Question of the day: Are they hatched yet? By the day's count methinks they must be, but the adult that can only be Mama Housewren still enters the house and stays for long periods, maybe ten minutes, as if sitting on eggs. Need x-ray vision into house or ornithology degree to know for sure. She also flies out and stays gone for about 5 minutes at a time. Just saw her return with a morsel of some kind in her beak, entered with it and stayed inside, leading me to believe she must be feeding new hatchlings. Observed same scenario several times during today's hour. Can't yet hear their tiny cries though. Could she be bringing her own food, while still keeping eggs warm? More likely, they are hatched and too tiny to cry, yet featherless enough to need her warm cover. Time will tell.
Mr. Housewren, while not visiting the house, seems more present today than he has been so far. He flits from branch to nearby dogwood branch, shaking out his bubbly song. Has he given up on attracting her to house #2? Today he stays nearer house #1---sounding like he's biding his time---unlike yesterday when he was consumed with performing his aria atop the pole of the abandoned nuthatch house (#2).
New guess based on today's attention: he has been unsuccessful in attracting her to 2nd house b/c she's not ready to leave her first family. So he waits. Right or wrong, I'm peeved at him for chasing Saturday's bluebird from the house he only hoped for. Were it not for greedy feisty little housewren, might I be watching bluebirds build a nest in empty nuthatch house right now? dkm
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1 comment:
Way to go, Omi!
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