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Hi all, and thanks for all your encouragement.

We continue to see the fledglings very actively feeding the nestlings thruout the day here. And we are now convinced that some of the 2nd nesters have joined in the fun. Missy and Mr.B continue to feed them also. at nearly their usual pace, but the kids are falling all over each other for their turn at the hole, and in truth I think the fledglings (all together) are bringing more food to the babies than their parents are. We are as amazed as any of you to see this, and totally delighted.

Here are a few more photos of the recent action. (note: these are nearly each shot of a different fledgling... they all seem to be pitching in)








Here a 1st-nester and a 2nd nester both await their turn as one of the parents is inside the box.


Here they compete for which will deliver his bug first! :)

This goes on pretty much all day long... I hope those nestling aren't being over-fed!
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Cindy and Tammy - I've not posted the video (or the photos) anywhere but here at the Cafe as yet. But we'd be glad to let Bet use any of this on sialis if she wishes.

Carol - Yes, Missy expects to be fed while she's nesting, and Mr.B obliges her even when he's also busy feeding new fledges. When she's building, laying, and incubating, she will perch near the worm dish and let him pick up worms and give them to her. And he brings her food to the hole while she's inside the box also. Once the eggs hatch tho, she goes back to feeding herself and helping him to feed the nestlings. It's a wonderful thing to observe their interactions all thruout the season. They are very much the couple. :)

This is the first time we've seen the previous nest fledges helping to feed a subsequent brood, and I sense a certain ease in both Missy and Mr.B now. They will sometimes perch nearby and just watch the kids helping, and they even eat together in peace a bit more often now, without the urgency to run back and forth to the box themselves.

It's all been really something to see. :)

Kenn

Deena wrote:

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Thanks! Those pictures are so interesting!

I'd like to print them out and post them around my yard to show my first and second fledges "how it should be done"!

I kind of wonder what the green bug was...... too ..

Missy seems to find a wide variety of bugs also... altho usually just one at a time:

And all the fledges have learned to find all kinds of bugs as well:






But not a single bug in any of these photos was eaten by the bird that got it...
...because they were all eaten by these 5 (fat and sleepy) nestlings:


We are just amazed to see all the fledglings feeding their 10day old siblings now. It's like an assembly line with everybody (parents and kids alike) bringing bugs and standing in line to be the next one at the hole. And tho we've not captured it with the camera yet, we saw the fledges carrying out fecal sacs twice today also.

Kenn :)