Bluebird Babies!

This spring has been an amazing time for bird watching. We've had tons of sightings on the farm of a variety of different birds. The 10 or so bluebird boxes that we've had on the property turned out to not be enough for all the couples looking for nests, and so we just put up 6 more to lessen that healthy competition. We've been fortunate enough to have the efforts of two very kind volunteers who have been coming by to monitor the bluebird boxes for us. Here's what they had to say about their visit on Tuesday.

"On our visit we saw at least 12 kinds of birds including 20-30 Goldfinches gorging on dandelion seeds, at least a dozen Bobolinks, Redwinged Blackbirds, Mourning Doves, wrens, Song Sparrows, Bluebirds, cowbirds, one Mockingbird, Tree Swallows, Starlings and Robins. We also heard warblers and a Wood Thrush. Two of the boxes now have tree swallow nests and eggs and two others have wren nests but no eggs yet. [There are] two blue bird nests with hatchlings, [and] a third clutch of eggs should hatch w/in the next few days."

There are several more boxes with bluebird nests that don't have eggs yet, but our bluebird experts inform us that since some couples are hatching chicks so early this year, they may have time to lay a second clutch of eggs.

Here are two photos of some of the baby bluebird chicks. The ones on the top are a little younger, and have less fully formed beaks and fewer feathers. The ones on the bottom are a little older, with more developed eyes and beaks. It's hard to believe, but pretty soon they'll be flying!