BLUEBIRD UPDATE:

It appears that the egg count for Beau and Belle Bluebird stands at four and not three as previously mentioned. LH checked the nest in the box more closely and discovered the fourth egg. I feel like an expectant parent. Counting the days, looking out the kitchen window to make sure that Belle is on the nest (in the box) and leaving mealworms in the container on the fence so she won't always have to venture real far in getting a snack to sustain her solitary vigil. It will get very hot this week and I hope that she and the eggs will withstand the heat. Beau defends the box (nest) from those birds who venture too close. But it is Belle who sits in the box for hours and sacrifices the freedom of flying about the meadow with the sun on her wings under the expanse of blue skies. Now, she sits. Sits in a dark box, protecting and keeping warm her eggs, her babies. She has given up her freedom to raise a brood of dependent and demanding youngsters. But deep in her breast, in her heart, she knows that it is worth the wait, worth giving up her freedom, and worth the hungry beaks constantly begging for food. She knows it will be worth it when they fly on their own wings and savour the birthright of bluebirds - freedom to fly through the meadows. But for now, is the lonely, solitary box-sitting ritual and vigil and the waiting. And, I wait with her.