{"id":144243,"date":"2025-05-11T02:45:42","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T07:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=144243"},"modified":"2025-05-23T17:45:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T22:45:12","slug":"super-mom-eastern-bluebird-for-mothers-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/05\/11\/super-mom-eastern-bluebird-for-mothers-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Mom Eastern Bluebird For Mother’s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since today is Mother’s Day, I wanted to tell the story of this super mom Eastern Bluebird and all she has accomplished since the end of March.<\/p>\n

\"SuperSuper female Eastern Bluebird \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f11, 1\/800, ISO 800, Canon EF 100-400mm II at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of March, this female bluebird was adding nesting material to the box. Soon after she laid her eggs, something happened and the male of the pair disappeared.<\/p>\n

The female Eastern Bluebird seemed undaunted. She incubated the eggs all by herself and only took short breaks during the day to find food, since there wasn’t a male to feed her.<\/p>\n

When the chicks hatched, this determined mom brooded and fed them alone. For eighteen days, she brought food to her chicks without help. She flew in and out frequently with meals, and after a few days, she also carried out poop sacks.<\/p>\n

I don’t know how many trips a day she made, but she seemed to take it all in stride. It was impressive. I admired her for everything she did for her young as a single mom.<\/p>\n

The three chicks fledged after eighteen days in the nest box. As of yesterday, she was still feeding them on her own. All three have made it so far.<\/p>\n

All on her own.<\/p>\n

\"EasternEastern Bluebird chick on the edge of a birdbath \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f8, 1\/400, ISO 800, +0.3 EV, Canon EF 100-400mm II at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This is one of her three chicks that came into the birdbath for a drink of water yesterday. How freaking cute are baby bluebirds?<\/p>\n

Eastern Bluebirds do make me think of my mom. They were among her favorite birds, and she always made sure they were fed, especially when they were nesting. It\u2019s kind of bittersweet that I\u2019m able to take so many Eastern Bluebird<\/span><\/a> photos now, and mom is no longer with us.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, I was getting ready to fly home to Virginia on this date to help my mom transition to hospice care, clean out her apartment, and help her until her final day.<\/p>\n

My mom was kind of a super mom too. My dad, her husband, died when I was not quite four years old. My brother wasn\u2019t even a year old, and my sister was seven. She had to go on, raising us without her mate.<\/p>\n

Even when she remarried, we were still her responsibility, and she spent a good deal of time as a single mother too because the man she married spent a good bit of time away in the military.<\/p>\n

And guess what? When I became a mom to my two sons, I was also a military wife, and raising my sons was spent pretty much on my own too. Which, with hindsight, was probably best for my sons and me.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it, motherhood isn\u2019t for the faint of heart. Whether you\u2019ve got wings or a minivan, the job comes with messes, noise, and absolutely no instruction manual.<\/p>\n

But super moms? They roll with it. They hustle, they adapt, they do what needs doing\u2014sometimes solo, sometimes winging it (literally).<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s to the ones who keep it all together with grit, grace, and maybe just a little caffeine.<\/p>\n

Happy Mother\u2019s Day to every kind of super mom out there!<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Eastern Bluebird photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> When I moved my site something happened with my upload folder for March of 2024 that caused some of the images to be missing or broken. I am working on repairing that issue. The missing or broken images affects posts, my galleries, and some pages. I have over 800 photos to replace that are older than that month, it will take some time. Thanks for bearing with me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since today is Mother’s Day, I wanted to tell the story of this super mom Eastern Bluebird and all she has accomplished since the end of March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13950,27,14094,13951],"tags":[4004,15008,14182,5933,4880,4134,14096,7037,4070,4141,13931,4067,4071,14095,165,15824,16435,3844,4881,3996,13966,4193],"class_list":["post-144243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arkansas","category-avian","category-eastern-bluebirds","category-sebastian-county","tag-adult","tag-bird-bath","tag-birdbath","tag-bluebird","tag-bluebirds","tag-chick","tag-eastern-bluebird","tag-edge","tag-female","tag-fledgling","tag-garden","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-sialia-sialis","tag-spring","tag-suburban","tag-super","tag-thrush","tag-thrushes","tag-water","tag-yard","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/eastern-bluebird-female-mia-mcpherson-2115.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-Bwv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":142048,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/03\/27\/female-eastern-bluebird-is-busy-nest-building\/","url_meta":{"origin":144243,"position":0},"title":"Female Eastern Bluebird Is Busy Nest Building","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The female Eastern Bluebird here has been very busy the last three days, bringing in nesting materials by the beakful to place inside the nesting box.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Eastern Bluebird with nesting materials, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/eastern-bluebird-female-nesting-material-mia-mcpherson-1632.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/eastern-bluebird-female-nesting-material-mia-mcpherson-1632.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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