She’s A Rock Star!

This is the continuing saga of a very special Eastern Bluebird. I first filmed her and her mate at the end of April, in a post called HOPEFUL. At that time, they were checking out a nest box that is situated right outside my office window. I hoped they would move in and raise their brood, so that I could observe them routinely.

I last wrote about her at the end of May in this POST. At that time, she and her mate were tending to a nest of 5 lovely eggs that have since hatched. The chicks are quite advanced now and are poking their cute faces out of the nest box hole while being fed by their courageous parents.

I very rarely assign names to wild birds, however I choose to refer to this special female as Keller. Keller is blind in one eye. I first noticed her injury in late April when I filmed them checking out a house in our backyard. At that time, the eye was open and I hoped it could recover. Later the couple chose a box in our front yard and when I first took pictures there, her eye seemed no worse, but no better than a couple weeks earlier. Now, her damaged eye is pretty much sealed shut.

When you contemplate bird vision and what it takes for this bird to fly, locate and then nab prey, and avoid predators, her abilities are quite extraordinary. When you add the challenge of targeting a chick’s throat for feeding (sometimes while hovering in flight) and avoiding their sharp beaks, I’d say Keller is a Rock Star.

I took the photos above on June 9, 2023 and the following ones on June 8, 2023.

I’m also adding pics of her mate. He is as dedicated to raising their chicks as Keller is. Plus, he plays a protector role and chases off birds that enter their zone, especially species that nest in cavities and come to check out the status of their nest box.

“Who wants a grasshopper?” Yummy!

While I’ve only been able to see four chicks peering out and I originally filmed five eggs, it is possible that there are five chicks and simply not enough room for them all to show themselves at the same time. Alternatively, and this isn’t terribly uncommon, one egg simply didn’t hatch or the chick didn’t make it to this stage of development. It’s amazing that the parent birds are able to keep track of all the chicks and feed them “fairly” so that they all reach the level necessary to fledge on the same day. I think that day is coming soon!