“The bird who dares to fall is the bird who learns to fly.”
This spring we have once again enjoyed watching the house finches build a nest on our front porch. We’ve been glued to the nest all week hoping to see the babies jump out of the nest and learn to fly!
These two pictures were taken by Captain. The picture of the eggs in the nest was taken on May 10th. Only five of the eggs hatched. The picture of the new hatchlings was taken on May 19th.
House Finch Nesting Facts:
- Clutch Size: 2-6 eggs
- Number of Broods: 1-6 broods
- Egg Length: 0.6-0.8 in
- Egg Width: 0.5-0.6 in
- Incubation Period: 13-14 days
- Nestling Period: 12-19 days
- Egg Description: Pale blue to white, speckled with fine black and pale purple.
- Condition at Hatching: Naked except for sparse white down along feather tracts, eyes closed, clumsy.
This morning the fledglings were ready to leave the nest! But first….breakfast!
You can’t see the fourth fledgling in this picture either, but at this point all four were still in the nest.
9:27 AM: We quietly cracked open the front door to get a better look as the first baby house finch got ready to try out his wings! I looked down for two seconds to switch my camera to video… and he took off!
10:03 AM: Bird #2 is ready to leave the nest.
11:22 AM: The chirping got really loud again so we knew the parents were letting baby #3 know that it was now his turn to flap his wings! He needed extra encouragement. In the video you can see the parents flying near and landing on the nest trying to encourage him to give it a try.
11:29 AM – Baby #4 didn’t like being left behind all by himself and quickly followed!
Now all we have left is an empty nest… We miss them already!
Jessica, how marvelous. And how lovely to be home when they fledged! We've had a few such experiences (Wood Ducks, and Cardinals). A real gift!
2018-06-06 20:07:44
Very neat! Thank you for sharing. We are doing a bird study/summer journalist and this will be to share with the kiddos. Thanks again
2018-06-07 11:59:06