This is an update from our Eastern Bluebird nestbox #1. This is the first one we put up and marks the start of trail. It’s quite near our house and can be seen from our kitchen windows.

We found 5 bluebird eggs in it when we checked it on March 31st. These aren’t the best photos – I took them with my phone camera, but they serve to document our activities.

Eastern Bluebird Eggs

The following week, on April 7th, one of the eggs had hatched! I think it hatched earlier in the day. It has almost no feathers and its eyes are not open. It looks completely helpless.

Eastern Bluebird Hatchling

A week later, on April 14th, all the eggs had hatched! The first egg had hatched on the 7th and I think the others hatched that day too, or maybe the following day. The inclubation period is about 12-18 days. The hatchlings develop very quickly. You can see their wing feathers are coming in. Their heads are still covered with down rather than feathers, though.

Eastern Bluebird Hatchlings

Here they are today, April 21st. They look like they’re completely covered with feathers. The time to fledge (first flight) is about 16-21 days. If they hatched on the 7th, then they should be fledging this week. They may be gone by next week!

Eastern Bluebird Hatchlings

This is a photo of five failed eggs we removed from one of our boxes. They had been in the nest for several weeks without hatching. I think a cold snap got them. We cleaned out the nest to allow the box to be used again. We discarded the eggs far from the box, to avoid attracting predators.