DAY THREE OF RAISING EASTERN BLUEBIRD NESTLING

Sammy's version of giving me the "stink-eye"

Sammy is 10-11 days old today, and progressing very well.  He pooped overnight a couple of times again, out and over the edge of his kleenex nest.  His first feeding of the day was a little late, at 8am, and he ate a good meal, although still not gaping voluntarily.  I keep trying all the suggestions of rubbing his beak, tapping his beak and gently shaking his nest, but to no avail.  He is a stubborn little guy!

He is eating about 1/3 tsp of nestling food at each meal and by early afternoon he opened his mouth a crack when I gently rubbed the side of his beak with his feeding utensil.  I've switched to a metal cuticle pusher with a rounded blunt edge to feed him with, it has a nice shallow indent on the end, perfect for scooping up his food.

Weighed him again today, once after his 8:30am feeding and he came in at 25g.  Then again after his 11:30am feeding and he was 30g.  I'm guessing my scale is not pinpoint accurate, but it will work for making sure he is not losing weight and slowly getting up to his approx 30g adult weight.

Sammy's eyes are open even more today, 3/4 to almost fully open. They are bright, glossy and alert, healthy looking to me. He has a lot of white specks from his feather sheaths today and his feathers are peeking out of them a tiny bit more.  Every day, there is a noticeable difference in his feathers and how much more area is getting covered by these downy like feathers.

Today he spread his wings out quite a bit, and did some more crawling and hopping around, strengthening his muscles.  He still stands/sits on the whole bottom part of his leg, but I have read that he will stand on just his feet as he grows.

It's been a very busy day of feeding, cleaning his nest and playing with my grand-daughters. This evening, Sammy and I are off once again to stay with my other two grand-daughters, Tenley almost 4 and Adalyn, another baby at just 6 months old.

The timing could have been better for "adopting" this bluebird, since I had to travel out of town,but he handled the journey fine and we both made it safely home. I kept a towel on his terrarium to keep it warm and dark, and left the radio off so it would be quiet for him.

Sammy at 10 to 11 days old