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The good news is that all 4 have fledged. :). The bad news is once again I missed the fledging. I watched over an hour yesterday morning as the parents shuttled food to the little ones and sat on the hook appearing to coax them from the box. No takers. Came back after a couple of hours running some errands and didn’t see the parents at all. Checked the box and it was empty. So… I am cleaning the box and will try again with the next brood.
David
Stafford, VAAbout the dark background, I can’t claim a lot of credit for that. The first photos were taken 2 days ago at around 7:15 – 7:30 AM in the morning with an overcast sky and the sun barely peeking through the clouds. The second set, taken this evening at between 6:30 and 7:30 PM and sun setting behind my neighbors house and trees. The adjustment that I made on the computer was to reset the “clarity and color” of the photos. I have never tried the settings that I used until these photos. See what you can do when you read the instruction manual.
David
Stafford, VAThanks Connie. I haven’t thought of that. You are right. It has bee rainy and cool for so long this spring. Maybe the grubs are staying in e ground longer due to the weather.
David
Stafford, VAHere is Mom with another one of those monster grubs. Eat hardy kids. This is the last free lunch.
Another of that meal.
And another little one takes a look. It is getting late.
I hope to be able to get one or two of the birds leaving the nest tomorrow. We will see. I have not had much success judging when they will leave.
David
Stafford, VAHere are a few more photos from this evening. Tomorrow is my expected fledging day and it looks like the mama and papa birds are preparing the young birds for a long days work.
Dad bird taking a break from feeding
Here is the first look of a young one taking a peek outside at the real world. Tomorrow will be decision day.
David
Stafford, VAJudy, I usually wait until the third egg is laid before I put up the wren guard. I did not use the guard on my first batch this year because I have not seen many wrens around. That could be due to some shrub and tree clearing that my neighbor and I have been doing in the wooded area behind our houses and the nest box. I will update this when round 2 begins.
David
Stafford, VAYes you should try. The guard is not hard to make. There are directions in the “stickies” on the Forum Index page. I made mine out of a cereal box and covered it with duct tape. Works fine even in wet weather. Easy to remake if it starts to get soggy and seems to keep the wrens away. It will at least give the BBs a chance. If the wrens have not been in the box this season the guard should deter them. Good luck
David
Stafford, VACountrygirl, that wasn’t me. I came here from “Dave’s Garden” after this forum started. I really enjoy posting the photos – although as I said before, they all seem to look the same from year to year.
David
Stafford, VAHere he is again with another meal this afternoon. They have found a good source of these grubs somewhere
David
Stafford, VAI saw both parent birds sitting on the shepherd’s hook this morning (early – sun just coming up) and I tried to get a photo of both but missed it. Got the remaining bird on the hook with a grub in its beak. Look at the size of that meal! (I adjusted the photo to get the bird to stand out with the darker background. Not a lot of sun out there at 7:30 AM
David
Stafford, VATook a look at the nestbox this morning to see the progress of the little ones. Here they are at day 8. The dad bird was on the shepherds hook about 20 feet away as i was walking around the box to check on my flower garden. As i was turning my back to him, he swooped into the box with food for the brood. I am not sure if that is a sign that he no longer sees me as a threat, but it is the first time I have been that close without him bolting off to a tree.
David
Stafford, VA
