The Phoebe chicks fledged yesterday afternoon. It was quite stressful for Jeff, who was keeping an eye on them, for safety. Just the night before, the weakest one fell out of the nest, but since Jeff had placed some old patio furniture and cushions underneath just in case (it's happened in previous years) he was able to quickly rescue it and place it back in the nest where it remained until fledge time. He had observed them earlier in the day standing on the rim of the nest cup, getting frisky, but they seemed too small to be considering fledging. We estimated it had been about 14 days since they hatched. I guess they know what they're doing! After making the jump, the parents called them up into the woods, and we have no idea where they are now, but Jeff's seen the parents hunting and heard them calling. There are 3 chicks in this picture, 2 are obvious and the 3rd is under a leaf on the left-middle of the photo. Good luck little ones!
A close up of the hiding chick
Sorry all for the lack of depth of field. Shot handheld 70mm f3.5 1/80th. Not ideal but Mama Phoebe insisted that I make haste.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I love when our Phoebe comes by--usually in winter and early spring. Love that hidden chick!
ReplyDeleteGreat shots! How cool to catch them on "film" after they've fledged. I rarely seem to see fledglings...I gotta get my pond built and maybe see more of them.
ReplyDeleteVery cute.