~~I was driving and a bluebird flew into my windshield today.  Feathers went everywhere as the little guy toppled lifelessly in the road behind me.  I feel terrible about it.

I think it went down like this:~~

Several months ago, Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird worked daylight to dusk to build a nest.  Mr. Bluebird made sure the structure was strong enough for a brood of growing, rowdy chicks, while Mrs. Bluebird was sensational at finding just the right lining to keep her chicks comfortable.

Once the eggs were laid, Mrs. Bluebird took a two-week sabbatical to sit and keep the eggs warm.

When hatching day finally arrived, each egg started shaking within hours of each other.  From inside the shell, each hatchling broke loose and used all of its energy to escape the hard shell.  After breaking free, each hatching laid wet, exhausted and gasping for air.

From inside the egg claustrophobia to hunger mania in the nest, each bird learned, even with its eyes closed, to open its beak wide because something, from somewhere, somehow, placed food in its mouth.  Each time the constant scream for nourishment was met.

After a few days, the hatchlings recognized Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird.  Each time they flew to the nest, each one would immediately open its mouth trying to out maneuver and out muscle its four siblings to quench the insatiable hunger.

Mr. Bluebird named each one – Azure, Teal, Royal, Cobalt, and the runt, Navy.

Navy was the last chick to hatch and did his best to get the tasty meals that came by air delivery.  Navy managed to get enough, but he was always just a little bit behind his siblings in both speed and size.

Childhood goes quickly for bluebirds.  It only took 18 days from hatch day day to freedom flight day.  Each bird edged out of the nest to a tree branch apprehensive about their inaugural flight.

Cobalt, the biggest of the brood, was all song and no wing.  He often boasted how he would leave the nest first and fly higher, faster and smoother than all the others.  Instead, he sat trembling on the tree branch.

When Navy, who was small in stature but had a heart the size of Texas, got on the branch, he was considering just jumping right off to fly.  He didn’t have to.  Cobalt wing shoved him off the branch.

Navy tumbled like a bad parachute before fluttering down to a limb ten foot below.  Before long, Navy was making short wing bursts back and forth between limbs going up and down the tree with feathered ease.

Cobalt was last to fly.  He lost his balance and fell to the ground after missing a branch to land on.  If Navy hadn’t winged his way over to distract Carl, the cat, Cobalt would have been cat food.

Navy gave Cobalt just enough time to flap up to safety in a nearby branch.

Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird got all of there grown chicks together and gave them some final words of wisdom for their life ahead.  They told them to avoid cats, watch for hawks, catch bugs on the ground but eat in the tree, and most of all, watch out for surprisingly fast cars and trucks on the road.

Mr. Bluebird called out Cobalt several times for tweeting while he talked. Even so, Cobalt barely listened, and in fact, bragged about his life knowledge.  He claimed to have eagle like prowess and owl like wisdom.

Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird warned Cobalt that his arrogance and desire to live life like as a carefree bird was a huge mistake, for there was no room for mistake in survival.

To the dismay of the bluebird family, Cobalt told Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird he was moving to the next forest over, never coming back and no one could change his mind.

Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird were proud their chicks had grown up and were living independently.  They were, however, quite worried about their haughty young Cobalt. They had to let him go though for soon the refurbishing of the nest began for the second brood of the summer.

The third day after they learned to fly, Cobalt saw an easy to catch, juicy cricket across the road.  Navy chirped a strong warning not to fly low across the road because of the danger their dad had warned his chicks about.

Cobalt scoffed. He stammered about how their father just wanted the crickets for himself, and how he was much younger and agile than their father. Navy urged Cobalt to come back as soon as he began winging across the road.

Almost instantly, Cobalt realized he had miscalculated the speed of the oncoming vehicle, and for a split second, saw the face of a human driver wince just as everything went dark and quiet…

~~I was driving and a bluebird flew into my windshield today.  Feathers went everywhere as the little guy toppled lifelessly in the road behind me.  I feel terrible about it.~~