear, sunny, and warm, with the temp in the 70's!  A perfect day for a yard sale.  We sold many of the items that were donated to us for the sale, and it was a great way to let the community know about our organization and what we do.  Bob Wiltermood also donated some beautiful native plants to the Puget Sound for us to sell as well.  We had Grand Fir, Shore Pine, Vine Maple, Devil's Club, and Black Twin Berry plants for sale.  We also had raffle tickets for sale for our newest fundraiser, "Nothing But Blue Skies" raffle.  In the next month, we will be raffling a framed photographic print of a Downy Woodpecker donated by Tania Nachsel of Divine Photos and a Wildlife Kayak trip donated by Spring Courtright of Olympic Outdoor Center.  A great big THANK YOU to Tania Nachsel, Scott Ford, and Bob Wiltermood for helping with the event.  Your help is very much appreciated!

Native plants donated by Bob Wiltermood

Our newest fundraiser, "Nothing But Blue Skies" Raffle

Board member Scott Ford enjoys the cool swivel chair donated to the sale

Tania Nachsel proudly displays her purchase of "Captain Monkey" at the event