Eastern Phoebe

I've seen the parent birds often perched on my weeping willow by the water almost daily for weeks. Then yesterday while I was outside, I noticed this one flew up the garage's eave. Not until I took the pix then I realized, it was nesting there. I read up on the birds, and it's said the young will fledge within couple of weeks. I wished I could get closer to the nest and see at what stage the young family is?

Oh btw, of all places. The birds have chosen right on top of our flood lights. Boys, I can imagine the shock they get everytime the lights are turned on!

Oh how cool!

Thanks for posting this Lily! Be sure to keep us updated.

Hi Pelle, the parent bird demonstrates parental protectiveness as evidence by flying back to the nest this morning when I was outdoor visually checking on the nest.

Can you manage without the lights for the next month or so? Might be best if you can, for safety (e.g. if any droppings get down inside the socket and cause a short-circuit). And clean up all the fittings carefully after the young have fledged!

Resin

Wonderful thought Resin. I'll talk to hubby about disconnect the lights for the time being. This morning I noticed the birds having flown back and forth to the nest repeatedly. Maybe they're just now 'hunkering down' on 'building' the future home. I'll post more pix later as things progress.

I've got some more pictures, but the camera program acted up, I'm temporary out of pocket for the time being. Good news is, the nest appears taller and taken shape. DH also was kind enough to disconnect the electrical wiring to the floodlights.

As the nest is taking shape. The parent Phoebes took turn to guard their nest. I'm not sure if this is the future mama or papa that flew down from the nest to nearby tree just a little while ago.

Their so cute!

This is unprecedented! Phoebe comes to my seed-feeder for the first time! It looks left, then right, to be sure no one is looking ...

Here goes, looking right...

That is very cool Lily!!

Then it looks straight at the camera! LOL, see the 'downy' material underfoot? That must be the mama or papa - to- be checking that fuzzy stuff out hoping to bring it back to nest. But little did it know the material looks soft an cushiony, but it's not in reality. The bird came back and checked on the material a time or two later, though.

This message was edited Mar 21, 2009 3:55 PM

Thanks Pelle, now that I found these pair. It seems I've chased them all around the yard, back to the feeder. lol. They do brighten my day!

Cool pics Lily...love the birds and your surroundings! Have you heard them sing...I just love to hear "feebee...feebee" as they twitch their tail up and down. Such a sweet little bird and you're so lucky to have them nest close by.

Thanks Rose, when I first had the bird I.D.ed by Resin around the first week of the Month, to my surprise when I found its nest a week or so later. I'm totally swifted off my feet. I heard the bird call on a tape, I'll be mindful if I can pick out their call while I'm outdoor. :-)

I often found them perch on trees to the backyard near the water.

If I was a bird I would live in your yard...it is just gorgeous there!! What a beautiful shot!!

Here it's again by the Yoshino Cherry. ^_^

Now that is a sweet shot!

Thank you Rose. Here is the nest today. It's more complete looking compared to that of the first pix I posted at the beginning of the thread.

Aww, so sweet!

Here the little darling was on my viburnum yesterday afternoon.

That is a little darling!!

So sweet Lily!!

Rose, Pelle, I had Cardinals that had their nest around this time last spring. Do you think this Finches couple are contemplating building their own nest?

That very well could be! You live in a beautiful area Lily.

Thanks for the neat photos, Lily. Phoebes are such cute birds, and (by the looks of things) VERY industrious. That's a sweet shot of one of them, peeking over the nest.

Thank you, we're very fortunate. Look, look. I think they may have laid eggs? Oh how I wished my camera can look pass the nest layers. lol

Oh we've a patch of moss in the area. I think these birds used the moss to build their nest. What you think?

Yep, moss is very popular for nests, nice and soft.

Resin

Well the sky is a little overcast today, the pix isn't very clear but here is the Moma or Papa out working, I can notice one is a little larger than the other, but I can't tell which (mama or papa) is which.

This morning the parent bird was out hunting ...

Then the bird was in action; it found a bug -- or two. :-)

This afternoon, the bird returned to its usual hunting spot.

Nice pics Lily! The tree looks lovely in bloom.

Lovely place Lily, the Phoebes have found a cozy place in your yard, to raise their young.

Day before yesterday, I found one of the Pheobe got lost into my greenhouse by the garage, DH helped it back outdoor, it appeared tired and couldn't fly very far. I was a little concern. I didn't see much activity by the nest the next day. But today, sure enough one was sitting on the nest as I saw few other flying above the roof tops. I'm so glad to see they're busy out there again.

I notice that the bird(s) sitting on the nest more often, a clue that they're incubating? When they built the nest, presumably both mama and papa built the nest. But does the papa sit on the nest too?

One of the parent Phoebe is out hunting:

Oh, you are so lucky! Congrats! When the mama birds begins to sit on the nest throughout the night, you will know you are soon to be a 'grand-bird'! We've had Phoebes nest here every year since we built the house in 2003. They nested on our back porch on top of a stereo speaker where we could watch them easily. Wait until they babies are born and the parents are constantly feeding them. Can you get any meal worms? They love 'em! The thing I found most interesting (and bizarre) is how they keep the nest clean of poop. The babies will literally poop on command - producing a small, white capsule that the parent bird carries off a few feet and drops. (Hope you don't have any cars parked in their path!) Have fun watching them. They will probably have 2 or 3 broods.

Oh wow, I'm going to need to do some more research on how to be able to provide meal worm (in a cage-feeder?) to keep the larger birds from taking over since those can be pricey? Debra, thanks for stopping by and sharing those helpful info. I'm really excited to have found these pair. I also found Cardinal nesting in my Rose arbor to the front, will baby cardinals eat suets? Many, many questions I have. Thanks all for sharing info.

You can buy mealworms at bird food stores or pet stores and you can keep them in your refrigerator. Or grow your own! Duckmother (Kim) showed us how to raise them at our Round-Up two years ago.

No special feeder required. I used a dog food pan or cake pan - just put a few worms in it at a time and set out near the nest but try to keep out of direct sun. I tried a tray feeder on a pole designed for bluebirds but the Phoebes seemed to prefer the open pan.

Please share your baby cardinal photos! You are so lucky to have them. We rarely see Cardinals here and have never seen a nest.