Stellar Jay Observation

     We enjoyed another year watching our Stellar Jays nest in our playground.  We observed the birds making a nest and waiting patiently for mommy Jay to lay her eggs.  We observed with excitement when the eggs hatched and were delighted when the birds started feeding the babies.  We watched day after day as the baby birds grew.  The children liked seeing the blue feathers grow on the babies and their little crowns.  It was exciting watching the parent Jays feed the babies constantly as we played in our playground.  We also watched another pair of Stellar Jays try to build a nest in our umbrella on our deck.  It was fun watching them bring in sticks and build a nest so quickly.  When the children ate lunch on our deck one day they observed the parents bring stick by stick into the umbrella.  Unfortunately, the children learned the fate of building a nest in an unstable spot.  As the wind picked up with an incoming storm, we desperately tried to tie down our umbrella to the table and deck, but sadly the wind was too strong and snapped our umbrella in half!  The children were very sad as they observed the little blue cracked eggs smashed on our deck.  We analyzed the insides of the broken eggs seeing blood and what looked like a yummy egg to scramble up!  We were able to save one egg for the children to observe as we brought in the nest and egg for a circle time observation.  All the children were able to hold the warm egg in their hands.  Some of the children thought they felt a heart beat!  We tried to set a heating pad on our warm egg and nest to save the baby bird.  The children were very concerned!  Later, we tried to put the nest and egg outside for the parents to come back to the nest.  The parent Stellar Jays came back but were leery of nesting again.  They sadly left the egg in the nest, as it snowed that night.  Rylan brought the egg inside the next morning to observe the egg again.  He accidentally dropped the egg on the floor...oops!  We again got to analyze the insides of an egg!  After a few weeks, the children finally got the opportunity to witness one of the baby birds leave our nest.  It was very exciting being able to watch as the little bird took his first flight!  The children gathered in excitement chasing the baby bird.  The children decided we needed to save the baby bird and put him back in the nest!  We let the baby bird hop onto our broom and let all the children observe him close up before we lifted him back into the nest.  Later on in the day another baby bird took his first flight as the children excitedly chased him around.  The next day the other babies left the nest.  Now we have an empty nest as a reminder of our family of Stellar Jays.  What a fabulous way to observe our world close up!