Phoebe’s Progress
(click on a photo to enlarge)
The wait for the Say’s Phoebe’s (Sayornis saya) eggs to hatch ended on May 29 when I noticed an eggshell on the floor of the breezeway. Typically the hatched eggs are removed from the nest by the parents (or may even be eaten by them) and dropped some distance away to deter predators. This one didn’t get very far. I’m glad I found it because it meant the young had hatched after a long 16 day incubation. We were beginning to despair that the clutch was infertile (typical incubation time is 14 days).
Discarded Eggshell
Since looking into the nest was difficult and to avoid disturbing the birds as little as possible, we rigged up a mirror on a pole which could be quickly lifted into position so we could view the nest contents. Below is what we found on the second day after hatching. It was a bit difficult to count the individual birds but there appeared to be four bodies in there.
Four chicks, two days old
Our next check was at one week. Can their necks be any longer? They look like they’re going to be cranes instead of phoebes!
One Week Old
At 11 days we noticed eyes were open and much more fuzzy down covering the bare skin. They are now able to thermo-regulate so the female no longer spends the night on the nest. Voraciously hungry, it’s not often one catches them in “quiet mode.”
Eleven days old
More often they look like this. Can you tell which one just got fed?
We’re always hungry!
The parents are on constant lookout for food for their hungry brood. Grasshoppers seem to be one of their foods of preference. Or maybe they’re just easier to catch than some of the flying insects. Here, one of the parents perches on an Ocotillo branch preparing a grasshopper for one of those hungry mouths.
A Tasty Grasshopper for a Hungry Baby
From our convenient little window that looks up at the nest site, I was able to get some videos of the parents feeding the young. What’s interesting about these scenes is that both parents bring in insects that are too large for small mouths. The bird with the Hackberry Emperor butterfly seems to have good intentions but then flies off with it and never brought it back. The bird with the very large grasshopper (I was preparing to implement the Heimlich Maneuver on whatever baby bird was going to get this stuffed down its throat!) tries many times to feed it to the young but then decides to gobble it up herself.
Feeding Young Phoebes
Today the nestlings are 16 days old. All was going very smoothly until the unexpected insect predators showed up. More on that next in the next post.
Published by Arlene Ripley on June 13th, 2009 Tagged Arizona, Birds, Cochise County, Nature
June 14th, 2009 at 5:51 am
How wonderful to share their family life! The pass-off can get tricky when the bite is still alive and trying to escape. I can see why she just ate it herself.
June 16th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Nice series of pictures of that family. We don’t get nesting Say’s but black’s and they are just adorable when they start to flitter around.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Of all places they could have put a nest, I’m grateful they picked a ledge right across from a window. The adults have been withholding food so I think they’re going to fledge today!
June 17th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Hi, Julia,
I’m sure Black Phoebes would be just as interesting. The lucky thing about Say’s is that they like to nest around houses so they’re easy to watch.