First of all, this is not a picture of my current babies. The parents get so stressed when I check the nest box, I didn't want to stay any longer than I need to stay in order to make sure everything is going well. It's amazing that bluebirds, like people, all have different personalities. Most are passive and just keep an eye on me when I check the nest box. This couple panics and actually flies over my head; I can feel the wind as they pass. The current nest box only has 3 babies, one egg was unfertilized and didn't hatch. Which is funny because my first nesting in the north box also had one unhatched egg in it. BUT this is what the new babies look like. They have touches of blue in their feathers now. If they hatched on the 16th, they will be twelve days old and within a week of fledging. The parents could even have another brood before the end of the season.
I LOVE pelicans. It's just been recently that the white pelicans have come back to the Illinois River. In the spring and fall we can see the large flocks circling our house, appearing and disappearing as they turn into and away from the sun. They just glide on the airstream and it looks like ballet. From the deck of a restaurant on the river that we frequent, you can see sandbars covered with pelicans and watch them fly from one sandbar to another. They fly single file, very close to the water. For such large birds they are surprisingly graceful. We've seen a small nesting colony at Homosassa Springs State Park in Florida. In their nesting colony they are loud, disruptive and dirty. Their babies are very unattractive, but when they grow up, they are truly impressive.
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