I had thought the nest on the column on the front porch was empty, but as I was attending to the plants I noticed a bird fly up and out. I looked closer, thought I saw a little head, so I grabbed the step stool and camera, and lo and behold we have someone still occupying the nest:
Here is his very (at the moment) pissed off mom:
I also removed the two dead ferns and painstakingly removed the old nests and placed them delicately in new living ferns and hung them, so hopefully we will have some repeat renters this summer in those apartments.
trollhattan
Aww, little birb. What kind of birb is mom? Some sort of flycatcher? Being a left-coaster there are many Midwest and Eastern varieties we don’t have here.
John Cole
@trollhattan: I have no idea
Betty Cracker
So cute!
Old Dan and Little Ann
We had a nice, tidy Robin’s nest under our gutter near the roof. I asked every kid in the neighborhood if they had a selfie stick to borrow so I could take a peek. Those are are so 2000 something other than this year apparently. I think some new birds have taken over, though. They’ve added a lot of grass shrapnel and it’s hanging down very untidy-like. Still no way of looking inside it unless I get on a ladder. Or maybe duct tape a mirror to a broomstick (not happening).
CaseyL
So happy to have an update!
And of course Mom is pissed off. No one like the landlord sticking his nose in their business :)
Would putting a container of mealworms out for everyone be considered a bad thing (because it makes them more dependent on you), or aren’t mealworms the right kind of food for this species? Even if you can’t ID them, maybe you can see what Mom brings home to feed the kid(s).
Leto
Seriously, why don’t we have a bird webcam permanently installed here? Similar to the eagle nest webcam they had about 2 years ago? We have really smart people here who could probably make it happen. “This Old Fucking Birdhouse – presented by John Cole”
GSmith
It’s an Eastern Phoebe.
laura
FYI, that baby birb pic – next year if that’s not Cole’s beard or overhauls pocket with a baby birb in it, I’ll eat a bug!
Ben Cisco
Cole the (birb) landlord. Classic.
trollhattan
@GSmith:
Thanks! (Got the flycatcher thing right at least.)
Mohagan
@CaseyL: As I understand it, almost all birds feed their babies insects (because of protein), especially caterpillars. So mealworms should be wildly popular. I went to a native plant presentation at the local Aubudon meeting last year and they were quite clear you need native plants to feed the native birds trying to feed young. Because all plants engage in chemical warfare, local caterpillars are specialists, evolved to eat certain plants, and deal with their toxins. So if you want food to feed baby birds, plant natives. The local moths and butterfly caterpillars can’t eat exotics.
Mohagan
@GSmith: Thanks. It looked like a Phoebe to me, but not quite, since I’m used to Black Phoebes in N CA.
Betty Cracker
We’ve got Eastern Phoebes here as well — such sweet little things! I saw something that looked like a Mountain Bluebird in the bamboo tree earlier today, but I must be mistaken; I don’t think they’re seen in the Eastern US at all. Still trying to figure out what the heck it was.
joel hanes
So Cole has multiple species nesting on the porch, because the eggs in the nest pictures he put up were blue with dark speckles, and the eggs of the eastern phoebe are white with the very occasional freckle.
opiejeanne
That bird is one of your extended birthday presents. Nice photo, John. Your camera skills have improved a lot over the years.
I was sitting in a shady place and potting a couple of geraniums, and I kept hearing this high-pitched peeping from the trees above me. Then there was some confused fluttering noise and this little fuzzball with no tail feathers flew/fell/flapped down onto some debris against the fence right beside me, looked at me, opened his still yellow beak and said PEEEEP! I told him I wasn’t his mama but he wasn’t convinced. I couldn’t get my phone out fast enough before his mom flew past him and he shot after her.
I think the mom is some sort of thrush. She’s shaped like a robin but is all brown; I haven’t found her in the Roger Tory Peterson book of Western Birds.
joel hanes
@Betty Cracker:
Indigo bunting? Was it a vivid blue?
NotMax
And survived unscathed to tell the tale.
Progress.
;)
opiejeanne
@Betty Cracker: It could have been a Mountain Bluebird, one of those “out of area” sightings, like the pair Great Blue Herons on the lawn of the San Bernardino City Hall in the 70s. They did not belong there, but they were unmistakable .
Betty Cracker
@joel hanes: A vivid sky blue. It may have been an Indigo. The shape didn’t seem quite right, but I only got a brief look at it. Definitely not an Eastern Bluebird since it was solid blue with no russet trim.
Betty Cracker
@opiejeanne: I never heard the story about the herons. :)
joel hanes
@opiejeanne:
all brown and robin sized?
Take a look at the pictures of the California Towhee aka Brown Towhee. Their call is distinctive — reminds me of someone gently tapping two coke bottles together
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Or a factory second.
:)
evodevo
@Betty Cracker: Indigos are tiny and ELECTRIC blue, not really bluebird blue…listen to their calls on the internet…they are very noisy and if they are around you will hear them… Oh, and phoebes say their name…FeeBee..FeeBee over and over.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
Maybe the stool wasn’t technically “step.”
donnah
John, that’s a great photo. It has a very artistic feel, and the textures are wonderful. Nicely done!
Amir Khalid
@joel hanes:
Bottles made of what? It has been more years than I care to remember since I last saw a glass Coke bottle.
Mohagan
@opiejeanne: California Towhees are brown and the size of Robins, if they make sense where you are living.
rikyrah
Awe??