Yep all the baby birds have now fledged.  The Chickadees left over the weekend sometime and the Tufted Titmice left either late Tuesday or early Wednesday morning.  I knew when I let the dogs out Wednesday morning and it was quiet outside that they must be gone.  They were very noisy these past few days – practicing inside that little house using their wings – its hard to believe they all fit in there.  Every once in a while I’d see a little head poke out and then a few minutes later mom or dad would fly up and push him back in – “you are not ready yet, dear” – “but mom, I am, I’m ready to fly, let me pleeeeese”.  But the day came and this afternoon they seemed to be up in the trees by my drive way.  Mom and dad are still feeding the babies – I think for 2 or 3 more weeks they bring them food and then teach them where to find the food.  Here are some pictures for you –

Tufted Titmouse babies on 4-29

Tufted Titmouse baby peeking out of the house

Tufted Titmouse baby yelling

This last picture is my favorite.  I didn’t even realize I had gotten a picture with his mouth wide open.  He is probably yelling “mooooooooom!”  I set my camera to sports mode so that it would take multiple shots at one time so this was one of the ones in the series that came out while I was watching the house.  Mom (or dad) came shortly after and pushed the baby back in.  These were taken on May 2nd (Monday) and they left the house not to long after that – you can see how ready this little guy was.  Perhaps he was standing on his brother or sisters head, or inside flapping his wings (I just can’t imagine all 6 of them in there flapping their wings), but more than likely he was hanging on to the little screen that is attached to the side right under the hole.

And here is one more new visitor to my yard –

hummingbird

I have been seeing the hummingbird every day for a while now.  I got this quick picture on Sunday.  I’ll try to get some better ones from a different angle.  And yesterday I decided to look in my big holly bush by the front door to see if there might be a nest in there.  The bush is on the side of a steep hill so I have to look from underneath the bush at the top side of the hill.  At first I didn’t see anything but then on the far side – where the hill is the steepest – I can see two nests – I just can’t see in them because they are facing the other way.  Since I’ve never looked in there before they may be very old.  In fact they are so close together I would bet at least one of them is an old nest.  Maybe the weekend I can try to figure out how to get a look inside them.

i hope you enjoy the pictures of my little birdies!