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Ok I have a question about eggs, our Eastern Phoebe originally laid 3 eggs on or around 4/6-4/8/08 of course when we got home from vacation we couldn't wait to check the nest and see if they had hatched on 4/23, they had not but we did find that there are 2 additonal eggs that were not there when we left over a week ago. Is this common? I thought the eggs hatched after about 14 days? Did she lay more because the others didn't make it? Last year there were 3 babies and the nest was so full, is it possible for them to raise 5 chicks in the little nest? I checked again today 4/25/08 and still nothing has hatched?

Any info appreciated.

Do the new eggs look the same as the old ones?  I've been told that the brown-headed cowbird will lay it's eggs in another birds nest and let them raise it.  But I don't have a clue about how long it will or should take for the eggs to hatch.

Believe me it is possible to raise more than 3 in a phoebe nest. We have lots of phoebes, and one time I believe they had 5, it was definitely stuffed though!

About your egg question, not quite sure about that, but I know a lot of birds lay one a day and don't start incubating until all the eggs have been lain (for obvious reasons, if they incubate starting with the first egg, then they will have a stair step of ages with the babies). So perhaps your bird was still laying when you left which would explain why they haven't hatched.

Hope this helps!

 

 

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Ok that explains it then, all the eggs are uniform in size and color. We are careful never to touch them, we hold a camera up above the nest and snap pics, it is very difficult to see over top of the nest about enough room to get your hand and camera over the top and shoot a pic. We see the parents flying regularly to the nest area so I knew they did not abandon them. Perhaps she hasn't starting incubating the original three till now. I was reading and it says the incubation period is 16 days so the oldest eggs are about 19 days old and not sure on the newer ones they could be as new as 4-5 days not sure as we were gone on vacation for 8 days.

We can't see at all into the nesting box that the Carolina Chickadees are using but hopefully they have laid eggs as well. It will be fun to watch the fledges and the baby feeding.

 

 

I looked today and my Pheobe eggs have hatched.  I had four eggs but we only have three babies !  I don't have room to fit my camera between the roof and the nest but my daughters might.  I'll see what kind of pics I can get. We used a mirror to see them today.  They are so cute! 

Phoebe nests are very common victims to the brown-headed cowbird's parasitization.  Are the eggs brown with white speckles? 

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"So many sparrows, so little time!"

No they are cream colored solid no speckled all uniform, this is a pic I took when there were 3 before the other two were laid.

That's what my eggs looked like, too. I'll be back in a few with pics of the babies.

As you can see I had to resort to using a mirror. Because, even my daughters little nikon wouldn't fit in the space AND take a decent picture of them.  The guy with his mouth open is in the middle. He/she's the smart one warm on both sides!

Yep they look just like our babies from last year, they are several days old already! They look so weird and pink when they first hatch...

Awesome way to utilize what you've got to get a shot!  No cowbirds there!  :)

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"So many sparrows, so little time!"