Desi and Lucy are in the news!

Photo of Desi in the Kitsap Sun newspaper.  Photo taken by Paul Carson

Joan Carson of the Kitsap Sun newspaper wrote an outstanding article about our beloved bluebirds, Desi and Lucy.  It was published today, Sunday July 17, 2011.  Check out the article at http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2011/jul/12/joan-carson-on-the-trail-of-western-bluebirds/
Thank you Joan for the wonderful article!

Meet the Fledglings!

"Little Ricky", one of the male fledglings of Lucy and Desi.

Tania Nachsel of Divine Photos took these awesome photos of some of the fledglings as they flew around the Christmas Tree Trail in Port Orchard, WA on July 8, 2011.  It is so much fun to watch the "kids" as they fly around the farm, vocalizing and chasing each other as they zip around the field.  The fledglings are doing great and are quickly learning how to hunt for insects.  I am so amazed how well they fly and maneuver around the trail. The fledglings are a bluish-gray color, with spots on their chest, but you can tell the males from the females by the coloring on the tips of their wings.  The males will start showing the beautiful bright blue coloring on their wings, which stands out against the gray color.  The females have a lighter blue on their wings.  The fledglings have been hanging out a lot around the residential home of the Christmas Tree farm, and they love perching in the big tall trees next to the home with Desi and Lucy.  A great big thank you to Tania for taking these spectacular photos.  Check out her web site for more great photos at www.divinephotos.net

One of the female fledglings.  She sure blends in well with the tree!

Desi is a great father to his kids.  Here he is with one of the fledglings.

 

Desi is not amused as the fledgling says "Hey Dad!  Feed Me!"

Fledglings are doing great!

Lucy hanging out on the nestbox

Went out to the Christmas Tree Trail Friday with Tania Nachsel of Divine Photos.  The fledglings were everywhere!  They are now hanging out at the residential home of the owners of the farm, and they were flying all over the place-- it was hard to keep up with them!  They were in the bird bath, on the roof, in the grass, in the trees.  Desi and Lucy were close by to monitor them as the zoomed back and forth.  Every once in a while, a fledgling would beg for food from one of the parents, but not as much as I noticed last Tuesday.  Tania took some awesome photos of the entire bluebird family.  The ones posted to this blog are of Desi and Lucy, but I will definitely be posting picture of the kids soon.  Stay tuned for more pictures of "Little Ricky"!

Baby Bluebirds!

I went to the Christmas Tree Trail today to check in on Lucy, Desi, and the kids.  I have to admit, I've had a bit of "empty nest syndrome" since the nestlings fledged last Friday.  I don't know why....it's hard to explain. I am very happy that the fledge seems to have gone successfully and that they all fledged before the 4th of July (fireworks can cause many nestlings to jump out of their nests pre-maturely), but maybe it's because they have left "home" and there is a possibility that once they leave, I may not see them again.

When I arrived at the trail, I saw Desi almost immediately.  He was flying around the Christmas Trees like normal, and hanging out around box #6 (a nestbox I have thought that Lucy and Desi have also laid claim to, by placing several pieces of grass and blue feathers in it).  He then disappeared as I headed down towards their nestbox.  I thought he would be following me like he normally did, knowing that I would have a few tasty meal worm treats for him, but when I looked back to see if he was there, he was gone.  As I opened their box, I noticed there was no change since last Friday.  The old nest was still smashed down and there were no signs of any new nest building.  I left the meal worms on top of the box and stepped back and watched, but no bluebirds appeared.  After a few minutes, I went back to the box, collected the worms, and went and checked the rest of the boxes on the trail.  After going through the rest of the boxes, I returned to Lucy and Desi's box.  Still no sign of them, so I placed the worms back on top of the box, stood back a few hundred feet and watched.  After several minutes, I decided to leave, and as I began to walk by the box, Lucy suddenly appeared with Desi.  How happy I was to see them!  I tapped lightly on the box to show them the worms, and they dove down and grabbed up the worms.  Just then, Desi flew up to the large tree near by to the familiar "chew chew" sounds of the fledglings.  Then, to my surprise, some of the fledglings flew down to nearby trees.  Eventually all the fledglings came down and were flying from tree to tree, sometimes begging for food from their parents, but mostly flying down to the ground and "pouncing" on insects.  As they flew around, they made the familiar "chew chew" sound that bluebirds sing to each other to keep track of each other.  First of all, I was amazed how well the fledglings were flying!  They flew so well and were maneuvering like their parents.  They also flew longs distances, and were seen close by to the house on the property(never had seen Desi or Lucy go that far before).  But I was also amazed to see that the fledglings were actually trying to hunt.  I'm not sure if they were able to catch anything, but they were definitely acting out the hunt.  Desi and Lucy were there to monitor the kids and occasionally, would feed one of the fledglings an insect that they had caught. 

What a thrill it was to see Desi and Lucy with the fledglings.  It definitely made my day!  I don't know if Lucy will build another nest for a second clutch.  Western Bluebirds sometimes will have a second clutch, but it is not a guarantee.  I believe Lucy may still have time to have a second clutch, but that is something I will just have to wait and see.  It is my hope that conditions are just right for a second clutch of nestlings.  Until then, I will enjoy seeing the fledglings, Desi, and Lucy during their time here.

The nestlings have fledged!

The nestlings have fledged!  All that's left is a squished nest and a lone egg.

Today, July 1, 2011,  I went out to the Christmas Tree  Trail  to check in on the nestlings and see if they had fledged yet.  The nestlings are 21 days old today, and I have been checking on them all week,  going out to the trail on Monday and Wednesday of this week to see how they were doing.  Western Bluebirds usually fledge from the nestbox between 19-23 days old, but I could still hear them inside the nestbox earlier this week, and Desi and Lucy were still busy going back and forth between the box and their hunting to feed the kids.  Today, though, was quite different.

When I got to the trail this afternoon, I didn't see Desi and Lucy right away like I have been.  I went up to the box, tapped on the side, but heard nothing.  As I looked up, Desi had seen me and came to greet me.  He hovered over the box, and flew from tree to tree, to see if I had brought his treat for him (I leave a few meal worms for Lucy and Desi when I come to the box, so they associate my monitoring of the box as a positive thing).  As I left the worms for Desi, Lucy came by as well, and both of them swooped down and picked up the worms.  But instead of bringing the worms to the nestbox (like they normally did), they both made a b-line straight for a large nearby tree.  When they landed inside the foliage of the tree, I could hear the familiar chirps of baby bluebirds in the trees.  The nestlings had fledged!  It either had been yesterday or today (Friday) because they were still in the box as of Wednesday.  I spoke to Phil and Fran who own the Christmas Tree farm, and they both stated that earlier that day, they had gone down to the box to leave a couple worms for the bluebirds, and that instead of taking the worms to the box, they also flew straight up to the same tree as I had witnessed.  the only difference was that they heard a small chirp in the box.  This was about 1:30pm and I had arrived around 5pm, so we are quite sure that the nestlings fledged today.

Closer view of the nest and egg

We then went ahead and opened the box to check inside and sure enough, there were no nestlings in the box, only a very squished down nest that had become quite messy in the last few days from the energetic and growing nestlings.  It was amazing to see how the big beautiful nest that Lucy had built was now a quarter of the size it once was (her nest was so sweet--she had a couple of small bird feathers neatly tucked into the sides of the nest).  But what surprised me even more, was the 6th egg that Lucy had laid and that had never hatched, was still intact and sitting on the side of the nest.  I was absolutely amazed by this!  With five energetic nestlings in the box, jumping up and down, I was sure eventually it would have broken into many small pieces and discarded by Lucy.  A very special treasure for me to find!

I was hoping that the bird camera would have caught pictures of the nestlings taking their first flight from the box, but the SD card filled up quickly from taking photos of Desi and Lucy's many trips back and forth from the field to the box with tasty insects.  I did take a photo of the 6th egg in my hand, to give you all a reference of how small bluebird eggs are.

Bluebird eggs are really tiny!

A very exciting day indeed!  We are all very happy the fledgling of the baby bluebirds was successful.  We now get watch the babies grow and learn how to hunt, as Desi will take them under his wing and show them the ropes on how to hunt for insects.  The fledglings will stay with Desi and Lucy for the remainder of the year and will help their parents out as Lucy prepares to build another nest for her second clutch of eggs for the season.