Final Entry for a While of This Season's Nest~

The last day that all 3 young ones were on the nest together~

The older chick, a female flew first on May 26.  Then came the middle chick, a male fledged on May 28 and the youngest, also a male fledged on May 29~

This was the youngest and he has become my favorite, for he seems so small compared to the others, and always the last to get any food, unless it is brought directly to him.  Sometimes even then, he drops it and my heart aches, as he has to wait another long while, but he is learning, slowly, but surely~

 With so much heavy tree cover, it is very difficult to get any flight images, until they begin to fly further out away from the tree line.  I was able to get some fairly descent images as they learned some branch hopping and brief flight skills, during the past week~

 The image above is the middle chick out on the branch and the youngest the day before it flew for the first time~

The adult female, is taking a well deserved rest, and yet this particular day, she stayed busy not only keeping up with meals for she and her chicks, but she also was on the tirade because a young Great Horned Owl had made it's way near her area and she kept a very watchful eye on it all day long and she did an excellent job and keeping it away~
*I got no images of the Owl, and yet through the heavy tree line, I could make it out deep in the wood with my pair of binoculars, and you could tell that she was very miffed, as she went back and forth yelling at it all day long!

 
I always like when she takes notice of me...yes, it is just me again, I tell her~

I am so very pleased that a week off the nest, all 3 young ones are doing well.  

 The two images in mosaic above were taken on a foggy morning this past week, showing the empty nest~

 The middle chick is on the left, perched next to his brother on the right in image above, and then big brother decides to move a little higher up~

I had always heard that many times a hen will continue to feed her young even after they have fledged from the nest, but this has never been the case for past years here, until this season.  
The hen continues to bring most meals to the nest and it is in the age order that they eat, which is yet still another sad thing to have to hear the young one constantly hungry, while the older 2 get all of the good stuff~

 The middle chick peering down at me... ;')~

 The older female chick getting along really well~

The image above and below is the youngest little male chick and he is the only one that made it to ground level, following a long evening of severe storms.  He was soaked wet and had to make his way back up into the trees~

 

 He was keeping his protective eyelid closed a bit the following day, but it seems all alright now~

 

Sometimes, just like in human life, the mother has to play referee.  

In this case, the hen had taken a meal to the nest.  The middle chick did not seem hungry, but the older chick and younger one were.  The older chick grabbed the Blue Jay and was eating and eating and eating, the whole while the youngest chick was yelling, and yelling and yelling.  The hen had seen and heard enough and when she flew back to the nest, the older chick reluctantly, yet purposefully retreated to a branch and then the younger chick could have a bit too~

 

 The adult hen above and then below on left, making sure that her older chick retreated and gave younger brother a bit to eat too~

 

The older chick making her exit below~

For those of you have been wondering about me, and how I am doing. I took a call from the Cardiologist yesterday. I thought that the office was just checking in on me and how the heart monitor was working, after using for 5 days. I told them that I was a bit disappointed that I had not yet had an event, and that I sure hoped it would occur, during my 30 days of using it...I can go 2 more months evidently.
They also decided to do an uninterrupted month.
I got a real surprise when I was asked..."So what was going on this past Saturday around 2:00 in the afternoon?" I had no idea what they were talking about.
It seems that the monitor caught an event, not one like I am aware of and yet it shows that I have Supraventricular Tachycardia.
On June 14, I will have to have a procedure done to correct this called an Radio frequency Catheter Ablation.
I will still have a stress test this Friday, as well as an echocardiogram. 
The Cardiologist wants me to continue forward with the heart monitor as well, to make sure that this is not the only thing going on with me.
I feel so much better so far, knowing that I can get help to fix what has been happening.

I am also linking with World Bird Wednesday, please visit other birding photographers and enthusiasts from around the world at:

http://www.pineriverreview.blogspot.com/