Saturday, July 9, 2011

The red breasted nuthatches are close to fledging: this is plain adorable

Make sure your volume is turned up when you watch the quick little video.

The red breasted nuthatches in the backyard nest box are growing quickly and they will soon fledge.  This was the nuthatches second attempt at a clutch. For whatever reason, the first clutch failed, but it looks like these little fellas are doing well.  A few years ago a pair of red breasted nuthatches had three failed attempts, but finally on the fourth try, all the nestlings fledged.  The adults were noticeably smaller and really haggard after building nests and finding food all spring and summer for four different clutches.  Watching that whole experience all spring and into late July gave rise to the expression my wife and I have- "we can all learn a lot from the nuthatches."

OK, I couldn't resist, here is another video.



7 comments:

  1. UPDATE: All the nestlings fledged today- and I got to watch the last one fly. It, too, was adorable.

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  2. Adorable! And I thought my kids were demanding when they were young!
    What do you mean "failed to fledge". Did they die?

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  3. OMG!!! Had to tweet this. Too cute!

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  4. Oh my goodness! Love this! Wonderful videos that brought a big smile to my face. I'm so glad this pair was successful. Pure joy! Thanks for sharing.

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  5. Thank you for sharing. Ground level viewing doesn't give one an opportunity to see what's going on up in the tree tops. Love this.

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  6. Wonderful indeed! Especially to hear them too. We have pigmy nuthatches that nest each hear in a tall snag, but too far away to get such good detail.

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  7. Hi Country Mouse,
    Glad you enjoyed the videos. You are lucky to have pygmy nuthatches nesting nearby- they are wonderful.
    Thanks for commenting!
    David

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