Hi to all, some of you who are the Bluebird Monitors yahoogroup have seen this. But I know some of you aren't on there so I thought I'd repeat it.
If you think that you know for sure what was going on, don't post it yet. You can email me with it, though. I'll be telling the whole story before Monday when my husband goes into the hospital for a full knee replacement.
Bluebird blessings, Linda...
=======================
Greetings from the Sweltering South,
I have had a very interesting few days. Five bluebird chicks fledgled on Monday
night under very 'unusual' circumstances.
This was a very unexpected brood to begin with. The parents had tried 2 times
to have brood in the nest cam box in our back yard. Both times there were
different reasons why they weren't successful (long story). I figured I'd have
no baby bluebirds this year. At the end of June, Daddy encouraged Mama to try
again here so she spruced up the nest cup in the nest left in the box, laid 5
eggs, incubated them for 14 days and they all hatched! No one was more
surprised and delighted than me! This female had only 2 chicks survive out of 5
last year.
The days for the chicks in the nest box were pretty much 'by the book.' The
biggest issue was the unrelenting heat here in NW Georgia. I do not remember a
summer as hot and humid for so long in the 21 years we've lived here. I put a
small umbrella over the box, then a patio umbrella over that and then another
patio umbrella to back that one up! I had a probe for wireless thermometer
inside the box and I monitored the temperature in the comfort of my air
conditioning (I had a probe in the nest connected to a wireless temperature
transmitter).
Five chicks in the box made for close quarters. With the nest box camera in it,
I watched the chicks grow and from days 13 on they become more interested in
those things called wings. They preened them, stretched them, flapped them.
Each day they became more active.
I have a curse on me when it comes to fledgings. I seem to miss them. This
time I decided that it wouldn't happen. I put an outdoor camera connected to
the living room TV to record the activity from the =outside= of the box while I
watched the goings-on =inside= the box on my desktop as it recorded on my hard
drive.
Monday was day 15 and during the day the chicks alternated between being active
and napping. I'm sure the heat affected how much they could do for any length
of time.
It was 8pm and getting dark. Sundown was 8:37pm. I was tired...I love my
bluebirds but a full day of "Bird TV" does get on one's nerves (cheep, ... >)
About 8:20 I got ready for bed. I left the TV for with my husband in the living
room. I was in bed but not asleep yet and I heard Dave calling "1 is ready to
go, it's 8:50, another one is getting ready..." Of course I thought that he was
joking (he does that a lot) so I didn't get up right away. He continued "now 3
now 4 now 5!!!!!! It looks like they planned it this way!" I thought I had
better get up and check. I was able to rewind the video and we saw all 5 of the
chicks leave the box in 1 minute!! We didn't have the volume on because we kept
getting noisy feedback. We rewatched the video over and over and thought that
it was a very 'unusual' fledging. The chicks had NOT done the 'sticking the
head out of the hole' that they usually do before they take that first flight.
They'd peeked out while standing on the edge of the nest, that's all.
So I missed the fledging in 'real time' but at least I have the video. Later
that evening we found something quite surprising, something that we couldn't fit
into the 'event' until I'd gathered more information the next day.
On Tuesday I found that the audio DID record with the video. As I edited the
fledging video to post it on YouTube, I discovered something else which helped
to put the pieces of the 'five fledge fast' puzzle.
Here's the video with the chicks 'jumping ship.' It's only Part 1. I thought
it might be fun to see if y'all can come up with some more clues, perhaps a
conjecture, as to what was really happening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGk5M4S_fEk
No fair going to our resident expert Keith in TX. That's who =I= went to with
the pieces of the puzzle and it was Keith who put them together. And I did get
Keith's blessing to do this little 'exercise.'
Let the games begin...
Linda Moore, Acworth, GA
NW of Atlanta
kendra2003
lcmoore99Original Author
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