The Fledging

In past posts you have heard about out beautiful Bullocks Orioles. We saw their nest last Saturday. We have enjoyed the peeping of the babies. This past week, I was going to relax and cool down from my bike ride. I felt an impression to grab the camera. This is truly a tender mercy story.
    As we sat for a few moments together, Steve watched the apple tree. He was going to spray it for worms when I asked him if it would hurt our baby birds. We decided that wormy apples are a small price to pay for the enjoyment these birds have given us. As Steve watched the tree, he discovered that the babies were out of the nest and flitting from branch to ranch in the tree. We then watched the process of fledging a young bird. The parents would fly around the tree. We saw the father in a Russian Olive about 30 yards from our tree. The babies were chattering and chattering in the tree. We saw mom and dad gently push them off the branch and watch them soar. They flew to our Aspen tree one at a time. There was a little one that was just too scared to try. All the siblings were chattering their encouragement. The father finally flew into the tree and nudged the reluctant youngster off the branch. They spent the rest of the afternoon, talking to each other about their accomplishments. The next morning, I woke to a very silent tree. It kind of gives me a little heart tug. They are still in the neighborhood, learning to hunt. (Hey birds, eat those grasshoppers!) Reading about the birds, I know they are going to be heading south very soon. I have loved getting to know them, and hosting these brilliant birds in our tree. They are insect eaters, so they didn't even use our feeders. ( A post showing my feeders is coming soon. sorry if you are sick of my bird stories.) We are hoping it was a good tree and someone will be visiting us next year.