UPDATE - BIRDIES! Or more accurately - Bye-Bye, Birdies... (for now anyway)

[calimary]

Well, it started here, this time...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018769356

But there's been some stuff to catch you up on.

Today (6/25), about an hour ago, shortly before noon, I went out and saw - an empty nest.

Fifteen minutes earlier, I saw ONE birdie.

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An hour earlier, I saw TWO birdies.

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Much earlier this morning when we were starting our day - there were three. I think. I think at one point there were four, but they moved around in there so much I never got a good shot.

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So it went from Sunday June 7th when I first heard 'em to today - Thursday June 25th, when the last one flew off. This time, I did not see anybody's departure - which had been the case every time up til now. But they all looked big and fluffy and grown up enough in the past couple of days. I was sure the end was near.

So now, we're back to this:

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They're all off on their own now. There are birdies gettin' down with the pile of birdseed I leave out there every day. But the hatchlings are off 'n' running. I haven't seen any really little ones with short stubby tail feathers yet. Seems the tail feathers lengthen with maturity and probably just the active nature of becoming old enough to start flying. This was undoubtedly the noisiest bunch we've had. FOUR hatchings in three years. And this was the first year we had TWO separate sets.

Amazing! Maybe they're all off flapping and zooming and partying over the ACA ruling in the Supreme Court this morning? Perhaps they just couldn't contain themselves any longer. After all, they hatch in a FIRMLY Democratic hosts' home!

[BlueJazz]

1. They're adorable. You're a wonderful Mom.

[calimary]

2. Aw, thanks. I haven't been as vigilant on my reporting on this round, though.

Stuff comes up. There's been a lot of activity around here lately. Sorry about that!

But nevertheless, we were all surprised by this. The books all say that the Black Phoebe, which is the species of bird in my case, is known to lay two or three sets of eggs a year. Well, last year and the year before, we had one hatching each. Both in the latter part of April, culminating in early May. The first year, 2013, the chicks left the nest on Mother's Day. Last year, they'd flown the coop by Mother's Day.

We had the usual hatching again this Spring, too, except I noticed it was about two weeks earlier than expected when I actually heard the first little noises up in the nest. Usually the first little chirps could be heard on April 29th or so. This Spring it was April 13th. And they were ready to leave long before Mother's Day, too. It was May 1st! So we figured that was that, until next Spring.

WRONG! Surprise!!!!!

And now - this, too. A second clutch of eggs in the same year! We weren't expecting that! It was a second round of fun for roughly three to three-and-a-half weeks! It ends almost as suddenly as it begins. You DO have fair warning as they start getting so big they don't fit in the nest anymore and their tails hang off it or somebody decides to move out to the rim of the nest and live there for a couple of days.

And then you notice that maybe you're not sure they're all still there anymore.

And then you notice that - Okay. Yeah. They're definitely leaving. Now I only see two.

But when it comes down to just one remaining, you never know if they're gonna take their time or just suddenly POOF! they've disappeared.