Description

It was the end of May 2024, and I had not seen the fledglings from the first brood of bluebirds in my yard for weeks. Finally, I spot them. A group of three had returned to their birthplace sitting on top of the nest box where inside, eggs from a new brood had recently hatched. In time, these curious juveniles took turns fluttering around the hole of the nest box where their parents were often going in and out to feed their new babies. Then, one day, a juvenile actually entered. My excitement mounted when my camera inside the nest box recorded a short video clip of its visit.

In the video, it is hard to see whether the juvenile has anything to feed its little siblings, but it pecks at one of the open mouths. Four days later, I get another video. This time, a juvenile is visiting with its mother as she feeds the babies. It watches and mimics Mom before “saying” something and flying off. I wonder now if this was the same one I had seen before or another big sister or brother.

I wish I still had videos of the other visits which followed because it appeared that at least one of the juveniles was learning and developing its feeding skills. These visits continued until the baby siblings fledged to begin their own outdoor adventures.

Category

Breeding birds

Species

• Eastern Bluebird