This is the first year that I've had Tree Swallows take an interest and actually nest in one of my nest boxes and needless to say, this birdie grammie didn't mind one bit. The were actually very willing to allow me to monitor their progress with no 'divebombing' until the bitter end. I suppose, if I had invested that much time into raising those little critters I wouldn't want anything bad to happen during the last week either!
They chose this box way back in May and started building their nest. The first egg was laid on June 1st, hatched 18 days later and fledged on the 7th - with the exception of one little guy who probably hatched late and left the nest on the 8th. I cleaned out their box last night, hoping to get a second brood out of someone!
I love this picture, the bluejay feather stuffed in the back tells me this bird has some interior decorating experience! Nest was completed somewhere around mid-May
Three eggs were there the morning of June 1st
Three days later, the total was 5 eggs
♥ Mom liked to keep the eggs surrounded with feathers - so cool
June 19th - if you look really hard, you'll see five little bodies in that mess
June 26th - we have pin feathers!
June 30 - by the looks of things, that's our last box opening to keep them from jumping out!
Mom?
MOM! I'm hungry!
More! More! More!
Push over there piggy, I need something too!
July 6th - just about ready to go. This serious looking fledger finally left on the 7th, it was fun to watch them swooping over the yard. Hopefully they will be back next year for another round of babies! :)
Hey Ney....I just love there nest materials...reminds me of some of the fluff and frills that some human mom would do for there precious little one!!
ReplyDeleteAdorable photos of the begining to end!!