empty nest

late friday afternoon we noticed that one of the three junco nestlings was gone. when robin went to look saturday morning she saw another leave. by saturday afternoon the nest was empty. i first saw them seven days before, when they still had bare, pink backs. they do grow and fledge quickly. we have already noticed birds behaving like they have nests in other places we had intended to weed or otherwise rearrange. what's up with ground-nesting birds? there's no arguing with successful adaptive behavior, but it does seem to add to the danger.

we're leaving the nest and its protective chicken wire cage in place. juncos may have more than one brood per season, and here is a nest that worked once. we'll check for eggs. i can't tell one junco from another (when ya seen one ya seen em all) so who knows if "our" nestlings survived. if a pair uses that nest i think we can provisionally conclude that it is the same pair.


we have watched a black-capped chickadee take fibers from our disheveled doormat (scroll down a bit) to this nest box, and watched her fly straight into it. robin saw the chickadee pair seriously harrass a hawk perched there, perhaps the very one pictured, diving at it and chirping furiously, until the hawk left. would that be like having the grim reaper on one's roof? or maybe a man-eating tiger?
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"our" ducks haven't been around lately. i have nest envy. look at what thersites has in his yard.
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