On June 27th I posted about a pair of Western Kingbirds that had it's first nest blown off it's moorings on a utility pole build another nest on the top of an old oriole nest. This unusual nest was directly above the entry road at my friend's and where I walk almost every evening with my dogs so I got to watch them frequently. The longer the female brooded on this oddly shaped nest, the more she pushed the nest materials into a kind of elongated shallow trench that was deeper at one end. This causes the nest to point slightly downhill on the other end, a fact that likely relates to what comes next.
When I walked this evening I saw the tail of only one of the three nestlings sticking over the edge of the nest. As I looked for signs of the other nestlings I heard my younger dog, Chase, investigating something several feet away--it was a nestling! I yelled at my dog to 'leave' and it did (probably because it recently got into a lot of trouble for not going after a Robin nestling). These pics are of that very young nestling that clearly left the nest prematurely, quite possibly due in part to the nest that leans downward at one end and that is really too narrow for 3 nestlings. Double-click on these pics for killer close-ups. Continued in the next post. SeEtta
On June 27th I posted about a pair of Western Kingbirds that had it's first nest blown off it's moorings on a utility pole build another nest on the top of an old oriole nest. This unusual nest was directly above the entry road at my friend's and where I walk almost every evening with my dogs so I got to watch them frequently. The longer the female brooded on this oddly shaped nest, the more she pushed the nest materials into a kind of elongated shallow trench that was deeper at one end. This causes the nest to point slightly downhill on the other end, a fact that likely relates to what comes next.
When I walked this evening I saw the tail of only one of the three nestlings sticking over the edge of the nest. As I looked for signs of the other nestlings I heard my younger dog, Chase, investigating something several feet away--it was a nestling! I yelled at my dog to 'leave' and it did (probably because it recently got into a lot of trouble for not going after a Robin nestling). These pics are of that very young nestling that clearly left the nest prematurely, quite possibly due in part to the nest that leans downward at one end and that is really too narrow for 3 nestlings. Double-click on these pics for killer close-ups. Continued in the next post. SeEtta
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