Last night the phoebe parents came in and started "beating up" on the 4 chicks at 5 p.m. on Day 15 posthatch! Is that normal behavior for encouraging them to leave the nest?! I have only seen other parent spp entice chicks with food calling to them to come on out! This went on with both parents in attendance for about 20 min! Thought for sure they were killing them, jabbing down their throats (with no food), stabbing, pulling at their head feathers and literally in a couple moves it looked like they were trying to drag them out! This morning they all are out on the shelf outside of the nest, but still in the box. See photos. The parents aren't feeding them that I have seen, but are still hanging around on their usual perches. I saw and heard one parent calling softly this noon from behind my house when I was eating lunch on the patio! Books say fledge at 14-16 d. This is Day 16!
http://www.kayniyo.com/birds_flycatcher.htm It is supposed to be 95 today and 99 tomorrow so hope to see them leave the darn box that gets warm by late afternoon. Has anyone seen or read about this kind of tough love??!! Kay Kayleen A. Niyo, Ph.D. Niyo Scientific Communications Kay Niyo Photography <mailto:k...@kayniyo.com> k...@kayniyo.com <http://www.KayNiyo.com> www.KayNiyo.com ______________________________ 5651 Garnet Street Golden, CO 80403 Phone: (303) 679-6646 Fax: (866) 849-8013 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
