Sammy and the Woodpecker

I'm pretty sure that a couple nights ago, Sammy spent the night huddled up on the eaves up against the house, a good place to stay dry from the rain and out of sight of avian predators.  He came from their at 6:30am yesterday morning, when I first came outside, flying after a Chipping Sparrow. They both landed on the driveway, then Sammy was chased off by two other Chipping Sparrows into a maple tree across the laneway.  I wonder if it was a fledgling Sammy followed, and then the parents who proceeded to chase Sammy off?  If it was, then that little sparrow has a good pair of protective parents!  He also did some White-breasted Nuthatch chasing too during the past two days.

Chipping Sparrows

White-breasted Nuthatch

As I walked out onto the lawn, Sammy flew back onto the eaves, then down into my hand and ate about 10 mealworms.  He hopped up my arm, settling himself on my shoulder.  He had a few more mealworms while we had our visit.

Sammy came back in for food around 8:10am and again at 9am, after checking out some new perching places...like the porch light, my camera tripod and the kids swing on the porch.  He ate well both times before going off to do bluebird things.

I had to go out yesterday morning and was gone for about 3 hours.  When I got back home about noon, Sammy was on the peak of the roof, calling his little heart out and quivering his wings like crazy...poor little guy.  Mere seconds after I got out of my car, Sammy swooped down, landing on my shoulder.  I checked his mealworm dish, found it empty, so I nudged him onto the platform feeder so I could get him some more.  Whether he ate the ones I left out or other birds did, I don't know, but he sure was hungry.  Maybe he was even missing my presence or company?  This was the first time I've been gone like this since his release 6 days earlier, I know I was a little apprehensive about not being here.

Notice the russet starting to peek through on his side

My friend, Katherine, came over yesterday afternoon hoping to see Sammy.  He was very obliging, hopping down from the gazebo roof onto her outstretched hand full of mealworms and had himself a hearty meal.

Often, when Sammy sees me, he flies in and lands on me, looking for a handout I'm sure. Eastern Bluebird fledglings are fed by their parents for up to a month after leaving the nest, and even though he is getting better and better at catching his own food,  he still needs some help.  Since I'm his "Mom", he seems to actively seek me out and keeps an eye on where I am.

Tip of his beak is starting to harden up, although it is still mostly soft and yellow

Sammy met a Hairy Woodpecker today, either a female or a juvenile and they had quite the stand-off over who owned the maple tree by the pond.  The woodpecker would raise his wings out to the side, trying to look more threatening, while fluffing himself up to look bigger.

Sammy vs Hairy Woodpecker...and the staring contest begins...

Hairy Woodpecker all fluffed making himself look bigger

Then Sammy would lean forward and raise his wings too, trying his best to look menacing - which, personally, I think is impossible cause he's just too darn cute!  This feud went on for a couple of minutes before the woodpecker "cried uncle" first and flew off.  Sammy is becoming quite proprietary over his yard, we jokingly call him our yard bully.

Sammy leaning in meaning business...

Sammy's turn to threaten with a wing-raise...

Bedtime last night and tonight was between 8 and 8:15pm, with Sammy settled in for the night in the beech tree beside the laneway on the same spot on a perfectly, leaf-sheltered branch both nights.

Sweet dreams, Sammy...today you are a beautiful 51-52 days old.

First Few Days of Freedom

Sammy has been free for 5 days now and is still doing wonderfully!  He seems to act just like any other fledgling Eastern Bluebird...except for the fact that he likes to land on us and have "cuddle-time".

Sammy in his "favourite" maple tree

He's been coming in for a free breakfast of mealworms and other bugs around 7:45am, flying out of a tree pretty much as soon as he sees me on the lawn.  Yesterday morning, he was calling from his tree perch when I came outside and within seconds, he was on the platform feeder in full begging mode.

We had a flock of Common Grackles come in to the front yard trees this morning which sent Sammy flying off right away.  He's also showing some signs of being territorial over the yard. He chased off a White-breasted Nuthatch yesterday from the seed feeders into the woods, the two of them zig-zagging among the trees.  And today, it was a Black-capped Chickadee's turn to be evicted from the yard by Sammy.  Both birds are competitors for cavity nesting sights for Eastern Bluebirds, and maybe somehow Sammy knows this and is trying to keep them out of his territory.  He seems to have favourite perching spots: one is a fairly big dead limb on the big maple tree overlooking the grass area by the pond, the second one is a fairly bare branch on a beech tree on the front lawn.

Sammy sitting quietly on a dead maple limb

He caught a big wolf spider that was hanging down from a maple branch and took it to a driftwood post in the garden where he proceeded to bash it until he was satisfied it was ready to eat.  We've also observed him catch and eat small brown ants on the ground, a couple small worms and some unknown bugs while in the air, so he is providing for himself as well as being supplemented by us with small green caterpillars, grasshoppers, moths and of course, his beloved mealworms.

This afternoon, Sammy landed on my shoulder and sat there contentedly, so I took him for a walk around the backyard to show him the perching posts Frank had put up for him to hunt from.  Eastern Bluebirds like to hunt from elevated perches like hydro lines, fence posts and bare tree branches. So just like the ropes Frank hung in the front yard to imitate hydro lines, these perching posts were to provide him with more spots to hunt from.  He flew onto one of the perching posts and sat there for about 10 minutes while I worked in the vegetable gardens nearby.  He flew down to the garden and ate a bug while I was there, then back onto my shoulder, so I took him over to the dogwood shrubs where there are tons of big black ants and small brown ones and showed them to him.  He hopped right down and had himself a little feast, then flew off into the edge of the woods.

Preening on one of his favourite branches

Later this afternoon, we saw him perched on the deck railing in a light drizzle, wing quivering and calling softly.  He was facing the door, which makes me think he knows this is one of the places we come out from.  I took him out some mealworms and he ate 9 of them with gusto before flying off again.  In the early evening, he landed on Frank on the deck, making himself quite comfortable in the hood of his sweatshirt..we thought he was going to go to sleep as he stayed in the hood for about 10 minutes, just resting quietly.  All of these interactions are initiated by Sammy, with a little bit of us calling to him sometimes.  He chooses to come to us and seems to enjoy being close.  For us, this has been a truly wondrous experience - having this beautiful little bird, who is completely in charge of his own life now, trust us and want to be with us.

If you look closely, you can see the vivid blue feathers just starting to show on his shoulders, as well as the rusty breast feathers starting to develop. 

Sammy having some quiet time in Frank's hood

Just before dark, Sammy did some ground hunting on the gravel driveway - most likely little ants - for about 15 minutes, before he flew up into the beech tree along the driveway for a few seconds, then onto the eaves of the garage where he tucked himself in against the house.  I think he was trying to stay dry as it was drizzling out again, and this was a sheltered, fairly safe place for him.  When I went outside at 10pm, in full darkness, he was still perching there quietly, nice and dry, so I think this is where he is going to spend the night.

Today makes Sammy 49-50 days - still going strong in the wild.

Life in the Wild

Sammy seems to be adjusting well and enjoying life in the wild the last couple days.  He's been showing up around 7 in the mornings and having his breakfast of mealworms. Yesterday, he gaped for me to feed him, just like he would have begged his bluebird parents for 3-4 weeks after fledgling.

Sitting on the eaves

Doing some preening

Tenley, my 3 year old grand-daughter is here for a few days, and when she came outside for the first time yesterday morning, Sammy was perched on a rope and flew right down to her, sitting comfortably on her shoulder and chest for quite awhile.  It's been over two weeks since he has seen Tenley, but I'm positive he remembers her.  She was so thrilled that he came to her all on his own and had a cuddle with her.  She simply adores him and I truly believe this love is reciprocated by Sammy.

Late this morning, Frank saw Sammy sitting on our ATV in the parking area, so he took him over some mealworms.  He was gobbled down about 15 mealworms and a spider, he must have been very hungry.  It's got to be hard work learning to locate and catch food, and unfortunately he doesn't have his parents to watch and learn from.  After filling his belly, he hopped onto Frank's finger, so he walked around the house throughout the yard with Sammy.  He said he was showing him around, lol. When they reached the feeding platform, he had to nudge Sammy off his finger onto the platform, he didn't want to leave Frank.  I think he's looking for companionship, which he would have had from his bluebird siblings if they had survived.

Baths are still enjoyed by him, he gave himself a good soaking both days, then flew into one of the beeches on our lawn to preen his feathers just so.  I've got my regular bird bath placed close to the feeding platform where his shallow bath from his aviary is, I'm hoping he will discover it and start using it instead.

He seems to really like the 3 ropes Frank strung up between our trees and the porch post and uses them as hunting perches often.  I'm hoping to get some pictures of this in the next few days.  He also has been up on the eaves of the house, catching bugs sometimes, but mostly just sitting snug against the house, almost like he's trying to hide.

Looking for bugs

Sammy hangs out in this corner often

Sammy doesn't seem to like our white-breasted nuthatches very much, he's chased them quite a few times off the seed feeders and over the pond into the edge of the woods.  So far, these are the only birds we've seen him chase.  I wonder if he instinctively knows they are a competitor for available nesting cavities for Eastern Bluebirds?  Watching him pursue them is fascinating, they both weave so quickly between the trees.  The nuthatches zigzag at a very fast pace and Sammy stays right behind them, dead on course like a guided missile.  We're amazed Sammy or the nuthatches haven't crashed headfirst into a tree!

Late this evening, Sammy came down for a meal and ate another 15 or so mealworms, 2 black beetles and a big black ant that I had caught for him earlier in the day.  Quite a big meal for this little bird, although we have seen him catch his own food, maybe it hasn't been quite enough for him.  After his meal, he did about half an hour of ground hunting on our stone laneway, catching and eating several small brown ants.  Eastern Bluebirds hunt several different ways including:  

- diving to the ground from a perch to catch their prey, then returning to the perch with it

- ground feeding, like American Robins, although they tend to hop along the ground rather than run like robins, cocking their heads to find their prey

- aerial hunting, which involves swooping off a perch to grab prey in mid-air, often hovering over it

- gleaning insects from leaves, branches and trunks of trees.

Sammy settled for the night at 8:50pm, in the beech tree beside the laneway again. He perched on the same branch in the same spot as the previous couple nights, concealed under a canopy of protective leaves.

Today, Sammy is 47-48 days old and surviving.

Bath and Cuddle Time

I've been trying to encourage Sammy to pick up his own food, so today when he was gaping and begging, I slid his feeding dish in front of him instead of popping mealworms in his beak.  I guess he was hungry enough that he decided he better feed himself and proceeded to eat 7 mealworms on his own.  After this successful self-feeding, I began alternating between offering him food from the tweezers and having him "catch" his own food from his feeding platform or dish.

To help Sammy learn to hunt grasshoppers and crickets, first I "disable" them by removing their back legs so they can't hop away from him, but can still crawl.  My thinking:  first he needs to learn what he should be hunting before he has to learn how to be really good at it.  Kind of giving him an easier learning process, like a handicap in golf!

He has been showing quite a bit of interest in his old terrarium, which is where I keep his bugs.  He perches on it and pecks at the lid trying to get at them.  There are always some loose bugs in his aviary, but the extras are kept in the terrarium.

Sammy still enjoys his baths with unbridled abandon.  Here's a video of him splashing around in his shallow bath.

Once Sammy is done his bath, he really works at getting his feathers dry and just right, as you'll see in this video.

Today, I spoke to Julie Zickefoose from Ohio.  She is a renowned writer, artist, naturalist, songbird rehabber and public speaker.  She was kind enough to call me back to answer some questions about Sammy.  I told her all about him, probably more info than she wanted or needed, and she said that it sounded like I was doing everything right!  She even thought I was doing more than I needed to, as far as catching bugs for him to eat and hunt in his aviary, mealworms would be just fine for him she said.  I'm still going to continue doing the bug-catching though, I want him to learn to hunt before he is set free.  She did suggest that Sammy be given more flight time in a bigger area, so I will start giving him longer morning and evening time in our large bedroom (28 ft long by 12 ft wide) to stretch those gorgeous wings.  Julie also looked at her records for a trio of Eastern Bluebirds she raised and said that Day 42 would be a good age to soft-release Sammy. vOf course, this tentative date was dependent on Sammy being fully capable of feeding himself and his flying strong and sure.

If you're out there Julie, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy life to offer advice about one lone little bird...what a remarkable, caring woman.

Just before dark this evening, Sammy started calling and clinging to the aviary screen door like he does when he wants more food.  I went in but he didn't want to eat, he flew to my shoulder and hopped under my hair and nuzzled himself in.  I brought him in the house early thinking maybe he was cold, it was already down to 12C (53F), cooler than he was used to.

Once inside, he ate a bit of his formula, did some flying around the bedroom, then landed on my shoulder again, hopped under my hair and perched against my neck.  I couldn't resist myself and sat down on the couch in our room and enjoyed the closeness of him.  After a few minutes, I moved him to a fold in my cardigan against my ribs, where Sammy promptly settled himself down on his feet and went to sleep.  I couldn't believe that he was so comfortable and calm with me that he actually slept on me.  He woke a couple times, did some scratching and preening, but then would close his eyes and go back to sleep.  This "cuddle-time" drew me hopelessly further in love with Sammy, which would make his release harder for me as I knew I would miss him terribly.  He was such a trusting little soul, he melted my heart daily.  Sammy and I sat like this for half an hour before I placed him in his nest inside his cage for the night.  After draping the towel over his cage, I heard a couple of soft cheeps, then all was quiet for the night.

Eating red elderberries and cuddle time

What are you lookin' at??

Sitting pretty

Sammy, the male Eastern Bluebird fledgling, has found a new food he likes:  red elderberries!  Most of his attempts at pulling them of the stem were successful, but a few slipped out of his beak.  He was very interested in them and seemed to enjoy them.

He also tried to catch and eat a moth that was below him on his perch, he managed to pick it up, then he dropped it.  After a few seconds of watching it on the ground, he ignored it.

I've been wondering what Sammy has been hunting on the ground, and today he confirmed it for me, he's catching little, brown ants and eating them.  He spys them from up on his perch and glides down and nabs them.  Incredible eyesight he must have to spot these little ants from up above.

Watching for little brown ants

Sammy has also been "hunting" his mealworms.  I now place some in front of him on his feeding platform and he hops to one and catches it.  I'm trying to help him learn that not all food comes in a little dish.

Preening continues...Sammy is very meticulous about his grooming.  While researching, I learned that birds clean their larger feathers, like flight and tail feathers, by drawing them through their beak, which I have seen Sammy do numerous times.  They also use their beaks to apply oily secretions from their preening (uropygial) gland, which is located on their rump, to their feathers which helps keep their feathers in peak condition. Preening is also done to remove any feather parasites (ughh!) that they may have.

Daily feather maintenance

Amazing how far Sammy can turn his head

When I bring Sammy back inside for the night, I hold him in my cupped hand with my other hand gently over his body and tuck him inside my cardigan as I carry him inside. Once in my bedroom, where his indoor cage is, I open up my cardigan and let him have some flight time.  Tonight, Sammy wasn't interested in flying.  He stayed in my open hand and ate 3 moths and one bite of nestling formula, then settled himself down on his feet and got comfortable.  It had been fairly cool and raining this evening when I brought him in, and I thought maybe he was just trying to get warmed up. So, I moved my hand against my ribs and he tucked himself in close to me beneath the opening of my cardigan and stayed sitting contentedly for about 15 minutes.  Warming up?  Needing comfort?  Or companionship?  I think it was at least one or all of those reasons, and who was I to refuse this sweet little baby blue?

After this "cuddle time", I placed Sammy into his nest for the night and he chattered very quickly for a few seconds, in protest I think, but once I draped the towel over his cage he was soon was quiet for the night.

Today, Sammy is 28-29 days old.

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