An Empty Nest

Two weeks after hatching, it was time to go. The Eastern Phoebes didn’t have any choice. They could no longer fit in the nest.

phoebes in nest

 

After a cautious venturing out to the nearest perch, the five hatchlings were soon gone.

Fledgling

 

The nest is now empty. The parents might return to lay a second clutch. I’ll be curious to see what sort of housekeeping they do before that. It could use some tidying up.

empty nest

 

I have tidying up to do, too. The porch is getting washed down today!

dirty porch

 

To see the first post in this series (with photos of the beautiful eggs) go here.

Comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this series of blog posts on the Eastern Phoebes – very informative and interesting. I hope Mom and Pop are now able to spend some time without the fledgings, “recharging” and regaining condition.
    Off topic, I really like the new outside cam where the Gems hang out!

  2. Outside cam is reading as an error on my computer. Picture, no movement. Just sayin’

    Awwww, the baby birdies flattened that beautiful nest! :D It reminded me of a hummingbird nest I got to view many years ago. The parents built this beautiful teeny cup. I was sooo going to save that! :D By the time the leetle teenie hummingbirds fledged, that beautiful cup was flat as a pancake and crumbling at the edges. *sigh* Maybe that’s why the Phoebe’s built the bottom so thick (for them). So the nest would survive the trampling! :)

    • I’m getting an error when I go to the Outside Cam now too: “Error loading stream. Manifest not found.” It was working beautifully earlier.

  3. Lovely last update on Phoebe’s. Please say a very big thankyou to Steve for his time and effort in getting the newcam up and running. It is great to see Opal and her co nesters outside. You’ve certainly got a heat wave, how does Tonka cope with the heat?…:)

  4. Message to Steve —
    I have a problem viewing the cams with my Samsung tablet – at least for the newer cams. The inside cams for the hens are fine but the outside cams have a response of — “Error loading player: No playable sources found.” Might this have something to do with it using Android?
    My desktop computer uses Windows and has the white flash problem. It also now has acquired a nasty virus that prevents access to the Internet. I haven’t figured out quite how to deal with it.
    To get back to fledgling birds, I spotted a Carolina Wren on my deck railing this morning that could well have been a fledgling.

  5. Thank you for sharing with us Terry. Enjoyed the whole Phoebe series (plus all the other posts as well). Exciting to visit the outside cam and get a peek into the life of the Gems.

  6. The first photo is just lovely. I too thank you both for this series, I have really enjoyed it. So glad they all fledged okay.

  7. The first pic reminds me of the birds in the children’s book “Stellaluna”. It’s amazing how fast they grew!

  8. The new outside hen cam is wonderful!! All of us human`peepers` are really spoiled since Steve went to all that work and expense to continue to keep us entertained with even more chicken action. Thanks, you are a Gem. :)

  9. I love reading about these babies! The baby robins in the nest on our garage are an endless source of enjoyment for me. Mostly, anyway…over the weekend I found one of the nestlings on the ground under the nest, mostly featherless and flopping around pitifully. I put it back in the nest, but a couple of hours later I found it again. I ended up calling a local wildlife rehabilitator and she had me bring it out to her. The three remaining babies are looking strong, I hope the fourth I rescued is as well!

  10. Spoke to soon, both outside cams not working this morning just black screen, inside cams working though.

  11. I had 3 baby robins in a nest on my porch light. They had to jump ship this week. First one and an hour later the other 2. At hour 3 I peeked out at them because I heard a lot of ruckus. There was the stray cat with it’s rump sticking out from under my car and the adult robins going crazy in the tree’s. I ran out the door too late. Kitty was on the run with a baby bird in her mouth.
    Darned stray cats!!!!