| Ours too. First pair had 5 eggs which all hatched and ultimately fledged but after mom was killed by a mockingbird when the babies were a day or two old. The second pair laid four eggs which all hatched and fledged. The last brood was three strong and they were raised by mom #2 and apparently a brother from brood #2. The mom in the second and third broods built her nest about twice as thick as any we've seen and consequently when the babies were close to fledging, they were sitting right at door level and I think fell out as much as they were called out. So, we saw 12 new b-birds "come out" this year. I hope most of them survived and will join us again next year. Oh, when the third brood fledged they whole bird commuunity came out. We looked in the yard and I swear it was like the movie (The Birds). There must have been 50 birds of all sorts chasing each other, zooming around like fighter pilots. Chickadees, Brown Thrashers, Cardinals, Mockingbirds, wrens--all raising cane. All the babies got under bushes finally and after about 30 minutes they were all gone. Don't forget to clean up before next year's parents start house hunting. |
