Phoebes Fledge – And Other Nest News
Late yesterday afternoon when gray clouds finally broke up into warm, humid sunshine and blue sky, I went out to have a look at the Eastern Phoebe nest – from way below its perch in the elbow of a gutter pipe, just below the roof – and found three big, healthy-looking Phoebe nestlings there, crowding the nest, all of them easily visible with binoculars, and even better through a scope. They all sat with bills gaping open, showing the orange insides of their mouths, panting, and a couple of times one snapped up an insect that got too close.
This afternoon when I looked again – they were gone. So I hope they’ve fledged successfully.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Bluebird pair continues to make frequent trips to the nest box with caterpillars and other insects. Both parents carry in food. The female seems to go in and out more often when I’ve been watching – but I haven’t watched long enough or consistently enough to say that for sure. Several times I’ve seen the male fly to the top of the nest box just as the female flies into the entrance with food. He waits there until she comes back out, then flies away with her.