"I missed the fledging AGAIN" Curse! Aug. 3, 2010

Linda's "I missed the fledging AGAIN" Curse!
A Bizarre Tale Indeed

Summary: A surprise late-season brood of 5 Eastern Bluebird chicks is caught on a nest box video camera getting ready to fledge. A mistaken single-chick fledging on Day 14 leads to much confusion when the day after, 5 chicks fledge when 4 were expected. When all 5 chicks fledge 1) after 20 minutes after the official sundown and 2) all 5 within one minute, there MANY questions, not the least of which is how a coiled snake found 10 minutes after the fledglings are gone is involed in this drama. The snake was found on top of the same type of camera as is used inside the box that was 16 inches from the nest box. It a coincidence that the snake is there, or did the parents see it and call the chicks to 'abandon ship' in the blackness of night??

Aug. 1st, 2010
Sunday, Day 15

We have been putting "Night Hawk" nestbox cameras (abbrev. NHcam) in our bluebird houses since 2005. Past years I did not have what I considered to be an acceptable way of recording and watching the video at the same time. This year I was able to route the video through my computer and record it on my hard drive while watching the video on my computer desktop. This day was the 15th day I'd been watching a brood of 5 chicks (and had watched the process from the time the nest was built and the eggs were laid).

COMING SOON:


This was a very unexpected brood. Mama Blue (from last year; she laid 5 eggs Spring 2009 but only 3 hatched and 2 survived; that was it for 2009 at least in our yard) and Daddy Blue (new this year) tried an initial brood of 5 eggs in the Spring 2010. After 22 days of incubation, they abandoned the eggs which were of course not viable. They came back shortly after that (beginning of June)and Mama Blue spruced up the nest cup, laid one egg and the same day a House Wren pecked it and threw it out of the box. ::grrrr:: The Blues left and I expected they'd be nesting somewhere else. At the end of June, Daddy encouraged Mama to try again here so she spruced up the nestcup yet again, laid 5 eggs, incubated them for 14 days and they all hatched! No one was more surprised and delighted than me!

COMING SOON:

The day before I'd put my Birdcam by Windspaces on a tripod so I could see & record the outside of the nestbox focused directly at the hole. I set it to use motion detection to record videos on an SD card. The model of Birdcam I have only records in daylight which was the only option when I purchased it. Of course, after I bought it, they came out with a day/night version.

COMING SOON:

COMING SOON:

5. WHY did he do that? I know that snakes depend on thermoception ('seeing' heat waves). Can they detect the infrared light emitted from the NWcams? Did he not only detect the heat from the NWcam outside the box but inside as well?

6. The chicks all day had been attracting other birds with their vocalizations and had the nestbox shaking quite a bit. Does that enter into this drama??

What I am most concerned about is whether the snake was attracted to the heat of the NH camera? Is that where he was headed? There is about 16 inches from where the snake was to the roof of the nest box.