Hi Alyce,
Thanks so much for writing. I should mention that even the parents
thought it was high time for the young to fledge.
When the chicks were 2 days overdue (according to The Birder's Handbook),
both parents stopped feeding for a while and tried to entice the chicks out
of the nest. They would sometimes bring food and sometimes they wouldn't,
but they would visit the young and then leave without feeding them,
perching nearby and calling ("chipping") to them. When it was obvious the
chicks
didn't seem to be going anywhere, the female started building another nest
right next to them! The male then resumed feeding the chicks while the
female worked on a new nest.
The young had been fanning their wings a lot in preparation for flying away
for a couple of days before this. Yet even on the day they finally
fledged, one left the nest and then returned to it (the other 2 chicks had not
flown) for a while!!!!!! I mean, these chicks simply did not want to get
out into the world!
I've had phoebes nest in my porch and carport for decades, and I have
never seen anything like this before. There was highly unusual behavior on
the
part of both the chicks and the female, at least for this location. As
you are the only person to write in regard to this situation, I'm guessing no
one else has observed this kind of thing either.
Have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
Marlene
In a message dated 5/26/2017 12:29:04 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Marlene, with all the rain we’ve had, it’s not surprising that your
phoebes took longer than usual to fledge. All nestlings’ development depends
on
how well they are fed, so when there’s a scarcity of bugs (as happens in
wet weather), they develop more slowly.
Ann, it’s possible that something happened to your bluebirds’ first
nesting attempt (such as a predator taking the eggs or nestlings) and that the
parents started a new nest in the same box. So don’t despair; they might
still fledge. BTW, it’s o.k. to quietly peek inside nest boxes to monitor what’
s going on so you don’t have these worries in the future.
Alyce Quinn
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