I hope I kept some of you in suspense. The youngsters are doing great. They are behaving more and more like dippers.

Yesterday morning one of them gave me a big thrill, he flew across the river; I almost fell over into the river cheering him on, and very relieved when he made it. For the second day that is quite a distance, the norm is just a couple meters. Not only did he fly to the opposite shore, but when I looked to shoot the others and looked back I had lost sight of him, I knew he would be okay, but didn't know if he would be able to get back. Ten minutes later I was busy shooting away when right behind me I started hearing the loud squawking of a fledgling being fed. I turned and their he was six feet behind me standing on a log and the parent was just taking off. It was pretty remarkable. Today everyone was flying around, only two were flying across the river, they would go to where the parent was hunting for food to get first in line and it worked for them they would get several feedings before anyone else.

For even the third day that is quite a distance. The other two were staying in what is considered normal, but everyones ability to takeoff and land has improved greatly. They are landing on branches and small logs with great precision, how fast they grow up.

One of the more fun things to watch is how they compete for food; the one that is first in line gets fed first and most often. they will climb over one another to get ahead, right to the edge of the log where the water is moving fast, but when one gets full he will move to the end of the line and take a little rest. There is one picture today that has one walking over another.

The birds that flew across the river were also doing some hunting on their own, I don't know if they had any success. They are all pecking at all kinds of stuff, but those two were getting under rocks in the water.

They are all getting into deeper water, but staying out of the swift water, I expect that to change tomorrow, they are becoming very confident with flying and swimming. They could get washed down river and make it back to home base with no problem.

One of the parents started taking building materials back to the nest, to rebuild the cup. They did this on the fourth day last year. There will be a second brood. I did tell you Monday that I got some video of the parents congratulating themselves; it was a fun interaction. I've taken lots of video of everything they they have done, but I haven't even looked at most of it, but there is some cool stuff; after they move away I will find the time to edit it, I can't even keep up with all the pictures I have taken.

One thing to notice in the feeding pictures is that the parent always turns its head to avoid being poked by the fledgling's beak.
A Spotted Sandpiper stopped by today, and said hi.

Enjoy.

http://e-picturebookdesigners.com/walks/fledge2/


Don Wallace
Sequim
don at e-picturebookdesigners.com