Greetings, FINALLY, two young house wrens have fledged and emerged from their gourd home here in the Charlotte Park area of West Nashville, Davidson County, a few blocks east of the Cleece's Ferry Boat Ramp on the Cumberland River. They are just precious. Daddy Wren has been serenading Momma on the nest for ages while she sat on the nest, then I noticed them bringing food to the nest several days ago at which time they both started fussing horrendously at me every time I went to the car. While "She" was still setting, she'd just fly out of the nest and to the side of the yard when I went out, but with living babies in that gourd, she'd fly to the nearest hanging grape vine (about four feet away) where he would join her in the scolding soiree from two. The babies emerged Thursday by doing a little floppity flying, hanging to a grape vine and pumping their tails in the style of the phoebe/kestrel/water ouzel/spotted sandpiper/LA water thrush/palm warbler in order to keep their balance whether on the grape vine or down on the ground stumbling around. On of them flew/scrambled back into the gourd only to reemerge a moment later looking for "Momma" to feed it. It's little wings were all aquiver in anticipation. A baby robin is practically grown. Baby mockingbirds are getting peanut butter, jelly, orange, apple and yellow cake in their nests across the street & elsewhere. Baby cardinals are being fed in the nests. Young chickadees, titmice, house finches & house sparrows are eating me out of house and home. Mourning doves and rock pigeons are still copulating on my deck, so guess they really haven't nested yet. Right now, one great, big old rock pigeon is all puffed up and stalking a demure little lady pigeon who is still giving him the run around. A pair of goldfinches are enjoying my thistle bag, as are the house finches and a few chickadees. A male towhee has been coming up from the "bottoms" over by the Interstate giving his lovely "jo/ree" and feeding under the sunflower seed tube feeder and even on the deck! Haven't seen a female. Maybe she's on a nest over there. A bossy mock just perched outside the door and is giving me "that look," so guess I'd better put out some more peanut butter. After all, there are lots of babies to feed. Hope this first batch can all get fledged and grown up to be self-sufficient before I head out for the glorious Northland to do a little birding in a couple of weeks. I've been cutting down on feeding, so they will all have to forage more. I have no one to "feed" for me while I'm gone. Bossy couldn't wait! I stepped out the door where it was waiting, lifted the spatula up to spread the peanut butter, and Boss started helping itself to the PB on the end of the spatula while two more fearful bosses waited for that one to finish and for me to get the PB onto the grape vine. A deck full of birds is sure fun! Cheers & prayers, Dee Thompson Nashville, TN =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================