The early nesters are home

There are a number of early signs of spring around these parts, a few of which include the return of some of the earliest migrant birds, like Woodcocks, Killdeer, and the dearest to my heart, the Eastern Phoebe. In the past, March 15th, give or take a day in either direction, has been the traditional arrival date of "our" Phoebes. This year, they arrived on March 4th. It took them about a week to settle on where they would nest, which turned out to be the same place they always nest - on the side of our house, just under one of the eaves. PhoebeCam 2011 is rolling, ready to capture the nesting event that is now underway. This year we are able to capture sound for the first time, and this is also the first time that we've been able to catch them building a nest from scratch (they recycled a previous nest the past 2 years). Here are some videos of the beginning stages. I'll keep you posted as things progress.


This Eastern Phoebe thinks she's found the perfect spot for a piece of moss. Or maybe not.


Both the male and female Eastern Phoebe make an appearance here. They exchange pleasantries.

And then there were two

Today was a big day for our baby Phoebes - three of them left the nest! Baby #1 flew the coop at 11:11 a.m. Baby #2 followed suit 10 minutes later at 11:21. The next fledging didn't take place, however, until 5:38 p.m. This is the first time I've seen the departures from the nest take place at such a staggered pace. There were still 2 little ones in the nest the last time I checked, and I watched up until it was so dark the camera couldn't make them out any more.

An interesting detail is that the two remaining birds continue to be brought food by the parents. I had always read that the way adult birds coerce their young to fledge is by withholding food, but I didn't really see any withholding going on with this group.

Here's the video of the first bird fledging. Based on other take-offs that I've watched (of "our" birds from last year), this little one is very matter-of-fact about the whole process, and leaves just like it's the most natural thing in the world! (At the beginning you'll note that one of the parents feeds one of the babies and takes away a poop sac.)


The second baby left in much the same manner as the first, following his or her lead and just jumping right on out.

The third baby, however, decides to use the box that contains the camera as a launching platform before exiting to the bottom left of the screen. Watch how the remaining two birds "talk" to their departing sibling:


Baby number four made a noble, yet unsuccessful, attempt at leaving. Lots of flapping, but it couldn't quite bear to let go of that nest yet!


Let's see how long it takes for those last two birds to really stretch their wings and fly away!

They'll fly any day now

Yes folks, as my headline implies, our baby Eastern Phoebes should leave the nest any day now. They hatched on April 19th, and today marks 16 days since they hatched. Eastern Phoebes typically fledge between 16 and 18 days after hatching. I say this every year, but I cannot get over how quickly they develop. They are very handsome and healthy-looking birds, and I hope that they all fare well once they do make that leap from the nest.

Here are some videos that were captured just today (May 5th).

In this one you can see just how big they are. You can't see them all in this video, but I promise there are 5 little birds crammed into this nest:

In case you didn't believe me, here is a good view of all 5 of them in the nest as they jockey for a fresh position:

Finally, I think this is a good example of how close they are to leaving the nest. Lots of wing flapping going on in this video, getting those little flight muscles warmed up and primed. There's also some wing extending and tail bobbing going on here:

We'll have the camera going bright and early for the next few days in hopes of catching them when they leave (they took off in the morning last year, right before we left for work). I'll keep you posted with the news!

Nesting news and videos

Before I head off to Shawnee State Forest for Flora-Quest, I wanted to leave you with some video footage of our Phoebe family. There are 5 healthy (presumably) nestlings, and they are getting bigger every day. Mama and papa Phoebe are super busy from sunup to sundown feeding and removing the waste of these little ones. Here's some video!

In this one, papa brings a bug to mama while she's on the nest, and she gives it to one of the nestlings. They were just a day or two old at this point, and she's sitting right on top of them so you can't see them:

Here's another example of papa helping out with the feeding duties, handing off to mama once again. This is a few days later, and you can see the gaping beaks of the nestlings now:

Finally, here's a clear view of all 5 nestlings during a feeding from one parent. I love how after the adult leaves all of the babies kind of fold back down into the nest synchronously:


In addition to the Phoebe nest, Dave also discovered a Carolina Wren nest under the house a few days ago.  I figured they were nesting somewhere close by, but I couldn't figure out where.

They really aren't picky about where they put their nests:


Can you make out the round opening of the nest over at the right? There are at least 4 little ones in this nest.

So many new flowers are popping open, it's incredible. The wild Geraniums are looking very handsome, and the Firepink is just starting to bloom, as well as Spiderwort. I found a small mass of Blue-eye Mary in the woods across the road last weekend. A life plant for me!


I can't wait to see how many new plants we'll encounter at Flora-Quest this weekend! Keep your fingers crossed that the weather holds for us.

Welcome home, my Phoebe friends

Spring has sprung, and I am delighted to announce that our resident pair of Eastern Phoebes has returned to nest on the side of our house!

They are about a week behind schedule as compared to last year. I wasn't even sure they were going to nest in the same spot again. There was actually a curious Carolina Wren checking out and reshaping the old nest for a few days.


Not to worry, though. Once the Phoebes made up their mind that they would settle in this spot, they immediately set to work reshaping it into a bowl fit for the finest Phoebe fledglings. (Say that 3 times fast!) It has been interesting to watch over the past few days how it has really taken shape. Lots of moss has been added around the outside, and it seems more firmly anchored to the side of the house. It's a big nest, though, to be sure. I think this is the third year this nest has been recycled.


This is the first year we have been able to observe them via video from day one. A bonus from this early observation: the male and female spent time together at the nest during the first few days. Time spent together lasts very briefly, as evidenced by the fact that we first started watching them on Friday, and by Tuesday the female was the only one captured on video at the nest 90% of the time. Based on which bird is doing what, we think the bird that raises and lowers the feathers on his head is the male (we call him Don King) and the one who doesn't raise head feathers is the female. We came to this conclusion because Don King mostly stands around while the female does most of the work (not using human sexist views here - the female is responsible for nest building and for incubating the eggs, as noted on BirdHouses101.com).


I would think that all this back and forth, back and forth, must be exhausting on the female. In this video I feel kind of bad for her: she comes in carrying a rather large bug in her beak and starts in on a little bowl shaping, at which point she drops the bug and continues with renovations. To me it looks like the bug gets caught on the side of the nest, so I don't know if maybe she was able to pick it up later or if she truly just forgot about it.


I would expect egg laying to begin in a few days, so incubation will probably start in the next week or so. I'll be sure to keep you posted.

P.S. I submitted a bird-themed poem to a competition over at Daily Writing Tips (opens in separate tab/window) - it's titled "Lucky". Go over and check it out if you have a chance. If you like it, please let your voice be heard by voting for it. Or vote for any of the other 9 poems - they are all great. Thank you!

What's Mama Phoebe up to?

Sorry I haven't posted any Phoebe updates lately. Not much going on right now. She's still incubating, so most of the time she just sits on the nest.

However, we did catch some interesting footage of her yesterday. It's not ALL about sitting on the nest.

For example, I notice that she's always very alert while on the nest and is almost always looking around. What is she looking at, I wonder to myself. I got a good idea yesterday. Watch as she tracks a bug.



And here, a would=be meal flies right past her...



In this one, follow her as she leaves the nest and hovers in toward the window on the trail of a bug.



This one shows an incredibly extended bout of hovering. I was really amazed when I saw this. She looks like an overgrown hummingbird!



Last but not least I'll share with you how she sometimes brings her meal with her and finishes it at the nest.



I hope you enjoyed these little peeks into a day in the life of our incubating mama Phoebe. It will still be a while before any eggs hatch. The Cornell site says incubation time is about 16 days, but it's only been 7 days by my calculations. I'll keep you all posted with any mini-updates over in the sidebar.