This blog post was started just as a Bluebird was hatching with the expectation that I would update it in near real-time as the Bluebird was hatching. Things didn’t go as planned. What follows is a journal in pictures and words of this remarkable event, some of it written in real-time, and the rest shortly later. As this is a photo blog, a list of equipment and settings can be found near the end, plus a photo gallery with additional photos.
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A bluebird is hatching right now. As it does over the next 12-24 hours, I’ll try to update this post with progress photos. The mother died (we’re not sure why, but suspect herbicide or pesticide use in a neighbors yard but it really could be any number of reasons). We incubated the egg without knowing if it would survive because we didn’t know how long the mother had been missing. But we figured we’d try…
July-16-2022 5:04pm – Egg is pipped (membrane and shell are broken through)
July-16-2022 6:36pm – Hello in there! Some more shell is broken.
July-16-2022 7:05pm – I see you! At this point, the hatching happened much faster than I though it would, and I didn’t have time to both photograph the event and post “live” photos. Seeing this tiny beak poking out of its shell was quit remarkable to watch, knowing that something so helpless is strong enough to break free.
July-16-2022 7:13pm – Once the beak broke through, it didn’t take much time or effort to split the shell.
July-16-2022 7:24pm – The Bluebird has broken its shell in half
July-16-2022 7:28pm – Acting as her temporary mom, I carefully remove the shell from her head, and she takes a break from her struggles.
July-16-2022 7:29pm – Instinctively, it seems, she stretches as far as she can to free her tiny bird butt out of the other half of the egg.
July-16-2022 7:29pm – Despite all of her efforts, this is as far as she can escape from the egg, and she takes a break.
July-16-2022 7:32pm – Acting as Mr. Mom again, I slide the rest of the egg off of her small, delicate body. Finally, not feeling the confines of the shell against her nearly transparent skin, she settles down and rests some more.
July-16-2022 7:42pm – Your chariot awaits! We had some contingency plans on what to do should the hatching happen. In another part of our yard there was a second Bluebird nest that hatched within the last day or so. Since it was still daytime, I could add one more junior bird to that nest with the expectation that Bluebirds can’t count. To ensure a smooth and safe ride to her new home, we used a small plastic spoon to scoop her up and carry her – this also allowed for an easy deposit into the new nest. For a size comparison, the spoon below is just an ordinary plastic spoon that you would get from a fast food restaurant.
July-17-2022 7:56am – Success! This is a cell phone photo taken the next morning. The mother continued to brood overnight, and both parents are busily feeding everyone today. We’ll check in on the nest periodically to monitor progress, but so far things are looking up for the newest Bluebird!
Photo equipment and settings used for the photos in this blog post:
- Canon EOS R5 (Manual, 1/200s, ISO 200)
- Canon 100mm Macro Lens @ f/14
- Laowa 25mm Macro Lens @ 2.5x, f/8
- Canon 600 EX RT Flash (Manual)
- Custom Flash Diffuser (Scott Ultimate Diffuser)
- Quantum Turbo Battery 3 to power the flash
- Photos brought into Adobe Lightroom, exported and transferred to WordPress
- For the cell phone photo, an old Apple iPhone was used
The above photos, plus many additional photos, can be reviewed and zoomed into in the below gallery. Click any photo and use arrow keys to navigate. Click on an enlarged photo again to zoom in further:
#canon #laowa #macro #bluebird #nest #egg #hatch
Wow! There isn’t much more I can say but Wow!!! Amazing. Thank you for sharing this. You are such a great person😊
Thank you so much Denise! It was so amazing to watch and be a part of this birds life.