Little Bug's story... so far

Last month I was asked to make a website for The Eastern Bluebird Rescue Group, an organization started by our local wildlife guru, Frank Newell.


I decided that the first thing I needed was a photo for the logo, so I took my camera down to the lake & took a bunch of photos of our bluebirds who were happily raising their first clutch of the season in their "Frank Newell birdhouse". For the logo, I decided to use the following photo of the female poking her head out of the nest box. She is Little Bug's mom.





She and her mate finished raising their 3 babies and when the babies became a little more independent, she left Daddy to take care of them & she went back to the nest to start their second clutch. She laid 3 eggs & on Saturday June 23rd, 2 of them had hatched. Two days later my husband noticed that there was no activity around the box, so we took a peek inside that evening. We found one dead baby, one hungry & cold baby (Little Bug) and no sign of the third egg or baby. Daddy & at least 2 of the babies from the first clutch are still around, but no Mommy.


We brought Little Bug in, warmed him, fed him and left a messages with both of the bird rehabbers in our county - Frank & his daughter, Kristye. When Kristye called me back, I asked her if she knew of a bluebird nest around with newly hatched babies that we could drop Little Bug into. She said that she would check all of hers and get back to me. I told her I would try to keep him alive until we found a "foster home". When she called me back the next day, she told me that none of her pairs had started their second clutches yet, so she didn't have a home for him, but she would keep looking.


Here's Little Bug when we first took him in...





And I kept feeding. Here he is 7 days later...





Things haven't gone smoothly - he won't open his mouth to beg, which seems really strange. I've had to force his beak open for almost every feeding. From the photos I've searched on the web, he seems a little small for a 9 day old bluebird, but I'll just keep pumping the food into him & hope for the best.


baby bluebird