The Tree Swallows fledged yesterday and today. I miss them terribly. For the past week, not 2 minutes would go by and there not be a little one peering out of the hole. They resembled their mother when she would guard the eggs during those first weeks. If you've never seen a Tree Swallow peering from her nest box, you should--they look like orca whales! It's amazing.
The bluebird fledglings left last week and I've yet to see them. I know that Mama and Papa have them in nearby trees because they come for mealworms a lot and take them into the trees. I hope that all 5 made it this time. We've had nice weather lately, so I'm fairly optimistic that I'll be seeing 5 new bluebirds soon. I'm also optimistically awaiting the first egg to be laid in their freshly completed nest. Yes, it's true. The bluebirds have already finished a new nest in their box and all it needs now are 5 little eggs.
We were privileged enough to witness a female Pileated feeding a fledgling last week. They were both on the suet feeder's pole. The female would eat some suet and then deposit it into her fledglings mouth.
It seems that we've hit a bit of a lull with little ones. The only type of bird I've seen begging is a Grackle. I think that second nests are being built and filled right now. In 3-4 weeks, the activity should pick up again.
Posted by Elizabeth at June 20, 2005 02:06 PM