Anyone who has had any experience with Bluebirds knows that they don't usually fall out of the nest and hop around trying to take off and fly. They pretty much just shoot out of the box and do their thing. No practice, no rehearsal, just flying. Bluebird boxes don't have perches on the outside or any way for them to hedge out and consider flying or think about it or change their mind. The parents withhold food and call to them and basically tease them out of the box.
So how do they just fly, having never flown before???? I have the answer. They take turns climbing up on top of everyone else and begin a crazy spasm of fluttering and flapping their wings. Of course since they are so high up now, their wings hit the camera and make a crazy noise. It sounds just like the sound that you got when you were a kid and put a playing card in the spokes of your bicycle. It's pretty funny how they suddenly get an urge and start flapping away. It's almost like it overcomes them. They love to stretch, stretch, stretch their wings and are preening like mad. My guess is they are actually grooming their wings for the maximum performance.
Hamish is still a bully and so big and developed that I think Schmiegal thought he was a parent at one point.
I am unable to upload video here, but these are recent pictures.
The first one is from May 1 and the second one is from this morning at 10a.m., so you can see how fast they are developing plumage!
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