Two Bluebird nestlings fledged on the evening of 25 April. The next evening it was as if a fledging-bell rang — and the Bluebird, Phoebe and Wren nestlings were off to the races. It was a Fledging Frenzy! Ten nestlings took wing in a 2 1/2 hour timeframe. Bluebirds Three through Five went first. The runt went last and surprised me with the strongest flight of the five. Then it was back and forth between watching the Phoebe nestlings hop out of the nest and explore their platform — while the Carolina Wren nestlings were taking in the great, wide world as they lined up in the opening of their nest box.
Particularly when you watch the Phoebes and Wrens, the challenge faced by new fledglings and their parents is striking. Fledglings are wobbly little creatures! Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera angle to capture it, but the Wren nestlings slid and tripped their way across my second-floor terrace until the parents signaled them to leap to the branches of a near-by tree. At one point, the Pit-bull went to the window to try to figure out what we humans were watching. Daddy Wren was there in an instant — warning the monster to back off. Pretty cute.
It will be a couple weeks, typically, before the fledglings start showing up at the worm feeders. Eagerly, I will be counting heads.