Checking the Nest Boxes

Now that there are eggs in most of our nestboxes, I've been checking them weekly to see how they're doing.

Here's a photo of one of our two Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) nests. It looks like two of the eggs have hatched and you can see the small hatchlings. You can also see the unhatched egg. I think they're less than a week old because when I checked it the week before there were three eggs in the nest. Their gestation period is about 12 to 14 days. The hatchlings are almost naked with just a few tufts of hair-like feathers along their back and head.

In this photo, taken one week later, they are noticeably larger and are more covered with down. They are starting to look more like birds and the head and beak of one is clearly visible. It takes them around 3 to 5 weeks to fledge, so they've got a way to go.

One of our nest boxes had what I thought were wren eggs because they were white with brown spots and I'm familiar with them. When I checked the box last week, however, there was a bird sitting on the nest which I think is a Black-crested Titmouse (Baeolophus atricristatus). I'm not an expert so this is not a positive identification, but that species was identified during our bird species survey last fall. I'll have to ask my expert consultants to be sure.

I'm assuming the bird was the mother and she was hunkered down and trying to make herself small and invisible. You can see she's even flattened her crest. I'm sure she was frightened so I took the photo quickly and closed the door. I've seen birds fly out and away from nest boxes when I approached, so I was surprised to find one on the nest. I'm impressed at her bravery and motherly instincts!