05/05/11
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05/17/11
I happened to be out working in the yard when this group fledged on May 20. Perhaps it was caused by my own activity, though I was not at the nest but walking between it and the garden, when there was a sudden explosion of feathers and all four scattered to the winds at once. I kept my eye on one which flew to the rear of our property, probably 200' away, airborne all the while and landing in a pine tree. Another fluttered to the ground north of where I was walking. As for the other two, they were gray streaks, scattered like wind-blown leaves and I can't be sure where they went.
All the while, mama and papa were having a stroke.They landed in the maple by the kitchen and chastised me for being so close. Then they'd try to follow each of their four offspring. After a while all quieted down. I never saw them again.
I first got my step ladder out and saw the four eggs on May 5. Three of the four eggs hatched two days later. So from hatching to fledging took this group just 13 - 14 days. No doubt, nature operates a rapid assembly line.
