28th
2007
Eastern Phoebe Nest: Our friends Beth and Rick alerted us to the fact that a family of phoebe chicks were about to fledge from a nest in the rafters of their front porch. We realized that we had better high-tail it down to Brunswick today if we wanted to capture any photos of the chicks. There are four chicks crammed in the nest, and it seems that if any of them even moves an inch, another one might fall out! Note that on the last slide you will see a close-up photo of one of the chicks. The red specks near its beak are bird mites which are very common. It is important for the homeowner to take care when removing the nest after fledging. Use gloves and wash thoroughly after disposing of the nest. You may also want to spray some insecticide on the rafters toward the house so the mites do not enter your humble abode. These mites will suck the blood of humans as well as birds.
