Ok, Blue Bird fans, it’s Week #16 update time for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Blue Bird Program in the city of Long Beach, on the 45-acre campus of the South Mississippi Regional Center!
So, here is what ‘Master Naturalist’ buddy John and I found today, June 20, 2008, walking around campus during a Friday afternoon, taking the Blue Bird Trail nesting survey.
These very large Blue Bird babies flew from Nesting Box #7 this afternoon, about 5 hours after this image was taken.
Here are this week’s Survey results:
Box #1- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.
Box #2- 3 Blue Bird babies, 2 Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: 5 Blue Bird eggs.
Box #3- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.
A Killdeer parent with one of its three babies on the campus.
Box #4- 5 Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: New nest, 2 Blue Bird eggs.
Box #5- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.
Box #6- New Blue Bird nest, 1 Blue Bird egg. – Last week: 2 Blue Bird babies flew the next, 3 sterile Blue Bird eggs, nesting box cleaned.
Box #7- 4 very large Blue Bird babies (in morning), 4 Blue Bird babies flew the nest in afternoon. – Last week: 4 Blue Bird babies.
Box #8- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.
Box #9- 4 large Blue Bird babies. – Last week: 4 Blue Bird babies.
Box #10- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.
Box #11- Few new straw. – Last week: Fresh new straw.
Box #12- 4 Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: Half of a new Blue Bird nest built.
Box #13- Empty Nesting box, no activity. – Last week: 3 Blue Bird babies flew the nest.
Totals This Week: 12 Blue Bird eggs, 7 Blue Bird babies, 0 Sterile eggs, 7 empty nesting boxes, 4 Blue Bird babies flew the nest, 3 Killdeer babies.
Totals Last Week (June 12, 2008): 7 Blue Bird eggs, 8 Blue Bird babies, 5 Blue Bird babies flew the nest, 4 sterile Blue Bird eggs, 7 empty nesting boxes (includes the 2 boxes where babies flew the nest).
Late this afternoon, Master Naturalist Buddy John and myself walked over to Nesting Box #7 to show one of the campus officials the large size of the Blue Bird babies in this box. John advised that he had thought with the very large size of these four Blue Bird babies residing in this nesting box, he couldn’t understand why that had not flown from the nest yet.
At Nesting Box #7, we slowly pulled the front open and there they were, four very large Blue Bird babies, all hunched down in the nest. As the official took a couple of quick pictures, one of the babies jumped to its feet, and decided it was time to make the maiden flight, and took off flying from the nest, over to a nearby tree branch.
And just like that, one-by-one, each of the other three babies stood up, and flew from the nest to nearby trees, where the mother and father Blue Birds joined them in a real chirping festival. What an amazing experience, to actual see the babies fly from the nest! Those four brought the total Blue Bird babies who have flown from the nest, to 32 birds, a substantial additional to the area Blue Bird population.
Master Naturalist buddy John continues to be very enthused about the activity, and reports that in addition to the 32 Blue Bird babies and 6 Chickadee babies who have flown from their nests, we also have 3 Killdeer babies who have left their ground nest in one of the grassy areas on campus, and have joined their parents in feeding on the ground, during this first season of the new Blue Bird Trail.
The weather today was partly cloudy, light wind and about 92 degrees.
Another update will be along next weekend.
Hey, thanks for caring! The foot recovery is so much better than I remember from 15 years ago? It’s fine in the AM, and then swollen and achy in the evenings. Should be nearly back to normal by the 6 week mark.
I have a friend who is a killer bird watcher, I’m sending her over here, STAT!
and I see you have Noble Pig on your blogroll. I tried to get everyone to Stumble the foody blog today. Go stumble it too, I hope it works. I was in love with the Asparagus dish!!!
Good & Crazy: Thanks for commenting and stopping by! Cathy at Noble Pig has so many magnificent dishes on her blog; does a fantastic job with food!
Another food blog you might want to check out is: Melissa – she has two blogs: 1. Alosha and 2. Alosha’s Kitchen
I have to go work on a hurricane home in the morning tomorrow and the afternoon, too, but when I get back from helping that fellow, I’ll try my best to ‘Stumble it.’
Is this where the song Bye-Bye Birdie came from?
I’m not sure I had a visual in my head of what a killdeer is. Now I do–and wil for sometime. They’re like a teeny roadrunner or something.
Thank you for visiting my site and the nice comments. It was funny for me to find the picture of the Killdeer here on your site. I saw one yesterday and didn’t know what it was. Now I do. Thanks — Margy
Those pictures, especially of the baby bluebirds, are amazing.
Hey, your title caught my attention over in Lotus’ comments.
I’m from just up the road, not that we live there now. I’ll have to add you to my del.icio.us bookmarks!
Love the picture of the blue bird babies.