Monday, May 11, 2009

Baby Birds in the Yard

I'm so stoked every time this happens.  This year a pair of Black Phoebes hatched out three babies in or near my yard. They arrive hit-and-miss over most of the day, but come late afternoon, the entire family arrives for dinner. Mom & Dad dart and sally around the yard, snak-ing up flying insects to feed to their three young-uns. Sadly, because it's late-late afternoon, they're usually in shade, so I'm challenged to get a good photo. But here's an OK photo of one of the fledgelings.
Fledgeling Black Phoebe
One evening, all five were queued up on the fence top, but I couldn't get all five in a shot.

2 comments:

  1. Nifty.

    The (a) mourning dove is back nesting on the shelves above my hot tub. It's been 2 or 3 years since I've seen any there. I think it was 3 years ago when I first noticed them raising like 5 litters that summer, then the next year I encountered some on the shelves a few times but they were scared off by me or the dogs, then nothing last year.

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  2. I think I accidentally spooked a dove couple who was setting up housekeeping on a "nest shelf." They were house-hunting out back in all the hanging pots at one point. Then, when I was out watering, I spooked one from the area of the nest shelf. A couple of weeks later I climbed a ladder to check and there were a few twigs, leaves, and pine needles, but no sign of long-term occupancy *sigh*

    I had a pair of mourning doves set up housekeeping one summer for two or three broods. And a couple of years ago a phoebe pair built a nest under my eaves. Sadly, the nest was parasitized by a cowbird, so the Mom & Dad Phoebe ended up raising a big, annoying cowbird chick.

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