[TN-Bird] Re: Wrens wintering in Phoebe Nest

  • From: "William T. Thornton" <wtthornton@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2002 15:53:55 -0600

Tess Cumbie writes:  ". . .of the many different species of  fledglings in the 
yard this
season, I never did spot a single fledgling Phoebe.  Never even saw baby
birds in the nest or the Phoebes feeding them.  But I am puzzled why I was not 
able to 
spot some young Phoebes, when there were all kinds of other young birds in 
their many 
different stages of growth,  begging and fluttering their wings for food."

Tess, it has been my experience that the adult Phoebes are very busy feeding the
young in the nest.  When the young are ready to fledge, they spend precious 
little time flexing their wings on the edge of the nest.  Those that have 
hatched here 
just sort of "disappear."  They are here one day being fed in the nest and the 
next day 
they are completely gone.  I've always assumed that because my yard is in the 
country 
the adult Phoebes seer the young into the woods and down to the creek -- but I 
never see the young after they leave the nest either.  Maybe someone else who 
reads
TN-Birds has some experience with Phoebe behavior and can fill us in.

Generally, after a couple of weeks absence, the adult Phoebes return without 
any of
their young and get busy with another brood.  The Phoebes do not stay in my yard
except when nesting and some summers they produce three clutches of eggs.  I 
look 
forward to their return each spring.  It is good to know that you have Phoebes 
year-round 
in Buladean, NC.

Terry Thornton
Rinnie, TN (North of Crossville on the Cumberland Plateau)

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