Turkey Tracks: June 21, 2021
The Phoebe Babies Fledged
I knew the babies would soon fledge, and they did Friday morning at some point.
The messy little flat nest was full of babies—I never was able to figure out if there were 3 or 4 babies in the messy little nest. You can just see a beak in this photo.
This outdoor light sits just above my kitchen windows, so I can peer up at the nest from inside the house.
At first, about 10 days or so ago—maybe longer—I could see fuzzy bits of fluff with huge open mouths that seemed totally outsized with respect to their bodies.
By Friday morning, the babies looked like Phoebes. And nest was full of projecting tails and heads.
Last year, we took down the next the Phoebe pair built in this same spot. This year I will leave it as they do reuse nests from year to year.
Phoebes can live a long time—so I suspect this pair has been with me in the summers for a long time too.
They can raise two broods a year. Will they this year?
The back deck is very quiet now as both parents have departed. At any time of the day, I used to be able to see one parent sitting on the back of a chair or on the railing.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Phoebe/id
Louisa Enright's Blog 
I love this part of our spring …our little robins left last Friday. They are so much fun to watch and I feel a little sad for awhile now that they are gone… this morning though there is a squirrel on the deck making itself quite at home and has refused to be scared off by me.