Black Phoebe family update

Day 11--Observed an adult Black Phoebe feeding two fledglings in protected area. A third independent bird (now called a juvenile as it is independent) foraged along the river where I have seen it for past several days.

Day 12--Observed 5 Black Phoebes today. An adult was feeding two fledglings in the protected area. At one point the adult had been taking a break from the work of feeding these fledglings and when a fledgling approached it the adult flew away, followed by the fledgling. Maybe the adult will stop feeding the fledglings soon. And a juvenile plus one more Black Phoebe of unknown age were flycatching along the river.

Day 13--Independence at last! The last two Black Phoebes in juvenal plumage were sallying after insects today in the the protected area. There was no sign of any adult bird. This is two days longer than what is noted in Birds of North America (BNA) online. BNA notes that Black Phoebes attain independence from 7-11 days after fledging, but note the information is based on limited observations.

Day 14--I made this observation today. I didn't get out until late afternoon (up to today I made at least 2 visits/day) and found only 2 juveniles foraging along the river. SeEtta

Day 10--5 Black Phoebes still together

Earlier in the afternoon I spotted an adult and two fledglings back in the protected area with the adult working hard to feed one or more fledglings. I did find an apparently older sibling (eggs are usually laid one per day so one fledgling is several days older than the bird whose egg was laid last) flycatching independently on the river (the independence marks the move from fledgling to juvenile). That is the bird in this pic that just caught a good sized dragonfly (looks like a Twelve-spotted Skimmer).

When I returned late in the afternoon they had moved to the river. Since our temp had gone to 95, I appreciated the relative coolness near the river. However it is more of a challenge to observe them as they tend to stay under trees and other vegetation and I cannot go to the opposite bank to view them. I could hear them quite well and carefully walked closer. I was surprised to see all 5 Black Phoebes still together. SeEtta

Day 9--Black Phoebe family-action later that day

I returned in the late afternoon on Day 9 and found the family had returned to their shady shelter in the trees overhanging the water. I could see an adult catching insects and bringing them into the foliage, which always caused a small uproar of "baby bird chirping" (sounds like many other baby birds when parents bring them food). Frustrated that I still could not see the fledglings inside the cover of the limbs and leaves, I carefully came up from the other side where I continued being frustrated as they just weren't visible from any location (at least any location where I would not disturb them).

As I sat watching for a glimpse of a bird sallying out after an insect, 2 Common Grackles flew into the area where the Black Phoebes were located. The grackles were making loud grackles calls and there was a hub-bub, then the I saw 3 Black Phoebes fly out and away from the disruption. The grackles kept up with their squawking and after a few minutes I found (when it flew out, followed again by the grackles) that they had followed/chased a Cooper's Hawk into the tree. It was getting late and I didn't want to stress the Black Phoebes by trying to refind them so left for the day.
SeEtta

Day 9--A day in the life of the Black Phoebe family

Day 9-(actually yesterday--it wasn't bad enough I was still behind from writing comments but I got a virus in my computer and have had big problems editing pics). I dropped by in the morning to check on the Black Phoebe family and after a short time I heard their distinctive calling ("tsip" but often sounds like "seep" or "sip" to me). The fledglings were for the first time away from water--they were perched on a limb on top of a pile of old tree limbs. Was I surprised to see 4 Black Phoebes sitting next to each other on this limb and they all looked like fledglings, how could that be? I wasn't sure as they were more than 150 feet away in the shade and before I could get my scope on them a 5th Black Phoebe flew in and fed one of the fledglings then 2 birds flew off!

This not-so-great pic shows 3 Black Phoebes, all fledglings, that were left perched on that limb. I sat in my car watching for either of the other two Black Phoebes to return in hopes I could see if the 5th bird was a fourth sibling or the other parent. After 20 minutes with no action, I gave up with plans to return in the later afternoon. SeEtta

Black Phoebe Family saga--fledgling growing up

Day 8--Wow, one of the fledglings is really growing up--it flew around the sheltered area and then out more than a hundred feet away from the sheltered area. This is the first time I have seen one of the fledglings being this independent. This is the fledgling in this pic. The brown tips on flight feathers are apparent. There is still some residual orange gape that is visible when pic is double-clicked to enlarge it.

I could still hear other fledglings in their tree thicket and a parent still is bring ing food. SeEtta

Much more on Black Phoebe family

Sorry to leave people hanging but I had to focus on writing comments from my Audubon chapter and the state Audubon on an Environmental Impact Statement for a major water project affecting natural resources in SE Colorado (it took me about 20 hours to write the 8 pages and 1 page of bibliography, now my mind is numb). I did, however, run over to my friend's to look for and keep track of the Black Phoebe family which fortunately settled in at the protected area where I refound them on Day 4. Unfortunately they demonstrated a lot of sensitivity to my photographing them (darn digital cameras make a lot of noise relative to the old 35mm cameras) so I didn't get any usable pics for Days 5-7 since I didn't want to disturb the family.

By the way, I am numbering days with Day 1 being the day the youngsters fledged

Day 5--I saw a fledgling sally out after an insect and it caught it successfully. Later I was near the nesting location and found 1 adult and 1 fledgling very near the nest--what a surprise. In past years I have observed the adults splitting up the fledglings with each taking one or two and taking care of them separately--hopefully that is the case, which would indicate that the 3rd fledgling actually survives. Maybe it was the youngest and not as strong a flier so a parent kept it near nest instead of moving with the other 2 fledglings to the protected area that is almost a quarter mile away.

Day 6--At least one parent bringing food to fledglings that are mostly staying hidden in a Russian Olive in a small thicket of tree limbs and snags overhanging the water. This provides a nice shady area for the fledglings to get out of the warmish sun.

Day 7--Occasionally a fledgling would emerge from the trees to sally after an insect. At least one parent still feeding them.

Much more to come. SeEtta

Black Phoebe family refound

I pleasantly surprised to refind the Black Phoebe family today. As this is day 4 since the young fledged, I didn't think I would see them as they move further from the nest. And they did move almost a quarter mile away to the location I saw one of the adults yesterday. And a great place it is--still water, overhanging trees, protected from the wind by a hay barn and a number of dragonflies and other flying insects (in fact a mayfly perched on the inside upholstery on my car door--they are really small).

Both Black Phoebe parents were actively sallying after insects which they would quickly take to the fledglings that were well protected (and non visible due to all the branches and tree leaves) in some trees with branches that were overhanging the water. A few times one of the fledglings flew out into the open onto one of the branches but it returned quickly to the shady area within the tree branches. When one of the fledglings perched near an adult, the shortness of it's tail relative to the adult's tail was most evident.

The parent bird in this photo has a good sized dragonfly in it's beak. I was impressed by the size of the dragonflies that the parents were catching to feed the fledglings--one appeared to almost 4 inches in wing span, which would make a large meal for a Black Phoebe. SeEtta