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.

Splash Time

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.

Sammy's impression of "looking tough"

Sometimes he looks so grumpy...

Drying his impressive blue wings

Today makes Sammy 41-42 days old.

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.

Grasshoppers, baths and begging

Feed me!!

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.

A little cuddle before bed

Today makes Sammy 26-27 days old.

Live Crickets..yum yum!

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 is now 23-24 days old.

A little bit of preening

Eastern Bluebird Fledgling Starting to Feed Himself

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.

Today makes Sammy 22-23 days old.

Cage exploring today

Sammy - male Eastern Bluebird - 16 to 17 days old

More milestones for Sammy today!

Last night, I put him snug inside his container nest into his indoor cage.  This cage is a medium dog crate, with fibreglass window screening securely sewn with yarn around the sides and the top. The fibreglass window screening is so he doesn't break any feathers when he starts flying, which the bars of the cage or wire-mesh window screening could possibly do.

Sammy's indoor cage with kleenex box nest and perches with cedar branch shelter

Beautiful blue wing feathers

At his 3rd feeding of the morning, I had a bit of a happy shock to find him standing on the edge of his container nest!  More progress toward fledging the "nest"!!

In the early afternoon, when I went to feed him, he had left his nest and either walked/hopped/flew around his cage!  What a startling and wondrous sight to see him out of and away from his nest!  He was about 10 inches from his nest!

Fledging has begun..sort of!

Sammy is now 16 to 17 days old and still refusing to gape, but continues to eat well and willingly once the food is in his mouth.  He does a lot of super-fast "flying in place", stretching, scratching his head and preening his wing and body feathers. You can actually see him get a single feather in his beak and slide his beak along the length of each little feather.

He loves to stand up tall on his feet and stretch his neck out looking proud as punch!

Sammy stretching tall and proud!

I had caught him a couple of bright green, inch long caterpillars this morning and he was quite curious watching them, but he didn't make any attempts to grab them.

Sammy's blue tail feathers are about an inch long now and simply stunning!

Before bedtime tonight, he began flapping his wings vigorously and hopped/walked at the same time. He's sooo close to flying now!  Every new thing Sammy does is simply amazing and breath-taking..I feel so proud of him and how far he has come.  I don't think it will be long before baby blue is taking his first flight.

Sammy - just taking a little rest

Stretching and Preening Today

Sammy, the male Eastern Bluebird nestling giving me "the look"

At 14 to 15 days old, Sammy the male Eastern Bluebird nestling is still going strong and I'm no longer worried that he'll make it.  He's always very alert, eats and poops well. This willful, sweet little baby bluebird still does not gape for food, but he takes it very willingly.

He had some new moves today which were amazing to watch.  He is just the most beautiful, gentle little bird and he has unconditionally won my heart.

He stood up very tall and bent his dazzling, blue wings downwards in a giant stretch this morning. Standing very tall on one leg and stretching is another new move.  Sammy also has started to scratch both sides of his head and has been preening his tiny wing feathers near his body.

His wing flapping is continuing to progress, they were moderately strong this morning and by mid-afternoon it was very strong.

Here is a little Iphone video of Sammy, the Eastern Bluebird nestling, scratching, stretching and flapping his little wings really fast.  This video was made for my grand-daughter, Tenley, for her daily fix of Sammy, so excuse my "conversation" with her!

Of course, I've done a ton more reading on Eastern Bluebirds.  I tend to "over-research" anything I'm interested in, some people call it an obsession with me.  Anyway, I discovered that his song is partially instinctual and partially learned.  So, I started playing Eastern Bluebird songs and calls from my Merlin Bird ID app (from Cornell Lab of Ornithology) on my Iphone for him this afternoon.  His reaction was very cute and a bit sad.  He attentively listened to the songs and calls, but when I played the chattering/scolding sounds he hunkered down very low as if he was scared or trying to hide. These are the sounds his parent bluebirds would make to warn him of danger, if he had been lucky enough to still have parents.  Upon hearing this, Sammy and his sibling fledglings would have reacted this way, trying to be undectable.  I stopped playing that sound right away, as I didn't want him to be nervous or afraid.  Later that day and in the evening I played the songs and calls for him again, which don't seem to bother him, but I didn't play the chattering/scolding sounds.

Sammy, the Eastern Bluebird nestling, showing off his beaufiful blue wings

Sammy, today, at 14 to 15 days old