A Finch's Nest nest at the front door

(Continued from the previous webpage #5716 of July 15th, 2012)

On July 9th, 2012, my wife noticed an some extra twigs bulging out at the right lower corner.



July 9, 2012: She took a closer look and found one small bluish egg in a newly built bird nest.
The nest was built with dried grass, dead tree twigs, and dried iris leaves in the yard.



July 10, 2012: We found two small eggs in the nest. No mother bird was seen.

July 11, 2012: Now there are three eggs. We noticed a small bird flying out in the morning.
But it seemed that the nest stayed empty most of the day.



July 12, 2012, there were four eggs. The eggs seemed to have been rotated around
because the dots on the eggs seemed to have been changed to different places on the eggs.
One egg was much smaller than the other three.

I have not been able to identify the bird. I am sure that she's not a robin by the size.
It could be a small finch or a similar bird. (Above from the earlier webpage)

July 18, 2012: The mother bird seems to stay in the nest almost all the time.
We could see her gray-colored tail protruding out of the nest at times.
I took a last peek on July 18 and took this picture. There were 4 eggs.



July 30, 2012: Since yesterdsay, wife noticed some difference in the nest. Something might have been visible when the mother bird is not in the nest. So, I took a peek again for the first time since July 18th.

When I opened the door from inside, the mother bird flew off but, this time, she didn't go very far.
She just sat at the edge of the roof about 20 feet away.
I took a picture of her. She's a small finch in typical grayish female color.
Most of the finches in our area are red finches with red colored breasts in males.

July 30, 2012: I took a quick peek at the nest. All I could see was two baby birds (by the orange-colored beaks and very fluffy feather balls). There may be another, not visible from my camera angle. Anyway, it was strange that the mother bird stays in the nest all the time, meaning that there may be still one or two unhatched eggs in the nest.
It's been about 21 days from the first egg and 18 days since the last 4th egg was laid in the nest.

What happened to the remaining two eggs?

August 3, 2012: I carefully opened the door white the mother bird was out for hunnting. We have never heard the sound of chicks. I showed the nest to my granddaughter and took a quick picture. It's still hard to tell if there are four babies. I am pretty sure that I can definitely make out three of them. It's hard to tell because of very fluffy feathers all over then. They seemed to have grown up larger filling the entire nest.

According to Mrs. Shin's (신성려) blue birds, our finches may be able to fly off on August 7. But I am not sure.
I will take a peek again in about three days.