A bird story and other spring sightings

One of our favorite parts of spring is watching all the birds that live in or come through the Double Creek yard and woods.

One day we heard a funny noise coming from an area of tall weeds. It was a raspy sound, almost like crickets. We watched carefully and saw two birds flying in and out of the weeds. Careful searching led us to this extremely well hidden nest.

Three partially feathered birds sat quietly in the nest until mom or dad would come with food, then they would ask for food with their funny little noise. 

This is where the nest was carefully hidden. On the ground right below the arrow. 

The next day a quick peek revealed only one little bird. They were clearly too young to fly, so we felt sad that two were gone. We were hoping for the best for the remaining nestling.

Just one day later the nestling was much fluffier. 

The following day the nest was empty. Could that tiny baby fly already? Or had a predator come during the night?

Feeling sad that perhaps all the nestlings had been lost, we noticed that there were still birds coming and going from the weeds. This female junco, the mom, stayed very close to the empty nest. 

The male junco (the dad), would go further away, but kept returning every few minutes. Notice how he has more pronounced color on his head than the female, his head is black instead of gray. 

We carefully searched the weeds and found nothing. After spending a long time watching and sitting very still until the birds forgot about us, we found where they were going. They were feeding three baby birds in the weeds not far from the nest! The babies are well camouflaged, but there are three little ones wedged under this tomato cage. 

We put out some bird seed to make up for disturbing their busy feeding routine and celebrated that all three baby birds would fledge!

We've had a couple other special nest sightings this spring. This messy looking nest belongs to a robin.

A closer look reveals it is actually carefully constructed of woven twigs and grass all stuck together with mud. Building took five days!

A beautiful blue robin eggs sits inside. 

Inside a bird house made by one of our students we found this family of black capped chickadees. This is the second clutch of eggs to hatch there this year. It must be a comfortable home. 

What type of birds have you been watching this spring? 

The chicks are growing up!

Our sweet little balls of fluff have turned into small chickens. The chicks are now eight weeks old and the kids love them! 

Cap the Curious says hello

The chicks enjoy wandering the yard while we are outside. They always stay together. 

The chicks moved into their coop outside when they were six week old. They quickly adjusted to spending their days in an outdoor run. The first two nights we put them in their coop at dusk and shut the door. After that they started putting themselves to bed when the sun goes down and getting up at dawn. When I mow the lawn I scatter the clippings in their run and they have a lovely edible carpet. 

They also enjoy spending time in their portable pen that we put on the grass. They spent all every dry day in their portable pen for a few weeks, returning to their cage indoors to sleep until they had enough feathers to spend their nights outside. The kids love holding the chicks and finding things things to eat-grass seeds, berries and worms are some of their favorites. 

We are very surprised by how hard it is to tell the roosters and hens apart! We learned that early development and reddening of combs and waddles indicates roosters, that roosters tend to be heavier, that big legs and feet might mean roosters and that roosters tend to be more aggressive. We've weighed the chickens, examined feet and combs and watched them carefully. We still don't know for sure who is a hen and who is a rooster!

This week we learned that spur development is a sign that a bird is a rooster, but every one of our chicks has some development where spurs should grow. The mystery of which chicks will stay and lay eggs for us has not been solved.   

Below are pictures at 1 and 8 weeks for comparison. 

Cheeks- This bird somehow turned white. It still has its cute fluffy cheeks. Weight: 26oz.

Cheep-Cheep-A-Peep- This bird is the hardest to catch. It is very spirited and not as snuggly as the others, but beautiful and fun to watch. Weight: 25oz.

Stripe- This bird's appearance no longer matches its baby name, but its yellow face sets it apart. Stripe likes to snuggle. Weight: 29oz.

Ducky-A favorite with the kids. Once you catch Ducky, it will put up with anything. Weight: 27oz.

Tall- This sweet bird is neither the first, nor the last, to join in the action. It still stands up tall when on alert. Weight: 31oz.

Cheep- Cheep has the most prominent comb of the crew, but it is entirely yellow and Cheep is light. Do you think this one will lay eggs some day?  Weight: 26oz.

Chin- Chin lost its distinctive white stripe down its chest, but it has gown the most beautiful iridescent blue green feathers. Weight: 25oz.

Pecky-This beauty shares its small size, flightiness and unique eye markings with Cheep-Cheep-A-Peep making us think they might share a parent. Weight: 26oz.

Black Beauty-At a glance, Black Beauty is easily confused with Cheep. Black Beauty is much bigger though and has yellow legs.  Prominent spurs and large size suggest this is a rooster. Weight: 33oz.

Cap- We love Cap! The only one of the black birds to have brown highlights instead of the iridescent feathers, this chick is always the first to investigate. Being the biggest of the flock with fat legs, prominent spurs, and a fleshy waddle we are guessing this sweetie is a rooster. Weight: 33oz.