Saturday 14 May 2016

Update on the phoebe nest

phoebe egg 2013
Phoebe began to build a nest. Mon., May 9th [I tried to fix mistake], there was one cold egg in the nest. I took it out, as it seemed strange. Turns out it was a cowbird egg, with a phoebe egg underneath. Phoebe eggs are cream-coloured.
Cowbirds lay eggs in the nests of other birds, abandoning their young to foster parents, usually at the expense of at least some of the host’s own aggressive chicks. 

The phoebe fooled the cowbird. It is dead and cold. She must have scared them off.




Here is the good news: they are setting up a new nest. It is just out the back door, where I installed a shelf for this purpose.  

They abandoned nest #1. This is Phoebe nest 2.0 and I cannot do any work out the back door!
Phoebe nest 2.0 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

9 comments:

carol l mckenna said...

Good for you for rescuing the nest and giving it shelter ~ lovely photos ~

Happy Weekend to you ~ ^_^

Christine said...

interesting about these cowbirds!

FANCY the Red Standard Poodle said...

Hi Y'all!

It makes one feel sorry for the mother bird who raises the demanding cowbird chick. Often I see tiny sparrows trying to feed the huge cowbird chick. It makes one wonder how they can survive the stress of raising such a demanding bird.

Y'all come on by,
Hawk aka BrownDog

eileeninmd said...

Hello, I love the sweet Phoebe. Those darn cowbirds are awful. Thanks for linking up and sharing your post. Have a happy weekend!

William Kendall said...

The phoebe is a beautiful bird. Regarding your comment, yes, there is a plaque close by the sculpture with the specific details. I tend to photograph those to jog my memory when it comes time to write the post.

Kay said...

This is so interesting! Doesn't the cuckoo do the same thing?

Nancy J said...

What a great excuse!!! Lovely photos and a great shelf for their nest.

sandy said...

I have seen some cowbirds in the yard and have wondered if they are laying eggs in the house finches nests because it appears last spring...that the mother finch was feeding a cowbird. We have phoebes at the lake but not in our yard.

Debbie said...

oooooh goodness, you are a much better momma than i!!! fingers crossed for success with nest number 2!!!