The Fledglings
The baby tree swallows are getting ready to leave the nest anytime now! The little fledglings are 15 and 16 days old, cute little fluffy baby birds with all their feathers, a miniature copy of the adults. The fledglings have been flexing their little wings for several days now getting ready to use them. Some of the bigger ones have been poking their heads out of the birdhouse to view the huge expanse of the world beyond the confines of their 4 tiny walls.
Yesterday mama and papa stopped feeding them for several hours and just kept popping into the birdhouse and back out again trying to get the first of the little ones to leave the nest.
After a few hours both parents ended up in the birdhouse together and an argument seemed to ensure between the parents. One parent started feeding the babies again at that point. Maybe it saw that the babies were very hungry and not quite ready to go out and find their own food yet.
Today a similar scenario occurred with mama and papa popping in and out of the house regularly sometimes feeding the little ones but often not. A number of other swallows also swooped around the birdhouse and peeked in to check on the babies, as if to offer them encouragement.
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| Baby Swallows all face the entrance hole |
Tried to keep the cats indoor today as much as possible but since we had visitors today the door was opened quite often and they managed to sneak out a few ties. They know enough not to let me get to close to them when they first get outside because they know what's on my mind. At one point I had to turn on the hose and aim it at Milo who went straight over to the birdhouse with the camera to annoy the parents ( or worse!) He had jumped up on top of the lower birdhouse next to the little apple tree this morning even though we had put 2 rings of chicken wire around it as a fence. That particular birdhouse has a young family with 3 or 4 early developing babies. Next year we will have to get a higher pole to attach the birdhouse to to ensure the safety of the birds.
Right now one of the biggest swallow babies is peeking its head out of the entrance of the house with the nest camera, as if it were trying to work up the courage to leave. It is 6:30 pm now and after a gorgeous sunny day, it has become overcast as if it might rain, not that we need it! We have had so much rain this month already. Rarely has a day gone by without showers, or a downpour and even hail! This is probably not a good time for the babies to leave, but we have been watching them closely on the nest camera to see if anything new is happening just in case. It is quite a thrill too to watch the birdhouse outside from the deck and see a little head peeping out in curiosity. :)
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| One baby spreads its wings and jumps up to the entrance hole to peek out. |
I will truly miss seeing the daily activity of my favourite swallow family from our TV set once the babies work up the courage to leave. I wonder if any other bird will chose to build its nest there yet this summer. This family had their babies quite early . The rest of the birdhouses that we checked mostly have new born babies or ones that are in early stages of development. Apparently some early nesting parents will even lay a second batch of eggs and raise a second family in the same summer! But it is really hard on the parents and wears them out. Many of them are quite weak at the end of the summer and they don't survive the strenuous migration back to their winter homes, many of which are in south america 2000 or 3000 miles away from here. *
* from "The Bird Detective" - Bridget Stutchbury
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