This summer I had the priviledge and joy of raising an orphaned Eastern Bluebird in Algonquin Highlands, Ontario.
This blog journals his daily growth, experiences and his successful release back into the wild where he belongs.
I hope you enjoy reading about Sammy, as much as I enjoyed caring for him and helping him learn how to be an Eastern Bluebird.
Showing posts with label eastern bluebird fledgling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eastern bluebird fledgling. Show all posts
I've been leaving Sammy in his outdoor aviary until 30-45 minutes after dark the last couple of nights, in preparation for spending a few full nights outside in its' safety before he is released. His release date is fast approaching, and I want him ready in every possible way. I'm anticipating his freedom with a mix of excited anticipation, anxiousness and sadness. I am thrilled that he will get to experience life as he was meant to do, but at the same time, I am worried about what that life will bring him. And yes, I will miss him terribly. Yup, I've broken the "cardinal rule" of the real rehabbers: I am hopelessly attached to him.
The first night, he was perched on a cedar branch in the top corner of his aviary when I went to bring him inside. The 2nd night, he was on the screen door of the aviary when I went out. I'm not sure if he had been perching contentedly before I went out, then flew to the door when I turned the porch lights on, or if he had been "waiting" to be brought inside. And yes, cuddle-time is still the before bed routine for Sammy.
Sammy has been busy perfecting his hunting techniques, flying down from a perch to the ground to catch beetles, grasshoppers and ants. Moths he takes right from the aviary screen walls and roof. He also drinks water regularly from either his water dish or his bird bath.
He's been doing a lot of calling lately, and it is such a beautiful, simple two-note sound. He calls more when he's outside than he does when he's in the house. He often makes these calls when I'm approaching his aviary, then usually flies to me once I'm inside, landing on my shoulder, head or arm. This could be his fledgling call that he would usually make to his parents (most often the dad) hoping to be fed by them.
After Sammy had a quick bath this afternoon and was busy preening, I got busy cleaning his bath. As soon as I had it filled up again, he flew right back and had himself a good, long drenching bath. It made me wonder if he was curious about what I had just done, or if that was his plan all along - to have a second bath?
Here are a series of photos taken as he preened after his bath.
Catching moths has become quite the art form for Sammy, he does really well at catching them in the air and also off the screen walls of the aviary. His hunting skills continue to improve every day, and he is successful more times than not. I still help him hunt sometimes, by placing his insects in front of him on his feeding platform, like the green caterpillars in this video.
Spiders, beetles and big black ants seem to be a favourite of his over the last few days. He even caught a small spider in the house on the windowsill.
Here's a quick video of Sammy catching a spider.
I keep the curtains closed over the top half of the windows in our room where he gets indoor flight time, and the bottom half of the window is open to the screens. This way Sammy can still watch the world outside, which he seems to love doing, while avoiding flying into hard glass accidentally.
Morning and evening indoor flight time is getting stronger and stronger, he now flies the length of our bedroom 2 or 3 times before deciding to perch somewhere, usually one of the curtain rods or a window sill.
Sammy "hiding" from the Blue Jay family
Cuddle-time before bed is still going on, and still initiated by Sammy. I don't call him to me or encourage him in any way to land on me. And I've decided that as long as he wants or needs to, I'm going to let him continue. I know some people say that we can't and shouldn't attach feelings to birds or animals, but I don't believe that. This little guy is actively seeking out my companionship and wanting (needing?) to be physically close to me. I believe I would do him more harm by refusing him this contact, than in continuing to allow him to have it, but only when he chooses to do so. Almost every living creature needs some kind of contact with another living creature throughout their lives, at one time or another - for Sammy, I'm all he's got for now. On a lighter note, I truly enjoy the time he spends pressed up against my neck or under my ponytail. It's so peaceful, calming and heartwarming enjoying this little bird's affections, and I am grateful he has triumphantly made it this far.
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.
Sammy continues to beg and gape for food, thank goodness! It was quite a long time waiting for him to start doing this and I'm so glad I don't have to pry his beak open anymore. I bet he is too! When he sees me coming to his aviary, he starts chirping, gaping and quivering like crazy. He readily eats live crickets and grasshoppers, and of course his beloved mealworms. His nestling formula...not so much, lol.
He also began a new habit of calling and landing on the screen door of the aviary when he's hungry. I guess he figured out that his meal delivery service (me) comes through that door, lol.
Sammy has enjoyed a couple more baths since my last post, he is a picture of pure, uninhibited pleasure while he bathes. He dunk his face and breast into his shallow bath and shakes his head back and forth vigorously. Then he lowers his back end into the water and beats his wings quickly, getting thoroughly soaked. I'll post a video of bathtime soon! Sammy's bath is a shallow, clear plastic tray for a plant pot that is lined with small pebbles to give him sure footing.
Playing with a twig in the bath
Sammy makes puts on quite the show when he preens after his bath, flapping his wings so fast you can barely seem them moving. He pulls his beak down the length of individual feathers grooming them methodically.
Sammy preening under his wings after a bath
Stretching and drying out his wings
Thoroughly soaked from his bath
Spreading his amazing, vivid blue wings
He has also started drinking little sips of water from either his bath or water dish. He dips his beak in, gets a couple drops and then tilts his head far back and swallows.
Flying down to the grass is common now, I think he is hunting little brown ants on the ground, but I'm not sure. He likes to spend a fair amount of time perched on a branch that runs up the side of his aviary facing the seed feeders, just taking in his surroundings and the other birds. He doesn't seem to like when blue jays come in, they're such noisy birds when they announce their arrival, and Sammy usually flies back up to his sheltered corner perch until they leave.
Watching the sky above him
Cuddling continues to be something Sammy initiates, landing on my shoulder and then tucking himself under my ponytail or against my neck. He's also a little intrigued by my eyeglasses and pecks them sometimes.
Well, I think Sammy finally has the hang of gaping. Starting this afternoon, he gaped all on his own and kept his beak open for me to give him a mealworm, then a live cricket and next a live moth. Yay for Sammy! Fingers crossed this isn't a one-time fluke!
This video was for my grand-daughter, Tenley, for her daily "Sammy fix", so you'll hear me talking to her again.
I have been stretching out his feedings a bit today, hoping if he got hungry enough he might start to gape. By late afternoon, I had let almost 2 hours pass by between feedings, and he immediately started gaping, wing quivering and chirping very fast, all at the same time. He took a live cricket from the tweezers and a bit of his "nestling formula". I'm still feeding him this, slightly thicker now, throughout the day, just not as much as he is getting insects and mealworms now too. And from this feeding on for the rest of the day and evening, Sammy has gaped, begged and chirped for food and actively participates in taking and eating the food. A huge breakthrough for Sammy. He doesn't seem to like his formula as much as he likes the insects and mealworms and I have to encourage him to eat it that by prying his beak open a bit, then he takes it just fine.
Sammy loves to watch out the windows
Sammy watching bugs out of the window
Sammy still has live moths and crickets in his aviary for him to watch and hopefully catch and eat. He did catch a moth that was on his feeding platform and succeeded in eating it.
In the evening when he was brought back inside for bed, he did several long flights up and down the length of our bedroom, which is 26 ft long. His favourite landing spots and perches are the ceiling fan blades (which are NEVER turned on while he is in the room) and the curtain rods. Sometimes he flew down to me after and sometimes I had to stand on a chair and scoop my hand under him so he would hop on.
Tonight, he was a little escape artist when I tried to place him in his nest in his cage for bed. He hopped out of his nest right away and flew out of the cage. So, I let him have some more flight and perching time, then got him tucked into his nest for the night.
Sammy has been doing wonderfully the last 3 days, enjoying the fresh air and sunshine, and putting up with the rain. We had heavy rain and thunder a couple of days and he kept himself as dry as he could. During the majority of the rains, he sat under the shrub in the pot and sometimes on a perch under the corner roof. These two spots are his favourites actually, rain or shine.
Sammy and his potted shrub
During the first day of heavy rains, I brought him inside after a bit, he was damp and a bit cool out there. I dried him off with a soft towel and held him in my hands for a bit, then put him back in his indoor cage nestled in the towel.
Sometimes I think he is starting to "wild up" since he frequently backs away from me now when I approach him. He's fine though, once I pick him up, or encourage him to hop onto my hand, so I can feed him. And other times, he flies on to my head or shoulder and sits comfortably. Feeding time is getting better, most of the time now if I gently rub his beak or barely begin to pry it open, he opens up wide all on his own and starts grasping at the food and swallows it. So, I guess you could call that definite progress, lol.
His flying is still strong and sure, and his feathers don't show any sign of developing "stress bars". Stress bars can appear on feathers when the bird's diet is lacking, so I'm glad he doesn't have any.
His tail is now about 3/4 of an inch long and is a stunning vivid blue, the same as on his primary and secondary wings. I swear it gets bluer every day. Simply gorgeous! His weight came in at 30 grams tonight, which is perfect!
New foods are becoming a part of his diet now, live moths and red elderberries off the stem. I've started leaving the porch lights on for a bit at night and then going out to catch moths for him. I'm not going to feed him any bright coloured ones, as I've read that can mean they're toxic or poison. His first moth, I fed to him with blunt tweezers when he opened his mouth a bit on his own for me. After that, when I hold a fluttering moth in the tweezers, he pokes at them and tries really hard to get them in his beak and sometimes does. And today, he actually caught a small live moth on his own off the screen side of his aviary! His first successful hunt!
Sammy age 22-23 days old in his aviary
He has elderberries on the stem tied onto his perches and has been investigating them. It's so cute to watch him poke at them and sometimes he succeeds in pulling one off. Most of them he drops, but he has eaten a few. After eating, he does some of his own personal hygiene now and wipes the sides of his beak on his perches or on wherever he happens to be. Clean little guy!
Watching the other birds is a favourite passtime of Sammy's now, he doesn't seem disturbed by them in the least, just interested. Well, except for the blue jays when they come squawking in..then he usually "freezes" where he is, trying to be invisible I think.
Sammy still sleeps indoors in his cage overnight, and stays tucked in his cozy kleenex box until I take his towel off the cage in the morning. I don't want to leave him outside overnight yet, we have black bears up here and have had a mom and cub around the house a few times this season, so I don't want to risk them knocking over his aviary and freeing him before he's ready. We also have pine martens, fishers, minks, raccoons, weasels and other critters that I wouldn't want to get in there during the night since he would be trapped in there with them. I just want to keep him safe for as long as he's in my care.
Sammy and I have a new routine now, he has his breakfast inside, gets some flight time in our large bedroom to help strengthen his wings and then he goes to play in his aviary. He will be spending his days and evenings in the outdoor aviary from here on out, which I'm sure he will love.
I put some live crickets in with him this morning, to see if they would interest him, but he didn't show pay much attention to them. I also continue to play recording of Eastern Bluebird songs and calls and he becomes quite alert when he hears them.
We had some light rain this afternoon, and being the smart little guy that he is, he stayed on his perch in the corner under his roof shelter and kept dry.
Once he was back inside for the night and was fed, he enjoyed stretching his wings and doing some strong flying. My grand-daughter, Tenley is here for a few days with her family and I honestly believe he remembers her. He flew to her a few times, perched on her little shoulder and proceeded to snuggle himself right in against her neck under her beautiful long hair. I'm beginning to think that if a bird can love, then little Sammy loves Tenley as much as she loves him. He seems so relaxed and content with her, and Tenley is over the moon with happiness.
Sammy tucked in Tenley's hair
Sorry for the pic quality, they were taken with my Iphone without a lot of light, lol.
Tenley and Sammy..who's more in love??
At dark, Sammy was placed back into his nest in his sideways kleenex box in the corner of his indoor cage and chirped softly a couple of times as I draped the towel over the cage. Then, all was quiet for the night.
