DAY TWO OF RAISING EASTERN BLUEBIRD NESTLING

After staying up til after 2am reading and researching everything I could find on raising wild baby Eastern Bluebirds and songbirds, I woke up this morning at 6:45am to the beautiful sound of soft cheeping from the little nestling.  The joy I felt hearing him was wondrous.  He made it through the night!!

He had pooped over the edge of his "nest" a couple of times through the night, which was another good sign!  Usually, the nestlings wiggle their butts up over the edge of the nest to poop while helpt to keep the nest clean.  Tidy little guy!

I fed him right away, still having to gently pry open his soft, little yellow beak.  He wiggled his little butt after eating and promptly had a poop on paper towel.  His poops are very easy to clean up, it's contained in a white balloon-like sack.  His parents would have carried it away and dropped away from the nest site.  They do this to keep the nest clean and so that the scent doesn't attract predators.

I fed him every 30 minutes during the morning and he seemed to have his own schedule of pooping right before and after each feeding session.  From what I had read, the poops looked like they should, which should mean that he was healthy and his bodily systems were working fine.

At his 12:30pm feeding, his left eye opened up just a slit, right on track with my estimate of him being 9-10 days old today.  His wing feathers grew a tiny bit more and his tail feathers are about 4mm long (1/7 of an inch).  His head is getting a bit fluffier and the down getting a wee bit sparser. There are also white dust speckles on his body, which is from the feather sheaths starting to disintegrate.  His abdomen is still bare, also his back, butt and the tops of his legs.  He began spreading his wings out slightly and was crawling around a bit, which was terrific to see!  He was making progress!

I went and bought a little food scale this morning, as I found out what his weight should be and how much he should be gaining each day til he fledges.  I weighed him at 11:30am, right after his poop, and he weighed 25 grams (8/10ths of an ounce), which was perfect.

Eastern Bluebird Nestling - Day Two of Care - 9 to 10 days old

I kept feeding him every half hour throughout the day, except for when I had to pick up my grand-daughter, Audrina, from Junior Kindergarten.  That interval was 45 minutes, but he seemed fine. By mid-afternoon, both his eyes were opening up halfway.  Beautiful little dark eyes they were!  I wish he had been able to see his parents rather than me the first time he opened his eyes.

Eastern Bluebird Nestling - Eyes opening halfway today

Audrina named the baby Melody, as she hoped he was a girl, lol.  At this point I wasn't sure whether it was a girl or a boy, although I was leaning toward boy as the small feathers looked very blue, not grayish-blue.  As time went on, by about 13 -16 days old, I was certain he was a boy and he was named Sammy, by my 3 year old grand-daughter, Tenley.

He did well all throughout the day and evening, feeding and pooping as he should, and moving around a little bit.  It was quite a hectic schedule, feeding him every half hour as well as caring for my two little grand-daughters.  But what an amazing day it has been, seeing the slight changes in him from the day before and feeling much better about his health and strength than I was yesterday.  I really believe he has a real chance at surviving and I am going to do everything in my power to see that he does.

His last feeding was at 10pm, again I wanted him to have a couple extra feeds before bed, just to make sure he was fine.

Some of the pics and videos in this blog were taken with my Iphone 5C and some were taken with my Nikon 3200.  I am just learning photography, so some pics will be great and some

not so great, lol!