I watched this male fly to a tree snag, linger then fly away so I hunkered down in my car and waited until he returned. He first leaned into a hole in the snag as he was feeding that juicy worm to some apparent nestlings. I watched him for about 20 minutes as he brought more food to the nest, Then the female came out for awhile. After the female left this very devoted father went inside the nest cavity and brought out a fecal sac. The female returned with food once then I left as she showed some reluctance at the nest hole and I didn't want to interfere with her taking care of the nestlings. This is neat as this is the first breeding record for Eastern Phoebe in Fremont County,CO and only 11 previously confirmed on the Colo Breeding Bird Atlas II. SeEtta
Spotted Sandpiper Chicks, 3 more days older
Two days when I went to check on the Spotted Sandpiper family at Florence River Park I thought they had likely perished--there were two men engaged in gold panning right where the parent sandpiper had been and they had dug some of the sand from the bank where I last saw the sandpiper chicks. Arggh, I was afraid that all this activity, plus a large off leash dog with these people, would have scared the parent away and even if the chicks were successful in hiding in the vegetation they would not survive without a parent at their young age. What a surprise when I returned that evening for one last check to be accosted by the parent sandpiper calling loudly and challenging me by walking right towards me (and my dog). It took awhile for the parent to settle down and for one of the chicks to walk in some grass where I could spot it--the parent had moved the chicks about 150 from the river into an area with a lot of vegetation. I returned day before yesterday and refound the parent and ...
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