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.