Bluebird Babies

 

          I didn’t expect this feeling of loss that hit me when I realized the bluebird nesting season was nearing the end.  After a summer of monitoring five nesting boxes in a state park, there is only one active nest left.  I remember the emotions I felt when my kids left for college eons ago, so it seems a bit ridiculous to feel empty nest syndrome now…over a bunch of birds no less.

           Last spring two friends and I committed to spending  the summer monitoring bluebird boxes.  We recorded our findings and compiled a notebook detailing nest activity for each box.  The North American Bluebird Society and Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology track monitoring efforts and bluebird population data.  Back in the 1970s, the bluebird population reached a 70 percent decline, mostly due to habitat loss and competition for nesting cavities from non native species such as house sparrows and starlings.  Today, bluebird boxes, trails and monitoring efforts have contributed to reestablishing the bluebird population. 

           Beginning in the spring, the birds have two to four broods a season.  The female lays four to six blue eggs.  She lays one a day and when the last egg is laid, she then begins to incubate them.  Eggs hatch about 17 days after the first one is laid.  Nestlings occupy the nest from 17 to 21 days before fledging.  We removed  old nests each time a brood fledged.  No matter how many babies we saw this summer, we reacted with awe every single time we opened a box and saw babies.

We used a mirror to look down inside the box.  One friend, a film student, recorded findings for a documentaty project.

Bluebirds lay beautiful blue eggs.

 

 

 

Brand new nestlings.

 

 

New babies are all mouth!

 

 

 

 



Older babies fill up the nest. Blue feathers are evident just before fledging.

Polllinator Palooza

          There is basil and then there is AFRICAN BASIL.  Sweet basil is the best choice for pesto.  African basil is an amazing choice for pollinators.  Planting one small four-inch tall plant in spring will yield a shrubbery sized plant by mid-summer.  Although the spikes of tiny purple flowers seem insignificant, the plant is a magnet for solitary bees, bumble bees, honey bees, wasps,  butterflies, hummingbirds and moths.  In fact, you will likely see a larger variety of native bees on this plant than any other in your garden.  And it isn't invasive -- it is an annual.  I always plant one near a porch or patio so I can enjoy watching all the activity. Plant one in a large pot and you don't need to add any other plants...it will fill the pot.  African basil tolerates heat and dry weather like a champ. Next spring, plant one for the pollinators.

 

 

Up Close at Lewis Ginter

          



           Perhaps because I am nearsighted, or maybe because I love the large scale flower paintings of Georgia O'Keefe, I am compelled to photograph flowers up close.  Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is a magnificent place, and focusing on all of its splendor can be sensory overload for me.  That's why when I go I have to spend most of the day, savoring the many small fragments instead of the entire place, the single flower instead of the whole plant, sometimes only a leaf.