Our feathered friends, birdbrains, and wingnuts

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Big Bird (now called Rooster) so big now, can sit like a mama bird. Little Bird (now called Raisin) still pushing the beak straight up. So close to fledging I have to be very careful not to spook them. I didn’t realize that part of the reason they are different sizes (probably staggered hatching) is so they can fledge staggered. Fledging at the same time would be cumbersome and also easy picking for a predator since there’s only two of them.
 
In my Great ChickenMcNugget Quest …I got distracted halfway through and started making chicken meatballs. The end result was… chicken bread? GHASTLY horrible, near inedible stuff. That, apparently? Is like crack for crows. (Yes! I AM in the right thread;). I have never, ever, had them BEGGING for more, obliterating the next offering, and begging again. And again. And again. It was just like… whoa. You won’t be able to fly, you’re just gonna have to waddle to the couch and fall asleep watching football in a minute.
 
There is a nesting pair of bald eagles about 50 meters away. This year’s fledgling? Is nearly TWICE the size of their parents.

I’m calling him/her Andre (the giant).

The crows, (& their adopted seagulls), are having extra fun dive bombing this one… as baby is just a BIT too big & lumbering… to pose a real threat. Yet. I’ve almost never seen the seagulls dive at the eagles, as they’re not exactly maneuverable, so they’re reeeeeally enjoying themselves / showing off. They only get about 1 pass in for every 3 the crows get in, but they’re still trying.

I’ve got relatively equal fondness for both “our” eagles & crows… but it’s never been tested… as each species has always been sort of stalemated. I’m afraid I may end up taking Andre’s side, until they lose their awkward, and swallow someone whole. HUGE bird. Ginormous. Wingspan must be 9 feet, if it’s an inch, and possibily 10+. He’s condor big. His parents, sitting next to him, their heads only come up to his shoulders.
 
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I've got a jackdaw's nest just outside my window and have spent the past two months listening to their squeaky chicks yelling to be fed. On Sunday they were taking practice flights off my roof, jumping off, flapping furiously in a circle and landing back on again, encouraged by their parents. It was the cutest thing to see.
 
Was reading the Wikipedia page for animal faith, aka ritual behavior in animals, and came upon this
 
Just saw something kind of amazing 🤩. I keep thinking I’m seeing Rooster and Raisin, the babies, flying around. And why wouldn’t it be them?

Well just now I saw a hummer land, looked like a young or female broadbill. And then another one landed next to it, same colors. And then the one that landed started feeding the other—did it twice. 😳

Ok. So we are about 8 weeks out of fledging. And she’s still feeding. And as I thought about it it made a lot of sense. Of *course* she’s still feeding. How on earth are they supposed to fledge and then be able to just feed themselves enough to survive, know where to go, etc.

I’ve seen passerines teaching their babies flying and feeding. I’ve seen juvenile sparrows begging to be fed when they are surrounded by food. Saw a mom hold the food for her baby right next to the ground to get him moving his head in the direction of where the food was. She was still feeding him but made him put his head right next to the ground to eat it—talk about hand-holding!

Anyway—that was neat to see the hummers and to think about how long their relationship might last—how long she feeds them, etc. I don’t know how long bird families typically last, for hummers at least. I’m guess maybe about a year? Florida scrub jays are very unusual that siblings will help feed younger siblings. Pretty sure crows and ravens don’t even do that, but jays are in that family—the family of the smarties!

Anyway, I’m rambling!
 
Our mother hummer, who we have named Boid, short for Humming Boid, is building a new nest right near her old one! I’m fairly certain it’s her since it’s in the same location and she’s using bottle brush petals again, which I’m guessing is her personal aesthetic. Her old nest is all shriveled and dried out. I wanted to pluck it off to clean up the area but my daughter said to just leave it because animals don’t think about cleaning up the way humans do. 🤷‍♀️

Here is a picture of the beginning of the new nest. You can see the old one in the background. I had seen her sitting on that branch and pushing her beak around her body. Initially she was putting the silk for a few days, now she’s starting to make the base pad. And her belly does look a little swelled.

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Today I saw Mama Hummingboid rehabbing her old nest! She put fresh petals and some stuffing into it!! Seems she is uncertain whether to make a new one or use the old one! There is some debris in the old one, dead plant material that fell into it and old dried poop. I guess she would just build on top of that?? Who knows? We will see…
 
Mama Hummer has laid her first egg and is on the nest a lot. My daughter thinks it’s not the same as the last mama because it “looks different (skinnier, sleeker, and longer bill) and acts different (more skittish).” I think it’s the same one because it used the same nesting materials to pack the nest (bottlebrush petals and cotton stuffing) but Daughter has a good sense for wild things. I suppose it’s possible that a new mama hummer just added what it could see the nest was already made of? We don’t think it’s one of the nestlings because wouldn’t they be too young? And I just saw her feeding the nestling a week or two ago.

Mysteries of wild bird lives!!
 
I read that hummingbirds don’t mate until the year after they are born, which makes sense.

But the article also states that as soon as hummingbird babies fledge they live on their own and fend for themselves. Which I discovered is not always true. They fledge at 4 weeks and mama was feeding when baby was 12 weeks old!

I think this hummer is the same mama, just more grown. Daughter thinks differently. She’s probably right.
 

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