Upon returning home last evening I became concerned about the 10-11 day old bluebird nestlings in my nestbox as there were no adults in evidence--even when I opened the box to check on the 2 youngsters, who were huddled together in a corner. After a half hour or so, the mother showed up. She perched on top of the box and looked around warily (normal behavior), she peeked inside briefly but didn't enter the box. She kept up her vigil on top and began calling, making that burbly sound that bluebirds do. This went on for more than 5 minutes. At last she was joined by a juvenile from her first brood with a tasty morsel in its mouth. After acknowledging Mom's presence, Junior went to the nestbox hole and promptly deposited its tidbit inside. A few seconds later Junior entered the box and emerged with a fecal sac, flying off with it. Mom took off in a different direction. Feeling that all was well, I went back inside. When I looked from the door about 10 minutes later, all three first brood juveniles were on top of the nest box having a conference. Mom was on the ground foraging. Dad was nowhere in sight but I saw him this morning, so he's ok too. This wasn't the first time I've seen the juveniles at the nestbox. They go there a lot, but it's the first I've seen one feed the nestlings or carry off a fecal sac. What a neat family dynamic. There were originally 6 babies in the first brood, but they seem to have lost half their number, unless they've formed cliques & don't associate with each other. On another note, the two brown thrashers that frequent my yard were feeding a fledling under my suet feeder last week. Carole Gobert West Knox County, Tennessee =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================