Eastern Bluebird nestling development

Sammy had a good day again today. He did a lot of  "flying in place", which is so strong and fast now!  He's also preening and scratching quite often and I get quite a kick out of watching him stretch. Sammy often stands up very tall on his feet now rather than on both his feet and lower legs, although he still rests on his feet and lower legs at times.

His tail feathers have grown to about 1cm (almost half an inch) and his wing feathers are continuing to grow.  They are such a pretty blue (I guess I should say handsome, as he is a boy, lol).

I played Eastern Bluebird songs and calls again this morning, and he seemed a bit nervous or scared this time.  I will try playing them again later this afternoon.

He has started to become interested in things he sees now and is exploring things..like my garnet ring that he likes to lightly peck, lol.

I had quite a surprise when I went to feed him at 5pm.  He had crawled/hopped/fluttered out of his kleenex filled container nest and was on the floor of the terrarium! I think he must be getting close to flying and "fledging" his nest.

Sammy age 15 to 16 days

Eastern Bluebirds are cavity nesters but they don't make them, rather they use old woodpecker holes and other natural cavities in trees and wooden fence posts.  They also will readily use nestboxes. Unfortunately though, they have competition for them, as well as for the natural cavities.  House sparrows and european starlings will often attack nestlings, and even the adults, which is what happened to Sammy's siblings.  They will peck them on the head to kill them and sometimes will toss them out of the nestbox.  They will peck holes in the eggs, too.  Both attacks are so they can take over the nestbox or natural cavity.  If the mother Eastern Bluebird is in the nestbox when attacking bird enters, it will attack the adult until it either escapes and abandons the nest or until it is killed.  Eastern Bluebirds have an incredibly strong protection instinct and often lose their lives to these non-native birds rather than abandon their eggs or babies.  They also have competition for nesting sites from nuthatches, chickadees and tree swallows.

The scientic name for Eastern Bluebird is Sialia Sialis, and the Sialis website is a wonderful, informative source all about Eastern Bluebirds, putting up nestboxes or starting an Eastern Bluebird nestbox trail.  Also, the Ontario Eastern Bluebird Society has instructions on making nestboxes for Eastern Bluebirds, plus other interesting information on this beautiful songbird.

Sammy age 15 to 16 days