New birds

The cactus wrens across from the kitchen sink have fledged. For about a week we watched as the parents flew off and on with insect delicacies to deposit them into two open mouths. Those chicks got to be huge, as big as the parents, and eventually they just outgrew the nest. Unfortunately we did not witness their big leap, but they return to the nest in hopes to be fed by mom or dad. And they are. These are some excellent parents!

And there is Roadie news. Her nest is very protected and it's hard to get a look to see what's happening. It seems that one of the pair has been sitting for at least a month. But we have seen roadrunners with hapless lizards in their beaks headed for the nest location for the last week or so, so we decided to chance it and take a peek. There are 3 young birds in the nest, and they are getting quite large too. Meanwhile the Say's phoebe has decided that the spot right under Roadie's nest is still best for her brood, so she is sitting on eggs less than a foot from the Roadrunners, with just some metal in between.

On my way back from the grocery shopping in Tucson yesterday, I stopped for chicken feed and they had a bunch of 6 week old chicks that were in bad need of a home. I had already decided to add to our current flock because through one thing and another, we are down to 14 birds and we are not keeping up with our egg demand. So I came home with 10 young Buff Orpingtons. Dan had already set up the nursery in the tack room, and the birds are doing fine and eating like there's no tomorrow. They can stay in their tub for a couple more days until we divide the coop so everybody can live and grow in peace.