A Finch's Nest nest at the front door

(Continued from the previous webpage #5769 of August 3, 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.

August 8, 2012: They are still here at the door !! I took another picture today. This picture could be the last but, in a few days, I might add a picture of an empty nest for the sake of the happy ending. According to those "Blue Birds" of Mrs. Shin Sungryu, it's about time for them to fly off. Just in five days, they look very alert with their eyes wide open. It looks like they are almost ready to get out of their nest.

Their Poops: I don't know how, but they have their poops at the edge of the nest, just outside where they are sitting. The outside edge of the nest is almost full of their poops (the white and black spots in the picture).

I think there are three babies for sure in this picture, and possibly another one at the back corner. There may be an extra tail (?) but I have not seen the face of the #4 yet.



August 9, 2012: I took a peek and one baby bird immediatel flew off, leaving two in the nest.
These two stay there without making any attempt to fly off.
They were pecking the wooden door off and on. They may be eating (?) the mites on the door.



August 10, 2012: Another one flew off this morning and there's only one left who seemed very restless.
This baby chick is about as big as mother bird but it has "Pin Feathers on the Head".
I could hardly believe they got this big during the short time.



August 10, 2012: This one seems to be afraid of flying but, later in the early afternoon, flew off also.
During the last few days, I have not seen the adult birds coming to the nest at all except hearing a lot of birds' chirping from the nearby trees and bush. Maybe, the mother was trying to call them from the trees to bring the babies out of the nest. I waited for a while but none of them came back to the nest again.
The black small dots on the door are "mites" that infest the nest according to the article below.



After the last one left the nest, I looked into the nest. There is still one egg left !!
The mystery was solved. One egg was never hatched. I guess it was the smallest one among the original four eggs.

From small eggs to these big baby birds... Life is amazing !!