Here are two pictures of the two hatchlings on August 4, 2011–the DAY of hatching. These were due to hatch on July 31st. Perhaps the female delayed incubation a few days during our high heat here. Who wants to sit on eggs in a hot nestbox? It may have taken longer and she indubated in early mornings and cooler evenings and stayed off the eggs during the afternoons. Theory on my part. I will be getting some styrofoam for next year to put on roofs of nestboxes in direct sun during our high-heat periods to help the birds stay cooler–a quick fix many bluebirders do. I have to do some reasearch on how this is done. I will be back on my trail in a day or two to check on these little tykes again. This is my first ever clutch of white eggs…an event that happens to about 4-5 percent of laying females. There is a pigment in the oviduct of the females that colors the eggs blue as they pass through. Perhaps this pigment is missing in this female. The eggs are just as fertile. That means the bluebirds that did a brood in this box prior to this one was a DIFFERENT female, as her eggs were blue. All birds in the thrush family generally lay blue eggs. A photo of the eggs are further down this website. Just cursor down to find it. Info on white eggs are on the Sialis site in an easy-to-read pop-out: http://www.sialis.org/whiteeggs.htm
Aug
7
2011
Amazing photos! You are so lucky to have white Bluebird eggs!
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Hi, Cindy! I agree….not sure if LUCK is the word, but it certainly keeps things interesting. I continue to learn so much year after year! It’s fun to discover something new along my trail. If the news is not so good, I learn from it, try to share it with others, and keep good records and summaries to use in the future, and do all I can so it won’t happen again. Sometimes things happen, no matter how hard we try. That is why monitoring nestboxes is important. I can’t believe I’ve been bluebirding now for 6 years. Before that, I only knew a little about there being a species of a bird called the “bluebird”.
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