A full nest
Tuesday May 19th 2009, 8:58 pm
Filed under: Wildlife

Talk about watching things grow… Saturday after I mentioned the falcon cam, I saw a white ball of fluff with just the slightest smudge of gray in its tail watch its mother take off into the air and then flap its wings like crazy to try to copy her, tip right over and go splat on its beak, and then actually achieve liftoff of about two inches’ height, flying forward about a baby bird’s length! It collapsed in a tight huddle on the City Hall ledge as if to exclaim, I can’t believe I just DID that!

I felt so proud. Like my baby had just taken its first steps.

Today they were already about half smooth gray to half fluffy white in a striped effect. They still tend to tip forward but only just a bit when they stretch their wings out and flap; two in succession lifted from the ledge up into their nesting box by wingpower without hesitation, and they are clearly starting to get this balance thing down.  They’re starting to not just accept food from their mother’s beak, but to grab a bit away and hold it down with their talons like she does and pull at it themselves.

Silhouetted against the city lights right now, Clara is keeping watch over her flock by night.

Kids. They’ll grow up and leave you with an empty nest before you know it.


10 Comments so far
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Sweet. It amazes me how everything on the planet has a different growth rate.

Comment by Channon 05.20.09 @ 6:01 am

But they will be back with they re own baby birds in tow.

Comment by Henya 05.20.09 @ 6:01 am

They’ll be pullin’ at some farmer’s chickens before you know it…chuckles.

It was about 15 years ago when our chickens were free-ranged and a red-tailed hawk and it’s mate were feasting on our chickens regularly that Goodman call the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) to complain about it. He was told by the ranger who answered the call, “Hawks don’t eat chickens, Sir.” To which my plain-spoken husband replied, ” Well, you need to come here tell that to the one out in the pasture on top of my wife’s prized layin’ hen.” After that we raised enough for us and the hawks.

Comment by Toni Smoky-Mountains 05.20.09 @ 6:21 am

What a sight that must be!!! Absolutely fantastic to watch Mother Nature at work….and it never gets boring!!!

Comment by Joansie 05.20.09 @ 6:26 am

How awesome to be able to witness that! I know what you mean about them growing up too fast, I am amazed everyday at how big and grown-up my girls are. It feels like I took a nap when they only 4 & 5 pounds each only to wake up 15 minutes later to 4.5 year olds – where did the time go?

Comment by TripletMom 05.20.09 @ 7:42 am

Okay, I thought they had left the nest, but this week, they arrived back here, disgorging several years’ worth of college dorm room detritus all over my living room. Since one of them comes complete with a shiny new B.S. degree and no job prospects, I’m wondering just how long I have to wait until the nest is actually EMPTY!! At this point I think I’d settle for being able to sit down in my own living room. Time for these baby birds to fly! (Just not too far from home, please!)

Comment by shadylady1216 05.20.09 @ 7:42 am

They appeared to be sleeping when I checked in but seemed to have little “nap jerks.” So cute.

Shadylady’s comment made me think of a saying I heard a while back, that a mother’s job is to put herself out of a job. My own nest won’t be empty for a few more years. And Boomerang kids remind us that multi-generational homes used to be the norm until not too long ago.

Comment by LynnM 05.20.09 @ 9:05 am

Ah, birds! One of my favorite topics. And falcons are pretty neat birds! Speaking of empty nesting, I did mention that my adopted son Cliff is coming back to live with me in early June.

Fun:
There was a young lady from Guam
Who observed, “The Pacific’s so calm,
There just can’t be a shark,
I’ll just swim for a lark!”
Let us now sing the twenty-third Psalm.

The bottle of perfume that Willie sent
Was highly displeasing to Millicent;
Her thanks were so cold
They quarreled, I’m told,
Through that silly scent Willie sent Millicent.

Comment by Don Meyer 05.20.09 @ 9:36 am

So true! My older daughter just rode her bike to the local library all by herself this weekend for the first time. Wasn’t she just a toddler?

Comment by Jocelyn 05.20.09 @ 10:38 am

So cute!!!

Comment by Alicia 05.20.09 @ 1:32 pm



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