What’s For Dinner? What!?

I’m happy to report that the Eastern Bluebird couple that has nested in Matt’s box (front yard near the young fruit trees) has been taking food to their new chicks for about ten days. On 7/11/20 I posted a photo of the female standing atop the nest box post with a small insect in her mouth. You may view it in the article Hungry Mouths to Feed.

There has been some disappointing news about two other Bluebird couples – more on that later as we are uber busy with “real work” in the next two weeks, and I’m not sure I have time to draft those posts.

Because of the upsets with those other Bluebirds, I decided to open Matt’s box to confirm the status of that little family. I’m super happy to report they look great!

Apparently, they are being well fed, and what I captured on film yesterday in their mama’s mouth was a little unusual.

Yes, that’s a frog. It looks a bit large to be eaten whole by those little chicks. Perhaps she plans to eat it for herself. After all, she’s clearly working very hard tending to her family, even with her mate’s assistance. Or, I suppose she may take it to a hard surface and peck it into bite sized pieces for her babes. Nonetheless, it appears to be a very good source of protein, and a nice diversion from the standard fare of insects. I just wonder if Junior is going to ask, “What’s that?” to which his mother will respond, “It’s dinner. Eat it. It tastes like worm!”