Ash-throated Flycatchers
(click on a photo to enlarge)
They return around mid-April and I usually hear them before I see them. I say to myself “Oh good, the flycatchers have arrived. It’s about time.” The nest boxes, installed before we even moved into our house, are ready for their arrival and it isn’t too long before the Ash-throated Flycatchers (Myiarchus cinerascens) claim a box and set up their territories. Of our 8 boxes, five were used by the flycatchers and one by Cactus Wrens who, after their nest failed, proceeded to fill both of the kestrel boxes with nesting material. We don’t know if any of these attempts were successful but it must have been a lot of work filling those large boxes!
This one looks good!
Hauling In the Nesting Material
In…………
…………and Out
One day, during the peak of nesting, we had a tragedy when one of the flycatchers flew into a window. Since the sexes are alike, I didn’t know if the dead bird was a male or female. After all of the flycatchers had fledged, we found an abandoned nest with two eggs. It must have been the female from that nest that hit our window with tragic results. Upon examining the nest, we found it to be composed of a base of grasses and then completed with a thick layer of animal fur, probably from dead rabbits (I did see a bird picking the hair out of coyote scat one day!).
Nest Composition
Failed Nest With Eggs
Abandoned Eggs
All was certainly not bad news though — all of the other flycatcher nests were successes and as the nestlings grew we watched busy adults forage for insects.
Adult with Food
Fledge day comes early for Ash-throated young. While our Say’s Phoebes took their good time and finally left their cozy nest on our porch ledge at 22 days, the Ash-throateds fledged between 14 and 16 days. They can barely fly and land on the ground where they are most vulnerable to predators. Here’s a newly-fledged bird that I accidentally came across while walking through some grass. The parent birds have their work cut out for them trying to keep the young together and in a safe spot until they can care for themselves.
Newly Fledged Youngster
They arrive late and leave early. For a while it seemed that the Ash-throateds were everywhere and now they’re gone — on their way to their wintering grounds in Mexico and Central America. It will be a long eight months before we see them again.
August 15th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Wow, awesome photos! I just love the last shot of the juvie. What a cutie!
August 16th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Great blog! We have most of those species breeding here on our land (no Phoebes). Kestrel boxes – we should hang some of those – ours try nesting in saguaro holes, and the ravens get the young ones every time. It’s so sad. Last year even the male died, defending his nest. Now there’s a new pair, courting this late in the season, probably lost their earlier nestlings again. Does the Audubon Soc. have instruction plans for the right sized box/entrance hole?
August 22nd, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Wow those pictures of the little nest & eggies are great! So cute
I just found your blog on the Nature Blog Network (I just joined myself!) so it’s very cool that I found such a great blog right away! Check out mine if you are interested in weird & rare animals
December 22nd, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Hummingbirds are so pretty and so cute. I watched a hummingbird build its nest at my small guava tree. She made her nest so beautiful and cozy. Then she had two eggs
in that nest. For about a week, she had two
little ones..with bills up open wide. Too bad, the babies were abandoned and died. Their mom never came back.
January 6th, 2011 at 1:57 pm
Thank you for your comment. So sad about your hummingbird nest and young. I wonder what happened? I hope I never see that.
I’ve photographed Black-chinned Hummingbirds on a nest and just a few weeks ago, I found a used hummingbird nest in a tree in our wash. It’s so much easier to find them when the leaves are off of the trees. I shall watch that tree carefully this spring — they sometimes re-use their old nests.